Is there anything regarding your drumming career that you regret? Anything you would do differently if you could go back and do it all over again? I guess this applies more to the older drummers in here, maybe in their 30's and over.
Acoustic Kits:
Ludwig Maple 3ply White Cortex 4 pc
Rukus Mod Orange Club 4 pc
DW Design 6 pc
Tama Silverstar Limited Edition Mirage 5 pc
Tama Superstar 5 pc
Tama Rockstar 4 pc
Gretsch Catalina Ash 4 pc
Slingerland 7 pc
Electronic Kits:
Yamaha DTX532k
Roland TD-27, Roland PD-85 (x4), PD-125, KD9, CY-8 (x2) VH-10, Lemon 15 and 18 cymbals
Roland SPD-SX Sample Pad
Snares:
Tama SLP Black Brass
Tama SLP G Maple
Rukus Santos/Bubinga/Poplar/Wenge
Rukus Avodire/Maple/Mahogany
1972 Ludwig Supraphonic
Hardware:
Tama, DW, Yamaha and Sonor
Cymbals:
Zildjian A Series, A Custom and K Custom
Microphones:
Miktek, Audix and Shure
After I bought my first house, I wasn't in a band for a while and I wondered if I even needed that whole set of Ludwig Super Classic Maple drums? After all, I hadn't played any music with a group for months and months, and with the house and everything, I could sure use the extra cash. So I sold them.
From that moment, my soul died slowly every day until I bought another set of drums.
I still regret letting those drums go.
Cut it large and kick it into place!
I too regret the on-again-off-again approach I took from my early 20's until my early 40's. Then again, I may have burnt myself out by now if I'd stayed committed. I never gave up playing drums in a band completely, just never played much during that time.
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
I regret not keeping up with music lessons I started when I was young, and I stopped in my late teens. Life happens, career happens, wife happens and then the kids came along. I took a 20+ year break and while I am having a great time, I wish I could get those "music" years back.
Exactly my feeling. I allowed an unpleasant situation to push me away from drumming. Then school, marriage, kids and career kept me occupied. I wouldn't trade those things away for the world, but I did miss the drumming. It's good to be back to being a rock star in my own mind, even if I can't remember where I put my chops.
The boomy things:
Mapex Orion Classic 6 pc, transparent violet burl
The pingy/crashy things:
K Custom Dark and K Darks
K Sweet
Meinl Byzance
Silken Sebring and Avus
Dream Bliss and Contact
More cowbells than I have cows.
The "quiet time" things:
Zildjian L80 low volume cymbals
Aquarian Super-Pads
Roland TD9, Pintech drum triggers, Yamaha cymbal triggers
The long break for me as well about 8 years. My old guitarist got married and she was a control/micro managing freak and eventually lead to a divorce. Some reason the whole thing put me in a serious funk for 8 years. My wife is the one that got me out of it and encouraged me to start playing again, plus my other guitarist moved back from Florida and we hooked up.
I also regret not stopping from trying to "make it" in the music biz. By 1991-92 heavy/thrash/speed metal was dead grunge was in full swing. But we ignored the writing on the wall and pushed on. No studio or record execs want to hear anything we were doing. A lot of wasted time and discouragement.
Seems like 'long breaks' is a common theme. Man, life does get in the way doesn't it? We're all doing the best we can. We have to make those hard decisions. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don't. Of course, there's no guarantee that sticking it through would have provided better results would everyone agree?
I regret never having a drum set teacher. I could have learned so much more than I know now.
Drumming is the best psychiatry.
Exactly. I'm having a total blast playing music right now. Part of the reason is because from 20 to 40, I engaged in other (arguably more important) aspects of life. That left me in my late 40's, comfortable in the other aspects of life, and now able to enjoy playing music for the joy I derive from it. To admit I regret not being more active musically is true, but that also assumes I would have enjoyed it then as I do now. In reality, it very well may have soured me after several years....in which case I would possibly be walking around the park with a metal detector or collecting stamps, LOL.
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
I've had a few...
