Fading glamour of musicianship

[Yamaha Rider]

Yeah..took me like a year to realize that no matter how much better i get there is always another beat or summit to attempt.. i bet even guys like Gadd (who i think is the greatest living drummer right now) has moments of.. "Man... i know i can get this groove just a TINY bit better if i work at it..." Luckily i still love it though And it makes me feel great when i actually focus on something and see results (which for me right now is shuffles.. it's still horrible but i see it getting better)

Keep shuffling towards your goal

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

I just want to buy a nice kit so I can impress people on a phone based app and large scale internet video channel I'll never meet. Is that so much to ask?

made it more applicable to modern times....

 

[TMe]

"I could do this better if I really put my soul into it".

Maybe I'm just rationalizing my ineptitude, but consider how many hours you can devote to drumming. It took me a long time to realize that my playing goals need to match the amount of time I'm spending on drumming. If I can't devote myself to drumming, fulltime, for a few years, I can't set the same goals as someone who can.

I will never reach the goal and that mastery is a real thing despite it being one of the intangibles of human life.

From what I've seen, there are three ways to deal with that.
1) Develop an incredibly huge ego and convince yourself you're a genius.
2) Have fun faking it and considering yourself a bit of a harmless fraud.
3) Learn to approach music with humility.

I've spent a few years working on #3, but now I'm giving up and going back to #2; "I'm not a drummer, but I play one on stage." That works best for me.

 

[Otto]

Maybe I'm just rationalizing my ineptitude, but think about how many hours you can devote to drumming. It took me a long time to realize that my playing goals need to match the amount of time I'm spending on drumming. If I can't devote myself drumming, fulltime, for a few years, I can't set the same goals as someone who can.

From what I've seen, there are three ways to deal with that.
1) Develop an incredibly huge ego and convince yourself you're a genius.
2) Have fun faking it and considering yourself a bit of a harmless fraud.
3) Learn to approach music with humility.

I've spent a few years working on #3, but now I'm giving up and going back to #2; "I'm not a drummer, but I play one on stage." That works best for me.

I would humbly propose another possibility.

4) Realize art(such as the music we play) is subjective and cannot hierarchically scale artists objectively with any relevance.

The scaling of musicians being subjective, mastery is also subjective as mechanical skill is far from equating to musical value.

Another simpler way to say it?...maybe...rationally kill your ego in relation to the art you love.

This is to say, the assumption of the existence of mastery could well be illusory.