heh...I'd like to get a drum and learn to play it, but I know that all of the above apply to me, so I wouldn't dare try to jam with anyone...lol.

My husband would LOVE this post. He's been drumming for about twenty years and I've heard this rant out of him before. Way to go!

Ooooh this is par for course in just about any percussion group. I have a weekly drum and dance event that I go to and I think I've seen just about every type of drummer there is. In my neck of the woods we have this phenominon that I have dubbed "Mr. Solo Terrorist Drummer." He's the guy who always shows up with the biggest Djembe that he can stuff into his car. He shows up late and feels free to jump right in without warming up on the side lines or getting a feel for what's already going on. He ALWAYS decides that the rhythm needs changing the moment he starts playing and bangs the snot out of the center of his poor drum head in a 2/4 until he's thrown off everybody and they're all forced to follow him. Sadly this isn't just one guy; this is about 20 guys who all show up late, one right after the other and do their damded best to screw things up for a good 30 minutes.

This is why the good dancers either get there really early, bring their favorite drummers with them and dance before the squad of Solo Terrorist Drummers get there... or they wait until later in the evening after the last of them has shown up and things are balancing out.

I went to an event last year which was probably the worst I have ever been to. It was so bad that I was actually laughing openly about it. Every single drummer, except for one, was completely drunk. They were so drunk that they couldn't even stand up without stumbling around and in this state they were ALL drumming. I laughed because it was an epic train wreck and because the desperate looks on the one sober guy's face were just so priceless.

I will keep a beat on just about anything from body parts to spaghetti pots so I'm not all that picky about what I drum on. My father was a handbone champ and I like to think that I have some decent palmas skills. I can do background type percussion on a doumbek for ME rhythms but I'm not comfortable about soloing. However I will almost always take the lead for trance music because the last thing you want is a performance drummer taking the lead for that and pooping out after a couple hours. I giggle at the pretty drum people who's skills are below mine when it comes to performance music. I'm not a great performance musician but I do alright and I think I might actually own the fugliest drum on the planet. It's not Dumbo's Magic Feather... a pretty drum will not make you play better if your basic skills are lacking.

~*Shpooner*~

I love to drum, but I don't call myself a drummer. I like just playing the basic rhythm, and love it when I can get in a circle with a solid drum leader. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen often. Too many people just plain can't count. Sometimes I think people should be tested for a sense of rhythm before they're allowed to buy a drum..no rhythm, no drum.

I feel the need to mention that the ME drum circle in San Diego amongst the Scadians was probably the best regular group of musicians I have ever had the pleasure of associating with. If there are any SD drummers on this list... just pat yourselves on the back right now because nearly 10 years later I still love you guys.

~*Spoonie*~

I've been drumming for a while ... and do take classes ... and can't always remember the names of the rhythms, but I do play them reasonably well. We have a guy who has a degree in percussion who seems to think he has to get into serious poundage every time he touches the damned thing. Here we are learning a new rhythm and I'm trying to hear it clearly from the guy who is teaching it and our favorite old guy starts pounding it ... just a tiny bit off right into my ear. Annoys the hell out of me, especially when we are starting out learning the base rhythm and he is automatically going to the most complicated one on the page and pounding it in such a way that I have lost the basic one. It's difficult for me to learn with him around. He is good, but too damned loud.

And the guy who thinks he's great, but treats drumming like a race to the finish line. He goes too fast and throws off what the rest of us are trying to accomplish. And thinks he can be gone for months and join up with us for a performance we have been prepping for for the past 2 months with two weeks of practice. And does flourishes that DO NOT go with the music we are playing and set me on my ear. Thank Gods we have rules!

Then there are the drummers who have been "drumming" for years and only know beledi ... and only want to play that ... and can't figure out the other rhythms we are playing ... and get pissed that we want to get away from their most sacred of rhythms. They can't improv at all ... and are shocked that I have only been taking my drumming seriuously for about a year and a half.

And it shocks and upsets some drummers ... but I do dance on top of one of my drums. (I only have 2, but I ain't dancing on the MOP inlaid one because I think I will destroy it) Yep. I have some kick ass balance that I worked on for years with balancing on all sorts of things as a child, then doing martial arts for years. I dance on my drum ... some of the FDHBers have seen me. I purposely have learned how to pretend I am losing my balance in a simple move just to rebalance for something more complicated. It's fun ... and most people are scared to try it, so I LOVE IT!!!!!!

This is an aweseomely timed rant!! I'm no star on the drum but I can keep the baseline going with the basics and am still amazed when other drummers 'fall off the bus'. Maybe they are smokin' too much of the good stuff beforehand but how freakin hard is it to mess up an Ayub (my 5 year old can play that), or Malfouf? One gal picked up my drum the other weekend and I taught her the bare bones beledi and she did better than the self proclaimed drumming gods that showed up around our campfire.