as we grow older 40's etc do fast stuff become more boring to play?

jda said:
can only hang on to so much of the past
like I said it gets stored away usually not come up
in fact I'm pretty sure positive it will never come up
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If you’re happy, I’m happy for you. I still stand by my decision.
 
some aspects of adolescence gotta go
I'm talking musical adolescence (or else some stay in a waynes world, this is spinal tap, never progress ,mature, ripen or change)
- remaining adolescent takes special talent; it's a special category.. usually a very monetarily successful very lucrative one actually.. .
I just can see it a mile away..That's my fault as I'm not big on innocence or innocents (but that's a section, of what gets the gravy. in the entertainment business world. beavis and butthead are billionaires,
 
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It would be weird if I didn't still love playing fast stuff, playing thrash metal in a regular gigging band. I like dynamics within a song though, not just speed all the way through. Slower parts make the fast parts stand out more. I'm soon to be 40 and I still love playing metal over anything else, so... hopefully I'm still able to hold up for years to come.
 
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georgeusa said:
as we grow older 40's etc do fast stuff become more boring to play?

its not that i can't practice and do it,

its more like....i am feeling i'm doing it just to show off or something

its nice to know you can do it at least...but i don't know i am a bit unsure which direction to take
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IDK, I've never been all that fast to begin with. I don't worry about it at all.
 
BobC said:
I can handle fast tempos, but have never been able to pull off single strokes at anything approaching Buddy Rich's speed. I'd like to have that ability, but at this point, it's not worth my time to spend hours and hours and perhaps weeks and months, trying to get fast. I'd rather just play to support the music as best as I can, without worrying about speed. There are other things in my life that are more important; family, career, writing, etc.
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That's what I was going to say, does it matter how fast anyone can play if it is just utilized in a solo scenario? (meaning not part of song or accompanied by other instruments that is). I don't have so much issue with the speed, specially with hand speed, my issue is learning the patterns of some complex rolls. I can play most of Slayer's Ghosts of war drums except for a couple of rolls that I have not taken the time to fully dissect. That (the dissecting part) is my weakness. Buddy Rich would bounce his sticks on the toms (I believe a 3 to 4 bounce each stick very much like when you do a snare roll). It's hard to get that motion started, but once you figure it out, it's not as impossible as it looks.


 
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It's called maturity and understanding.

As we age and play music we start to understand that the things we used to think were "difficult" are actually just a matter of repetition; literally anyone can play fast stuff if they slow it down and work it up to speed. In short, it's just not impressive once you understand it. What mature musicians tend to find impressive are things like musicality, making the right choices to compliment, being creative and using rhythms in novel or interesting ways... Flexibility to play different styles... Things like that, and often we call things like that "musical maturity" for good reason.

Anyone can learn to play blazing 164th note runs; but it takes a real understanding and time to learn how to lift up the music and be someone that others want to play with.
 
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Dr_Watso said:
It's called maturity and understanding.

As we age and play music we start to understand that the things we used to thing were "difficult" are actually just a matter of repetition; literally anyone can play fast stuff if they slow it down and work it up to speed. In short, it's just not impressive once you understand it. What mature musicians tend to find impressive are things like musicality, making the right choices to compliment, being creative and using rhythms in novel or interesting ways... Flexibility to play different styles... Things like that, and often we call things like that "musical maturity" for good reason.

Anyone can learn to play blazing 164th note runs; but it takes a real understanding and time to learn how to lift up the music and be someone that others want to play with.
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I will respectively play Devils Advocate to this and say;

I DREAD the day where fast becomes not impressive. I don't feel like it is a sign of maturity to abandon one thing for another. The maturity comes when you decide where to properly use whichever device/tool you have. And if you don't have the tool/device of speed, you are lacking a HUGE facet of musicality.

A LOT of my old metalhead/punker freinds (thought) they "grew up" in their late 20's by abandonign the music of their youth. I always thought that was sad, and misguided. How did you grow up by abandoning Iron Maiden for Cheryl Crow? They didn't really grow up...they fell to peer pressure in a way. I always felt like my freinds who ADDED musical genre tastes were more mature. But I always got that a lot - and still do. "You still listen to metal? When are you going to grow out of that?" I feel sorry for those people

I also feel the opposite of the "anyone can play fast" mantra. Fast takes LOTS of work. Musicality takes a good ear, and sensitivity to styles, but not so much physical work. After 30+ years of teaching, I have had waaayyyy more students get musicality before they get speed. It might be the way I teach (?) I don't know.

But to this day - after 40 or so years of playing - I feel like I have a pretty good hold of a lot of styles.

I still can't play double bass at 180bpm.

Just some thoughts
 
I wasn't implying you should or would abandon anything... Just that speed itself is sort of simple in terms of the world of music... It's literally just speed. And I think for most people we end up being best at what we play, like or listen to most.

