JDFaulky
Active Member
Hey everyone,
I'm a "new-ish" drummer who's creeping up into the intermediate range. I was self taught for over a year and spent the last 4 months working with a drum teacher to help accelerate my learning. I didn't pick up my first acoustic kit until I was 35 years old (I'm a month shy of 37 now) but I spent all of my 20s playing on e-kits and such while living in apartments where I learned a lot of drum fundamentals on my own. Thanks to that, I took off running on the drums pretty quickly once I started playing on a real kit.
My question to you all is this; when is the right time to start playing with other musicians? My drum teacher seems to think I'm more than ready since I've nailed just about everything he's thrown at me so far, but the anxiety of getting in front of other musicians and totally blowing it really freaks me out. Like I think I'm better than I actually am and get told to take a hike or something. I'm just curious to hear stories from other drummers when they first made the leap to join a band or play with other musicians.
I did get the courage to put myself out there on a local musicians Facebook group with a little video of me playing and I got a lot of messages from people asking me to potentially join their bands. Most of them didn't seem like a good fit; however, I did set up a time on Saturday to meet up with a bass and guitar player who are in need of a drummer to have a jam session. Still, I'm kinda freaked out about it (especially since I don't know these people) while at the same time excited that I'm making some dreams come true here. I guess I'm wondering at what the point where many of you had the confidence to put yourself out there as a drummer?
I'm a "new-ish" drummer who's creeping up into the intermediate range. I was self taught for over a year and spent the last 4 months working with a drum teacher to help accelerate my learning. I didn't pick up my first acoustic kit until I was 35 years old (I'm a month shy of 37 now) but I spent all of my 20s playing on e-kits and such while living in apartments where I learned a lot of drum fundamentals on my own. Thanks to that, I took off running on the drums pretty quickly once I started playing on a real kit.
My question to you all is this; when is the right time to start playing with other musicians? My drum teacher seems to think I'm more than ready since I've nailed just about everything he's thrown at me so far, but the anxiety of getting in front of other musicians and totally blowing it really freaks me out. Like I think I'm better than I actually am and get told to take a hike or something. I'm just curious to hear stories from other drummers when they first made the leap to join a band or play with other musicians.
I did get the courage to put myself out there on a local musicians Facebook group with a little video of me playing and I got a lot of messages from people asking me to potentially join their bands. Most of them didn't seem like a good fit; however, I did set up a time on Saturday to meet up with a bass and guitar player who are in need of a drummer to have a jam session. Still, I'm kinda freaked out about it (especially since I don't know these people) while at the same time excited that I'm making some dreams come true here. I guess I'm wondering at what the point where many of you had the confidence to put yourself out there as a drummer?