So... Why Do You Play?

Seriouss' post of the Buddy Rich vs. Animal video on one of my adds reminded me of the exact moment in my distant past I decided drumming was for me. It was Buddy Rich appearing on the UK's 'Parkinson Show' in 1982 with Sammy Davis Junior, Roy Castle and Kenny Everett (poor bloke, so out of his depth with such exalted musos around him!) also as guests. My Dad videoed it at the time (still have the VHS!) and showed it to me the next day. That was it. Hooked is one way of putting it.

And this is the exact video below (forward to 1:00 for the start of the music). Frankly, and for me at least, Buddy Rich is the finest drummer to have ever lived and remains without a peer nearly 30 years after his death. He was a grumpy, shouty sod though.

[youtube]keKrzgskvtw[/youtube]

So, who or what started you playing?

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nice one...

I've got a photo of me on my uncles drumkit aged 4, although I didnt play until 14, when my mother got irritated with my clattering of forks on dinner plates, and suggested drum lessons, which never happened, so I tinkered for about a year, and gave up on the idea....however..I eventually started when I was 18 when I met a bunch of guys at college.

So, at that time, no drummer inspired me to play, but I do recall seeing a band at a holiday camp when I was 10 or so, and I was mesmerised by the drummer.

I grew up listening to my parents record collection, which consisted of the usual classic bands, beatles, stones, cream, hendrix, and modern bands like The Jam, U2, Simple Mind etc, but the first thing that blew me away was Whos Next and Tommy - I'd never anything like that.

As for Buddy Rich, yes, one of the finest, in terms of technical ability...but for me, I was more into quirky jazzers like Joe Morello, who I thought personally was more interesting.

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For me it was a piano which I wasn't supposed to touch.

Oh and btw, while I get the reason of showing Buddy Rich, I strongly prefer Animal & Rita instead:

[youtube]b_IpgKzy75E[/youtube]

Good project and question! And I just saw an ad of which I thought: "Well if *that* wouldn't get people playing, then possibly nothing could..." - see it here:

[youtube]zyjMX7--I90[/youtube]

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The first band that I idolised as a 10 or 11 year old were The Sweet, those monsters of Glam Rock / Glam Metal. When I was introduced to them they started to play heavier stuff, and got away from the bubble gum songs of their earlier career. I had violin lessons at the time, but the moment I saw The Sweet, I wanted to be a Rock star. So in a way, Andy Scott was my first hero. And I got to say, I still like listening to them occasionally, and after listening to them for a million times in my youth, I still remember all the songs :) . Here is a nice clip of them playing live (unlike the playbacks of that time) - if you go to around 3:30 you can see that old Andy could actually play some guitar... and 4:40 shows the Jimi Hendrix influence on gutiarists of the early 70ies...happy memories. P.S. I saw on some of the other clips that he plays a black and white Strat, go figure ;) [youtube]yocEg7MgBHo[/youtube]

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For me..it's a journey.. and because most of all... I enjoy it. Missed out on the opportunities to play in bands when I left high school...then got caught up in life. Now I got the time...and goals to get to the destination (although I think my flight got hijacked..lol)

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Wrong question, why do some people not play

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indeed...

@Nilton - too busy watching those plastic X factor shows...pratting about on mobiles...consoles....and playing plastic instruments on Rockband on the Xbox....:(:@:|:D

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Jack Bruce's performance on the live version of Deserted Cities of the Heart - it's a non stop bass jam, and oh yeah, the guy doing the bass jammin' is also singing lead :) It seemed so creative and liberating, I had to give this bass thing a try. So I got a Hofner, flipped it over to play lefty, and I'm still trying to figure it out but it sure has been fun ;)

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gonna have pack guitars up ....and get me a kit! :D

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My cousins were older than me, once when I was 12 I went to visit them, they were in a band and rehearsing for a show in the basement. They played The Trooper. I was forever changed

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why not play? I always compare the jams here to doing crosswords and the satisfaction of filling in the blanks to complete the musical puzzle ... it's another language. Even if we don't understand each other's spoken word, we can communicate with the noises we make with our instruments. More fun than crossword puzzles!!! :)

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Oh yeah Buddy Rich ruled, that's for sure, fantastic drummer, terrible toupee (later years) but I guess that went with the persona .. lol! It was back in the day after all.

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Weil es Spaß macht ! ;)

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https://goo.gl/images/Dy7A1c

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LOL fanne .. that's funny !!

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So why do I play? Seeing how expensive therapy is these days. I play a lot lately just for the release the cathartic part that music brings. Within the last 2 weeks, just feel like wailing on the drums. Sure I'm trying to make something pseudo Musical but just a creative aspect. Taking a raw piece of clay and making a Bowl. Hopefully when fired in the kiln right you get a nice finished product. Most drummers are fairly two dimensional. For most of us, I myself we only play one instrument the drums. We lack all the rest music offers. There have been very few times then I'm not always pumped to want to play drums. I recall when I was 18 years old. I broke my collarbone and wrist on the same side. It was almost impossible for me not to play with a cast on and my arm in a sling. Tagging into what Martin had mentioned earlier. I saw Buddy Rich on the Johnny Carson show way back in the 70s. I was absolutely stoked couldn't believe what I was seeing. It only fuel me to learn to play the drums that much faster and better. I also want to use each time to become better. Art was never a real gift for me. I did love doing a lot of photography but music has always been such a wonderful thing. Remember jamming in the basement with my high school Buddies. It was at its best noise but later came together sounding fairly decent. It has to be fun or there's no real interest. Even if it takes 30 years to master. I think I was maybe 20 years old when I sit down behind my first great set of drums. It was at my church. Pretty decent drum set and mr. Showboat left the sticks there. What was better nobody was around. I wailed on those puppies for I know at least 3 hours.I remember the snare was wonderful with such precise articulation and the cymbals were actually expensive Zildjian s. So to start summing this up. When it becomes less than fun you need to check your passion meter. What is interfering with you not being on full. Maybe address the bigger life issues and your Zeal will return.

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