Drumming regrets

I saw a thread in the Off Topic lounge about photographing drummers and it got me thinking: One of my biggest regrets is not documenting my decades long drumming efforts.
So many good shows & moments are lost because I failed to record or photograph/film the event.
With technology as easy and advanced as it is now, I have massive plans to fix this issue.

Anyone here have a drumming regret?
This is huge for me.

The pinnacle of my playing was in the late 90s, right before the digital camera was a thing, when video cameras were expensive, and recording to 2" tape was still a thing. So most of my best playing, best songs and best gigs, etc, were never recorded.

Unlike now where every little thing can be easily documented, back then it was very expensive to record. Even taking photos meant you had to buy film, you were limited to 24 photos, and then you had to pay to them developed and printed to see if any of them turned out ok.

And yet, just a few years after that, everyone has a camera on their phone and youtube to put videos on!
 
This is huge for me.

The pinnacle of my playing was in the late 90s, right before the digital camera was a thing, when video cameras were expensive, and recording to 2" tape was still a thing. So most of my best playing, best songs and best gigs, etc, were never recorded.

Unlike now where every little thing can be easily documented, back then it was very expensive to record. Even taking photos meant you had to buy film, you were limited to 24 photos, and then you had to pay to them developed and printed to see if any of them turned out ok.

And yet, just a few years after that, everyone has a camera on their phone and youtube to put videos on!
This!
I have GoPro plans in the very near future. If something isn't that good, it can go into oblivion. But it it's good, I can save it for-e-ver...
 
Mine is from way back when I was in high school. I was good friends with a guy from the next town over—let's call him Shane—and had met one of his mutual friends, Nick, a really nice guy and a decent guitarist. My main friend, Shane, kept pushing for me and Nick to get together and jam, but I was shy and insecure.
But we finally did get together once, despite it being kind of a hassle logistically, and it went surprisingly well--Nick was really complimentary of my playing and wanted to get together again.
The problem was that they had also invited two other friends, a pair of brothers, on keys and bass, who despite only being a year or two older than us, were already in a very successful local band in the nearby mid-size city, with their other brothers. And these dudes could play. The bassist was just an absolute monster. And they too were very nice about my playing.
But I was so intimidated that I never got together with any of them again. Because the brothers were just so much better than I was that, even though Nick the guitarist and I were fairly evenly matched, and it was really fun, I couldn't stop feeling like such an imposter, especially since I know how great their regular drummer (another brother) was, and figured they had to be constantly comparing me with him as we played and finding me wanting.
I doubt my life would have changed significantly had I made it a regular thing, but I'm quite sure my playing would have improved significantly and probably pretty quickly. I totally get why 16-year-old me was so reticent, but 50-year-old me really wishes he could go back and talk some sense into the little punk.
 
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I could have been a bit more open minded on grip positions early on, I was always a french/american match grip player which is great for finger development but it was later I realized having a wider palette on grip positions can have, so better late than never to work on more german grip positions. My hands have changed since I was younger so it may have a physical barrier. I should have taken a lesson with Joe Morello and/or Ed Shaughnessy when they were alive and actively teaching as well, bet it would have been a great experience.
 
Not starting drums 30 years earlier. Never had the time, money or the room for it though. Trying to make up for it by playing in multiple churches and multiple bands at a dozen venues in last 3 years. So now, I’ve accomplished more than I ever thought I would.
 
I regret not having the patience to work out clean doubles when I was younger. Clean doubles (for me) required a massive amount of patience and time but in the end they were a total game changer. I just didn’t know all of the things you could do once you have good doubles. So basic and I missed it.
 
I could have been a bit more open minded on grip positions early on, I was always a french/american match grip player which is great for finger development but it was later I realized having a wider palette on grip positions can have, so better late than never to work on more german grip positions. My hands have changed since I was younger so it may have a physical barrier. I should have taken a lesson with Joe Morello and/or Ed Shaughnessy when they were alive and actively teaching as well, bet it would have been a great experience.
I did Rob Brown's "Year of the Hands" during the pandemic shutdown and it was a game changer. Hard to believe that one lesson could help so much.
 
