View Single Post
Old 05-03-2004, 09:53 AM   #11 (permalink)
trickg
Forte User
 
trickg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Glen Burnie, Maryland
Posts: 2,054
trickg is an unknown quantity at this point
Send a message via AIM to trickg
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesfrmphilly
I'm not an expert but most of the things you're talking about might be resolved by getting enough rest.
While I agree that getting enough rest is important, the reason that my chops are suffering is because I don't practice enough, plain and simple.

The last few years my practicing has been for maintenance and learning new music. I really haven't taken the time to work on my technique in quite a while, and over the last six months or so, much of my practice time has been devoted to learning tunes behind a drum kit because I have been serving as the drummer for my church's praise team. Because of that, my technique has slowly eroded to the point where although I can still get through a rock band or big band gig ok, there is no way I would take a legit gig for pay. It isn’t really a matter of strength in my chops, but a matter of fine control.

I got back on the horn last night, but I’m not sure that taking a day off was such a smart idea. I hit a point with my chops where I decided that it was best not to push them because they just weren’t doing what I needed them to do. Sometimes you have to know when to quit and I made that decision about 30 minutes into my practicing last night. I figured that there was no point in pushing my chops past fatigue if they weren’t responding so I stopped after my long tones and some basic articulation exercises. I’m sure it will be better tonight.
__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius
trickg is offline   Reply With Quote