What got you started playing drums?

I met Carmine Appice when I was 17.
I'd always wanted to play an instrument but never had enough desire to pick anything up.
I had tapped on the Jazz Band's Vistalite kit a couple of times, when I was in high school, and that was kinda fun. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun.
I met Carmine because I ran across a drum clinic he was giving and caught the last few minutes of it. After he left the stage, a bunch of us went up there to check his kit out. I was the only one to pick up the sticks and actually hit the toms. I noticed they were all tuned to different pitches, so I was making up little songs with them. Again, no idea what I was doing, just following what seemed logical to me. A security guard almost kicked me off, but Carmine had heard what I was doing and told him to never mind.
We talked for a bit and that was just enough of a push to get me to investigate this "drum" thing a little more. :unsure:
Bought a pair of 50 cent "coffee can sticks" and beat the crap out of my bed for about a year before I finally got my first drumkit.
Never looked back, after that.
 
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We had this Maxwin or Maxell... Well, a really bad cheap kit at school when I was like 14, and I was more interested in playing percussion like the xylophone rather than just the recorder (the music classes we had were really basic level and boring), so eventually I gave it a try. I played on my middle school graduation and oh my god it was terrible, I did the same job as a metronome because noone ever taught me to play and I couldn't really play the drums due to the volume. Eventually, a friend of mine hit me up one day and said "hey, I know you were interested in drums, I want to start a band and it just so happens that the drummer I had in mind didn't show up, wanna give it a try? I have an e-kit at home" and there it began. Well, it also helped that I saw a local drummer play a few metal covers and his style really got me interested in a big way. First job I ever got, I purchased a double bass drum pedal along with a cheap Mapex Tornado kit with zildjian planet z cymbals. Glad I took up on the offer of my friend, I don't think I would be playing drums to this day were it not for him, drumming really helped me in a big way to do away with my shyness overall, it worked wonders to go out there and play, even if it were piss poor sounding covers we were playing as kids :)
 
John B said:
Right! And...the smell of the inside of a wood drum when changing heads is better than a perfectly cooked Ribeye steak.
At least to me that is...
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YES! My first kit was a no-badge MIJ with super thin shells that had been shellacked and covered in red sparkle. The first time I took a head off, I noticed that the inside of the drum smelled like Rosewood.
Never owned a drum that smelled that nice, since.
 
5th grade everyone had to do band, orchestra or choir. We already had a drum in the family, so it was either drums or sing. I still can't sing but my drumming is alright.
 
Elvis said:
I met Carmine Appice when I was 17.
I'd always wanted to play an instrument but never had enough desire to pick anything up.
I had tapped on the Jazz Band's Vistalite kit a couple of times, when I was in high school, and that was kinda fun. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun.
I met Carmine because I ran across a drum clinic he was giving and caught the last few minutes of it. After he left the stage, a bunch of us went up there to check his kit out. I was the only one to pick up the sticks and actually hit the toms. I noticed they were all tuned to different pitches, so I was making up little songs with them. Again, no idea what I was doing, just following what seemed logical to me. A security guard almost kicked me off, but Carmine had heard what I was doing and told him to never mind.
We talked for a bit and that was just enough of a push to get me to investigate this "drum" thing a little more. :unsure:
Bought a pair of 50 cent "coffee can sticks" and beat the crap out of my bed for about a year before I finally got my first drumkit.
Never looked back, after that.
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I met Carmine's brother Vinnie when a music store opened in the San Diego area and they stated that he would be there signing autographs. I went (it was a very short drive from my place). And I was surprised that nobody was paying any attention to him so I went and introduced myself and I told him that one of my favorite recording of his what the Stand Up And Shout video because of the huge kit and that the song is really fun to play.
he told me something about that being a live version so that made it even cooler, then he signed a picture of him and one of his kits and gave it to me. I sill have it. (funny enough I have met several "rock stars" but I never cared to ask for autographs, I just had a quick chat and then walked away to let them relax and to not look like a stalker. Vinnie was a very humble guy, no ego (at least when I met him) so I believe he probably is a very nice guy to be friends with.

 
Doggyd69b said:
Vinnie was a very humble guy, no ego (at least when I met him) so I believe he probably is a very nice guy to be friends with.
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Carmine came off as a real "regular Joe", too.
I remember asking him how his last name was actually pronounced and he told me, sometimes, he thought about changing it Hermine Abromowitz. That way everyone would know how to say it. LOL! :ROFLMAO:
 
my dad was a drumset player around town, and in high school band, so I had no choice. I started playing at 4 years old. He taught me the basic swing beat, and we would "play along" to Brubeck, Stan Getz, Pete Fountain, Benny Goodman, The Supremes, Jackson 5. After that, i got into Styx, Rush, Kansas in the late 70's, and then metal and punk in the early 80's.

in my tweens, my best friends dad was the director of Ohio State's marching band, and we would hang around at practice often, and I remember the loudness, and speed that the drummers played at, and that opened my eyes to the world of marching percussion.

I knew, even back then, that I was going to be a drummer for my career. I fell in love right away. I added piano at 7 years old, and bass guitar at 13. In college, I learned how to play all the instruments as a music education major.
 
The drum solo in the middle of this song:

Peter Criss was huge for me when I was 11 in 1981 when I started really hearing the drums & how they fit into the songs. Seeing Criss's kit WAY up on the riser combined with the smoke & fire, I KNEW I wanted to do that!

So I did & never looked back.

