My drum progress, Recordings made with Soundcorset

Hello Musicians and Muzak Fans,

So I started playing drums back in August, at the end of the summer. I've always wanted to play drums as a kid and often spent a lot of time in the classroom trying to play a beat with a pen in one hand and a pencil in the other. I bought a cheap plastic/wood Kibaga snare drum practice and got some black painted ziljin thin sticks and got to practicing. My coworker told me how to play a basic rudiment and I got started from there. 

Now it's November so I've been playing and practicing for three months. I've been recorded various drum solos at guitar center on their three thousand dollar Ludwig kit all this time as well as playing at home with a snare drum and cymbal that I got from this rock and roll guy who wanted me to be his drummer. These are all recorded with an Android free app called Soundcorset, it's very cheap, as in free. 

But I digress, here are the recordings, enjoy. Arranged in order from earliest to most recent. Thank you in advance for showing interest and curiosity.  

https://soundcorset.com/r/A0kVQeM6Gh?fbclid=IwAR2p6rVdRFoG-785xgc_gvHWDqm5Ix9bu28hv4tYiFxhvO8pirq8zZ_ZPs4 [Drum Solo No.4]

https://soundcorset.com/r/AvXQoK6pCp?fbclid=IwAR2lODFdEWXAxyTQzrLYRuPp46wUVdZLdIChL2fnSSXb3IpIDlnviEsIb9E [Drum Solo No.5]

https://soundcorset.com/r/hd1hMqvf3e?fbclid=IwAR1LJIvJ_5OdxQ-DZE2_0I3dte7bjqDwV58sRhyF4H-1B6aABk9N82toC58 [Lied vor der Arbeit, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YY1EV9Ca9v?fbclid=IwAR3EGlq8YUy8RS5CD-uQ5y_pN_8dHPB8ZVlJE-RnYuCw59hvBg8SFrA5oic [Heavy Blues, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/9h-WEVEeqY?fbclid=IwAR16sa_MTa_bTMNB1QB4OHp_xNf_IdH4gM1G9pJ2HSx5p2I4JP-ewoQC4_g [Speculation Band, Orlando Drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/xYrrAAMYzj?fbclid=IwAR3VQLFUG1s4TYwTQ5F2hpqfEYRDNtKZEF61AEzN1iXa7p9SZ-_CBRUhvUY [Johnny B Goode, Orlando drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/7G3QFABqpH?fbclid=IwAR2D_p8xWSDmkZ3GFn-mFQxoUbHMHeFu8nEACLfpBMtM78CnmSyvHC-H-T8 [Drum Solo No.6]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YD6jYoTvHY?fbclid=IwAR133ioMCOqmhwupUJ2dx_7nmIqRgqhxr-9hMpjI-nvX_HUb4Q4Pl6HGFYo [Drum Solo No.7]

https://soundcorset.com/r/wv-fdYamiA?fbclid=IwAR3xxxCtf60UwdXrL4KkPAR23ndtGvGFZfVCFe40_LvCTJ7k4Ae7v4tpefM [Drum Solo No.8]

https://soundcorset.com/r/SPu6MIMlIP?fbclid=IwAR0TvY_2mnwx8FPefmPBfYLVpvFSfIZ-tVQAcoqAdO5hKfVnOA95TCejBWI [Drum Solo No.9]

https://soundcorset.com/r/1c5NoDpC3s?fbclid=IwAR1gVYHefRTtI5BegNW1x_MZ0I9_KkTRdlF2HZCOhmB3yy4xQy_zwE0fWCA   [Drum Solo No.10]

https://soundcorset.com/r/J8UoWUwkXo?fbclid=IwAR0oW-ABFdVeeKtcq-0XFwY36MhMBUNK8QVxsLDtGniU1jqh4rWFokqyZZY [Drum Solo No.11]

https://soundcorset.com/r/4jPHRMv-BY?fbclid=IwAR3AnGuyh8OTxxVggJisiYTMzu2qXiKPUgN8oD6_5orL0LToBNm8pDw6q6M [Drum Solo No.12]

https://soundcorset.com/r/CFSBQa8QrM?fbclid=IwAR25qpVKJqY6zDvl8EBg_lLmXlmMVidjmOZcBKnpUxo1eA5XcQGuL67fNT4 [Drum Solo No.13]

https://soundcorset.com/r/C377XapOKq?fbclid=IwAR3QP0ZJHA6l4ktscExanaAMKvBGTvHv9A0TUataYSduK3MAdnA0YlR1pBs [Drum Solo No.14]

https://soundcorset.com/r/-8jaSCZnW3?fbclid=IwAR3-Qp56bHGzIByZ82ZzJZ8NU7oT9PWkueNxOiVPpz_SF9uv2vpAozp_oJI [Drum Solo No.15]

https://soundcorset.com/r/QPlLp2yXoB?fbclid=IwAR06W3w9tnhjM_5GURYYOBshDVLzlHPygq-SibqRAJ2qCLRoMazGnsmu5rM [Drum Solo No.16]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeIJ94gG3js [Live Jazz jam session 12/15/22]

https://soundcorset.com/

image ai generated with stable diffusion 

The Summer Drum

Summer's almost gone, you Doors fans, dang hippies!

