It’s been a fun day. I recently passed a kidney stone, and I’m so happy to be out of pain, I decided to celebrate by renting some time on a studio grade acoustic drum kit. I didn’t realize it the last time I visited, but there’s a recording studio in the building, too.
When I was walking down the hall, a door opened, and I got a glimpse of a gigantic mixing board. Unfortunately, the door closed before I was done looking. I had a blast experimenting with the kit. I had the room for an hour.
On my electronic kit, I don’t use the toms or cymbals much. I’m all about the hi-hat, snare, and bass. I finally got to try a double bass pedal. It’s fun, but I don’t want one anymore. If any of you hip-hop lovers ever wondered if it’s possible to have too much bass, the answer is yes.
I like to control the tempo with a gentler approach. I see my role when drumming as the invisible trickster who entertains the band while maintaining the beat as transparently as possible. I love to stop playing when a lyrical point is being driven home, then slide back in smoothly.
I quit playing before my hour was up because I wore myself out. When I walked out, there were two men outside the door. Turns out, one of them owns the place. He was listening to me play and asked me if I’m in a band. We talked for about five minutes.
He told me to stop by next week if I want to play with other musicians. Squee! And then I left before I made it awkward. Yay. I’ve been making it through lots of small talk situations by copying how Stevie Nicks does interviews. It’s far less stressful. I’m off to read.