I don't have any pics of me really young, but I do have one of me in high school behind my Pearl Export. I loved that kit & miss the power tom days.
High School drums.jpg
 
When I was around 10 or 11, my older brother played bass in a r&b band in the sixties. When
he went to band practices, he often took me
with him. Early on, I focused in on the drummer and his sparkling gold kit. He eventually noticed my interest and he kindly offered me a practice snare and high hat for me to use at home as long as I wanted.
I practiced, a lot, mainly playing along to 45 records my brother had. Here’s the funny part.
At one of my bro’s practice a few weeks after I was
given the two drum pieces, the band was practicing a tune that had an odd snare drum intro, the song title escapes me unfortunately, but their drummer just could just not get it right. My bro told Dave the drummer that I knew the intro, I had been practicing it. The drummer wanted me to show him so I hopped on his drum, counted off and hit the intro. I didn’t play the song with the band but when I got off the seat the drummer said “you can bring my stuff back now.” Wish I could remember what song it was.
 
BigDrummy said:
When I was around 10 or 11, my older brother played bass in a r&b band in the sixties. When
he went to band practices, he often took me
with him. Early on, I focused in on the drummer and his sparkling gold kit. He eventually noticed my interest and he kindly offered me a practice snare and high hat for me to use at home as long as I wanted.
I practiced, a lot, mainly playing along to 45 records my brother had. Here’s the funny part.
At one of my bro’s practice a few weeks after I was
given the two drum pieces, the band was practicing a tune that had an odd snare drum intro, the song title escapes me unfortunately, but their drummer just could just not get it right. My bro told Dave the drummer that I knew the intro, I had been practicing it. The drummer wanted me to show him so I hopped on his drum, counted off and hit the intro. I didn’t play the song with the band but when I got off the seat the drummer said “you can bring my stuff back now.” Wish I could remember what song it was.
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It was Hot For Teacher by Van Halen... :ROFLMAO:
 
BigDrummy said:
When I was around 10 or 11, my older brother played bass in a r&b band in the sixties. When
he went to band practices, he often took me
with him. Early on, I focused in on the drummer and his sparkling gold kit. He eventually noticed my interest and he kindly offered me a practice snare and high hat for me to use at home as long as I wanted.
I practiced, a lot, mainly playing along to 45 records my brother had. Here’s the funny part.
At one of my bro’s practice a few weeks after I was
given the two drum pieces, the band was practicing a tune that had an odd snare drum intro, the song title escapes me unfortunately, but their drummer just could just not get it right. My bro told Dave the drummer that I knew the intro, I had been practicing it. The drummer wanted me to show him so I hopped on his drum, counted off and hit the intro. I didn’t play the song with the band but when I got off the seat the drummer said “you can bring my stuff back now.” Wish I could remember what song it was.
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LOL! The sign that you're actually good at what you're doing, is when that other musician at the gig, who's playing the same instrument, kindly suggests that you can stop playing now (and give him his stuff back, please). :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
I'm kinda curious about what this mysterious song was, that you could nail the intro to and the other drummer couldn't.
 
Elvis said:
LOL! The sign that you're actually good at what you're doing, is when that other musician at the gig, who's playing the same instrument, kindly suggests that you can stop playing now (and give him his stuff back, please). :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
I'm kinda curious about what this mysterious song was, that you could nail the intro to and the other drummer couldn't.
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It was a while ago and I wish I could. I remember it was not a popular song like you would have heard it on the radio.
What comes to my feeble mind some 65 years later, in my head I hear something that sort of resembles the intro to D'yer Mak'er / Led Zeppelin but not exactly.
Sorry.
BTW, the drummer was totally joking.
 
BigDrummy said:
It was a while ago and I wish I could. I remember it was not a popular song like you would have heard it on the radio.
What comes to my feeble mind some 65 years later, in my head I hear something that sort of resembles the intro to D'yer Mak'er / Led Zeppelin but not exactly.
Sorry.
BTW, the drummer was totally joking.
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:unsure:...could it have been Walk, Don't Run?
 
I learned how to play keyboard (not piano 🫣) as a child, and I took up guitar and later bass when I started to get into rock and metal music. My cousin played guitar, too, and crucially, he had a drum kit in his parents' basement. Whenever my family visited them, the two of us would end up down there, playing songs from the bands we both loved. One day, he asked me whether I would like to try my hand at the drums... He showed me the absolute basics of the money beat and off I went. :love:
 
Elvis said:
:unsure:...could it have been Walk, Don't Run?
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Definitely not although I really dug the Ventures and Mel Taylor. Their band was heavily into R&B at the time, songs like Sixteen Candles - Johnny Maestro, Talk To Me - Sunny and The Sunliners, Walking The Dog - Rufus Thomas, Ooo Baby Baby - Smokey Robinson and the likes. Wish my older bro was still alive. He'd know.
These songs are most likely foreign to you.
 
My older brother was (and is) a drummer, and was very active with it, so there were always drums around, musicians around, rehearsals happening, concerts/gigs to go to. Ralph Hardimon would come around the house, and the other percussion majors at U of Oregon. So I got into 6th grade band, limped along with it until I got with a drum corps, and got progressively more connected with it and serious about it.
 
toddbishop said:
My older brother was (and is) a drummer, and was very active with it, so there were always drums around, musicians around, rehearsals happening, concerts/gigs to go to. Ralph Hardimon would come around the house, and the other percussion majors at U of Oregon. So I got into 6th grade band, limped along with it until I got with a drum corps, and got progressively more connected with it and serious about it.
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holy crap...Hardimon? That is a pretty big guy to have at the house!!!
 
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