Latest Stuff…
-

Three Personal Bests in One Day!
Today I practiced two hours of music. That’s a first! And because most of it was left hand finger technique. I logged 20,000 strokes today, also a first. And since I did so many, that pushed me over the 100,000 milestone. When I first started doing this tracking nonsense, at the back of my mind…
-

SD10 Swinger Sticks
I do my practice pad work using marching sticks. Big huge heavy things. I like them a lot. They’re easy to hold and rebound easy on the practice pads. But I’ve been asking myself are these the right sticks to be practicing my strokes with? After doing some reading online, I still don’t know the…
-

Snare Stand for Tall People
If your snare sits too low and you think you need a taller stand, make sure that you are mounting the snare on the tips of the claw, like so: I mounted mine settled on the base of the claw. Mounting on the tips gave me the extra inch that I needed. And I was…
-

Left Hand Personal Best: 12,000 Stroke
Today I hit 12,000 strokes on just my left hand. A personal best. Single strokes using the finger technique. It’s hard to even imagine such numbers. But it just takes a little over an hour to do. I cant help feeling though that at these size numbers, my left hand should be better/stronger/faster than it…
-

Milestone: 10 Hours of Music Practice
I just had a milestone yesterday, of 10,000 left hand strokes. Today I crossed the tenth hour of music practice (since I started tracking). It seems inconsequential having two small ones so close together. But it’s still encouraging. It means I’ve had 10 days of deliberate practice, not just screwing around whimsically. A solid hour…
-

Modified Pomodoro Technique
I have been practicing music daily for about a couple of weeks now. My intention is to practice one hour per day. I set a timer on my phone and give myself the whole day to complete the task. Something about the timer really speaks to me… Today it occurred to me that it’s really…
-

Milestone: 50,000 Left Hand Strokes
Hit my first major milestone while tracking metrics during music practice. Using the Clap Counter app, I’ve logged 50,000 single strokes of my left hand. This is my non-dominant hand and is what holds me back the most. A lot of my practice is dedicated to just single strokes on my left hand. I’m taking…
-

Left Hand Progress: 3.5 Weeks
I started focusing on my left hand 3.5 weeks ago. Every day I spend some time with just the left hand on the practice pad. I’m trying to get my fingers able to pull down the rebound instead of my wrist. I can tell it’s doing much better than my first day. There’s some strength…
-

When the Levee Breaks
I’ve heard When the Levee Breaks many times, of course. But today I heard it for the first time since I started to learn drumming. I immediately noticed the kicks were not on-beat and so I thought, hey I should learn this. It didn’t take long to work out but was still fun to learn.…
-

Low Volume Portable Drum Kit
Last night I scored a Pearl piccolo snare off FB Marketplace for $120. Pretty pumped about that. I see people playing break beats on YouTube and I immediately think: I want to do that! But.. I’m far from being able to, though I have the snare for it now. Still, the piccolo will make this…