PASS THE WALL

Hello kiddies, every now and again you may get to a spot in your playing where you feel like you are hitting a wall and don’t seem to be getting any better no matter what you do. You may think this is bad and frustrating but try to see what it is for what it is, just a lack of ideas or motivation on your part.
Many times throughout mine and thousands of other players careers have I got to this spot and maneuvered my way through, it’s not that hard.
Once you have identified that its happening there are always a few things you can do to help, let’s have a look at some.
Firstly think about why you started to play in the first place, try to relive the ideas and influences and the music or players that got you excited about playing drums. Put on some of the music you liked back then and play along to it, you will be surprised at how easy it will be and also how ideas you thought at the time were difficult now seem to open up and become clear to you. Hopefully this can reinvent some enthusiasm to spark some new ideas.
Another sure fire way to push through a tough patch is to go back to basics, rudiments I mean. Go back and relearn or improve your rudiment technique and vocabulary. This one always works for me, its seems the simple act of playing something that you already know how to play well carefully and with thought will encourage you to approach other parts of your playing the same way.
Grab a new book or some kind of drumming DVD, there will always be a fresh idea in any one of these resources that you haven’t tried or even thought of. Once again try the new concept and work it into your current style, you will be surprised how refreshed it can be to actually play and learn something completely new.
Stand back and have a good look at your current setup and determine if you are happy with the setup or would some changes to it make you feel better about playing. I must admit that I do like this one as many times I would pull my whole kit down and apart and reset it back up and make some changes to the set up to spice up things a little. Its quite strange to play the patterns you play but then do them on a different set up, try it you’ll enjoy it.
Go down to your local drum shop (Revolver of course) and buy a new piece of equipment or new heads to spruce up the kit. Nothing gets you motivated to play more than fresh well tuned heads on your kit, yes sir indeedee.
Get out and see a band, watch someone good play live, enjoy what they do and grab some inspiration and excitement from them and take it home with you for your next practice or rehearsal.
Organize a jam only session for your band, no covers to learn or songs to write, just set up and play what ever comes to mind freeform with no constraints, this by the way should be one of the best times you can have on the kit, if done right will give you plenty of ideas and new direction to go in.
So there you go, a few ideas that I have used over the years to get out of a rut and push through the I’m not improving wall. I hope it helps when it happens to you.

See ya

Dean