#learning drums

Background song is Child of the Night, my next single.

Drums are keeping me relatively sane while I plot my next career moves in the face of a very different world from when I started this project.

This clip is a perfect encapsulation of where I am at - I pull off half of it shockingly well then spend 8 bars trapped behind the beat lol.

Next up, Reptilia by the Strokes!

It really is simple, but the tempo......... rip 😭 After a while my right hand would get sore, and I wonder whether I'm doing it correctly? Am I simply not used to playing at a faster tempo, or is my technique wrong? Or is it the combination of both 😂

Another cover & transcription by Nikos Skiadas on YT, very helpful:

But where it says x8 LMAOOO

Also not sure what to do with my left foot, so I kept pressing down the other pedal. Am I supposed to do that? In here I can see the hi-hat are clasped together, so the pedal thingy supposed to be on, I guess. Nobody really talks about that hi-hat pedal(?) maybe I don't need to worry until way later.

Really like the part where I have to hit the snare and the floor tom at the same time, sounds super cool!

And then:

Lordt. What is that 😭😭😭 And I only noticed now after screencapping, I was supposed to hit the crash cymbal, not hi-hat!

And for a rhythm that looks easy, I couldn't do this bit:

Learned about the first 3 roll rudiments:

Single Stroke Roll

Single Stroke Four

Single Stroke Seven

Pretty straightforward stuff ✌️ Not quite sure about my grip though, it feels natural enough for my RH? I might need to adjust my LH probably...

Traditional grip is quite tricky for me, I'll stick to matched grip for now.

"To reach higher tempo, eliminate the wrist movement and only use the fingers to drive the stick" 😮

Some basic fills to practice on Monday:

Picked my first song to learn! 12:51 by the Strokes, covered by Nikos Skiadas on YT

Intro is pretty straight forward! Just the hi-hat as ⅛ notes and bass as ¼ notes, and then add in the snare. Perfect for a real beginner like me 👌 Although I'm pretty sure I didn't play the bass drum pedal correctly bc my heel was rooted to the floor the entire time? Need to check some tutorials for bass drum later.

But anyway, it was easy! So happy! But then comes the first verse:

😂😂 Took so many tries to get that right! Had to ignore the hi-hat at first, and practice bass and snare separately. Slowed down the tempo to 50%. Effed up a lot 😂 Added the hi-hat, got really confused.

But I liked the song, so it was fun learning it! The Strokes are coming next week for a festival, I hope they will play this oldie 🤞

After more practice, managed to play up to 75% of the tempo... and finally 100% 😭 I'm more comfy in 75% though, bc it's hard to keep the ⅛ notes going at 100% tempo.

First song, done! 😭✌️

Next:

Never really paid attention to drums before 🫠 It's actually quite hard to focus on the drum parts whenever I listen to random songs on the radio; my focus wouldn't last long because I'd keep ending up wanting to sing along to the song instead 😂 (doing all the voices)

I used to play a tiny bit in high school (I was actually worse than this but had no shame so I gigged lol) but lately decided to try to *really* learn drums to expand my horizons and have a musical outlet that isn't my 'career'. I rewrapped my old kit in pink and have played every morning and I think I have fallen in love!

This is the best instrument for ADHD too IMO - like brain physio. Maybe if I tighten up my rhythm I'll post some drum covers sometime (in my makeup and costumes, make it a real Lady Charles tradition!)

💖🥁💖