I am Mike from Kansas City

M

Mike_In_KC

Guest
I have posted quite a bit lately and forgot to introduce myself. My name is Humpty - pronounced with an Umpty... just kidding.

Short version:

46 year old from Kansas City. Married with a 14 yr old daughter. Playing since August of 2013. Completely obsessed with the drums. Taking lessons.

Long Version:

I am a 46 year old guy from the suburbs of Kansas City. I am married with a 14 year old daughter. With a 14 year old girl I needed a hobby that allowed me to "expel aggression' we'll say. Drums were the perfect fit.

I have always been enamored with drums and tried twice previously to learn. I took maybe five lessons as a 12 year old boy. My teacher was a grouchy old guy who never let me on a kit and used to yell at me when I could not get something right - so I quit. Probably the biggest mistake of my drumming life. I took another stab at drums in my late 20's but my "teacher" quit working with me after I learned a basic rock beat on his kit, saying I had all I needed.... With no place to play and no money for a kit I again "retired".

Fast forward to last summer - I found a 7 piece Gretsch Catalina Maple kit on Craigslist for $500. My thought was that if I invested enough cash into it I would be forced to learn. It worked. I bought Zildjian ZBT cymbals, hat, crash and ride, invited a drummer friend over to help me tune and away I went. I found my teacher online a month ago or so and have been taking weekly hour long sessions since. He is a wonderful teacher, listening to me babble about things I find on the internet and patiently guiding me through his lessons. Right now we are working out of the book "Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer", incorporating exercises on triplets into fills with different beats. I practice rudiments daily for the first 20 - 30 minutes of any practice session and am attracted to the repetitive nature - it pleases my brain it seems to play the same thing over and over with a metronome. I dunno - I find myself "checking out" for a while and it feels good.

I talk too much on here - but it is just an extension of my excitement for being part of the drummer club. I love the posts on here and have gleaned so much knowledge already that sometimes my head feels like it will explode. OK my novel is over - thanks to anyone who read the whole thing! Please continue to be patient with me - I hope to be one of the drummers who grows up in front of everyone one day.

Thanks -

Mike
 
What 'Ump? :D

Welcome to the club! I'm sort of a newbie here but have been around a long long time on the 'net. :D

As for grouchy old drummers... huh, never met one. <g>
 
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What 'Ump? :D

Welcome to the club! I'm sort of a newbie here but have been around a long long time on the 'net. :D

As for grouchy old drummers... huh, never met one. <g>

Thanks Billy. I was very sorry to read the post from earlier this month about the friend you lost to depression. Your invitation to folks to share when things get rough will save someone's life one day.

MM
 
Thanks Billy. I was very sorry to read the post from earlier this month about the friend you lost to depression. Your invitation to folks to share when things get rough will save someone's life one day.

MM

Yeah, I hope so! We all gotta look out for one another. Politics, religion, all that BS aside...we all bleed when we're cut.
 
Welcome Mike. You should write a book LOL j/k I can relate to most of what you typed. Be careful, you could get addicted to this place......but hey worse things could happen :D
 
Welcome Mike. You should write a book LOL j/k I can relate to most of what you typed. Be careful, you could get addicted to this place......but hey worse things could happen :D


:) Thanks Craig - and yeah understood about getting addicted to this place.
 
Welcome Mike. I was born and raised in KC. Great town. I hope to return some day. I assume you spend a lot of time at Explorers Percussion? I used to go there a lot as a teenager to look at equipment I couldn't afford.

Have fun with the new hobby.
 
Welcome Mike. I was born and raised in KC. Great town. I hope to return some day. I assume you spend a lot of time at Explorers Percussion? I used to go there a lot as a teenager to look at equipment I couldn't afford.

Have fun with the new hobby.

Yes indeed - Explorers and Big Dudes.
 
Yes indeed - Explorers and Big Dudes.

I've been wanting to check out Explorers for a while. I'm a few hours up the road from you in Omaha.

Are there any other shops worth checking out if I make a day trip down there?
 
I've been wanting to check out Explorers for a while. I'm a few hours up the road from you in Omaha.

Are there any other shops worth checking out if I make a day trip down there?

Mike coudl probably tell you better than I but Explorers and Big Dudes Music were the only two (non Guitar Center) stores in the KC area when I lived there.
 
Mike coudl probably tell you better than I but Explorers and Big Dudes Music were the only two (non Guitar Center) stores in the KC area when I lived there.

Sorry for the late reply! Explorers and Big Dudes are pretty much it...
 
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