The summer is almost over. And what a hot summer it was. Too hot. The planet is experiencing the worst global warming ever. But that's not the point of this blog. 

Today I went to guitar center to play some real live drums, a real drum set. The first week or so I've only had a practice drum pad, which was too expensive, 30 bucks! For wool. 

Okay, so I've been intimated by drums forever. 

In fact, when I first played drums the first day at guitar center I was so self conscious that when people came into the room I stopped the cymbals and silenced them with my hands like Bill Bruford LOL.

But you can learn to get confidence on a new instrument. I just started playing the best I could and somehow they were impressed. The guy even asked to hold my stick to see if there was magic in it. He tried it and he wasn't that good. 

Two weeks later I went back more determined but when I sat on the kit I was still self conscious and fearful. 

Then I remembered some rock song with a 16th note hi hat pattern, it was like a Zappa thing or something. Or like Deep Purple's Ian Pace. So I hit the 16th note pattern on the hi hat, then copied it across the entire kit, from the hi hat, to snare, to toms, to cymbals, and walaaaaaaaaaaah, polyrhythms are born! 

Then suddenly I was playing lighter and faster, and I was starting to get more jazzy. 

Just goes to show you that you need practice really to have the confidence. They go hand in hand. 

I don't have much time to practice, what with working 48 hours at the retail gig, but the time I do use, is spent with great listening and patience, that I sort of can copy things somehow. Must be all the practice from guitar. 

Get me a different drum for every different emotion, it's go time. This is like therapy lol. Cathartic. 

Holding out for a 7-string

 

Hey, how's it going? I haven't been writing too much lately because the new job position (cheese department clerk) has got me super tired after my shifts. I've been able to keep up with my guitar playing, even attending this week's open jam night at Peties Place, and I'm going to jam with a bass player and another guitarist tomorrow afternoon at my place before work. Wowzah! I haven't been able to keep up with my gaming too much, which does make me a little sad. I was playing Heroes of the Storm today and I was definitely noticing that my playing was much worse than it usually is-because I haven't been playing too often. *Sigh*, disappointment intensifies. 

I did manage to play like two games of Heroes and two matches of World of Warcraft battlegrounds. It was pretty fun. I wish I played more but I had to let my brother sleep, he probably has an early shift tomorrow. I hope my job doesn't stop me from doing everything I usually do. I don't want to stop gaming as much just because of work. At the same time though I don't want to lose out on precious guitar practice and jamming time because of it either. It all comes down to using my time wisely and to the best of my abilities. Being tired sure makes it hard though!

Right now I'm holding out for a 7-string guitar. My birthday is coming up on September 25 so I'm hoping to get the guitar on the same week as my bday. I've been shopping around online and there's some pretty cheap models. I don't want to go too cheap. I was thinking about spending about $200-$250 at max. I don't need a super nice guitar, I just want a cool looking 7-string to practice new jazz chord voicings and bring to jam sessions.

My guitar playing has really improved. I can't wait until after Labor Day so the tambourine/hand percussionist can email me the tracks of my jam from this week. It was really fucking good. I think its the best jam I've ever done there. It was a three song set and we played a jazzed up version of Stormy Monday, a rock and roll jam based on the rock and roll riff by Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix's Hey Joe. It turned out to be great even though the other guitarist wasn't so hot on any of it. However, the drummer was a total rock and roller and he played great, especially on the rock and roll jam and Hey Joe. It was pretty sweet. It was a really busy jam night, and I didn't get to play until about 12:30 am but hey that's alright. I rocked the fucking house. Now that I know that most people there can't play jazz really I'm going to stick to more straight up rock and roll there. Maybe even start singing some classic rock tunes. I was thinking stuff like Knocking on Heaven's Door, Fire, and Hare Krishna. Simple tunes that have the same chords over and over so its easy for me to sing and solo over. Great idea, amiright?

Back to the 7-string guitar. The brands I'm looking at the most right now is Jackson and Schecter. I can get a great Jackson for $200 but the Schecters run for about $250. Both are within my budget but I'm thinking about going with the Schecter just because I already own a Jackson. However, brand loyalty is totally something I'm capable of haha. I love Jackson, they're a great company and I've played the $200 model loads of times and it was great every time. So we will see.

More articles to come in the next couple days and weeks. I want to get back into writing about games but just haven't gotten around to it. I'm definitely going to do an article about Kel'Thuzad from Heroes of the Storm. He seems bad ass and he hasn't even been released yet on the live servers, he's only on the ptr (public test servers).

