Greatest drumming fear

gyutae · #1 (**permalink**) 07-07-2006, 02:07 AM

What's your greatest drumming fear? A lot of times people may fear messing up a beat during a gig or dropping a stick. Or they might fear scratching their drums or getting rejected for a drum part...

My biggest fear is missing a beat during a song or not playing something the way I wanted to. I guess you can call me a perfectionist so I do need to play things well or else I'll feel like I let myself down.

DrummerMom · #2 (**permalink**) 07-07-2006, 07:57 AM

I used to fear messing up. But I don't anymore. I just want to have fun when I play. Nine times out of ten as long as you keep playing after a so called mistake or mess up you are the only one that knows. Unless it was really bad.

However, my husband always knows when I mess up because instead of getting a mad look I usually smile if I miss a beat or a crash.

life is to short to worry about a missed beat!

Davenhurst · #3 (**permalink**) 07-07-2006, 08:47 AM

Hey DrummerMom, I'd be interested in your opinion on something having read this thread....

In the thread "What sticks do you use" I went pretty wildly off-topic and started talking about making mistakes and the way it fits into playing, check out http://www.drumsetconnect.com/forums...p?t=241&page=2 , it starts with the last post on that page (post #20) and goes into page 3.

It's a bit more on-topic in this thread.

DrummerMom · #4 (**permalink**) 07-07-2006, 08:56 AM

Davenhurst,

I like your posts in that thread. I agree with you. One band I was in woud practice messing up on purpose just to see what would happen and how each of us would handle it.

Davenhurst · #5 (**permalink**) 07-07-2006, 09:06 AM

Yeah, I think there's a lot to be said for being open to the idea of "mistakes" and working with the unexpected.

I reckon you could argue that when you adopt that attitude to playing the term "mistake" becomes redundant, or at least just becomes a technical, functional term for the purposes of discussion.

gyutae · #6 (**permalink**) 07-09-2006, 02:39 PM

I think that's a great attitude to have - that life's to short to worry about what's already been done, even if it's a small mistake. Brush off your shoulder and go at the next thing strong. That's more of an attitude I'd like to have.

full metal · #7 (**permalink**) 07-09-2006, 11:33 PM

I think the worst mistake and fear that I have when playing is moving the up beat to the down beat, and it can really mess up a song bad and it can be really hard to recover from as well.

I guess to many years playing to metallica songs, a lot of their older music changes a lot thru the song.

but I agree with drummer mom in saying that I am there to have fun and part of the fun is perfecting the song and well if you miss a beat or mess up you deal with it and just carry on and most of the time no one can even tell.

Drummer1919 · #8 (**permalink**) 07-10-2006, 12:48 PM

Yea I agree with all this, everyone that has givin me drum advice always says to keep going when you mess up and don't worry about. I made a mistake at one of our shows and couldn't get my mind off it and messed up a few more times.

I would have to say though that my biggest fear is messing up to the point were there is no return, or losing a stick and not having one availible

gyutae · #9 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 01:24 PM

I think that you're more prone to mistakes and mental lapses when you're constantly thinking about it and worried about it. I play much better when I'm just practicing and not worried about mistakes and missed beats. However, when it's a gig with hundreds of people, then well that's a different story. Most of it is a mental thing that you really need to conquer. And that comes with time and a lot of exposure getting comfortable playing in front of a lot of people.

Davenhurst · #10 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 02:37 PM

I agree, when I start thinking too much about my playing and worrying about it (or worrying about the band all being on the same wavelength) - that's when things are likely to slip up and get frustrating.

On the flipside, sometimes I'll drift off while I'm playing and think of other things. I remember once looking at the pattern on the rug under my kit and thinking how it looked like a scene from the Super Mario games. Then remembered I was halfway through a gig.

It's quite weird that it's not just a battle between thinking and not thinking, it's a multidimensional struggle between thinking too much, thinking too little, not thinking at all, thinking of Super Mario and just being. Another reason why I love it so much.

The amount of people I play to doesn't seem to matter - I'll still get nervous and still fly madly around the kit when playing to 3 people or to 3,000. Once I'm up there playing it's all the same.