Playing timid is something I struggle with and it can tank the whole set. Imposter syndrome is something I struggle with, and I can have all the confidence in the world, but a slight mess up throws me off
I got over the errors by watching other drummers advice also most of them teach to improvise when errors show up (play alongs are the best way to practice for me before practice )
Sorry to hear that man. It's a confidence killer. That's why I couldn't go forward. When I was in a flow state, I was blowing minds but if I wavered at all, i would go off the rails and struggled getting back on. It would trip people up, they couldn't understand the huge discrepancy in my playing. But the more hype I started getting around town, I just couldn't handle it. No one wants to get left out, but that goes both ways- falling behind or running up ahead. I felt embarrassed screwing up *and* when doing awesome. 🤦♂️. I blame acid 😂 I couldn't even record my best years; just pressing record would screw me up. So my best stuff was just for me. In hindsight, I would use those emotions to propel myself. And play metal, where those feelings of frustration can be fuel to muscle through any problems. 😅
I learned a lot of these the hard way as well. I started drumming in church. I was one of three bass players and was volun-told to be the drummer. I could sort of play a basic 4/4 groove. The rest, I learned on the fly. There were a lot of rough Sundays... Fast forward 25 years and I've been able to bring along the next generation of bass players and drummers, but not without a bunch of bumps along the way
I have experienced every one of these examples! Never forget first wedding gig, started on Moondance, guitar players leans over and says "Ease up on that ride cymbal"
Awesome video! I'm playing for our church's youth group tomorrow and this is helpful! I like how you had a gold floor tom when you were talking and a green one when you played. ;) Keep it up Stephen. 🤘
Playing one volume, dynamics... I've played drums in churches for ~40 years. I learned dynamics and volume control a long time ago. In my opinion putting church drummers in a 'cage' (drum enclosure) is ruining them. Especially playing in a worship service I like to hear the room. Depending on how the service is moving the same song may need more this time than the last time.
I will agree 100% with this and i told the sound guy and worship leader the same. I lose my own dynamics when I'm put in one of those. It's hurting the players for sure
Thanks. This is a great video. Very helpful. It would have been nice to see the same beat for the A/B. The steady quarter notes on the high hat you do in the A. Thanks again, subbed!
Had the piano player on my worship team tell me that I caught a bad case of the "Russian Dragon" when I asked him what that was, he said sometimes you rush the tempo and sometimes you drag it. Thank God the click fixed all of that.
The overplaying thing is huuuge and immediately makes your difficult to work with. Especially when fills distract for the normal snare pattern. As a guitarist/songwriter/singer, fills getting in the way of the melody and groove is super frustrating. If you're in a fill while there is a vocal you're probably overplaying (this goes for guitar noodles too). Start by playing soft/controlled/simple and let the rest of the band/producer ask you for more (which is encouraging), rather than have to tell you to reign it in (which feels deflating)
40 years playing . And im learning to do boom cha boom boom cha . Perfectly .. and i must add . 8 bars of phrasing and making only 1 change each time . One .. best . Less or extra . On one drum only . All the other stuff is for fun .. but doing THAT and making it sound just right is as hsrd as snything else .
Yes! The details...it's all in those details. Everyone gets attracted to fast licks. But if we will take the time to clean up our playing it will set us apart from everyone else
Currently going through this and man it’s kind of disheartening. I have never played with in ears or a click and had my first band rehearsal at my church and man it was horrendous. My cymbal volume was obnoxious due to them being larger than what I’ve ever played and having a lower tone. I had an inaccurate in ear mix which I believe caused my dynamics to be trash on the outer audio. I had my mix high on the in ears as well as snare and therefore made me play at lower volume which did on the drums and also had me bashing the cymbals so I could hear them in my ears. Man… it was a mess. Not quitting but man does it hurt to actually hear yourself recorded and sound like a jacked up monkey on drums lol
I play drums in church, I must say I'd rather they stick to the old hymns, most of these new contemporary "christian" songs are garbage because the churches they come out of are false churches, like Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation worship. ugh, garbage!
