I got my acoustic Ludwigs set up today. I haven’t had an acoustic kit available at home in almost four years, so I’m pretty darned excited. I got a lot more drumming done in the last two years that I’ve had the electric V-Drums, which were just awesome to have in the dorms. But I’ve been learning jazz like crazy recently, and electric drums just don’t cut it for the articulation I need.
I’ve forgotten how loud the buggers are, but at the end of the summer I’ll have a room that I can insulate. It’s also good that I’m in a freestanding house, something my drums haven’t had since early 2002.
I need new cymbals and a good snare, but I have more pertinent expenses (like food and school) so they will have to wait.
Playing double bass drum is way easier on my acoustic drums. I started learning double bass on my electric kit, which had almost zero rebound. Now it’s bouncier, so I have a lot more consistency with my left foot. I have some practice to go, but I think that I’m about ten practice hours from some mean Rodney Holmes drum licks.
Turns out that Dave Weckl is doing a drum workshop in Fort Collins next week. A couple of months ago I went to one with John Riley, another jazz great. I don’t have the faintest idea why they come to Fort Collins – there is literally no major music scene up here – but I’ll take what I can get!