Re: What made you want to play drums more than anything?
This is actually kind of an odd story, so here it is:
When I was about 11, I found out that we were moving to a new house to be closer to my dad's 7-11 franchise that he bought. I had been a ghetto/gangsta kid who wore clothes that came up almost to my knees, and I never really listened to rock, or any music very much for that matter. When we moved, I found that this town was the
TOTAL opposite of where I used to live. So, I liked to go with the flow, and for about a year, I started to grow my hair out, to about my back. Then my older bro, who is 5 years and 20 days older than me(and my sister was born on the exact same day as my bro, were all born in July, and my b-day is 20 days away from both of them, so I'm the middle/trouble child ^L^), started listening to music like System Of A Down. He picked up the guitar, and soon was interested. Then I think that sparked something in me, my brother was like a really close friend to me, and he still sort of is but he's gone at college and comes home every weekend
, and one day, he wanted to get an amp for his new Ibanez Starter guitar, idk what it's actually name was, but he wanted to be just like the guitarist in S.O.A.D. I guess, and I think that's why I always love reading all these posts about you guys and your gear and what you think about other drums and gear, because I always saw my bro looking at guitars and researching on them. Anyway, I was talking to him in the car on the way to Guitar Center (oh ya, and I played Alto Sax for about 3 years, and I was really really good at it too, the best in my band classes at school, but I was never really motivated enough to go to band class in 5th grade cuz I really loved hanging out instead of playing music) and he said "Warren, this girl in band plays drums, and I think you should try them, cuz she says they're really fun", I almost always listened to what my older bro said cuz he was pretty much my second dad, unless I got into those big bro little bro fights with him, so I saw this 200$ Sound Percussion Piano Black set, and I had the money to buy it, I think the guy at GC tried all he could to make this thing sound better than it was in words, and I took his word for it. So I ended up buy a drumset that fits in 1 box, knowing
ABSOLUTLEY nothing about drums, I went home, and set it up, with my bro to help me of course. It was funny, cuz I put the drum head OVER the hoop, instead of under the hoop on the bass drum, and I put the hi-hat clamp on wrong, and didn't figure to how to really put it on until 2 years later. But I played it every time I could, I even faked sick a couple of times to get out of school and play the kit. My grandma actually liked me playing the kit, but it kind of made me mad that she would mock me and laugh while saying "go play your boom bang, or what do you call it", then I would hit stuff as hard as I could and she would try to calm me down. I think that's how it all started, knowing absolutley NOTHING about drums, and just following the crowd sort of, and today, I have a Gretsch Catalina Birch Vintage Burst 5 piece shell fusion pack, I think I got ripped sort of, for about 600$, and you could get it off Musicians Friend for 550$ :/, but I'm still happy. I have my old cymbals that came with my Sound Percussion set that sound okay, they're a 16" Ride/crash (at least I think?) and a pair of 12-13" hi's, and a squeeky as hell hi-hat pedal and a really bad no cam bass drum pedal. I'm happy with what I have, and I've merged my floor tom from my Sound Percussion kit with my Gretsch Catalina Birch, and it actually sounds really good. This is my story of how I got into drums, and now I play a lot, but sometimes I don't, cuz sometimes I think that my neighbors think that I suck, but now my mom's getting me a private teacher, and I think I have fulfilled my dream of getting a great set, and now to work on getting a DB pedal, new cymbals, new stands, and working on drumming. Thanks to all of you that took the time to read this.
-Warren