Monday Drum Day: Swinging it

Happy Monday! I had a musical day yesterday as it was the first rehearsal of our jazz band in a long while. We have a gig coming up next month, so needed to work through the songs. Four of the six members are on Hive. I was playing guitar and ukulele as well as singing some songs. I have not played much guitar lately and so my fingers are out of shape. After that we had an open mic with our friends for the birthday of another Hiver (no longer active). That was a nice evening.

At the open mic I was chatting to a drummer I know. He said he will come over some time to give me some tips on the new acoustic kit. I may also try taking some lessons with him.

Today I am back on the drums. Drumeo have a jazz course that is supposed to take you through the basics. A lot of it is about swing rhythms that are usually played on the ride cymbal. I was playing my electronic kit today for noise reasons, but it has a jazz setting. The issue I had was with getting the high hat to soun .I was trying this on the acoustic kit at the weekend and there it tends to come out too loud. For now I am just trying to get the feel and timing.I feel I am getting somewhere.

This is the course instructor.

The next lesson is on brushes, which I do not have yet. Those would not work at all on the electronic kit. There are a few things on my shopping list. I think I will need to buy some cymbals soon. Those I have are very basic. A full set could cost more than I paid for the drums, but I keep checking for used options.

Rock on, man.