It’s getting toward the end of the year so…playing retrospective!
Ever feel like all your drum heroes were “born with it”? Ever feel like you “should” sound better for the length of time you’ve been playing?
From time to time when those thoughts creep in, I find it’s helpful to look back over the years. Progress can be hard to see in real time, but nothing reminds you you really have climbed pretty far like a compressed look back in time.
And I’ve finally been on the internet long enough to put together a retrospective that will show convincing progress over time…without emailing old college friends for lost footage. Nope - I’m doing this entirely from the YouTube and Instagram archives.
The timeline starts in 2008. A few years out of music school. Playing what I call “student jazz”. Something convinced me I needed to be good at backbeat music to be well rounded, and it was maybe the best decision I’ve ever made in my drumming. (Being able to play back beats and big kits has made my jazz better.)
What ensued was a couple of years of just…weak, “jazz drummer” beats, and watered-down solos. I can hear some chops and ideas peaking their way through, but it’s like knowing a few words in a foreign language.
From 2014 on, things started to pick up. In 2017, I played the first “chops” thing that impressed me, and in 2019 I can hear I was starting to dig in and feel comfortable in the center of the beat.
But the crazy thing is by the time I started to sound good, it was already hard to remember what it was like before I knew what I’d learned. And, as I discuss, the more you lose touch with what it feels like not to know something, the harder it is to teach.
Will one of the earlier clips remind you or your playing?
Will this video inspire somebody who thinks they don’t have what it takes to keep going?
Who knows. But I invite your opinions.
Please enjoy this 14-year retrospective of my playing.