why drums?

[jacman]

hi gang, just curious as to why people choose their instuments.
did the drums pick you, or did you pick them?

my story, briefly...my dad is a professional drummer. he just retired this year (pro since 1936, NEVER had any other job). i played some as a kid, took lessons from Rufus "speedy" Jones (next door neighbor) as a teen. took up guitar in my late teens, and played off and on for 20 years. i was never very satisfied playing string instruments, and started messing around with drums again a couple of months ago. i didn't have a set until my brother showed up, after visiting dad, with a nice set of Fibes+a bag-o-cymbles. so now i'm playing again, and feel like i'm home.
i guess i picked the drums recently, but they picked me a long time ago.  :)

[Jazzman]

Hi jacman, I guess the drums picked me.  

When I saw a set of drums up close I wanted to play them.......... My older brother introduced me to his band when I met the drummer.  He used to always count out loud when playing.......It was another language to me.

You know you ask a very good question.  As I was typing this I suddenly realized that for the past 40+ years I was always mechanically inclined.  I am a structural and mechanical engineer, mor on the mechanical side for many years.  

Maybe that was the attraction, with all of the mechinacal equipment that drums are made of.  I really do believe that now from your question, I was mechanically attracted to the equipment.

I wonder who else can come to the same conclusion.

Good thread jacman..............

Jazzman 8)

[clearseawater]

To be honest I dont know why but I do feel it might be in my genetic makeup. I started the Drums at around 8 or 9 years old and it was a few months after that before my dad told me he used to be a drummer(he was but my mother wanted a new washing machine so that put paid to his ambitions).

Now whats even more interesting is that my Great Grandfather was a band leader and yes, youve guessed it he was a.............Bassist(:)),NO, NO he was a drummer too and ive never met him.

This cant be the whole story as my son doesnt show any interest in drums but it does make you think, well it does me.

[Commander]

Drums picked me at about age three I guess. My Nephew has also been chosen. Although I do play other instruments, it is the kit where I feel safe and at home!

[irishthump]

I started playing drums around the age of 13. Before then I NEVER had any interest at all in music, I did'nt own ANY records until AFTER I started playing drums.
I think what got me started was being at a shool concert and seeing a guy a few years ahead of me playing on an old, battered, blue sparkle Pearl kit, that belonged to the school's music dept. The thing was in REALLY bad shape, no bottom heads, toms hanging off there holders. But this guy was the only person in the whole school who played drums, so he got to play with EVERYBODY that day. I dunno what happened but something clicked in me and I just said to myself, "I would love to learn how to do that!". I have been playing ever since (I'm 28 now), so I guess I chose the drums.

[rudibass2]

  I can't remember the exact time or place but since my eariest memory I've wanted to play a drum set . Maybe it has to do with the fact that as a child , the drummer is the only one in a band that seems to be doing anything. ::)

[Bart Elliott]

Drums chose me.

When I auditioned for my school band director in 6th grade, he said that I should play the drums. Actually I wanted to play trombone ... but that was only because my dad had played t-bone ... and we had one in the closet.

I was awful at the drums when I first started; probably because I had an awful teacher. He taught me how to hold the sticks (Traditional grip) ... then went right from singles to five-stroke rolls! After a few minutes he said, "okay ... you're on your own."  What ???

With that kind of a start up in music ... it's hard to believe I'm actually playing drums for a living.

[rudibass2]

  Bart , that reminds me of the lame snare lessions they gave in my Jr. HS and HS band class . You were better off on your own . I think back and I'm sure the director was no kind of drummer but had to offer some kind of instruction to the percusionist . We all had privite lessions at the local music shops thank God ! ;D


PS   I'm going to miss that spell checker !   Or should I say you guys reading my posts will ! ::)

[Matt Self (Gaddabout)]

hi gang, just curious as to why people choose their instuments.
did the drums pick you, or did you pick them?

I never get tired of telling this story, but I'm working on the abridged version ...

