Let the drummer kick, let the drummer kick yo

I know what you're thinking. "Dominique Elaine Grant, you haven't made reference to Citizen Cope since the DDH debacle of 2004."

And you're right. That dirty, dirty hippie did in fact ruin that one man band for me. However, I couldn't think of a better way to describe last night's drum lesson.

I am, by far, Harry's worst student. Of course, if you asked him that he would misdirect the hell out of that question, and give you some sort of answer that didn't answer it at all. Because that's one of his many talents. Anyway, he was telling me about a new student he has of his named Stefan (sp? who knows?) that is really interested in the mechanics of drumming, and is making Harry think about things he hasn't had to think about in years. Such as polyrythms.

So during all of this I'm just thinking. "geeez I would never think to ask about friggin' polyrythms..." I flat out asked Harry last night if I should quit drumming.

I think my problem is I'm not motivated enough to practice, and he thinks my problem is I'm not progressing as fast as I want to, and I'm not proud of any progress I am making. Sure, I can get on board with that theory. So last night we get to drumming. Doing the basic kick drum/snare/highhat combo is like riding a bike. Once you learn it, no matter how long it's been since you've done it, you can just pick it right back up. Harry says that all of drumming is like that. He really simplified a lot of what I was complicating, and getting overwhelmed with having to learn. We worked on incorporating just any kind of variation into that basic groove, and last night it was focused on varying the kick drum.

He tells me practice is just going to sound bad, because it's trial and error to learn what works and what doesn't. He pointed out that if I sit down and practice what I already know, I'll never progress. That makes sense. Leaving there I had a renewed sense of confidence that I could continue doing this, at least for now. I just have to stop complicating it, and realize how simple it could all be if I just train my muscles to do what I want them to do. Then you don't even have to think about it, really, ever.

So I need to practice. I need to bang around on my electronic kit (oooooooooh how I wish I had an acoustic set. One day. One day.) and try to make sense of what I'm hearing. let me see if I can leave you with a picture, for funsies.