Take me to the fantastic(k) place (Marillion, Marbles album)

This week I was playing a piece to music - handily supplied on a CD.

I sucked.
If I sucked any more than I already sucked I would have caused a vacuum in the surrounding vicinity and my own lameness would have been the first thing to be eaten by the black hole of my own suckiness.

In short, it didn't go well.

First up it was an odd bass drum beat.
It started on the one and then was on the 'and' of the three but then changed in the second bar to being on the one, and of the three and and of the four.
Do you realise how difficult all this is without diagrams?
I should download some sheet music so I can illustrate it.

Anyway, so I have this trouble in practice where I can do the bass drum eventually on it's own after some practice but as soon as I try adding in a high hat and snare it all goes tits up.
I think this is a counting emphasis problem.
If the bass is on it's own I can think
"ONE and two and three AND four AND"
but as soon as I have the other noises, because I'm usually hitting things on the emphasis, I'm confusing myself and getting it all wrong.
It also doesn't work when you think about things too hard, I found.

So then it says to repeat a bar six times and because I'm doing this
ONE and two and three AND four AND
business, I am having trouble counting to six when it comes to the bars.
I think I've only ever counted four before, so I'm getting confused.

And then there's this bit - and I didn't even make it all the way through the song, I should point out - at the end of verse one which has you hitting the snare drum twice - on the two and three and then immediately hitting the bass drum and cymbal together, then a rest then back to the bass drum and snare immediately afterwards - and this rest and then back to what it was before totally throws me every single time.

Urgh.
So I wasn't really having much fun, I was just getting frustrated because my limbs wouldn't do what I needed them to and I was too impatient most of the time with the bass foot.

He did give up in the end and just asked me to play along to it however I liked, but spontaneity freaks me out and I still don't feel like I have any natural feel for where cymbals should be hit or fills added so I just said there wasn't any point, because I'd either just try to do what was on the sheet music anyway or revert back to something I could do - which is futile and against the point because I'm not pushing myself to learn if I just go back to the comfy place of things I can already just about do.

I have considered advertising for some other complete beginners to practice with but I think I'm going to leave it for a bit until I have some more of the basics under my belt, so I can at least keep a beat for a song and fill in the right sounding places.
But the idea of all learning together as a mess-about group appeals more at the moment than me trying to join a band where everyone can already play properly at some later point. Largely because I doubt I'll ever feel 'good enough' to join a proper band, whereas if I form a mess about 'all complete beginners, learn as we go' band then there's no pressure on any of us to be any good, so we can experiment away and just be silly.
Really I should be looking up practice rooms to play drums in too because I really need a proper bass drum to practice on. My practice kit at home is hard to hear on the bass drum side of things especially and I'm finding it endlessly infuriating because the bass drum pedal keeps detaching itself or sliding to one side - so I'm forever on my knees trying to push it back into place.
Which just puts me in a bad mood.
Which isn't good.
Although at least I have something to hit infront of me, I suppose as opposed to my leg, which is what usually gets a thumping if I'm annoyed (old habit from getting frustrated playing computer games).

In other news, I've been spending money again.
On Sunday I popped to my local electronic shop and purchased a portable CD player and some large headphones.
This was because I don't have a CD player in the drums room, so I couldn't previously listen along to a CD and play along. Which was fine when I was just banging away to whatever came on the iShuffle, but was no use for the actual lessons as he gives me CDs - and of course magazines like Rhythm give away CDs too, so it just made sense to have a CD player in there to hand.
The box almost had me gnashing my teeth and shaking my fist at it. WHY do they plastic mould these bloody things and make them fucking impossible to open??
The headphones were the slightly larger kind which could sit over my ears. I bought these so I could still wear my earplugs under them, although I can't hear the CD clicks with the earplugs in, so that's a bit crap. It does work OK with a metronome though.

