750 words - Day 1

So, what if I start using these 750 words to write down some of my ideas? Perhaps on getting better at the drums. I know, for example, that it requires the application of time, and attention. The time being the sitting and playing and trying to make things do what I want, and the attention being the stepping back, analysing, and checking that I'm applying the time to the right things. You don't want to spend a week of solid practice working on something only to realise at the end of it that you've gone in the wrong direction.

Those subtleties in difference of direction can turn into big deviations from where you intend to go. It's like steering a ship - you need to keep it on course. Of course, you don't want to do the opposite and use all the time for attention as then you don't actually get anywhere. Plus, over thinking something isn't necessarily a good thing as you learn things as you get better. So, small steps and small corrections is the way to go.

What do you do when you're not sure which direction to go in? You know that you can be better. You notice differences between what you're playing and what other people are playing but you're not sure what the differences are.

Step 1 is to record (preferably video) yourself playing the thing that you're comparing yourself to. You might be surprised to find that you can already do it. If not, then it's likely that the differences will become more obvious. Either the difference will be technical - i.e. you know what they're playing but you either can't do it at all, or you can do it but it doesn't sound as good; or it'll be conceptual i.e. they have ideas that you don't.

The second one is hard to do anything with. Even in writing that sentence I realised that it doesn't make sense. For one thing, you don't know whether or not they created their thing on the spot. You also don't know that they wouldn't think the same of something you play - whether you worked it out beforehand or jammed it.

When it comes to creating things on the spot one thing to pay attention to is whether you really know what you're playing. I always have a tendency to reach for things that are too complex to really follow - even for me (and I'm playing them).

Try setting yourself boundaries - eg. only allowed to play in 8th notes, or triplets. Or, you have to KNOW what subdivisions you're using at all times. That way you can tell whether you're really in control or if you're just letting your arms go wherever they want.

Not that letting them go wherever they want is always a bad thing. If you let them do that and you're happy with the results then it's fine. It's when you're not happy with the results that you need to rethink things and take hold of the reins.