And I know for fact that creativity and musicality are a LOT more impressive to me than any blazing tom/snare/bass drum roll would ever be. Given good technique it's just a matter of repetition like I said, and it doesn't really approach any of the deeper aspects I was referring to.
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
How did you grow up by abandoning Iron Maiden for Cheryl Crow?
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Ah... that touches on a different issue - the difference between growing up and getting old. If people simply lose their interest in music and start listening to radio Pablum, that's not maturing, it's just getting old. If I drift away from The Dead Kennedys toward Blues, New Orleans Jazz, and world music, that might be maturing. If I start listening to Bryan Adams and Celine Dion... that's decline, not growth.
 
TMe said:
Ah... that touches on a different issue - the difference between growing up and getting old. If people simply lose their interest in music and start listening to radio Pablum, that's not maturing, it's just getting old. If I drift away from The Dead Kennedys toward Blues, New Orleans Jazz, and world music, that might be maturing. If I start listening to Bryan Adams and Celine Dion... that's decline, not growth.
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Bryan Adams had his moments before the pop gods took him over.
 
I'm now 40 and still playing in the same band I was at 28. I can tell you that playing the stuff I was playing at 28 is now a STRUGGLE. Even stuff I was playing 5/6 years ago is a challenge.

But with age comes better timing and accuracy. I don't have that wild abandon I used to have.
 
TMe said:
Ah... that touches on a different issue - the difference between growing up and getting old. If people simply lose their interest in music and start listening to radio Pablum, that's not maturing, it's just getting old. If I drift away from The Dead Kennedys toward Blues, New Orleans Jazz, and world music, that might be maturing. If I start listening to Bryan Adams and Celine Dion... that's decline, not growth.
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true....good way of thinking about it

but the Dead Kennedys actually touch on some way more mature topics than New Orleans Jazz, so who is to say that it is a "maturing"...

and, as I have mentioned in other threads at times....what makes jazz more "mature" than punk? It can't be the players, b/c they were mostly wacked out rebels of their time. Thumbing their noses at the establishment. John Coltrain and GG Allin are really a lot alike. Miles Davis and Greg Ginn. Charles Mingus and Fugazi....people doing and saying the same things, just in different costumes

I think if my mind had not been opened up by punk and metal as a kid, I would not have gotten into jazz and world music as I got older. I was taught by punk/metal culture to look outside the box; expand my horizons; question everything;

I agree that there is not much "mature challenge" to Celine Dion....
 
IceMonster said:
I'm now 40 and still playing in the same band I was at 28. I can tell you that playing the stuff I was playing at 28 is now a STRUGGLE. Even stuff I was playing 5/6 years ago is a challenge.

But with age comes better timing and accuracy. I don't have that wild abandon I used to have.
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same for me...i have been in my surf punk band since 1994, and my thrash metal band (playing bass) since 2001. The music hasn't changed, that is for sure. My thrash band is known for being the fastest band in our scene right now. I know that keeping the music the same is oart of why I can still play fast, and strive to play even faster
 
Al Strange said:
It should also be pointed out that Mickey Curry is one of the best drummers in the business… :)
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I should have pointed that out. I actually listened to more Bryan Adams than I care for, just to check out the drummer.
 
TMe said:
Ah... that touches on a different issue - the difference between growing up and getting old. If people simply lose their interest in music and start listening to radio Pablum, that's not maturing, it's just getting old. If I drift away from The Dead Kennedys toward Blues, New Orleans Jazz, and world music, that might be maturing. If I start listening to Bryan Adams and Celine Dion... that's decline, not growth.
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Or maybe it is just tastes changing and has nothing at all to do with growth or maturity. I still listen to Hendrix, Cream, Airplane, The Doors, Zeppelin &c, but most of my listening these days is jazz and classical.
 
IceMonster said:
I'm now 40 and still playing in the same band I was at 28. I can tell you that playing the stuff I was playing at 28 is now a STRUGGLE. Even stuff I was playing 5/6 years ago is a challenge.

But with age comes better timing and accuracy. I don't have that wild abandon I used to have.
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I'm a little weirded out by this and I mean literally nothing negative about it... But I'm 41 and if anything I play faster, more accurately, and more cleanly than when I was 20... Do you really feel like your body has slowed down noticeably at that relatively young age? How's your general health? Do you stretch/excercise?
 
Dr_Watso said:
I'm a little weirded out by this and I mean literally nothing negative about it... But I'm 41 and if anything I play faster, more accurately, and more cleanly than when I was 20... Do you really feel like your body has slowed down noticeably at that relatively young age? How's your general health? Do you stretch/excercise?
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I just don't just wildly fly into things like I used to, I pay more attention to my inner clock and what's going on around me more than trying to play at a million miles an hour, although at 40yrs old my overall speed around the kit is fine as is my stamina.

My body is fine - I don't smoke, and cycling is my main form of exercise and I weigh about 75kg. Albeit I have a bad shoulder and reoccurring tennis elbow, I've had carpel tunnel issues in my right arm but that's cleared itself up. But I creak a little in the mornings - I'd probably just put it down to good ol maturity.
 
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