Search results

I’m giving drum lessons to an adult who is an absolute beginner and doesn’t really know anything about music. They are having a hard time finding the “1”. Even when we talk about kick and snare, they get 1 & 3 mixed up. I was thinking about how I learned it. No one specifically taught it to me...

Maybe it’s just me, but I have a hard time going from my really loud band to my really quiet band. I guess muscle memory kicks in and I just automatically start playing too hard. It doesn’t help that I’m using IEMs and I don’t realize how hard I’m hitting. The lower volume band has gone silent...

We’ve all commented about how loud all the internet drummers play. I’m finding that out in the real world, music volume is coming down. I don’t play at a fraction of the volume I used to. When clubs would play break music it would be deafening. Now it just sounds like background music. I already...

I tried to step my toe into the AI world. I downloaded ChatGPT and tried to make a poster for an upcoming gig for one of my bands. It never quite came out right. It would have the date on there multiple times, the address was just gibberish symbols instead of the actual city and so on. After...

I got a call on Monday morning from a guy that has a Linda Ronstadt tribute band. Their drummer wasn’t going to make it to a gig Friday night and their regular sub wasn’t available. I spent the next two days learning 28 Linda Ronstadt songs and charting them out for a rehearsal on Wednesday...

A couple years ago I could play 8th notes on the ride and hi hat on songs up to 180bpm. Since then, even though I play constantly, I’ve slowed down to the point I’m having trouble keeping up at 130bpm. I don’t know if it’s just a part of aging, I’m only 53, or part of the progression of my HNPP...

As the title says, I don’t listen to much music for enjoyment anymore. I listen almost exclusively to music I’m learning for gigs. The rest of the time I mostly listen to podcasts. It’s made me question whether or not I love music or do I just love playing the drums and hanging out with band...

I watched a YouTube video where a sound guy talked about being a successful studio and touring drummer in the 80s and 90s. He doesn’t play much anymore and only runs sound. He said it’s because volume in clubs has lowered so much in recent years that he doesn’t have fun just tippy tapping on the...

One of the country bands I’m in has a volume problem. The problem is that the bass player and guitar player are older guys that are now hard of hearing. When we turn down to a reasonable volume for most people, they can’t hear. The guitar and bass amps can get so loud that they come through my...

I’ve always placed my smaller crash over the hi-hat and the larger one by the ride. My logic being that I’m usually playing quieter parts on the hi hat and louder parts on the ride. I’ve noticed a lot of drummers reverse this. What’s your preference and why?

For the last ten years or so I’ve been doing 70-100 gigs per year. 2016 I did 140. I’m currently in three “working” bands. For various reasons, two of the bands have decided to only gig once a month or less. I’ve only got 15 gigs on the books for this year. I’ll probably get a few more but it...

I’ve been using a Porter & Davies for years now with either a Shure Beta 52 or an Audix D6. I recently bought a Behringer B19A condenser mic. When I run it through the P&D into the mixer and apply phantom power, the seat starts constantly vibrating at the slightest gain. I tried a Yamaha board...

A while ago I watched Rick Beato‘s interview with Kenny Aronoff. Kenny talked about playing with Billy Gibons and how he wanted him to play open hi-hats because it filled in the frequency ranges of another guitar. This got me thinking about the choices I make when deciding whether to use a...

I’ve been thinking about my gig last Friday where the guitar player was excruciatingly loud. We ware on a stage that was in a back corner so the back and one side were closed. I was in the middle against the back wall and the guitar player put his open backed amp to my right against the back...

I play with a couple of country bands that gig almost every weekend. One of them has a problem with stage volume. The guitarist and bass player are older and hard of hearing and turn up really loud. Last Friday was really bad. The guitar was so loud on stage that it just made a wall of sound...

I responded to a craigslist ad about a band wanting a sub drummer. They want me to send a video. I have a lot on my phone, but I have no way to send them. Even the smallest videos are too big to text or send with Comcast email. I don’t want to subscribe to Dropbox just to do this every once in a...

I play with a couple country bar bands and fill in with a few more groups. I’ve always had a policy of the first group to book a date gets it with very rare exceptions. Twice lately I’ve broken that rule and I feel guilty about it. In the first case I was booked in a tiny bar that pays $60 and I...

I had a gig Friday night with a band that hasn’t played out in over a year. That band uses a click. I’ve played those songs dozens of times with that band at those tempos. I don’t know what was wrong with me but every single song felt way too fast. The same thing happened last week with a...

In my quest to make an in-ear rig I started messing with my little mixer and today I tried to plug in my iPad into one of the channels. I came out of the headphone jack and the signal was very low. Even with the iPad volume maxed, I had to turn the gain and volume all the way up. At that point...

As I was messing around with gear to make an in-ear rig, I accidentally stumbled upon something. I was messing around with different mics and since my practice kit is against the wall I put the BD mic on the batter side next to the pedal under the floor tom. At one point I was amazed at how much...