In July and August, I didn't care if I ever played drums again. Of course, personal issues had a lot to do with that. Since then, things have improved, and now I'm back asking for more man-sized servings of fresh elephant.
Tonight, it was lesson #5 of Better Doubles in 10 Days, along with lesson #1 of Drumeo Method, Unit 3 - Technique: Down and Up Strokes. If I can't keep up with them at 100% speed, I slow down the video just enough so I can. It works wonders for my confidence. Besides that, I did that beginner warmup exercise for practice pad for the first time in a few weeks. When I was in practice, I could play it at full speed, but tonight I set it at 80%, which seemed slow for the early quarter notes and eighth notes, but was plenty fast enough for the accented 16th note section at the end.
A day or two ago, I signed up for another 1-year subscription to Drumeo, which earned me yet another pair of Vater drumsticks, bringing me up to 9 pairs. I keep taking advantage of the free equipment that comes with full-price subscriptions. First, the 3-month sub that went with 30-Day Drummer came with a basic practice pad and stand. Then, extending that by 1 year came with a stick bag and a whole bunch of sticks. This latest extension for November 2024-2025 also provided a fancy Pat Petrillo P4 Practice Pad. Lessons and songs for $20 a month sounds fair to me, and all the gear is just the cherry on top.
But wait, there's more: after the Drumeo material, I still had an appetite for a 12-minute YouTube instructional video on hand techniques. It dovetails with the Better Doubles workout, putting in one place grips and strokes and explaining them like I'm 5. In the first minute, he called out other drummers whose demonstrations were "...blazing-fast examples of (a technique) on a practice pad, just so you know who's boss." I hit Save and Subscribe, also blazing fast.
I'd like to go over Rikki again, but that might be a step too far at this point. I'll revisit it after 10-Day Doubles is finished.
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