“Ya know?... Maybe you just don’t have it…”


Fact: Some people have it, some people don’t. I don’t call myself a drummer simply because I have an interest in drums or because own a drum set. There is more to being a drummer than just having the internal drive to want to do so. When my interest first sparked in drums and I got my first drum set, I was playing 4-8 hours a day, at least 5 days a week and the weekends as well. Since I have gotten older, and am going to college, I didn’t lose the time for it, or let “life get in the way”. Despite my busy schedule I still constantly get the itch to play drums everyday, and I still manage to average an hour a day 7 days a week and have maintained that at least that for 8 years now. Ever since I started playing drums and my skills grew, if I heard a drummer do something or I thought of something in my head, I wouldn’t stop until I figured it out. I don’t mean figured it out like “yea, I know what he is doing” - I mean figured it out like “I can play what he is playing and show you what he is doing.” When listening/studying/analyzing music/trying to record music in the studio, I have come across people that seem to mistake “knowing what’s going on” for “they really have no clue what the shit is going on”. I’m sure how this happens. First of all, it may come from simply not practicing your instrument (whatever it may be) on a regular basis. Maybe in the case previously mentioned, it seems to be one of those people that think they have it, when in fact, something is lacking. That something may not just be hearing (or even not hearing) when you are sharp or flat, but rather the lack of confidence you seem to have, because you are obviously making up all this shit on the spot, and singing it 8 different ways on 8 different takes instead of singing it the same way on 8 different takes which is how you should do it (say, how it is written). Then again, if it takes you 8 takes, you probably shouldn't be recording. I can’t present much more than these things before I will just have to sing it for you (which could end up happening): a complete song, with lyrics, and a melody, sectioned out by verse and chorus, charted out, with the lyrics following the pitches along the staff, with a synth guitar in the back of the mix playing exactly what is charted and what you are supposed to be singing. Then, after all that, it should be known that pre-production has been done, probably about 2 months prior, and the songs have been collecting dust for weeks, not being rehearsed when I was told they were. You can lead the horse to the water but you can’t make it drink. Well at this point the horse should just want to drink and move on with its life. Instead, now everyone in the room feels uncomfortable and the vibe sucks because you don’t have your shit down, when you say you do, and time is being wasted because you like to blurt out “I’m sorry” for screwing up in the middle of the take, but then you get all irritated with the engineer when the tape is stopped – claiming you were going to keep going when you clearly fucked up anyways. Well guess what, the take sucked ass, so let’s try it again, and then if we get a good take - or not, we’re moving on.