What got you started playing drums?

Music- The Beatles, Three Dog Night and Grand Funk were the first bands that I noticed the drummers.
Drummer- It wasn't a drummer that got me interested in drums, it was my kindergarten teacher who told my Mom I was able to keep a solid rythem at age 5.
Person- My first drum teacher who was an old black percusionist from New Orleans. I took drum and marimba lessons from him. He wore a suit and smoked a cigar every day. There were cigar ashes in his snare head, which had actual ruffled edges! He used to have me mimic his riffs and often had me close my eyes and repeat what he played.
Style- I think I naturally play more of a jazz/blues style because of my instructor. Although I really loved Sousa marches and played in drum and bugle corp for a few years tso some of that creeps in on occasion.
Inspirations -Neil Peart mesmorizes me. I am a bit disillusioned by the emphasis on speed and power in today's music. Some of my favorite drummers to listen to are very subtle in how they demonstrate their skills. Lots of session drummers from Steely Dan, Steve Miller, Elton John have always caught my attention. Steve Smith does things that are not over the top but I also have to go back and try to figure out what he is doing.
 
I'm not sure what actually happened to make me want to play, I just always wanted to hit things with lumps of wood! I would sit watching bands on Top of the Pops and drum along on my legs, and then the floor once I got some sticks. My biggest influence in my early years was Phil Collins and Genesis, as well as my diverse tastes in music which have seen me play everything from musicals to punk and all points in between. I think what younger players lack in education and what you can learn from other genres results from the plethora of specialized musical inputs that they can choose from. There is nothing like 2 radio stations and 2 tv stations to limit your choices and that she expose you to things you might otherwise not choose to expose yourself to. The ability to avoid what isn't directly your thing allows younger players to avoid everything but their first choice, meaning that kids grow up on a singular diet of rubbish pop or Rn'B or death metal or whatever. Ultimately this specialization can only be to the detriment of their own musical development.
 
Music- Grand Funk - Led Zep - Sabbath
Drummer- Don Brewer
Person- No one in particular. Any good rock drummer has my respect.
Inspirations- $75.00 complete Rockwood drum set

This is my 1st post, so here is a little of my background:
I am 54 and a lifelong air drummer (aka: wannabe), but have been playing the real thing for 6 month's total now. I actually bought the drums 2 years ago, but had a problem with my left hand that kept me from holding onto a stick. Got that out of the way, and have been playing and practicing 3-4 times a week when work allows.

I remember listening to Don Brewer on the 1st GFRR Live Album.. I was amazed at his drum solo.. and kept thinking his solo was incorporating a train running down the tracks, backing up, going forward again (you know how kids think). GR was my 1st live concert, and I was watching him in amazement all night. I'll play that solo 1 day, I have to.. it's in my DNA now.
 
Yep, Brewer has that great opening to "We're an American Band". Gets your attention.
My initial inspiration was Phil Collins, late 1970's Genesis.
 
What inspired me was a few things:

1. I watched Kiss and wanted to be like Peter Criss....the Catman was cooool

2. When I was thinking about playing in school, the musical director wanted me to play the french horn......nope. I went to watch the band and everyone was nerdy / uncool. The exceptions were the drummers.....they had long hair, earrings and smoked.......wanted to be like them

3. Chicks
 
My musical career began with the clarinet. I got ribbed quite a bit for it, so I switched to the drums. Learning to read music has always been helpful and I am glad I began with the clarinet, although I rarely looked back until my son began to play a couple years ago. He is very good and decided to switch to the saxophone, where he also excels.

Sorry, forgot these...

Music- ELP without a doubt has had the most influence on my drumming and music preferences
Drummer- Carl Palmer of course. However, Carl Albrecht (Christian drummer for Paul BeLoche) has taught me more about the nuances of drumming where being the quickest and loudest is not best, but playing with discipline, musically and enhancing the music with the tools you have is what matters most.
Person- Mom, she also said if I had to hit something, hit these.
Style- I play rock, soul and ballads most of the time, but also love Funk and Jazz
Inspirations- I began as a teenager, fast, loud, and jamming for hours. A 20 year break found me on stage at a Baptist church. I cannot describe that feeling of drumming while simultaneously worshiping. It is indescribable.

Peace,
 
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How did I get started?

I was quite a tearaway when I was younger, the area I grew up is not the most salubrious. My father got tired of the police bringing me home so he bought me a kit at 13, with the words "If you're going to hit something; hit these." Along with rugby and boxing, a brilliant way to channel my aggression at the time and the rest is, as they say, history.


