Credibility with Drumming

There's two types of credibility that are muddying the waters here I think, internal and external. If I don't feel I'm a credible shuffle player in my gut, I doubt anyone else would think I am too. So self-credibility is a thing. I guess it could be called confidence. But I could be completely convinced of my own confidence/credibility and still get passed over for other reasons. People are fickle and have requirements that the auditionee may not have any control over. Maybe I remind the person of the guy who wronged him in HS. All we can do is make sure we ourselves are satisfied with our playing.

I think it's safe to say that if a drummer is satisfied with his or her playing, other people will be too. So satisfy #1 first, and things should fall into place nicely.

No one can please everyone though.

Unless you're a Mapex Saturn.
 
Well, i can think of a few people whose at least complete "internet-life" seems to be kinda based on that..lol..

So, do they possess credibility because simply because they've tried to establish it on their own, or do they not possess it because everyone else looks at their effort and laughs?

That goes with what I was saying, your credibility depends on someone else determining whether you are or not. Does their opinion or assessment matter? It depends on the person. If they're in a position to help the first person do something they want to do, then absolutely it matters what they think.

Bermuda
 
Well, i can think of a few people whose at least complete "internet-life" seems to be kinda based on that..lol..

Maybe so, but credibility is still determined by the other party.

For example, someone asks a "best snare head" question. There might be 25 different responses, all with legitimate reasoning behind each. It's then up to the person who posted the question to determine which responses they seem credible based on their own opinions. It could be genre usage, the person responding, just liking somebody, or whatever. That's how it works.

Anyone who says "trust me, I'm credible" is either an egomaniac, a liar, uninformed, or a combination of the three.

The root word of credibility is credit. Anyone who has tried to get any financial credit should know exactly how that works. It's the same thing.
 
Some seem to confuse the credibility of ones person, character, with credibility as a drummer, skill set. While ones character comes into play when dealing with others they are still two different things.
 
How?
Make some videos. Post on YouTube.
Go seek out the better players in your area. Tell them you're available. Give them a card with a link to your playing.
Go play with people. If they like playing with you, they will play with you more. Keep repeating this process and playing with better and better people.
While I'm not really focused or concerned with credibility, I think we have a similar goal of continually playing in higher profile gigs with more professional players. You'll probably find it's not helpful to think or worry about your own "credibility" and you may find that pondering such things does nothing to help what your true aspirations are. Credibility is a symptom of a great player that has manifested through the perception of others. Just focus on the "great player" part and I think you'll get what you're after.
 
A university or some sort of Marine Corps boot camp for drums would be good. I mean, a stressful environment is something missing from someone playing in their basement I think!
 
I often times have "issues" with credibility. I tend to "book up" on things, for example I am working through the salsa guide book. The issue is that people that aren't as versed or practiced in a topic won't recognize the terminology or techniques and think its BS. Or even worse realize that there is something going on that they don't understand, and have feelings of jealousy. Indeed in many places there is a certain level of credibility that people are willing to accept. I feel like better drummers do recognize years of shedding though.
 
I often times have "issues" with credibility. I tend to "book up" on things, for example I am working through the salsa guide book. The issue is that people that aren't as versed or practiced in a topic won't recognize the terminology or techniques and think its BS. Or even worse realize that there is something going on that they don't understand, and have feelings of jealousy. Indeed in many places there is a certain level of credibility that people are willing to accept. I feel like better drummers do recognize years of shedding though.

True, some want to take shots at the drummer on the rise.
 
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