Observation #19 - Drums

OK, maybe it's part of my mid life crisis, but I took up playing the drums again a few years ago. Had not played since high school, never was much good but I like being loud, just ask my wife, I'm about as loud a guy can be in most everything I do so the drums kind of fit for me. Drums can be the perfect instrument for someone that likes music but not seriously enough to take the time to be good at it, you just got to be loud.

I took it one step further, I play digital drums meaning that they are computerized basically. They set up like the real thing but instead of skins they have triggers that pick up the beat each time a head is struck and sends a signal to the controller to make whatever sound is assigned to that particular drum head, pretty cool eh? I am a musically inclined techno geek. Another nice feature about these types of drums is that depending on your controller you can feed your CD or DVD player through it and scrub the drum track out so you're playing it yourself along to the CD or DVD. As a result I have played for some of the true greats, the Eagles, Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffett, Heart, Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Queen (hate to admit that, it doesn't mean a thing), Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker and Neil Diamond. I know Neil Diamond, how does that fit? Hard to say, a childhood favorite I guess although it is very difficult to go from Van Halen to Neil Diamond.

I have also played all the great locations, The Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Auditorium, Red Rocks Amphitheater and Wembley Stadium, I am living vicariously through my DVDs, which is kind of sad in itself. However, in my mind I am a celebrity of sorts, a real music mogul to be held in awe by all those around me, at least until the DVD ends.

Another great thing about playing the drums this way is again, you don't need to be good, just loud. If you screw up, just do it loud and it sounds like it belongs. It's also great for taking out aggression, annoying your wife and ticking off your neighbors, although my wife likes me to play the drums for her. I still can't tell if it's a case of her using reverse psychology on me, it's all very confusing. Overall, really no down side from my point of view..........