As for your questions:

Music- Motorhead, Dead Kennedys, Pistols, Damned, Venom, Tank etc.
Drummer- Has to be Phil Taylor, I so wanted to play for Motorhead. Nowadays, anyone I can steal an idea from!! ;-)
Person- My father and his insight.
Style- Anything now, but when I started; Punk, Thrash, Hardcore etc.
Inspirations- Dave Howarth, my first drum teacher, and being able to sight read 'Love Me Do' by The Beatles without knowing the song first. That was my epiphany.
 
I just picked up some drum sticks and started to play, was always tapping my feet and fingers to music and it just kinda clicked :D

Music - Metal/Rock/Punk (Rammstein, Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, AC/DC, 30STM)
Drummer - Christoph "Doom" Schneider / James Owen Sullivan "The Rev"
Person -My sister in law who bought my first drums and my best friend who taught me alot.
Style: Rock/Metal
Inspirations: Rammstein! Avenged Sevenfold and so many more.
 
I played bass in the band I'm in, but we couldn't find a drummer we liked, so me and our singer went and bought a Peavey set from the 90s (Piece of shit, really), and I picked up the drums and our singer played bass. That was about a year ago and I have since upgraded to a Ludwig Club Date set, Blue Oyster Pearl. We have also found a bass player and are doing pretty good.

I like playing blues rock type stuff like The Black Keys, and garage rock type stuff like The Greenhornes, The White Stripes, and The Flat Duo Jets. Even indie stuff like The Strokes, Japanther, etc.

I'd say my inspirations are Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, Patrick Carney, and Dave Grohl. Those are the main people I can think of.
 
When I was 5 or 6 my parents thought I should play an instrument, so they started me with accordion lessons. Back then, an accordion player could be essentially a 1 man band.
Well, I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, got a copy of Meet the Beatles, and had other ideas. Initially I wanted to play guitar, but my favorite uncle, who was about 16 at the time, played the drums so that's what I wanted to do. My 1st kit was his hand-me -down

Music- Initially the Beatles, then the rock of the 60s and 70s
Drummer- Back then, there wasn't any pro drummer I felt the need to emulate. Now, I get inspiration from every drummer I see / hear
Person- my uncle
Style- jazz, improvisational rock / blues (ie Allman Brothers, Derek and the Dominoes). I was in a 4 piece jazz band for about 6 months in college and learned more about music and drumming with those guys then any other point in my life.
Inspirations- My love of music remains my inspiration and is the reason why I picked up the sticks again. We go to jazz clubs a few times a year. They're small enough so you can see all the musicians well, I'm always mesmerized by the drummer
 
i alway wanted to play the drums but i never had the money to buy them D:
untill a week ago :)
i've bought the yamaha DTX530K because i wanted a kinda oldschool highhat control and not just a wire that's connected with the highhat
 
I was, luckily, born into a musical family, some hobbyists, some pro, some semi-pro(?)...
Mom played piano pretty darn well, and like a few others, I was forced to start taking piano lessons prior to learning any other instrument...but it only took one lesson for Mom to realize that I was going to be too stubborn (man, if I knew then....).

So...I had a plethora of other instrumentalists to idolize. My great-grandfather was a traditional fiddler and stringed instrument guru, as well as a fairly well respected writer. My grandfather was a jazz/big band/blues saxaphonist and clarinet player. My great-uncle played the keys at local and family events. And then there was my Dad...the Drummer!

Well, I started "playing" drums around the age of 6. Joined the school concert band at 10, playing snare mostly, and then marching band at 13. Played in both school bands until I was 18, picking up a little varied percussion knowledge...

My best friend and I decided we were going to start a band (during the late grunge-era, yay) and so, we'd practice at my house and I'd use a set of my Dad's. Well, then we met this guy who'd been taking drum set lessons for a few years, and he blew me out of the water!!! So, I did what no one should ever do, and gave up my drum seat and picked up a bass guitar. Now, I grew to really enjoy playing the bass, but there was always that tinge of regret, and the fact that the drums were my 'first love'. So, when my life settled down about three years ago, I bought myself a set, sought out and found a church band to play in, and found some local 'jammers' to get together with on occasion...now I am actively trying to become a solid drummer, and am really enjoying it.
 
The ability to avoid what isn't directly your thing allows younger players to avoid everything but their first choice, meaning that kids grow up on a singular diet of rubbish pop or Rn'B or death metal or whatever. Ultimately this specialization can only be to the detriment of their own musical development.

..never thought of it this way, but it makes perfect sense.
 
For me, it was 2 very distinct songs...I remember being a kid and playing "Love Hurts" by Nazareth on my Radio Shack cassette player (!), and just rewinding the drum fill that leads into the solo, listening to that for hours. Being the 70s, most drum sounds just didnt grab you, at least they didnt to me - I had never heard such a big drum sound before....

The 2nd, and what led me to begging my parents for a kit, was the first time I heard "I Love It Loud" by KISS. Again, big drum sound, and I knew I wanted to do that.
 
