I played drums today

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Having not played drums for 20 years, I had a bit of an itch to play them again. Last week, randomly in a local music group on Facebook, I saw a local music studio/rehearsal space that had drums and a rehearsal room for hire - for cheap. I hit them up to see if I could rent the room, just to play the drums.

2 hours minimum. My booking was today, so I played drums for 2 hours of course.

So, how did it go, what did I learn?

  • Wow, I can still play drums. Even though I hadnā€™t played for 20 years other than the occasional cheeky hit in a music shop. Made me think this must apply to guitar as well. So people that pick up a guitar after 20 years ā€œagainā€ are much further ahead than those doing it for the first time.

  • I am much, much worse than I was when I played back in the day. It was interesting how much came back over a 2 hour session, but I was nowhere near as fast as I used to be, or as precise. Struggled with some beats. Very, very rusty.

  • Playing drums is physical. And I went straight into doing it for 2 hours straight :roll_eyes:. My forearms are sore.

After the session I realised Iā€™m definitely a guitar player now, not a drummer. I had vision of how much practice and incremental metronome tweaking it would take to get better at drums againā€¦ nope, no way. Not for me anymore. But it was fun.

:guitar: :drum:

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It must have been a great experience, and I can imagine that the skills you obtained back in the days help you today with time keeping and rythm.

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Good on you JK :smiley:
You sound like my big brother who learned how to play drums in a band at school. Whenever he goes back to them again after a 10-year sabbatical or so where ā€˜real lifeā€™ intervenes, heā€™s equally appalled at how rusty he has become, but at the same time how much he remembers and how much fun it is. He also canā€™t listen to music without focusing primarily on the drums.
Iā€™m glad he kept his interest up into his 60s as he provides the beat for my collabs :wink:
Keep it up when you feel like it. Always good to have another skill in the bag

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I tried once in a ā€˜How hard can it be?ā€™ moment. I was quickly humbled.

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Sounds like a great thing to do and Iā€™m glad you had fun.

Itā€™s amazing how much sticks with us from our youth but obviously it still needs that daily practice to be good/great.

I bet your arms wonā€™t work tomorrow :smiley: no video?

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Guitar is more family friendly, but drums do sound fun, especially in the physical way. Imagine how much more time to practice if it takes care of the workout time as well!

However, I am pretty sure that I am kicked out of the music store for just thinking about playing drumsā€¦

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Finally :joy:! I was already asking myself since the beginning when this day of drummerā€™s relapse would be!
Great that you had the chance to try it out again and also great that we wonā€™t lose you as a guitar player here :wink:!
Must have been fun and I ā€œenvyā€ you to be theoretically able play or at least create your own drum track with a virtual drum kit.
Thanks for sharing!

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Sounds like so much fun nonetheless :smiley: As someone said above your drummer skills will always be such a strong and useful foundation of your life as a guitarist.

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Sounds like you had fun JK! It is interesting how it all started to come back to you.

Drums are definitely a workout. Dan is usually pretty worn out after we have been practicing for a while. He has one of those rings that monitor your activity and whenever he checks it after we play it always tells him that he may need to take it easy because of the high activity :laughing:

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Our very own Dave Grohl channeler. Sounds like fun JK.

Now a few mates and such a room ā€¦ thatā€™s rock n roll heaven

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Sounds like great fun JK and I can guess how hard that workout must have been. The problem is now youā€™ve scratched that itchā€¦ :rofl:

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Sounds like a fun way two spent two hours working out. :wink:

Itā€™s fascinating that at the same time, one doesnā€™t lose all of the skill while still losing pretty much of it. And still, the foundations you built back then when it comes to rhythm are still so much of a value for playing guitar.

Cool update, JK! :slight_smile:

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In my youth I always felt sorry for the drummer in a band. Stuck up there at the back while the singer(s) and lead/rhythm guitar players hogged the limelight and pranced about. Much the same for the bass player (unless you were Paul McCartney of course).
Itā€™s only since I started learning guitar and started listening to music in a different way (50 years too late :joy:) that I realise the drums and bass are the ā€˜engine roomā€™ of the band, keeping the whole thing together.

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Nice one JK. You can skip arm day at the gym today :+1:

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Lol, if your forearms are sore after 9 hours, I hope you can handle a fork and knife in another 24 (or more importantly, fret your guitar)!
Sounds like it was worth the pain, though!

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Awesome JK, must had been lots of fun! I retired guitar for about 8 years before I started over in my late 20s again, and to be fair except calluses needed to be firmed up again I remembered quite a lot. Especially chord shapes were quite well engraved in my brain, and fingers agility needed to be refreshed and definitely improved. Even barre chords were working fine, so defo sounds like getting back to drums is a lot bigger challenge :grimacing:

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Thanks everyone for your comments.

I thought your trusty trio provided the drum input :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. But yes similar feeling. I realised yesterday Iā€™m slowly learning to not listen primarily to the drums when I tried some newer songs - but still a habit.

Not too hard apparently, if I can do it after a 2 decade break :rofl: albeit badly. Yeah itā€™s definitely a skill, my first drum lesson is one of those core memories I still remember - I remember how hard it was.

Thought about it, but ultimately decided to just have fun.

Guitar also lets you create music by yourself, drums youā€™re just creating beats, and need someone else to make music.

:rofl: Haha, it happened Andrea! And yes it was loads of fun. Although I could create a virtual drum track, I havenā€™t - it seems so laborious! Much easier to just play. Although when it comes to fills I canā€™t do, maybe programming a track is easierā€¦

I remembered last night how I quit drums. Iā€™d started studying computer science at uni, first semester. Tech was going to be my career (and yes, it is). I had sore wrists from typing and drumming. I went and jammed with my band, and had to stop practice halfway through my wrists were hurting so bad. I told my band, they said it couldnā€™t be so bad - it was, I got angry, packed my gear up, told them I was quitting the band - we were going nowhere anyway. Decided to quit drums as my career was more important and sold my kit. Used the money for a trip to the USA. I sorted the wrist problem out with hand strength exercises eventually.

So yeah, it can be physically punishing.

Now I just need some mates.

Scratched it right back into guitar! :rofl:

That feeling was what lead me to my short, failed stint at guitar as a teenager! I wanted to be the leading man and you canā€™t in the drums. And I agree, itā€™s only since Iā€™ve started learning guitar Iā€™ve discovered how important drums are in a band. I was jamming with some drumless tracks yesterday (with me playing drums) and wow - huge difference with vs without drums.

Haha, the dreaded DOMS! Fortunately Iā€™m OK today, I go to the gym a few times a week so have recovered OK :rofl:

Ah, I thought that might be the case with guitar too Adrian! Sounds probably similar, a lot of the basics worked well but some things like quick double-kicks or fast 16th note beats were draining. Less agility but basics still working. Drums might be a bigger challenge to get into from a motivation perspective :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Tell that to Mickey Hart!

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Okay, of course just rhythm can be music! From what I understand, most non-western traditional music is drum based. And drums can be tuned to notes - I have a hand-pan thatā€™s tuned to Am pentatonic.

But you know what I mean :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I also used to have aspirations of being a drummer since I hung out with the drumline in high school. Although I still have my drumset (which I find pretty handy when I get so angry that I really need to hit something), itā€™s also become clear to me that Iā€™m far more of a guitarist than a drummer. My drum teacher kept pushing me to learn songs when all I was ever kept playing was exercises, but in guitar I need no such urging because songs are all I ever keep playing!

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