as we grow older 40's etc do fast stuff become more boring to play?

G

georgeusa

Active Member
as we grow older 40's etc do fast stuff become more boring to play?

its not that i can't practice and do it,

its more like....i am feeling i'm doing it just to show off or something

its nice to know you can do it at least...but i don't know i am a bit unsure which direction to take
 
The opposite for me. A greater challenge requiring stamina, control, and focus.
I like to stay in good enough performance shape to handle whatever my situations require.
Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. I wouldn't consider it showing
off at all if it's what the music calls for
 
The speed thing happened for me in my late teens and early 20s when I first had technique lessons that unlocked the speed. All your mates think it's cool, by the time you hit 40 nobody cares they've got kids and mortgages to worry about lol!

Nowadays speed is like all drum solos, I switch off after 10 seconds max. I'd rather say a lot with a little and keep the speed tasteful. Speed freaks are the drumming equivalent of verbal dysentery.

It's something nice to keep in the locker for those odd times you need to bring it out. You just have to keep the practice up to keep the speed clean. Sloppy speed is a big no no!
 
What Al said.

Speed for it's own sake, or just to see if you can, became boring to me. Well no - nothing about drumming is boring to me! But it became much less of a priority. As I've gotten older, technique has become merely a way to serve the music, never a goal in itself.
 
Al Strange said:
I think fast for the sake of being fast should have long dissipated by the time you reach your 40’s. Wanting facility and fluidity around the kit however never gets old… :) (y)
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I practice for speed even though I never use it when I'm playing. I've been trying to rationalize my pursuit of speed by thinking of it as "head room". I'm probably really doing it because speed drills are a great way to zone out and make the world go away, whereas musicality requires actual thought and presence of mind. I can work on speed when I'm stressed or tired or distracted, but I need to be in a better state of mind to work on musicality.
 
TMe said:
I practice for speed even though I never use it when I'm playing. I've been trying to rationalize my pursuit of speed by thinking of it as "head room". I'm probably really doing it because speed drills are a great way to zone out and make the world go away, whereas musicality requires actual thought and presence of mind. I can work on speed when I'm stressed or tired or distracted, but I need to be in a better state of mind to work on musicality.
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Interesting…with me, musicality and creativity flow from “no thought”…nothing wrong with speed for speed’s sake though if that’s what floats your boat…it’s just not been a thing for me for many years… :) (y)
 
Al Strange said:
Interesting…with me, musicality and creativity flow from “no thought”…
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Yeah, but if I come home from work thinking I'd really like to kill someone, any creative flow is going to result in a racket that nobody wants to hear. My Hardcore Punk days are long behind me.
 
TMe said:
Yeah, but if I come home from work thinking I'd really like to kill someone, any creative flow is going to result in a racket that nobody wants to hear. My Hardcore Punk days are long behind me.
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200bpm it is then!!:oops::ROFLMAO:(y)
 
I think it all depends on the style of music you play. I play metal so speed is necessary for that style of music. I can't do 260bpm anymore due to not needing that level of speed, for what my band needs, but I still need to keep up.my chops to play what I need to play.
You always need to have headroom regardless of what type of music you are playing.
 
A fabulous interview by Johnny D with Andy Newmark. Somewhere in there Andy talks about how his one time roommate Rick Marrotta ripped him a new one because he blew an audition (that Rick had set up) with Burton Cummings by over playing. There's a lot more great stuff in that interview BTW...a great story and tip of the hat to the late great Jom Gordon.

 
There's fast, and then there is fast... I'm not sure I play fast enuf to be considered fast for the purposes of this discussion. But I play some fairly quick stuff, even in my advanced years, lol. Not just to go fast, of course. Google says We Got The Beat is 152 bpm, I'm quite certain we play it faster than that... that's "fast" for me ;)
 
I'm way older than 40. What's fast? Compared to what?

I've probably played more ballads than many (perhaps) and find them totally enjoyable IF I like the song overall.

For me, I have never judged nor enjoyed playing a song based on tempo. It's always been about the whole song.

Personally, I don't even really give two cares about the recorded drum part. Meaningless to me in terms of a song. What makes it more interesting to me is the melody, structure and chord changes.
 
I don't think I'm ever actually bored when playing, even if I don't really like the song, or if I've played it 1000 times (which is certainly the case with some of Al's songs.) My only possible issue with fast tempos is when those songs occur at the end of a show, and they're lengthy. For example, the last song in Weird Al's show is typically 180-190bpm, and non-stop for 12 minutes. Then it starts up again for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Sometimes in the encore we do "It's The End Of The World" by R.E.M. but we slow it down to 198. 😮

But tempo is never really an issue one way or another, if anything it keeps me on my toes when a song is very slow or speedy.
 
I don’t want to be fast for fasts sake, but I do want to be able to play songs in genres that I like that are fast . I like playing slow stuff too 🤷🏻‍♂️.

If you want to be able to play stuff you enjoy that’s fast you’ve got to practice and of course keep yourself healthy and strong to be able to do it at a level acceptable to YOU/US.

If and when it becomes impossible or painful due to age I guess I wouldn’t have a choice but to only play slower stuff , but I’m doing all I can to stave that off . I won’t be thrilled if and when it happens but I’m still going to enjoy the playing I’m able to do .
All personal preference though .
 
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bermuda said:
I don't think I'm ever actually bored when playing, even if I don't really like the song, or if I've played it 1000 times (which is certainly the case with some of Al's songs.) My only possible issue with fast tempos in when those songs occur at the end of a show, and they're lengthy. For example, the last song in Weird Al's show is typically 180-190bpm, and non-stop for 12 minutes. Then it starts up again for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Sometimes in the encore we do "It's The End Of The World" by R.E.M. but we slow it down to 198. 😮

But tempo is never really an issue one way or another, if anything it keeps me on my toes when a song is very slow or speedy.
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Slime Creatures From Outer Space is a good peppy one that I've always loved for its uptempo pace, Mr. S! 🫡
 
nope....fast is what got me into music, and fast is what will take me out

as I have gotten older, though, it has become fast in the right places

but there is nothing that gets me more excited than a great D-beat, or thrash beat, or blast beat in the right moment, or a drum corps running at 210 throwing notes down, or a jazz guy cooking so fast that the cymbal pattern inverts itself <----and that is even MORE cool with a bass player running around the neck

I am also more appreciative of slow now too than I was before my musical taste box got widened in my 20's....

but I don't believe that "slow is better" or especially "slow is more mature". I think that is a myth that has been created in the music world that makes people feel better about not wanting to achieve or maintain that ability. On any instrument. Assigning tempo ranges to an "age appropriate" rubric is pretty limiting in my book. Maybe b/c I am a punker...but just putting up boiundaries for no well thought out reason is sort of ...anti-musical in a way(?). Often times the same guys who espouse having a "wide variety of musical tastes" are the ones who will then box out a good portion of "musical taste" with statements like "playing fast is for teen agers" or "money beat is the most important beat".

i don't know...it seems not well thought out to me sometimes

And I don't mind it if people don't want to do that, but don't cut down my desire to do that by saying that "you just need to grow up and play groove man". I feel like I "grew up" when I could play everything....

and I am still very young in that category!!!!!
 
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I'm the opposite.

The older I get, the more I become a teenager trying to find the latest underground heavy metal band.

Which is weird because when I was in high school, I barely listened to any metal. Now that I'm over 50, I'm like, "Blast beats do sound kinda cool...."
 
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