I Find This 'Drum Playthrough' Mesmerizing

I am not a drummer. I do not know how to read drum music and I can't hold the sticks properly. I wanted to play drums when I first started band in fifth grade and my mom said no - I had to play the clarinet. I played that thing until I graduated high school, so years and years. Hated it. All that said, I always appreciated cool drum parts in all sorts of music - but especially metal.

I don't think I've ever watched a "drum playthrough" video on YouTube before today, but Conquer Divide just put one out for "Atonement" so I stopped and watched. "Atonement" is one of my favorite running songs, period. Watching the drum work here is fascinating to me. Samantha Landa is the drummer - I especially love the breakdown part of the track!

Comments

[Him]

Watching that, and listening to it, I feel old. Really, really old.

That is no disrespect to Landa or Conquer Divide. I mean, heck, I have even watched a drum cam video or two of Lombardo playing Slayer tunes.

Like Allyson, never learned to play the drums (though I wanted to do so). Unlike Allyson, I never really learned to play any instrument. I stumbled through piano. I barely, just barely, started to learn guitar. I blame my sausage fingers on both counts. But I love music.

I am just a befuddled old codger I guess. Carry on, yoots. Carry on.

[Gogmagog]

It is never, ever too late to learn an instrument. Or another one. One of my winter goals is to try and teach myself to play the piano. Essentially, all I can play right now is the very start of "Cold As Ice" (right hand only).

A quick look at Guitar Center's web site shows a whole host of basic electronic drum kits for a few hundred dollars that I'm sure would be suitable for a beginner. One clearance item I saw was just $199. Give it a go ... you can't be any worse at keeping time than Lars Ulrich! :)

[Him]

I appreciate the nod and the push, Gogmagog. I really do.

And I have been tempted. Just not sure if, at my age, I have the time or the focus to really commit to something like that. But you did pique my interest. And I would love to think that, over the course of a year or two, I could sound better than (or as good as) slamming tilapia against tin cans!!!!

Relatedly, and somewhat career-related, I bemoan the fact that I never leaned in on learning other languages (I can cobble together a few ideas in a couple of them, but would never, ever, be conversant). I could blame our school system. But that is just a dodge. And I can't blame my sausage fingers either! So I sit or stand amazed when my friends from these and other lands can toggle back and forth between one, two, even three languages.

Thankfully, I have the good sense to respect those artists and speakers with far greater skills than I. Being humble in the face of talent, or skill, is not a burden. It is a requirement.