Negative Progress / Quitting

D

DSCRAPRE

Guest
I used to post around here somewhat regularly a few years back and recently started lurking again. In the intervening time I had played a fair deal with a couple of friends including a handful of casual gigs around the area, nothing too crazy. We stopped doing that after those guys went their separate ways. Most of my playing time has been devoted to playing along to music on my MP3 player. I know that it's not the best practice method, but I really have a hard time working out of books, doing practice routines etc. The disturbing thing that I've noticed is that, slowly but surely, my playing has become far less "capable" than it once was. My playing has become terribly sloppy, uncoordinated and out-of-time even compared to how it was at the beginning of this year. Songs I used to play well are now virtually impossible. I've been playing since early 2009 and I feel like I peaked about a year ago but it's been downhill since. Everyday it seems I somehow lose some level of ability.

I guess I don't have any questions for anybody or anything, I'm just very depressed about all of this, and I needed to vent. Quitting is becoming an increasingly attractive option considering that my potential musical prospects are nonexistent, and even if I did have those prospects, my rapidly deteriorating level of play would surely cripple my attempts at performance. Playing is enraging and not playing feels just as bad.

It's a real mess.

[EDIT: Like I said, I guess I don't have a real question, I just wanted to get this all out in the open]
 
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Playing = Playing what you know
Practicing = Learning what you don't know.

Reignite the furnace and get to work.
 
DSCRAPRE:

Sad to hear about this. Having your ability to play degrade like this is not common. I quit playing for many many years and the only thing that suffered was my speed. It is kind of like riding a bicycle, once you learn, you can always ride it.

If you don't enjoy playing then by all means don't do it.

You may have some medical problem. Get yourself checked by a doctor. Explain to him or her that you are losing your coordination.

Best of luck to you.

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Most of here drum for fun, so you need to rediscover the fun aspects of making and playing music.

For me, that's playing with mates. I'd love to get to play out, and maybe that will come, and maybe it won't. But playing songs with others is one of the most fun things you can do with your clothes on.

Here's a thought: is it possible that your playing hasn't worsened but your listening has improved?

And another: The best way to improve is to take lessons.
 
Unless you get a teacher, then playing with others is the only way to go. maybe try a different genre like reggae or some Texas shuffle,or study jazz with a teacher.

I've been playing off and on, mostly on, for the last 30 years. Just the love of playing drums has kept me going. I never miss a practice if I can help it, and I never pass up an opportunity to play with others (almost never). I don't have a place to woodshed, so all my playing is on a set with a band. I've been doing it this way for quite awhile. I just started doing pad work in just the last couple years. Never give up finding and looking for bands. There are plenty of musicians out there.
 
Hey man,

Sorry to hear that. What it sounds like to me, is that you need to introduce some other hobbys/activities into your life that arent about drumming, or music. Maybe you're playing too much if that makes any sense and your body is getting tired, and your mind a little bored maybe. What I would do is do whatever feels right to you. It sound like to me that you really like to play the drums unless you wouldn't of had the desire to post your feelings on here, so don't quit. I would say just take a little break. Find something else to do. Anything. Go workout, hang out with someone where you don't have to talk about music, go out to a movie, go fix something that needs fixin' around the house, go to an amusement park, get some connections in politics and end world hunger. I don't know. ANYTHING. Then in a week, hop back on that kit, forget anything bad has happened and see if you can play any bit better than you were able to. You may be a whole knew drummer, or you may see just the tiniest bit of improvement but either of those or anything in between is in the right direction. Time is a great medicine

Also, don't let any of this stuff get you down. Drums are supposed to be fun, right? Don't make this a chore for you. Unless its, your only source of income, there's no reason that need to play everyday unless you don't want to. Remember: This stuff is fun.

Let me know if this gets you anywhere and I hope you get your drummer-self back dude.

Best of Luck.

—Dan
 
Ya know.....life happens.

Things come up, barriers get put in our way, our priorities change.

But despite whatever else may be going on in life, the drums are still there.

And sometimes, that's good enough.
 