1975 -- I was six years old. Andre Crouch live. "Soon and Very Soon." Bill Maxwell on drums and Abe Laboriel on bass. Groove to infinity (or groove till parousia, for the theologians on the list). You simply cannot hear this song performed by that band without wanting to play the drums.

It took me four more years to convince my parents to let me be a drummer. Mother forced me to play piano up until then, and she desperately wanted me to play the flute. Right. No such thing as a funky flautist, ma. Didn't have my first set until I was 15, but I had some chops from playing in school music programs, and actually learned  many drum set basics air drumming to the radio! It's imazing what one's imagination is capable of.

One of these days I'll have to go out to LA and shake Bill Maxwell's hand.

[rlhubley]

When i was five or six years old all of my brothers and sisters were going to get some sort of musical instrument for Christmas.  I wanted to be like my older bros, so I told my mom I wanted to get a trumpet, that way I could get up early and blast it to wake everyone up!  What a dork!!!  For some reason, she told me that she thought I would enjoy drums more.  In less than a couple of minutes, i realized she had something there!  That Christmas, I woke up to receive a 5 piece Remo kit(Quadura by Remo is what the finish said, and the front bass head said "Malibu"), a Pearl ride cymbal, Camber II hats, and a wide selection of different types of sticks.  I fell in love immediately and have been every since!

[Felix Stein]

Cause they are the easiest instrument to play right?

[kerem]

About 2,5 years ago when i was still a chemical engineering undergraduate i heard a about a local drum teacher - ex jazz drummer - and just went there. The love of drums and rhtyhm were always in me but needed a spark to be propelled. And the spark came when i saw the drum teacher soloing. It was not a solo extraordinaire at all but it was more than enough to make me fall in love with the drum set yet again. I am 26 right now and feel that it is still not too late. Hopefully  :)

[Misenko]

Well, I have always been into rythem, I tapped on desks through classes in school, I drummed with my teeth, I just ALWAYS got into the rythem. I had never really thought about taking up drums, I thought music was too hard! My music teacher in general music (I never took the actual course) asked me if I wanted to join the percussion group when I was 14. I didn't. BIG MISTAKE! I took up drums only a year ago now, when a few friends finaly persuaded me to take up the sticks (everyone kept saying I should do it) and I haven't looked back since! Drums RULE!  ;D

Misenko.

[BAnimalG]

"Why drums?" you ask?  Why not?  LOL!!  

Drums chose me without a doubt!  I went into my Jr. High band class the first day, knowing I was going to be a bad-@$$ sax player.....SAX.....My God, am I grateful to my dad for thinking that "....a sax was going to end up being an expensive hobby, and that that drum over there isn't too expensive."  Sucker   ;D  LOL!!  Cheers!!

[Lil_drummer_girl]

See, I've always been into music, before I was born(as what I've heard from my mom).  I at first, wanted to learn piano, and still do. But when fifth grade band came around I had to change my mind cause there is no piano in band. So I took the next coolest thing... DRUMS! It was really hard at first cause I was the only girl percussionist and all the guys were like, she can't play, she's a girl! >:( I now hate that phrase guys like to say, o come on, you can't you're a girl! But anyways I stuck with it, and I became 2nd chair out of like 10 boys! Then I moved to Cuyahoga falls and became 1st chair in middle school. ;D Now, I always wanted priv. lessons and I finally got a Pearl 5 piece drum set with zildjian cymbals and lessons :D ;D 8)!!!!!Now, there's me and one other freshmen in Symphonic band, which is class,AA which is our highest band, and I'm in 7th chair!So I think drums and I, I think we found TEXT :P! Now I'm working on guitar lessons, but I know i'll always have my drums to run to!!!I've now been playing for around 4 yrs. now and still lovin it!

[Jason00]

My reason is the same as a previous post--the initial cost was easier for my folks to deal with.

I too had great aspirations of playing the saxophone.  When the time came to pick out an instrument and my parents found out the price of a sax (even just renting one), they had a great argument for the drums--pick something we can afford or you won't be in the band.  All I needed to get was a pair of sticks and a really nice wedge-shaped piece of rubber for a practice pad, which was about the same cost as one monthly payment on a sax.

