What I've been up to lately.

I thought that I'd give you guys an update on what I've been doing lately...who knows, maybe somebody will be inspired.

I've not able to play my kit for the last few months, and at first it was EXTREMELY depressing....but then i had an idea, why not take the time that I was going to have away from the kit, and put it into other things.

It's a long story...we've had a house guest who had to have numerous surgeries and my kit has been packed away since late January so that she could live here! OUCH!

So, what kind of things have I been up to?

How about this:

I was really unhappy with my rudiments. I've had a slight case of CTS/RSS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome/Repetitive Stress Syndrome) or whatever you would like to call it, and it caused me to lose some of my ability for really technical playing....Oh, I could still do basic paradidles and things like that-but only up to a certain speed, and both my single and double stroke rolls were suffering.

So, I began spending 45 minutes per day on rudiments. Meaning, I would work on 1 rudiment for two weeks, then move onto another. I've been working on doublestroke rolls, and you guys do not have any idea how much fun it is just sitting there whipping out the doublestroke rolls at speeds I haven't been able to touch in YEARS!

So, what inspired this need to woodshed!?!?

Of all the unlikely candidates- Travis Barker.

I hate Blink 182 AND Boxcar Racer. Point blank, I can not stand them, and I think Tom DeLong is one ugly idiot who can't sing or play,BUT when Travis Barker does that accented doublestroke roll in the middle of "I'm So"....that really set me off....I hadn't been able to do any real "controlled" sticking patterns for at least the last 5 years because of the CTS.

I could do Buzz rolls all day long, and I had modified a buzz roll that sounding almost identical to a doublestroke, but it was not the smae, and I was fooling myself. Hell, most of my drumming friends couldnm't tell the difference-but I Knew what I was and was not able to do...and it just began eating away at me.....so instead of just being depressed about not being able to play on the kit, I decided to utilize my time efficiently.

The second thing that I did, was I started seriously working on my vocals. I bought every book and Instructional Video that I could find on singing....everyhting from Classical Opera to Broadway.

My Favorite:

Vocal Power by Jim Gillette

For those who don't know who he is, Jim Gillette is married to Lita Ford. He was the lead singer for a metal band from L.A> called "Nitro". He has a 5 octave range and can literally shatter a wineglass with his voice.

To quote my mom: "If you break any of my wine glasses, you're buying them"...Oh, she knows me only too well...and of course...that is exactly what I'm working on!:D

Tim

good for you, I'm doing 10 months military service in a few weeks and I might spend alot of time up there with a practise pad, who knows, unless we have to blow up some tanks or whatever.. heh

is it really possible to shatter a wineglass with ones voice only? it would be really cool to see

I say go with the pad man, put the time in, and you'll have your hands in top condition in no time!

Yes, you can break a glass with your voice.

What they do is, the tap the glass so that it's "ringing", then the singer has to hit that note.

Tim

Yes. If you have a powerful enough forced vibration at the natural pitch of an object, the intensity of the vibration will eventually get large enough to break the object.

This happened years ago to the Tacoma bridge. The natural frequency of the bridge was exactly that created by the wind vortecies. After a few hours of steady wind, the bridge started moving up and down 10-20 feet at a time. Eventually, it buckled, and stopped moving, as the natural frequency was then changed.

haha that's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard

would be fun to watch.. maybe not ON the bridge hehe