And on Saturday I had intended to go purchase a new set of drumsticks.
Mine haven't quite fallen to pieces yet, although it's plain to see I've been hitting the hi hat in ALL the wrong places because it's the top of the sticks that are shagged, not the neck as such.
But the theory to purchasing some new sticks was:
1) I had a spare set in case mine did break
2) I had a spare set to leave in the room where I sit and watch TV, so at least then I'm tempted to pick up the sticks and practice on a practice pad whilst watching telly, thus increasing practice I'm squeezing in.
3) I wanted to try out other makes, to see if I could see any marked difference.

So I had intended to walk up to Chamberlains music shop.
For some reason I was convinced I knew roughly where it was and didn't think to bring an address or A-Z or map or anything helpful like that.
So I spent hours wandering around not finding any music shops at all.
And I had foolishly worn new shoes which were rubbing like mad.
I am a moron.

Eventually I gave up and wandered back to Tottenham Court Road, deciding that I would relent and do back to the Drum Company on Tin Pan Alley, even though they hadn't been very nice to me before.
Thankfully, as I arrived on Denmark Street I noticed a small sign that said 'Drum shop. Friendly service.' with an arrow pointing down a small alleyway.
Well, they had me at the 'friendly service' bit, so I made my way down a very Victorian London feeling alleyway and lowered myself down the wooden stairs into the basement shop called Andy's.
It was a very small place but the gentleman was very kind to me and advised me on the differences between the drum sticks and what he recommended (Vater) and showed me the stick bag I said I was thinking of buying and showed me his collection of practice pads, as I wanted a more portable one to carry to work.

And then that was £50 gone.
I bought a pair of Vater drumsticks, 5A Hickory, wood tip standard. £8
A 'Head' stick bag which was far too big really but was the only one they had in stock (£25).
And a 7" Apprentice HQ practice pad, mountable on cymbal stand. £17

I haven't really noticed that much difference with the Vater sticks really apart from they are a lot smoother to hold but then I haven't been wanting to bash them up on the high hat so I've been keeping them for use with the practice pad at the moment.
The practice pad is MUCH nicer than the Stagg one I bought. It's significantly quieter and just feels better to hit than the other one. Also the smallness means I should be able to take it to work and have a play at lunchtime in the summer.

Other than that I've been looking up real drum kits and wondering if I should sod the measly savings I have or risk the credit card and just buy a proper one.
Of course the big question is what to get.
I've found some cheap ones for around £160-200 but most people on forums (I'm not registered, I just read the older postings - I dare not log on as a 'newbie' and be humiliated and berated for not reading the older postings) suggest that you invest in a decent kit because at least then if and when you sell it, at least you'll be able to get something for it - plus of course if you DO get good enough to play in a band live or whatever, at least you've got a decent sounding kit.
Of course the problem is a decent-ish kit is going to cost me £300-£500 quid or so.
And unless I get it on a monthly payment plan, that ain't gonna happen.

There are also the other considerations of
* Neighbours
* Is this just a flash in the pan hobby
* Room to fit a real kit in (which wouldn't be a problem if I bit the bullet and got rid of the futon but I'm still reluctant to let it go)

I'm going to have to leave it for this month at least though.
I have to pay for another set of lessons, so...
Still not sure if this tutor is ideal for me but maybe I need to be torn away from the theory of a subject like this and pushed into things to improve my confidence and spontaneity. It's probably a thin line. But I thought I'd give it another 6 lessons and see how I get on. If it's not working out I'll go hunting for something more school-like and traditional.

Practice time is still a main issue. When it shouldn't be. I have the time but often I'm just not in the right mood or can't stick with it for long before I lose all concentration and start flailing wildly or flagging. After work I know I'm especially tired and hungry and it's trying to goad myself into doing 15/30/45 minutes before I start to make dinner or do anything else which is giving me the trouble.
Weekends should be easy but there's always something that stops me.
I tell myself I have all this time on my hands but it turns out I don't, what with blogging and pets and cleaning and cooking and what little personal life I have.
I need better time management.
Although that probably goes for my drum timekeeping as well as my organisational skills...

[pic is Kim Urhahn from off this website. I thought she looked cool and she came up in a google images search for Vater drumsticks.]