Learning to Play

I started playing the drums several years before I became an intellectual property lawyer. 

As crazy as it sounds, I was a lawyer for 20 years, and I've been playing the drums for 27 years.

I've always enjoyed sitting at the kit and playing. To me, there are few things in life that get me re-energized as well as drumming does.

Problem is, I always sucked as a drummer. For 24 out of these 27 years, I always wanted to wake up one day and to be able to play the drums well enough so that I wouldn't hate the result. Somehow, that day never came.

Instead, I attended a drum clinic by Dom Famularo 3 years ago. He was amazing. At the end, he left some time for Q&A. 

I got up and mumbled, "Dom, I've been playing the drums for over 20 years. Problem is, even though I love the process, I hate the results. My groove sucks, my timing sucks, my speed sucks, my technique sounds, my sound sucks. Without hearing me play, what's the one thing you'd recommend that I focus on to get better?"

He simply answered with a question, "Have you ever considered studying with an instructor?"

This was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. 

I sat down quietly. 

But next day, I signed up for drum lessons and have been taking them ever since.

I've also attended 2 drum camps, spending a week at a time learning from and hanging out with legendary drummers.

A month ago, my teacher, Ryan Van Poederooyen told me to learn a song that would be slightly above my level. I couldn't pick anything that would match that requirement so I picked a song that was quite a bit more challenging.

I spent over a month trying to play it. At some point, I realized that I can play it and that I'm now working on trying to play it perfectly. 

I'm not there yet, but I'm super proud of the results so far. What I do know is that I wouldn't be able to get there without help from people who are very good at what they do. 

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Here's the link to the video: https://mincov.wistia.com/medias/wpzeb7jqq7