Re: no enthousiasm
It's easy to get discouraged when you're first starting out. Especially these days, when you can pull up Youtube and find videos of incredible drummers that are playing things (seemingly effortlessly) that they have worked for years on perfecting.
When I am teaching lessons, I try to break things up every three or four weeks and give my student a "lick" or a groove idea that sounds cool and is relatively easy to pull off. Mainly to keep their interest and give them something to play besides reading exercises. Here are a couple of my favorites that you may want to try.
First, is an exercise/fill/lick that my teacher called "boogahdah", and it's really easy to learn but will take you a long time to perfect. It's a three note pattern in triplets, so every note should be even (very important). The pattern is Right Foot, Right Hand, Left Hand. It doesn't matter what drums you play as long as you follow that pattern. I would suggest coming up with a couple of simple tom patterns first (like: bass, snare, snare, bass, high tom, high tom, bass, middle tom, middle tom, bass, floor tom, floor tom, then repeat the floor tom and come back up), then work on improvising and even adding some flair, like crossovers. The cool thing about this pattern is that it's a "textbook" exercise that teaches speed and coordination, but it is also useful as a fill or solo idea. Now that you know it, you'll start hearing it in all sorts of songs and solos.
One other thing I like to do is to show my students a practical application of every rudiment that I teach them. Even if it's an idea that's currently ever their skill level, it will give them a goal to work for and a reason to practice that rudiment. One of my favorite things is to have them play rudiments with each hand on a different surface, like paradiddles (Rlrr, Lrll) with the right hand on hi-hat and the left hand on snare drum. Be sure to accent (play louder) the first note of each paradiddle while keeping the other notes as quiet as possible. Once you get comfortable with this, start improvising eighth notes on the bass drum and, eventually, syncopated sixteenth notes. This is a good, easy way to "cheat" a linear funk feel.
I've gone through periods where I have experienced a lack of enthusiasm and the way that I have found to get through it is to just find something new to practice. Maybe pick up a new book or an instructional DVD. You've already joined an online community, which can be a valuable resource. You may also want to connect with some drummers in your area that you can drum and trade ideas with, or start taking private lessons.
Good luck and keep on drumming!  | 
no enthousiasm
I think no experimenting for me. Especially if there are more than 2 genders now...
Linear Mode
