When I was growing up, my parents wanted to treat Mark, my younger brother, and I fairly. When I showed an interest in drumming, one or both of my parents went to Carma Lou's House of Music on Center Point Road and bought a pair of drumsticks and then, I think it was for Christmas, Mark got a drumstick and I got a drumstick. Unless you're Rick Allen - much respect to Def Leppard's drummer who lost an arm in a terrible auto accident decades ago - one drumstick is not going to get the job done. I tell that story to people who ask me how long I've played drums. I think it's a funny story; I tell it quite well.
Fast forwarding through the 1980s, I began playing drums both in 3904 Studios and at school. During that time, there was Modern Drummer magazine, which would show up on a magazine rack at Carma Lou's House of Music. There was no such thing as Drumeo or the Internet. It makes me wonder if I were growing up when my kids grew up - from 1996 to the present - the following question / theory: Would I have become a better drummer than I am now if I had access to the technology that is available in 2024? Right now, just to set the stage, the technology to learn how to play drums is overwhelming.
You can purchase 1:1 mentoring sessions with drummers who live all around the world.
You can go to Nashville, TN, for a week of intensive "drum school" where all you do is play drums every day for a week.
You can watch countless videos by drummers on Youtube as well as videos behind a paywall to learn how to play like John Bonham or Buddy Rich or even Lars Ulrich.
Those examples are broad strokes and not an exhaustive list. My point is that the information available from 1996 to the present was obviously not available in 1980. I had to figure things out about drumming through Modern Drummer magazine or watching videos on MTV or watching and listening to any drummer that happened to be playing drums wherever I was. I never knew anything about what is included in the video below about how to choose a drumstick. Jared, from Drumeo, breaks down the different types of drumsticks that are available. None of this information was available in a video like this. When I went by myself to Carma Lou's House of Music on Center Point Road with the intention of buying drumsticks, I could try out different drumsticks but I didn't know what I was choosing. How many drumsticks did I purchase in my lifetime? Wow, I wish I had that number. I can't fathom how many drumsticks I would not have purchased if I had watched the video below.
Why embed this video about choosing drumsticks? I have played drums for (roughly) 40 years, give or take a few years. I'm embedding this video in the hope that some drummer happens upon this post on my blog, reads the text of this post, and watches the video below, and has an eaasier time getting into playing drums than I did. I don't regret my path - it was mine to navigate and pave.
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