It's really a weird story. It's 1.983, and I am 11. As a kid in a country where Rock was out of the media at the time, I am afraid of Heavy Metal. You know, it's loud and evil. This morning I go to school and see some Heavy Metal fans looking really sad. I am afraid of them, but I know one. I ask him what is going on. He tells me the terrible news: this famous band Iron Maiden were in an airplane that crashed yesterday. Every member of the band is dead except the drummer, but the doctors are going to cut one of his arms off. I am pretty shocked. Even these "evil" people deserve a good life.
Now it's that day's afternoon. I've come home and I am eating a sandwich and watching the TV. In the Spanish public TV of these years (1983) is very rare to see anything close to Rock, so that makes impossible to see anything harder than that. But there has to be some Metalhead working there today, I don't know how he could do that. I am eating my sandwhich and suddenly, before the starting of some boring TV show, there you have it: the videoclip of "The trooper". At first, it is really weird and agressive to me. But since the news from this morning I just think: "Well, let's watch this, just for showing some respect. It's just a song". And 30 seconds later, something makes a "click" inside my brain. "I like this song! It's amazing!"

"The trooper" is less than 4 minutes long. In less than that, two things happened that day: a new Metalhead was born and that boy decided he wanted to be a drummer. "Man, that drumkit is huge! That drummer is really cool with those rolls!" Next morning, that stupid rumour was over. And my hair grew long and remained long for more than twenty years. I always thought I owe something to Nicko McBrain.
 
As far back as I can remember I have had the "drum bug". Every Christmas my parents would get me a toy drum set that would have broken heads by the time my birthday rolled around (which was two days later).

From what I remember, watching Rick Allen rock out in the early 80's is what really got me to want to play. The drum beat in Hello America resonated in my brain and its all I wanted to play. Plus I thought it was so cool in the video that he was positioned up in front of the band. I had never seen that before.

Finally Christmas 1989 my parents got me a "real" junior set. It was a piece. Of course I was ecstatic and started playing it at 6 in the morning.

I played every morning before school, and every day after school. My neighbors hated me.
 
My dad used to play in many bands, including a Blues Brother tribute band. He would also sing while playing. My dad is my hero, and I had always loved the sound of drums. So, it was inevitable :)

Also, my best friend and I met when we were both 7, (15 years and still going!) , and she started playing guitar... So of course, my parents bought me a drum machine when I was 11, and we hit it off from there.

I always felt that I was a natural, but never put the time and effort into actually learning by instruction, tutoring, practice, etc. I would just jam out to what felt right, and had fun with it.

But, now that has changed, I am determined to learn and be the best I can be!
 
Music: Late 60's California scene (Byrds, Mamas and Papas, Doors, CCR, Jefferson Airplane, Beach Boys, etc), British Invasion, and 70's Outlaw Country (all my dad's favorite music is what got me into listening to the drummer). Later, Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg (I thought his close up on the "Born in the USA" video was the greatest).

Drummer: My cousin who was in a regional touring band in the mid 80's, and let me help set up and do a soundcheck with the band when they were in town. He also gave me my first Speed King and Ludwig snare (a COW student model, but much better that what I had at the time).

Style: I am a simple rock drummer, no more or less. I do appreciate all styles of music though, especially prog rock and jazz. Just because I can't do it doesn't mean that I don't like it.

Inspiration: Anytime I get a chance to go watch live music, regardless of the style, I go because I know that I will learn something by watching the drummer. It never fails.
 
Not sure why the drums. My Mom said i was always tapping on things. But seeing Buddy on the tonight show definitely launched this journey.
 
Well... I have been playing musical instruments since 2nd grade... now I'm not saying I'm any good, I'm probably the opposite, I just love music. I started playing the piano, then in fourth grade it was required by my school to learn an instrument, even though you already took lessons. There were five options: sax, flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone... I was unique, and I liked being unique, and since nobody chose the trombone, that's the one I chose. So I played trombone until the beginning of 6th grade. My mom wanted me to take of the French horn, and so I did. And I really wanted to learn as many instruments as I possibly could, so I asked my mom if I could try out the dreams (I also thought that they would make me more popular, which didn't happen). I loved playing them, I fell in love right away. I played the French horn in the school's band in 6th, 7th and half of 8th grade, and switched over to percussion for the rest of 8th and all of 9th. In the end of the 8th grade to 9th grade me and my buddy jammed a few times. Then I went to a boarding school in Lake Tahoe, CA for 10th, and halfway through, I met a talented musician and him and I formed a band. I'm only in 11th grade (surprised ya didn't I?), and we finally got some original music out. I have come so far, socially, mentally and physically, as well as musically, since the 6th grade, and most of that was due to the drums (except physical). When I play the drums, I always look back to when I was really bad back then.
 
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