wat do
I just got off the drum kit and decided to make an update! I feel great. I just practiced harder than I ever have, until my fingers, wrists, shins, calves, thighs... everything burned from fatigue. I was training myself to use my left foot to keep time during fills so I can nail them better... and it feels REALLY good. It's cool playing whatever comes to mind and then realizing how much I'm influenced by what I've listened to over the years. I feel like fills are the drummer's chance to really show some personality in their playing, and even though nobody was watching or listening just now... I managed to finally bring my personality to the kit and it felt sooo good. I'm also proud of myself (and Jayden I hope you are too) because even though I bought the Pearl Eliminators, I don't abuse the double kick all damn day. In fact, I groove more with the hi-hat now than I ever did. It's a lot of fun! I just wish I could lock the hi-hat when I choose to... this shitty electronic kit won't let me. Ah well. I am learning how to switch up my left foot on pedals a lot in order to incorporate cool hi-hat grooves accompanied by fills that include double kick.
I bought toys the other day! That was cool. I bought a nice practice pad that can sit in my lap, so I can practice anywhere I can sit down now! This is awesome, because it allows me to practice waaay more on my breaks at work. I bought a different pad a while back, but really all it is.. is a giant circular mousepad that is good for muffling the sound of the sticks. It's good if you want to cover your acoustic drums and practice on them quietly, but I just wanted a practice pad. Sadly, I didn't know how important a real PAD would be until later. This new pad that I have has an awesome texture/feel to it that is easy to play/drag/bounce on, and it has a good even sound around the outside, with a nice sharper sound to the center. It is unforgiving in its sound, and lets me hear exactly how hard/(un)evenly I'm hitting, and I LOVE IT.
I also got slightly bigger/heavier sticks, so if I practice with them, it will feel lighter and more agile playing with my regular sticks when I choose to. At least, that's my theory/hope.
Lastly, I got a midi connector to plug my drum kit into my computer so I can play custom kits with different programmed drum suites. I spent a lot of time setting it up to learn that my laptop makes it all sound like shit, especially when played out loud on the speakers. Horrible sound quality. On headphones it's tolerable at best. I was stuck between low quality sound, high quality kits.. or high quality sound with low quality kits. I chose sound quality, so midi connector feels like a waste for the time being. :(
And those are my toys!
I want to apologize also if anyone feels this is a long and boring post about drum stuff. I often feel like when I talk about drums, it's invasive and annoying to other people. Most people I talk to express 0 interest in anything I say when I talk about anything I am genuinely interested in, and this includes drums. I talk to Adrienne a lot, and she always listens... but I feel like I abuse it because I tell her so much shit that there's no way she'll need to remember, or care about. So... posting in Livejournal is great for that I guess! I can say any old shit and nobody has to read it, but I feel great sharing it. Even with nobody.
This also reminds me, that "most people" does refer largely to the huge team of people I work with at Starbucks. My new store is nowhere near as awesome as my old store. In ways, it's better... but when it comes to the people it's not even close! I miss all the people I used to work with sooo much. There was genuine interest and connection between the partners, while I feel that everyone at my new store is more... surface value. I don't feel that's very fair though, because I'll be the first to admit that Rowan at surface value is a weird dude. Everyone just thinks I'm a weird dude now. I used to be likable at work. :(
Anyways, Adrienne and I had an awesome July 1st at Kits beach, and I hope you all had some fun/enjoyed yourselves. Bye <3
I bought toys the other day! That was cool. I bought a nice practice pad that can sit in my lap, so I can practice anywhere I can sit down now! This is awesome, because it allows me to practice waaay more on my breaks at work. I bought a different pad a while back, but really all it is.. is a giant circular mousepad that is good for muffling the sound of the sticks. It's good if you want to cover your acoustic drums and practice on them quietly, but I just wanted a practice pad. Sadly, I didn't know how important a real PAD would be until later. This new pad that I have has an awesome texture/feel to it that is easy to play/drag/bounce on, and it has a good even sound around the outside, with a nice sharper sound to the center. It is unforgiving in its sound, and lets me hear exactly how hard/(un)evenly I'm hitting, and I LOVE IT.
I also got slightly bigger/heavier sticks, so if I practice with them, it will feel lighter and more agile playing with my regular sticks when I choose to. At least, that's my theory/hope.
Lastly, I got a midi connector to plug my drum kit into my computer so I can play custom kits with different programmed drum suites. I spent a lot of time setting it up to learn that my laptop makes it all sound like shit, especially when played out loud on the speakers. Horrible sound quality. On headphones it's tolerable at best. I was stuck between low quality sound, high quality kits.. or high quality sound with low quality kits. I chose sound quality, so midi connector feels like a waste for the time being. :(
And those are my toys!
I want to apologize also if anyone feels this is a long and boring post about drum stuff. I often feel like when I talk about drums, it's invasive and annoying to other people. Most people I talk to express 0 interest in anything I say when I talk about anything I am genuinely interested in, and this includes drums. I talk to Adrienne a lot, and she always listens... but I feel like I abuse it because I tell her so much shit that there's no way she'll need to remember, or care about. So... posting in Livejournal is great for that I guess! I can say any old shit and nobody has to read it, but I feel great sharing it. Even with nobody.
This also reminds me, that "most people" does refer largely to the huge team of people I work with at Starbucks. My new store is nowhere near as awesome as my old store. In ways, it's better... but when it comes to the people it's not even close! I miss all the people I used to work with sooo much. There was genuine interest and connection between the partners, while I feel that everyone at my new store is more... surface value. I don't feel that's very fair though, because I'll be the first to admit that Rowan at surface value is a weird dude. Everyone just thinks I'm a weird dude now. I used to be likable at work. :(
Anyways, Adrienne and I had an awesome July 1st at Kits beach, and I hope you all had some fun/enjoyed yourselves. Bye <3