How has the internet changed drumming?

Jeremy Bender

Platinum Member
I've been wondering this lately..
 
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If it wasn't for the internet, i would have never found dozens of inspirations. Early 2000's i would come to drummerworld and be amazed by all the videos. I downloaded them and was amazed how much stuff there was to explore!
 
It for sure contributed to a major elevation in chops of the average player. I believe it elevated the bar quite a bit. I would add that perhaps the inexpensive video camera may have had equal/more to do with that, but still both played a major role.
 
I wish it had been around when I started playing for the resources. I wish it had never come to be as it has caused countless nonsense arguments and damaged society as a whole.
 
Like many things, it’s changed...

...there’s more people talking, and still not many saying much at all.
 
The internet has expanded access to media resources, communication and the exchange of ideas, networking, and easier worldwide buying and trading.

As for changes to drumming itself, nothing that I can think of.
 
I can't see how the Internet has changed the act of drumming, though it has altered the way content (including drumming content) is created, promoted, and consumed. The Internet is a tool -- to be used or misused like any other tool. The wise use it productively. The foolish use it destructively. Either way, we keep on drumming.
 
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Wiping out recorded music-- especially new music-- as a commercial product has been a pretty big deal. The idea of a band touring and playing around and getting a record deal, like in the 90s, is completely off the table. Now everybody has to be full time diy press agents, marketing experts, agents, managers, web designers, social media experts, producers, etc etc. I wish it had enabled DIY alongside the traditional business, rather than annihilating it.

It's hard to say if dumping millions of hours of "free" music to people helps them develop their tastes. There still seems to be lots of people stuck in their little genres, while making sweeping generalizations dismissing other kinds of music. Mostly they've gotten really good at skipping things that don't seize their attention in the first two seconds.

re drumming specifically, the biggest trends have been extreme drumming feats, drum covers, and now instructional stuff. Or hyperactive dudes chattering in the name of doing instructional stuff. I don't think drummers are particularly more informed than they used to be. A lot of it is a colossal waste of time. ~30 years ago somebody into the drums would have gone to a few drum clinics every year, and read Modern Drummer, and probably gotten more useful information than they get in a year zoning out watching drumming youtubers.

One good thing is that a lot more of the oral tradition is getting preserved.
 
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the internet has exposed me to waaayyy more good, and bad, music than I would have ever imagined

the internet has killed the mom and pop music stores, which I think has hurt music in general

the internet has allowed more people to access information about drumming

the internet has allowed a bunch of really bad information to become acceptable in drumming, and the world

the internet has motivated me to push myself

the internet has reminded me that i am actually not that bad

the internet has reminded me of how important live human contact and communication is

the internet has let me realize that I do't need to know about the details of everyones life at all times

the internet has made me realize that privacy was something that kept the world in balance, and we are now really out of balance
 
Part of me thinks it’s for the worst. Let’s face it, if you have infinite resources available to you, you are definitely NOT working it out on your own and creating your own resource. You literally turn off your BS detector and accept all resources as being legit.
It's an experience like any other in life. The BS detector doesn't simply become rendered useless and inactive because it's the internet. It's always up to the receiver of the information to determine if that information is valuable to them or not and how. The internet gives us a lot of BS to sift through, for sure, but with more information as a whole, the contribution of an increase in good information is inarguable.
 
Well, it definately has fueled my GAS... Living far away from any decent sized music store, I doubt I would have made 70% of the purchases I have, because of being online. So I don't know if that is all bad or good, it's been fun though, but I guess my wallet would say the opposite. 😄

I think I've learned a lot of things quicker and arguably became smarter, because even though there is a lot of unnecessary infomation to go through, you still pick up on things you see/read on a sub-concious level here and there, if it goes through my BS-filter, which usually has been working pretty good so far... As long as you try not to believe everything irregardless. I've never been much of a book reader, but reading long articles and interesting topics on the web has pulled me in and given me a lot of insight, I believe. Just seeing how other drummers do things, setup tips, playing technique etc. It's hard to say when you don't know what would have happened if the web was not invented, but I believe that in the grand scale, it's been for the good for the most part. But I really miss the more privacy oriented 90's, and politically un-correct comedy.... People get too easily offended by everything, and even worse, on the behalf of others. But that is another topic alltogether...
 
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Well, it definately has fueled my GAS... Living far away from any decent sized music store, I doubt I would have made 70% of the purchases I have, because of being online. So I don't know if that is all bad or good, it's been fun though, but I guess my wallet would say the opposite. 😄

I think I've learned a lot of things quicker and arguably became smarter, because even though there is a lot of unnecessary infomation to go through, you still pick up on things you see/read on a sub-concious level here and there, if it goes through my BS-filter, which usually has been working pretty good so far... As long as you try not to believe everything irregardless. I've never been much of a book reader, but reading long articles and interesting topics on the web has pulled me in and given me a lot of insight, I believe. Just seeing how other drummers do things, setup tips, playing technique etc. It's hard to say when you don't know what would have happened if the web was not invented, but I believe that in the grand scale, it's been for the good for the most part. But I really miss the more privacy oriented 90's, and politically un-correct comedy....

I think as people become less and less able to joke about their deficiencies, and more and more hypersensitive about things, we lose some sense of resilience and awareness of inner strength. I obviously don't agree with being mean as a form of power abuse or oppression, but in the past 20 years, there has become way more "butt hurt" than there needs to be...and a lot of that is b/c of the "attention grab" that the internet allows...

I was bullied pretty bad as a poor, fat, long haired nerdy kid in the 70's....and it was the BEST learning experience I ever had about becoming aware, proactive, self sufficient, and independent. I also learned to realize that the fat, long haired, nerdy part was on me, and to make light of it...AND not to blame it all on other reasons <---- I made the decision to over eat; I made the decision to grow my hair out; I made the decision to not live in the mainstream world;

The poor part I could not change as a kid, but did as an adult...sort of....
 
I think they eventually, the BS info will lose its toehold, leaving the good stuff for anyone with an internet connection to easily find. But we’re not there yet.
 
I've always enjoyed this interview with the late/great David Bowie in 1999 who accurately predicted the seismic transformation the internet would cause across all walks of life....

The poor interviewer saw the Internet as only a trendy tool.

I still believe the rapture happened and Prince and Bowie were the only ones to make the cut.
 
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