On drums...

Hi everybody,

My name is Roland Guerrero and I just joined your esteemed board. I recognize many of your names from other boards and it will be great to reconnect with so many of you once again .

Roland

Hey Roland,

Glad you made it over here.

I think you probably know everyone here.

Welcome. Look around and enjoy.

_________________
Cliff

River City Trio

What if we did all have the same opinions?

Hi, Roland! Welcome and nice to see you. Come on in, take your shoes off and make yourself at home.

Been up to anything new? Plenty new around here!

_________________
Gregory

Hey Gregory,

Well, I messed up my left arm in a rather silly fashion. I worked on a big Mother's Day project last month to surprise my wife and I was mixing QUIKRETE in a wheel barrel for a few days. I ended up with tennis elbow. Playing traditional grip hurts a whole lot so it has given me a good excuse to get my match-grip back up to snuff. This getting older nonsense is not at all a thrill sometimes.

Roland

Way too true, Roland. New aches and pains seem to arrive regularly.

Gotta admire a guy that can switch between traditional and matched grip. I am simply unable to play matched grip. It is good that you have that option.

_________________
Cliff

River City Trio

What if we did all have the same opinions?

Hello Roland - and welcome to this amazing and friendly place...

_________________
Goki - short from Goran

Let the good drums roll!!!

Ditto what Cliff said about grips. And growing older is not for sissies.

I've added finger strokes to my repertoire which has changed my approach to the drums and drumming, but I suspect that tennis elbow would still impede traditional grip. I have had tennis elbow, but only on the right arm so did not affect playing.

One aspect of aging, along with the theoretical accumulation of wisdom, is having either to train for unusual muscle use or to treat projects as engineering problems. I hurt my right ankle - for a couple of years - by working on the moderate pitch of my roof, so I just won't do that anymore. Yesterday a friend wanted help getting his free standing mortise machine from his pickup bed up to my loading dock; maybe together we could have lifted it, but I got my engine hoist to do the work. After wearing my hands out shoveling a foot of snow this past winter, I bought a snow blower. My hands didn't hurt, but it was several days before the muscles relaxed enough to have finesse, and it was not something I wanted to repeat for the two-footer we were being warned of later that same week.

I have been fortunate. Even when I was younger, and despite many aches and pains along the way, I not to have seriously hurt myself in any way that prevented drumming. I've been unable to walk but still capable of hitting the kit with energy. Very fortunate.

_________________
Gregory

Hey Goki! The Macedonian Monster is everywhere. How is that conga playing woman of yours? What a great couple!

About switching grips. As a private instructor, I have to keep my mallet chops up and I still play vibes occasionally. Some of the drum corps types around here want their kids to use one grip exclusively, but that kind of preference changes with the wind so I teach my students to play with both grips. I prefer traditional grip for jazz as my biggest problem with match grip is having a sense of touch for grace notes and buzzes. I remember seeing a clip of Sully playing jazz with incredible sensitivity while using match grip.

The aging thing does have to be addressed..."mechanically" sometimes since the healing time gets longer and longer. I am referring to using tools as Greg suggests. Next time I want to work with cement, I will buy or rent a small mixer and save my wrists and elbows from the constant churning. Hand trucks and "Rock'n Roller" carts are so necessary for gigs.

What a bunch of old farts.

Roland

I'm, guessing, older than you. Sixty-one this year...

_________________
Gregory

Gregory,

Righto you are. I'll turn 52 in November. I still don't have a real job either.