RockBand

Some friends are talking more about RockBand and looking forward to the new release of Rockband 2. I've been considering more lately finally hooking up the system to the game. I got the midi controller, now I need to order a board and do some soldering.

I'm a little afraid that I'll spend my time working on the game when I could be working on the instrument. But I also think it might help me learn songs more quickly. And there are a large list of songs in the game.

I think worst case I can learn to play the song without watching the lights, that would be the ultimate test to see whether I'm learning it or not.

The other thing is the frustrating part of playing the song exactly like it was recorded. That's not always the point of the drums. There is some improvisation, but then again maybe that's a cop out.

I definitely would like to learn a lot of the songs in either game. Playing with a virtual band could give me that motivation... I'm halfway there...

Looking Back and Progress

I haven't blogged for awhile so it was interesting to read my last blog on learning my first Hastings song. While I'm still a bit frustrated and I don't have all the song down yet, it IS amazing how it was tough to get that first groove to now, it's almost effortless. It's like my other instruments or like many things in life. You practice and practice and what at first seems to difficult to conguer eventually becomes second nature or almost automatic.

In track riding at first things come at you so fast. Keith Code put it in the concept of having a $1 worth of attention and at first you give 1 thing $.5 another thing $.25 and so on. Eventually all those things become almost automatic and afterwhile you have change to spare.

As for drumming. Again, I think I rushed learning a song. I went back to the Rock Drumming lessons and worked on the Intermediate book. I've made it about half way through and I've learned a couple more concepts that make playing the song easier. I'm progressing, of course, it would be nice if it was instantaneous but then everyone would do it... :)

I've been having a lot of fun playing and practicing. I probably practice more than I should. But even last night was super cool. I got to some hi-hat sequences and tom beats. The tom beats are great. I think the rest of the Intermediate lessons are going to be really cool. The Advanced book that comes next should be even more cool!

Summer of Live Music

I can honestly say that I've seen more live music this summer than ever before in my life. Ever since I've gotten back into music and drums I've been trying to make time to go see live performances for ideas and inspiration.

It's amazing how much there is out there to learn and I have no idea how it all works. Everything from how a song is created to playing it live. I'm so inexperienced. How do you decide the grooves, I'm guessing it's just a matter of experience, drawing from that and inspirations of other drummers and sounds. And there is so much to playing it live...

I saw Rush and STP at Summerfest. Both were great concerts. Surprisingly, I liked Rush even more than STP. I hadn't listened to Rush in years and years. The sound was great, the songs were great, and the performance was great.

That leads me to sound... Wow, what a difference that makes in performances. I've seen some bands live that sound great, others that sound simply ruined the performance. How sad when the drummer worked so hard, I could see the licks, yet you couldn't hear them or the mix was just way off. So much to learn.

Besides the big headliners I watched at least twenty other bands at Summerfest. Everything from the Zydico exerience to thrash speed metal and plain unintelligible screaming. :) Are you ready for the silver pants??? Candlebox was awesome, probably my favorite. And to believe I didn't have any of their CDs. I went and purchased their new one and the best of and have been listening to it continuously.

I was talking to the guys at Guitar Center and found out they were playing live that night. I went, and it was great. The venue has an open jam once a week where a variety of bands play 3 or so songs each. It's great. I went again last night and just loved the small group. It would seem like a great place to test your band. Hopefully some day...

Another only-three-hours-of-sleep night and I'm off tonight after work to see Blues Traveller, Collective Soul and Live. And I'm loving it!

Still Plugging Away.... Rock Drumming System

I'm still working at it. For father's day I asked for the Rock Drumming System which is a set of books and DVDs. I made my way through the beginner book. I just about finished it when I started looking at the Play Along DVD.

I started working on the first song. The kit contains a bunch of songs by the Hastings. They're good songs. I've been struggling with the first song though. Even though there is a DVD, it's hard to learn the grooves. The sheet music isn't complete, just a few staffs suggesting what to play during the chorus, bridge, etc.

I had to sound out the grooves by reading the sheet music. They weren 't easy grooves. It took me sometime to figure out this groove. I'm still not sure I have the counting down.

Then after a few nights working on the groove playing it at speed along with the track is tough. I've been frustrated a bit.

But I'm happy to say that tonight it started to click. It does seem that I can only take in so much at one time. I need to practice and then walk away for awhile. When I come back later or the next day it seems to have sunk in and I can play it better.

Someone said awhile ago on vdrums that one of the most important things about playing with a band is listening. I kind of get it now. After playing this stuff over an over again, and now playing with the song a bit, it's starting to click. I here where I should be in the music, and I'm getting better.

The Rock Drumming System has helped me a lot. Although I thought I knew how to read music it wasn't until I forced myself to sit down and go through all the lessons that I learned it and got better at it. Now like a kindergartener, I kind sound out the words. :)