After years of trying, I still struggle to play the guitar and sing at the same time, but here I am, in barely just a month, I can drum and sing at the same time. How is this possible?
What I Worked On
Mostly from this compilation for Ultimate Beginners:
24K Magic - Bruno Mars Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked - Cage The Elephant Bang Bang - Jessie J Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (sung) Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol (sung) Cool For The Summer - Demi Lovato Demons - Imagine Dragons (sung) Faded - Alan Walker Girls Like You - Maroon 5
I would say that while I struggled last week, I found them all relatively easy!
Conclusion: Will pick a song to learn and practice instead of running through this video!
I couldn't remember how to put on the cymbals. Struggled with the hi-hat and remembering whether the ride goes on top or on the bottom. Also, the drumsets I've played only had 2 toms: tom1 and floor tom. Am I missing something by having only two? Doesn't seem necessary to have 3.
What I worked on
Mostly worked on this compilation video for Ultimate Beginners:
Imagine Dragons - Believer (relatively easy) Bruno Mars - 24k Magic (challenging but doable within another session or so) Jessie J - Bang Bang (challenging but doable within another session or so) Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (too hard for now)
I noticed some recurring patterns which (I'm guessing) are the most basic drumming patterns. I struggle with coordinating my feet and my hands, but that'll come with time!
Overall, I'm very proud of my progress. In 3 weeks (and about only 2 hours in total), I feel like I am getting a good foundation and my “improv” at the end sounded a lot more solid than last week's. I think for the next session, I'll focus on learning some fills and cutting down my setup time to a minimum.
With Ozzy Osbourne's death, I've been thinking a lot of about legacy acts who die. Where does the money go? Banks? Governments? How about keeping the money in the arts?
New artist now have to do everything by themselves and have no support, so why do we let the money go? If big artists with millions gave only 1% to an arts funds, then we could have pension or health care for everyone. It could also be a container for one's donation. For example, if you made a big donation during a good year but then had a bad year, you can take the donation back. We keep the interest, it's a win-win for everyone.
That also applies to the everyday man or aspiring artists. For example, I own a condo but I don't have kids and neither does my sister. Ultimately, I would like to keep it in the community by making it a temporary home for visiting artists. Alternatively, it could be sold and the money could be used to help artists in need.
I have a vision of a utopia where we can all do the things we want in life and not worry about being broke or homeless because we are taken care of. I think it would be hard to convince those outside of the art world to donate, but I believe it would be easy to convince artists to leave something for the future generation.
What do you think? Is this possible? If yes, how? If not, what is the second best option that is realistically doable to achieve a similar result?
For a more in-depth babbling, watch the video below:
You can show up at Musicopratik before 18h to book a room to play the drums. The fees are currently at 14$/h and only comes with the drums - which means you have to rent a bag of cymbals for 10$ or bring your own. I was told it was because they break easily. Someone showed me how to put the cymbals on and how to different top/bottom from a ride/crash cymbal. Never realized how complex this whole thing is and how no one ever talks about it lol.
What I worked on Rudiments (singles, doubles and paradiddles) White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (relatively easy) Improvs to get accustomed to the drumset Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine (too hard)
Ever since I was young, I dreamt of drumming. It seemed cool to hit things. Because of my ever-so-spread out attention span and interest in doing everything - that fell way to the side. But now, at 39, I decided that I was going to learn how to drum.
Musical History: -sax alto for 4 years in high school -acoustic guitar on and off for 20 odd years -dabbled in keys, harmonica, and being a bedroom producer
My plan: -practice weekly by going to a studio to use acoustic drums
My goals: -write my own drum beats so it can come out exactly the way I hear it in my head when I write a song -improvise on instrumentals
I never realized drumming could be so exhilarating. It feels fun and it helps to re-energize myself. Let's see how long this interest will last and if I will be able to reach my goal.
