I have noticed that all human activities can get very complicated very quickly. For example I know some people who knit, a pass time that seems innocent enough. Well, not at all, my friends. Apparently you’ve got different concepts like needles or crochet, and a ton of different variations you can do to get a range of textures. By the way, did you know that discovering the knot meant that humanity could now do some fabric and make some clothes? Funny how things work sometimes.
Which brings us to the drums. Theoretically, the drums seems a simple instrument. It’s all rhythm. No melody, no harmony. Simple. But, hey, not quite. There is much more than meet the eye. You have to understand rhythm. Yes, we already said it, but you have to pile them up and play them them all at the same time since the right hand doesn’t do the same as the left hand who’s also different to the bass drum (Should we include the left foot/hi hat in the mix? Yes, let’s). All of these elements have to form a coherent whole pleasing to the ear if at all possible. That’s for the basics.
If you want to get a touch more complicated, we can talk about speed. Every drummer that longs to be a pro is obsessed with it, convinced that the gig they’ll get depends on how fast they can play. We spend thousands of hours getting faster and faster, to the point it is second nature, to the point that even our DNA is quicker than quick.
More on the second part.