I used to post around here somewhat regularly a few years back and recently started lurking again. In the intervening time I had played a fair deal with a couple of friends including a handful of casual gigs around the area, nothing too crazy. We stopped doing that after those guys went their separate ways. Most of my playing time has been devoted to playing along to music on my MP3 player. I know that it's not the best practice method, but I really have a hard time working out of books, doing practice routines etc. The disturbing thing that I've noticed is that, slowly but surely, my playing has become far less "capable" than it once was. My playing has become terribly sloppy, uncoordinated and out-of-time even compared to how it was at the beginning of this year. Songs I used to play well are now virtually impossible. I've been playing since early 2009 and I feel like I peaked about a year ago but it's been downhill since. Everyday it seems I somehow lose some level of ability.

I guess I don't have any questions for anybody or anything, I'm just very depressed about all of this, and I needed to vent. Quitting is becoming an increasingly attractive option considering that my potential musical prospects are nonexistent, and even if I did have those prospects, my rapidly deteriorating level of play would surely cripple my attempts at performance. Playing is enraging and not playing feels just as bad.

It's a real mess.

[EDIT: Like I said, I guess I don't have a real question, I just wanted to get this all out in the open]

When you feel like you're taking backwards steps it's only to get a running start. Find a teacher.
 
I actually don't really believe in getting worse. Couldn't it be that either your musical taste
and maturity, or your ears made step forward? So instead of playing worse, you'd be
hearing and understanding your own playing better more accurately, and in the end more
realistically. That's my guess.

Or: You don't yet "have" all the abilities for sure, maybe you haven't really mastered some
of it, and so sometimes it's happening, and some days it's not. As Zoro says - many people
give up at a point not realizing just how close to success they were. If drumming is your
passion, don't quit :)! Maybe take a break, some days, a week or two - sometimes this
does wonders!
 
I agree with Swiss_matthias to a degree, the more you know, the more you realize you don't know...which can adjust the perspective of your own playing.

My advice is to eliminate as many distractions as possible, start hitting the books ( preferably with an instructor) and create a practice routine you can do every day, adding new things as you go along. Discipline and desire are the only way to make the improvements you want to see.
 
Keep at it, please don't get too depressed. Most of us play because we simply love to, most of us don't have all the chops. You could be over critical. Pick the song you love to play the most and get inside it, play it from the heart and then see how you feel. As was mentioned above it may be worth checking If you have developed a balance or inner ear problem.

Good luck, and keep your head up.
 
I actually don't really believe in getting worse. Couldn't it be that either your musical taste
and maturity, or your ears made step forward? So instead of playing worse, you'd be
hearing and understanding your own playing better more accurately, and in the end more
realistically. That's my guess.

This is a definite possibility. I have seen this effect many times, At the outset, we can't even hear well enough to realize that we sound terrible. I remember, at age 15, thinking that I could play "La Villa Strangiato" perfectly. Later, when I heard the tapes, I wanted to melt into the floor. As our ears improve, all of a sudden we can hear those mistakes and it can be eye-opening.
 
I don't know if this is going to help, but I've gone through a similar thing as a guitarist.

After about 5 years into my playing I was doing pretty well. Then, I slowly just kind of got worse. I went through periods where I didn't even pick up the guitar for a long time. At point there was a space of literally two years where I picked it up maybe 5 times to have a quiet solo jam and put it back down again. In the last few months I realised that after those first 5 or so, when things started to change, I should have refocused my approach. Instead, I tried to turn myself into the kind of musician I wasn't - fast solos, technical metal riffage, etc. Meanwhile, what was I listening to? Jazz, prog rock, classical music, electronica.

Bottom line is, I was trying to improve my speed and all techniques geared towards speed when I should have been focusing on my musicality, my musicianship. I should have been taking cues from David Torn, Charles Mingus, Michael Gira and Bill Frisell instead of Steve Vai, John Petrucci, and Jason Becker (not that those guys aren't musical in their own way, just not my way).

Since I've come to terms with my limitations and stopped trying to be a musician I'm not, I've been enjoying my guitars a lot more. I don't know if this has any resonance with your situation, but maybe try and think about what kind of musician you are, and then look at what you're doing behind the kit. Do they align? Or maybe you just need a break. If drumming is really part of your who you are, you'll come back when you're ready, in a couple of weeks or a couple of years. If not, well there's nothing wrong with that.
 
Introduce some strong practice into your playing. Improving rudiments help you to do what you are thinking. If you can take lessons. I also suggest playing with some people looking to play for fun. playing with others is a very necessary step to improving.

