S
SickRick
Guest
After a pretty long break from drumming (with some brief exceptions for very few gigs and sessions), it seems like the drums are really calling me back now.
For the first time in way over a year I feel the urge to get back behind those drums to practise and to have some fun. I had some moments in the past where I thought it would be kinda nice to play again, but I never really wanted it and when I tried it wasn't so much fun. Well, it seems like this bad feeling and lack of fun and interest has finally gone away and now I want to be playing again.
I had a studio session last weekend which was great fun - I got called to record one song for a singer-songwriter project. I wasn't really keen about it but said yes anyway. So I got to the studio (never heard the song before) and found out the guys were really nice and talented so I was having way more fun than expected.
I had brought my Starclassics but they didn't really feel like they fitted the song very well, so I ditched them and used a 25 years old Sonor HiLite that the music school where I teach owns. The fact alone that I suddenly cared for my drumsound again surprised me a bit at that moment. I realized that I cared about the outcome, that it was something I wanted to be proud of. I also realized that if the guys would decide to record a whole album, I wanted to be the guy who will get the call.
The HiLite blew me away. It is pretty safe to say that these were easily the best drums I ever took to any studio. My Starclassic will go on ebay now as I realized that my taste in drumsound seems to have changed dramatically. They just don't offer what I want. Now I'm deciding in between getting a brand new SQ2 made for me or a DW Collectors which I could get used for a steal.
At about the same time (last Thursday) I was browsing Amazon for a new cellphone. I swear to god, the system never ever suggested my anything drumrelated on the front page but that day, the first suggestion for me was a drumbook called "Daily Drumset Workout" by Claus Hessler. I didn't really think about it and made a pretty unconscious decision to order it. The next recommendation pops up: "Universal Rhythms" by Dave DiCenso. Wow. A drumbook by one of my favourite drummers - I had transcribed every bit of Daves playing I found on YouTube when I was still playing. This time the click on "add to shopping cart" is a conscious decision.
The book arrived on Saturday (the day when I was in Studio) so I had a first look at it on Sunday. I was blown out of the water. I sat there and listened to every single of the 500 examples and my smile grew bigger and bigger. Dave has put out a book with 500 exercises of which each single one sounds so absurdly good that I would like to play them all at once. If you had asked me a week ago, I would have said that it would be impossible for about any human being on this planet to write a drumbook that would make me burst in laughter and joy by just looking at the scores and listening in my head. Well... Dave has done exactly that and allthough he will probably never read this: Thank you Dave!
Yet, another thing happened this weekend: I went to see my ex band live. It was really hard to go there for be but I am happy I did. The guys were great, they were happy to see me again and they played their butts off. It was easily one of the best concerts I ever went to. The new drummer is an old friend of mine and he blew me away. So much skill, so much love for the music - it almost put me to tears. I was surprised that I could stand there in the audience and just enjoy it without any sign of enviousness. He played most of my parts almost exactly the way I did (I have to admit he played them a lot better than I ever played them, but he played the same notes) which gave me a nice feeling of having once created something that fits the songs so well that there is no need to change it.
So here I am now, day 2 of of my second drumming life as I started to work on Dave's book yesterday and I feel positively curious about where it will lead me this time.
Thanks for every word of support some of you gave me over this last year. I'm sorry it took me so long to come back.
For the first time in way over a year I feel the urge to get back behind those drums to practise and to have some fun. I had some moments in the past where I thought it would be kinda nice to play again, but I never really wanted it and when I tried it wasn't so much fun. Well, it seems like this bad feeling and lack of fun and interest has finally gone away and now I want to be playing again.
I had a studio session last weekend which was great fun - I got called to record one song for a singer-songwriter project. I wasn't really keen about it but said yes anyway. So I got to the studio (never heard the song before) and found out the guys were really nice and talented so I was having way more fun than expected.
I had brought my Starclassics but they didn't really feel like they fitted the song very well, so I ditched them and used a 25 years old Sonor HiLite that the music school where I teach owns. The fact alone that I suddenly cared for my drumsound again surprised me a bit at that moment. I realized that I cared about the outcome, that it was something I wanted to be proud of. I also realized that if the guys would decide to record a whole album, I wanted to be the guy who will get the call.
The HiLite blew me away. It is pretty safe to say that these were easily the best drums I ever took to any studio. My Starclassic will go on ebay now as I realized that my taste in drumsound seems to have changed dramatically. They just don't offer what I want. Now I'm deciding in between getting a brand new SQ2 made for me or a DW Collectors which I could get used for a steal.
At about the same time (last Thursday) I was browsing Amazon for a new cellphone. I swear to god, the system never ever suggested my anything drumrelated on the front page but that day, the first suggestion for me was a drumbook called "Daily Drumset Workout" by Claus Hessler. I didn't really think about it and made a pretty unconscious decision to order it. The next recommendation pops up: "Universal Rhythms" by Dave DiCenso. Wow. A drumbook by one of my favourite drummers - I had transcribed every bit of Daves playing I found on YouTube when I was still playing. This time the click on "add to shopping cart" is a conscious decision.
The book arrived on Saturday (the day when I was in Studio) so I had a first look at it on Sunday. I was blown out of the water. I sat there and listened to every single of the 500 examples and my smile grew bigger and bigger. Dave has put out a book with 500 exercises of which each single one sounds so absurdly good that I would like to play them all at once. If you had asked me a week ago, I would have said that it would be impossible for about any human being on this planet to write a drumbook that would make me burst in laughter and joy by just looking at the scores and listening in my head. Well... Dave has done exactly that and allthough he will probably never read this: Thank you Dave!
Yet, another thing happened this weekend: I went to see my ex band live. It was really hard to go there for be but I am happy I did. The guys were great, they were happy to see me again and they played their butts off. It was easily one of the best concerts I ever went to. The new drummer is an old friend of mine and he blew me away. So much skill, so much love for the music - it almost put me to tears. I was surprised that I could stand there in the audience and just enjoy it without any sign of enviousness. He played most of my parts almost exactly the way I did (I have to admit he played them a lot better than I ever played them, but he played the same notes) which gave me a nice feeling of having once created something that fits the songs so well that there is no need to change it.
So here I am now, day 2 of of my second drumming life as I started to work on Dave's book yesterday and I feel positively curious about where it will lead me this time.
Thanks for every word of support some of you gave me over this last year. I'm sorry it took me so long to come back.