I can also relate to the horror stories of grade-school and jr. high lessons.  I'm greatful that my director saw that I needed more direction and soon had me working with the sr. high band and a great instructor from a nearby college.  Then there was just SO MUCH to play besides the snare and bass drum from jr. high:  drum set; marimba and xylophone, timpani, quads, a whole slew of hand percussion--my other friends were stuck to just one horn.  I ended up very satisfied with my "choice" of percussion--sometimes mom and dad can be right. . .

[Dark Drummer]

drums the deffinently chose me

i guess it started when i was like 2 or 3....u see my parents are really good friends with a couple and they had a son who was in highskool at time and he had a drum set (i think it was a sparkaling blue pearl) and he let me sit on his thrown and "play" his drums...it started there then in a bout 5th grade one of my parents other friends had a son who had a drumset i used to go up and watch him tear up on the drums i really feel inlove there...then when i got into 6th grade i started playing snare and never watned to switch finaly i moved to va and started takin private lessons and my parents got me a set for my 13th b-day it had crap cymbols...u konw the kind that are hunks of metal that bend when u hit them lol i play the livin piss outta them and eventual upgraded so yeah

the drums chose me

[Skinbasher]

Yes, drums chose me too! I didn't take them up until i was 15 when me and a group of school mates decided to start a band and i immediately went for drums.
Previous to that, i was chosen as the "Little Drummer Boy" in the school nativity play when i was about 6 (my mum still weeps at that one). At about the same age i took up playing the Trumpet which lasted about 6 years and i played in a Youth Orchestra.
The scary thing is, my parents still have an old school report from when i was 4 which reads "he seems to show a particular interest in the percussion instruments", so i guess they got me at an early age.
The reason it took me so long to actually get round to playing them was simply that all the schools i went to didn't have a drum kit and i couldn't afford to get one myself, but all good things come to those who wait, as they say. :)

[Ctrl Alt Delet You]

The drums chose me.

I joined a band as the guitarist and the drummer left his kit over my house. Every once in a while I would wander over there and see if I could kick a beat. Then as time went on I would look at the kit and I would hear it whisper "comon... play me!! even if just for a minute. you know you want to...".                         ...freaky

I discovered that right away I was able to play what I was hearing in my head. I was astonished. After four years of guitar I still can't do that w/o difficulty. I find that I have an innate understanding of drums which allows me to learn new techniques, quickly. That's a stark contrast to my ability on guitar. Learning new concepts on guitar had always been so frustrating.

But most of all, I love that distraction that drums provide. I can play aggressively and become completely lost in the rhythm, without a loss of quality. It's so much funkin' fun. You get to make music with your whole body not and not just your fingers. Great stuff!

[MVanDoren1]

I started with the guitar in 5th grade actually, took basic lessons for a couple years then played in 7th grade in a class at school.  In 8th grade I my best friend and I wanted to have at least one class together in school so I decided I'd take up the drums in the 8th grade band.  Well as luck would have it I got to play the drums all right.  But a rotten (I thought then) twist of fate sent me, since I was just starting, to the 7th grade band.  I met up with a guy who was my neighbor and first instructor (yeah he was pretty qualified to teach at that age...) who was the other 7th grade drummer.  by ninth grd. I was back with with my actual class, getting to play drums in bandwith my best friend, and getting to know this scrawny bean pole of a guy by the name of Bart Elliott!?!
You know what, it was YEARS before I was ever tempted to pick up the guitar again.  The drums just felt good be it a poorly tuned concert snare or an absolutely huge marching bass drum.  I wasn't proficient enough in my skills on the snare such that I felt comfortable playing the set until high school, but that time spent on the basics is something I wish now that I wasn't in such  a hurry to get off of.

[Drumlooney]

My father made me play drums, my brother already played bass and he is a guitar player, best thing he ever did for me :D