Pick a handful lof songs you like and focus on those. If you are just playing to the next song up you will have trouble improving because you are spending too much time interpretting. Do a little charting of the songs you try, which should help too.
 
Every problem starts in the head. I don't believe you are losing your abilities, I think your mental outlook is the root of the problem. Just a guess.

If you played a gig where everyone was dancing I bet that would put some wind back in your sails.
 
I actually don't really believe in getting worse. Couldn't it be that either your musical taste
and maturity, or your ears made step forward? So instead of playing worse, you'd be
hearing and understanding your own playing better more accurately, and in the end more
realistically. That's my guess.

THIS.

Hey, man, I've been there, and it's very frustrating: you struggle with things that used to come easily. You feel like you're regressing and you don't know why.

But what I came to realize was that I'd come to expect more out of my playing than I once had, and that it wasn't so much about 'regressing' as much as it was finally recognizing limitations in my drumming. As soon as I adopted this perspective my playing began to come together again.

And always remember: what sound like big, fat fvck-ups to the player are usually not even noticed by the audience. We put ourselves under a microscope that reveals all the imperfections, while the guys you're playing with (and the people listening to the band) are just having fun and appreciating that you're there.

Find some guys to jam with...just jamming, having fun.


Having your ability to play degrade like this is not common. I quit playing for many many years and the only thing that suffered was my speed. It is kind of like riding a bicycle, once you learn, you can always ride it.

I'm not so sure about this. A few years back when Lars Ulrich's difficulties in playing became internet fodder, I recall a Dave Lombardo interview where he said he felt for Lars because he himself had gone through something similar not long before.

If it can happen to Lombardo, it can happen to anyone. The important thing to note is that Dave worked through it and came back playing better than ever.
 
Yes this is totally just in your head. You are becoming more critical with time.
Neil Peart stopped near the peak of his career to....change his approach, and take lessons.
Maybe take a break, but those drums will be there, don't quit.
 
Oftentimes when you feel as if you're getting worse it's not because you are "getting worse" but because your awareness is expanding and you hear more things that you used to didn't perceive.

It's like this- when you begin any activity you're going into a darkened room. You know the room is infinite but all you can see is the tiny space that your tiny light allows you to see. As you begin to work out and become aware of the tiny area you occupy, you begin to "furnish" that area with your personality and proclivities. At some point "the light goes on" by way of epiphany or other realization and all of a sudden you see so much that's there but the meager furnishing that you've brought in prior don't even begin to give the added space any sort of life or definition.

So it's a bit like interior decorating; you have all this newly found space but only so much stuff to put into it to make it look "liveable". So you have to work up more furnishings and items to place around the area and fill it in to make the space functional.

Another way to look at the learning process is like a pile of sand. If you have ever watched those conveyor belts that stack sand onto a pile you'll notice that the height of the pile grows, grows, grows then BAM!! It all falls down and the height shrinks. But what happens? The base gets wider and occupies more space and then it's the same process over again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Eventually you get frustrated at your "upward progress" but should you step backwards and see, the pile of sand is taking up so much space and it's a LOT of material. What you lack in stature is made up for in stability. It's easy to push something tall over if it's not stable.

When I was teaching years back kids would come in with the fast paradiddles and rudiments, stick tricks, etc. I'd give them something to counter that "ego" and it would decimate them. "Play paradiddles around the drumkit" I'd say and they would look at me like I'd asked to sleep with their mom! It was like I'd pushed over the top of their sandpile. But their base needed to be widened.

And so that's probably what's up with your learning process. Your base is getting wider, your light is growing brighter but all you are seeing is the negative and that's the fact that now all you have is empty space where there ought to be something there. Everything you've learned is still there, it's just settled in.
 
So why does taking a break mean quitting? I think you're making a mountain out of a mole hill. Seriously, if you feel like you don't want to play for a while, then don't play for a while. That doesn't mean you're quitting, or that you're not a drummer. Sometimes too much practicing leads to the "non-improvement" factor, or actually thinking you're getting worse.

Take some time off, get into some other things (I do alot of other things) and leave the drums alone for a little while. That doesn't mean you can never get back to them. Find a happy place and rejuvenate!
 
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