Creep Continued

I've been working a little more this weekend, when I wasn't enjoying the beautiful weather. A half hour here and there.

I've been having a lot off difficulty getting the bass pedal quick notes consistent. I looked at the pedal Saturday morning and made some adjustments. I noticed a day or two earlier that the sprint attachment on the beater has slipped a little, and that resulted in my pedal lower and the beater when at rest closer to the head.

I figured if I could adjust the beater back from the head a little, that would benefit a few things. One, the pedal felt too light. It didn't return fast enough. I figured if the beater started farther away from the head that traveling more distance cause the spring to stretch more and provide more resistance and a little more speddy return. Second, when I was making that adjustment I noticed the face of the drum could be adjusted a little to be farther away as well. I reduced the length of the supporting feet and that caused the bass pad to tilt a little more away from the pedal and beater.

Win-win. The changes gave me a lot better feel. I was able to get more resistance and after working on not burrying the beater I got a good feel where I could let the beater return each time and hit the notes a bit more consistently. It still has taken a lot of practice, but it's getting better.

I've found working with drums that it helps me to practice and then step away for awhile and come back. For me it just takes time. When I return, things seemed to have sunk in. The muscle memory is there or something, and what I was trying to learn I can usually do, at least better after a little break.

Of course, the bass pedal for me has always been hard. And this rhythm for this song and the quick notes take a bit of effort and I feel I have to develop my muscles a little more. But it's all getting there.

I've been continuing to play along with the music both with and without drums. I spent a little time recording the drums with the drum module and listening to them back. I need more practice with the rhythm, and the interdependence between the hi-hat hits and the bass pedal quick hits. This is no surprise, just need more practice.

It's been fun, but a little like work. I've been pushing myself to get this song done so that I can post it on a drum forum I visit. I'm afraid I'll get some poor feedback no matter how well I do for my first song. That has taken a little fun out of doing this, but I need to complete the cycle so I can continue to move on and keep learning.

Oh, I found a card for a music teacher here in town. It might be a nice less expensive alternative and maybe someone I could at least visit to make sure I'm not learning and bad habits.