Ok, this is a bit long, so hope you guys bear with me.
I've been playing drums for a little over 2 years. For almost 1 and a half years, I was just playing on my own, self taught, looking in youtube, jamming along with Creed, and Alter Bridge, and that was that. I never thought I was any good, and I'd never played with any musicians.
Well, then, some of my friends asked me if I wanted to be in the school band, I tried and I got in. Since then, every competition we go to, we're all pumped up, knowing we'll win, and end up messing badly. Just today, we have another competition. We'd been practicing like crazy for this one, playing a modified version of Instrumedley. Completely dedicated to this for a month. Well, anyways, last jam session yesterday, and we were sure we were going to win everything.
Today was the competition, and boy did we mess up, AGAIN. Dropped my sticks during Erotomania, while playing my ride fell off, couldn't adjust it, so I messed up in between, my stick fell another time, and I didn't have a clue what the others were playing. Didn't have any connection with other band mates, who were messing up as well. As you guess, we didn't win anything!
Well, I've been a bit depressed ever since, thinking. I can tell you, we had been planning for this competition for months, working on our parts, and practiced like crazy.
Well, it just seems to be a repeating pattern. Every time, we get ready, practise, knowing we'll win, and we don't And every time, we practice more, so that what happened last time doesn't get repeated but it does.
What is the problem here? Part of me thinks I'm just not good enough yet. I'll be honest, I rarely jam otherwise, only for these competitions, and maybe that's why? 'Cos I'm not really familiar with my band mates and their playing, unless it's under the pressure of a competition. I've seen drummers today, who sound SO TIGHT it's crazy. I practiced like crazy, yet I messed it up. Was it because of my stage fright, because, atleast IMO, we were very tight during practice. Do I need to just jam more, and play in front of people (cos this is only the 4th or 5th time I played in front of an audience).
I really can't understand what's happening. Got my summer vacations coming up, and alongwith the studies, I'm going to dedicate at least 2-3 hours daily on my drumming, working on my double bass, my hand technique etc. But how do I work on groove? Timing? Tightness?
It's just way too confusing for me ATM, and so is my post I guess, but could anyone give me some advice? Drummer to drummer?
I've been playing drums for a little over 2 years. For almost 1 and a half years, I was just playing on my own, self taught, looking in youtube, jamming along with Creed, and Alter Bridge, and that was that. I never thought I was any good, and I'd never played with any musicians.
Well, then, some of my friends asked me if I wanted to be in the school band, I tried and I got in. Since then, every competition we go to, we're all pumped up, knowing we'll win, and end up messing badly. Just today, we have another competition. We'd been practicing like crazy for this one, playing a modified version of Instrumedley. Completely dedicated to this for a month. Well, anyways, last jam session yesterday, and we were sure we were going to win everything.
Today was the competition, and boy did we mess up, AGAIN. Dropped my sticks during Erotomania, while playing my ride fell off, couldn't adjust it, so I messed up in between, my stick fell another time, and I didn't have a clue what the others were playing. Didn't have any connection with other band mates, who were messing up as well. As you guess, we didn't win anything!
Well, I've been a bit depressed ever since, thinking. I can tell you, we had been planning for this competition for months, working on our parts, and practiced like crazy.
Well, it just seems to be a repeating pattern. Every time, we get ready, practise, knowing we'll win, and we don't And every time, we practice more, so that what happened last time doesn't get repeated but it does.
What is the problem here? Part of me thinks I'm just not good enough yet. I'll be honest, I rarely jam otherwise, only for these competitions, and maybe that's why? 'Cos I'm not really familiar with my band mates and their playing, unless it's under the pressure of a competition. I've seen drummers today, who sound SO TIGHT it's crazy. I practiced like crazy, yet I messed it up. Was it because of my stage fright, because, atleast IMO, we were very tight during practice. Do I need to just jam more, and play in front of people (cos this is only the 4th or 5th time I played in front of an audience).
I really can't understand what's happening. Got my summer vacations coming up, and alongwith the studies, I'm going to dedicate at least 2-3 hours daily on my drumming, working on my double bass, my hand technique etc. But how do I work on groove? Timing? Tightness?
It's just way too confusing for me ATM, and so is my post I guess, but could anyone give me some advice? Drummer to drummer?