Watch this space

New Axe, A Four String Twanger

I just recently bought this bass pictured above. This is the Guitar Center picture of it. It's now sitting peacefully in my living room, along with my other axes. This includes a red Hagstrom Super Swede Les Paul modded with a Seymour Duncan Jazz Pickup in the neck and DiZimazio Super Distortion Pickup in the bridge, a white Jackson Dinky with a Floyd Rose, and a Granada classical guitar.

I'm definitely ballin' super hard when it comes to musical equipment. The best part is that equipped with this bass me and my friends will be able to get our band going. I'm teaching my friends guitar and bass respectively and so far they're doing a great job picking it up. They still have some way before they can jam or improvise together but I've been teaching them easy riffs that I improvise and I'm also teaching them Smoke on the Water and Iron Man. I've been so immersed in teaching them music every-time we hang out now. I'm officially a music teacher. I've had guitar students in the past but none of those other people had as much promise or showed off too much skill in early development of playing the instrument.

This is all pretty exciting. The bass was a gift to myself for my birthday but I was thinking that eventually my other friend would borrow it to practice and git good on his own as well as learning from me when we hang out. We'll wait and see. The first day he practiced the bass he said he was interested in buying his own. We did see cheap basses at Guitar Center for as low as 80 bucks.

I was thinking the band would start off pretty punk, and then as the guys get better and faster we'd improve the riffs, make them more metal, and add some jazzy flair in there as well. We'll have to wait and see.

As far as the drummer goes we're still unsure. I was thinking about just using a drum machine or programs for recording purposes until we figure out about live drums. We want our other good friend to be the drummer but he's always too low on dough to afford to buy a kit and he lives in a small apartment so we'd have to stash it at my house or something.

The difficulties of starting a band. Hopefully we can make some great music together! I'll keep you updated on the guys' improvement and my teaching methodology.

A day in the life at Guitar Center

Today I went into Guitar Center after having not been for some six months. That's a super long time to not have any guitar strings changed or any maintenance-especially on my electrics. I went in to get my strings changed on my Hagstrom Super Swede Les Paul. I'm too lazy to change them myself and I like going to the store because that means I can loiter and play all the cool gear that I probably won't buy.

When I got there they were filming for some reason. So I had to move out of their shots. They said they weren't filming audio and all the film crew's women and even some of the guys were going gaga over my playing. This hot black woman kept smiling at me and this one dude said I was amazing. Talk about high praise! I felt really good about myself. Not to mention the fact that girls with their boyfriends kept looking my way. When you're a good guitar player people sure notice you. But you wanted to know about the gear right?

I played three guitars. I plugged in a Steve Vai Ibanez Jem model into a Fender Deluxe amp and fired it up. A little out of tune but nothing a few tweaks of the knob couldn't fix. I played a bit of Four on Six by Wes Montgomery and went into some extended jazz soloing. My bebop licks have definitely improved through the last two years studying jazz on my own. Because I couldn't figure out how to get a heavy metal sounding gain through the Fender amp I only played clean stuff on the Jem. It works great as a jazz guitar surprisingly. I asked a guitar staffer about how to get a rockish sound out of a Fender amp and he couldn't figure it out for the life of him. They really don't know their stuff at Guitar Center when it comes to gear. Eventually he gave up and told me to try out a Peavy or Line 6 Spider-amps that I'm not fond of.

The second guitar I played was an Ibanez 7-string with a slanted neck. It was weird trying to get used to the slanted neck but I managed to blast out a few interesting djent riffs, chugging on the bottom strings. The Peavy amp did sound great for this guitar so the staff did have a good recommendation there. I'm a lot better at metal stuff on the 'ol six-string twanger. But I'm definitely down to play more seven-string in the future.

The last guitar I played was a Grestch hollow-body with a bigsby bridge and whammy bar (wang bar). This was by far the best guitar I played and sounded the best for my style-which lately has been straight ahead jazz and bebop with some strong neoclassical influence. This guitar just sounded amazing even using the Peavy-on a clean setting of course. The high light was playing Fly Me to the Moon, Mr. Sandman, and improvising some solos. The tone sung sweetly like an angel. It was beautiful. I liked it so much that I'm thinking of going back and picking it up next month for my birthday.

By this time I had played well over an hour and I was moderately loud. None of the staffers ever said anything even though the place was hella busy with all kinds of people shopping and getting helped by salesmen. I guess when you're good nobody ever has a need to tell you to turn down.

They restrung my Hagstrom and did a good job. They cleaned it up for me too so now its all sparkly. As good as I am at guitar and all the compliments and good vibes I got I realize as a musician that I still have a long way to go. We're always striving to become better musicians. You never stop growing or evolving. My plan is to keep working on jazz standards and memorize at least twenty or thirty tunes from memory and be able to play them in public. I could play outside on an acoustic in public places and have a case laid out for cash. This would be a lot easier than forming a band and having to find a venue to play and practice-all that rigmarole. I just want to keep getting better and loving what I do. I'll let you know when I'm playing live somewhere. Until then I'll be woodshedding standards.