The one the kills me...

I was 21. I had just moved to Hollywood. I got invited to a party to celebrate that someone had joined a signed band. Who, I really don't know, but I had just moved, so I really didn't know anyone yet.

The party was at this little apartment off of Holywood Blvd. The hosts were broke musicians, so broke they didn't have any electricity. And the only furniture was what they had found in an alleyway. I'm sitting on this dilapidated couch, drinking a barely cold cheap beer.

This guy walks in, sits down next to me, and introduces himself. We start chatting, he's a drummer too. Then he tells me he just got the gig for Lou Graham. Now, at the time, there was no internet. No music news. Foreigner had just wrapped up the tour behind their huge hit song "I Want to Know What Love Is" (we'll, actually they had just finished the tour for the record that came out after that one).

So my thought was,
1) there is no way Lou Graham left Foriegner when they just had a massive hit record like that.
2) If you had just scored a major gig like that, why are you in this crappy apartment with no electricity drinking a barely cold cheep bear with a bunch of broke musicians?

So I figured he was lying, and just some sort of Hollywood scam artist. So I spent the rest of the evening avoiding him.

6 months later, I open a copy of Modern Drummer, and there is he is, in an ad, Mark Schulman of Lou Graham's band, endorsing Gibraltar hardware.

Oh man, he wasn't lying.

I should have asked him if he needed a roadie! I should have gotten his number! I should have asked him what gigs he was leaving to take this gig! I should have made friends with him! It was an incredible opportunity to network with an up-and-coming professional, and I blew him off.

That one hurt for a long time.
 
Undoubtedly my biggest regret is quitting for 18 years. Second biggest is not making the most out of it when I was still playing, as I now realise I had all the opportunities and talent needed...just not the work ethic. A typical "wisdom comes with age" scenario...
 
Biggest drumming regret? Not starting drumming earlier in life.
 
I regret selling my 22" HH Rock Ride. It was a good one. If anyone has a 2000s Hand Hammered-logo in brilliant finish...

Man, I feel pretty confident in my playing. I wish I could have toured more, and could tour more in the future, but that's up to me and nobody else.
 
I regret not finding an incredibly wealthy woman with the means to allow me to stay home to pursue my drummimg interests full-time, instead of the day job I had to get to support the nagging flake I ended up divorcing.
 
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I'm not chasing anything, so drumming wise I don't really do regrets.

Could have I done things better (studied harder?...etc) Sure. Does it keep me awake at night? Nope

Im just happy playing as I'll never loose the love of it.
Nice!
 
It sounds like well meaning advice from your parents- they didn't want you to get behind on your studies. But in the grand scheme of things it sounds like everything worked out for you in regards to your career.
I'm thankful that I at least got four years of marching band in high school, but I too wish I had done drum corps and the drum line at UNT. My drum teacher in high school was very opposed to marching band/corps and I shouldn't have let him persuade me . There so many teaching opportunities here in Texas for marching percussion specialists and some very talented drum set artist have a strong background in marching band/drum corps..

that is exactly why I wish I would have marched...I would have made many more contacts, and quite possibly have gone on to work with an actual Drum Corps, which was one of my younger dreams...

not that I regret building my current program, but I think I could have offered my students even more with the experience I would have had marching. A few of the guys I would have marched with went on to work for The Cadets, Star of Indiana, The Crossmen....

I do enjoy teaching high school Spanish though, and at least my weekends are not filled up with football games, parades and field shows, and I'm home everyday before 4pm, so I can't complain too much.

and man, I HATE the weekends when Competition/football season is over. I love the chaos, the fall weather, performances, getting to know the parents, judges critiques, loading the trailers...the other 40 weekends in the year are boring
 
Only thing I can think of is not using hearing protection when I was younger.

Yep, I had forgotten about that permanent part of my life. I was eventually smart enough to curtail it before it got worse, and I don't think it's affected my playing or sound design abilities, but I wish I had been smarter sooner.
 
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