Acoustic & Electronic:
Pearl Prestige World Series WLX 1988
Tama Swingstar 1983
Tama Superstar Hyper-Drive (Birch) 2007
Ludwig Acrolite Snare 1976
Ludwig Supraphonic 6.5x14" 2021
Pearl Sensitone Elite Aluminum 5.5" and 6.5" Snare
Pearl COB Custom Deluxe [Gladstone] (75-76) Snare
Love Drum Co. Hammered Steel 5.5" Snare
Roland TD-1KV
Paiste
Accent 8"
Paiste Signature:
6", 10" Splash
14" Dark Crisp Hi-Hats
14" Sound Edge Hi-Hats
16", 17", 18",19", 20" Full Crash
22" Symphonic Med-Heavy (use as a Ride)
Paiste Formula 602:
22" Formula 602 Modern Essentials Ride
Paiste 2oo2:
22" Ride
16" Crash
8",10" Splash
Paiste 2oo2 Big Beat:
15" Hi-Hats
19", 20", 21" Big Beat Multifunctional
Paiste Sound Formula:
16" Crash
20" Full Ride (Frankenstein)
Paiste Twenty:
16" China
Paiste Alpha (original Swiss made):
12" Splash
Paiste PST7:
Medium
16", 18" Crash
20" Ride
14" Hi-Hats
Sabian:
XS20 18" China
AA 14" Fusion Hi-Hats
Not to beat a dead horse, but, like many others here.........I regret taking some years off.
I have no regrets. I too took time off. I had to deal with a divorce and I had to re-build my finances after it wiped me out over twenty years ago but the emotional struggles and having my '66 Ludwigs by my side has made me who I am today; a stronger person inside and a will to survive.
Last edited by late8; 03-30-2017 at 09:52 AM.
I regret having regrets. They are a total waste of time because you can't change what you did or didn't do.
If I could go back and change 1 thing, it would be a 4 minute period in my life where I was in as close to a perfect relationship as 1 could want, so I took a Claymore and where it says "This side toward moron", I placed it carefully and blew the relationship all to hell. That is the 1 that has haunted me for 50 years and is the biggest single regret I have. All the other 1's mean nothing.
I started later in life on drums and have only been at this for 6-7 years now. I regret joining a band as quickly as I did. Playing with other musicians in a 'jam session' is invaluable, but if knew then what I know now, I'd have waited at least two years before actually joining a band.
Back when I was getting my music degree in college and playing way too many nights in the Dallas clubs, I knew at an early age that a career in drumming was not for me.
I did the right thing by choosing another career path and playing drums in local bands for the pure joy of it.
Even when I got sick of playing in bands and took a break, I used that time to do a lot of studio work, which I loved.
I'm now back with a band I enjoy and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.
No regrets except the tired generic regret that I didn't practice more................"everything is never enough"...............No regrets.
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
Regret not having started younger, was 44 my first lesson. Glad my boys got a chance to try this out at a younger age.
Gretsch USA Custom 22x18, 12x9, 13x10, 14x14, 16x16, 14x5.5 Rosewood Zildjian 14" New Beats, Zildjian 20" A Medium Ride, Sabian 18" Paragon Crash, Zildjian 16" Medium Thin Crash Tama Iron Cobra Single Pedal
Pearl Masters Studio Birch (MBX) 22x16, 10x10, 12x10, 13x11, 16x16, 14x6.5 in White Mist. Zildjian A Custom Hats, Sabian 22 AA with Rivets, Stagg 20" Ghengis Ride, Dream Contact Crashes 16" & 17" Pearl P2002B Double Bass Pedal
I have no regrets . But there was a time back in the 90's when I had a 5 minute..wait..10 minute period where I wished I had never done it .
I was 17 years old and still in high school when I was dragged into this circus professionally . I had my childhood sweet heart . We met when we were both 15 . I was content playing my drums in my bedroom along to albums and that's all I ever saw it going . I was taking vocational classes in electronics and was working on a grant to study at the local community collage after graduation . Her name was Lupe and was she beautiful ! And there was no doubt to anyone who knew us that we would marry after graduating . But..then I get dragged into this thing called the music business . We left on the road at the beginning of March , before the prom and graduation , and we were gone for six months . You can imagine what that did to our relationship , and to me .
So as time went on (years) I heard from my mom that she had married , then had children . Then she had cancer and passed away from it .
So one day I decided to go put some flowers on her grave . The second I got there I saw that they had used her senior year book picture on her headstone . Well I lost it !! The last time I had seen her we were still in high school and I remember the day she took that picture because I was there and she wore the locket I had given her . And yes ... I did regret leaving on the road , becoming a full time musician . I wished at that moment I could go back and do it all over again and just stick to the plans her and I had made and not had joined that band ! It's like my life with her had flashed before my eyes as to say "see what you missed !" .
But then as quickly as that I was over it . And I said "it is what it is..move on" and so I did .
That's it ...that's my story .
No regrets .
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