My DRUM History

In this post I will be bringing you back to my past and how it all started out for me as A DRUMMER.

It all started out as a young boys dream to be a drummer and to be playing DRUMS... it was quite a challenging journey but i enjoyed it.

I took my first drum lesson during 2001 and my instructor was - Mr. Lam (Randall Lam). He used to play on the cruise and he himself was mentored by a Filipino teacher. In my opinion, Filipino musicians are amazing!!

The first lessons was like as usual... introducing the drum kit, teaching you how to hold the drum sticks, how to position yourself and the other basic stuffs when you go for your first drum lesson. =)

Mr. Lam was not the technical type of teacher but he taught me how to play along with the song and blend in with other band members. He was also a very good teacher and i was very comfortable learning from him. During his free time he would bring me to meet some of his other musician friends as well and I went for two public performance as well. Both was in a shopping mall.

The first time performing in front of live audiences was fun but nerve wrecking as well. The performance went on smoothly and it was great. BUT... for the second time performing, I was very nervous because of the big crowd. I ended up playing faster then the song and after the performance Mr. Lam asked me what went wrong and i gave him quite a LAME excuse - i answered "I don't know... it was the music that was slow not me". =)... After I recall back, it's true also k because the place was quite big and had some echo so ended up the music played out from the speakers was like a few milliseconds slower.

So I continued to take lessons with him for almost 3 years + until he had some personal matters to attend to and was constantly cancelling lessons because he was not around. Finally he decided to stop my lesson and he as well stopped teaching at the music school.

So for more then 2 to 3 months I went on playing on my own without a teacher... until I came across a friend of Mr. Lam - David (Ah Phong)... which was a drum instructor as well. So I arrange a time with him to start my lessons as soon as possible and he became my second teacher. By the way, David was also mentored by a Filipino teacher if I'm not mistaken. =)

During that time I was eagerly waiting to start my first lesson with him, but once my first lesson started... I struggled with his teaching style. As I had said earlier, my first instructor was not the technical type... so being taught by him for around 3 years, I ended up not being the technical type of player as well. hahaha

So under the guidance of David was very tough because he stresses more towards playing techniques rather then playing well only. During the first few lessons with David was like relearning how to play the drums - I had to erase my "old" playing techniques and habits... and START learning the new playing techniques from David.

It took me around 1 month to get used to the new playing techniques and I could see the difference and improvements in my playing as well - my playing speed increased as well because of the new techniques. Hooray!!!

Under David's guidance, I have mastered the new playing techniques - hand playing technique, the pedal technique, double pedal technique and a lot of other techniques. Sad to say is that I've not yet mastered all of the techniques David tough me because I was quite busy with my sports and all the competition that was going on, so there was not much time for me to practice. =)

David also tough me to play a lot of different kinds of music rather then playing medium rock and rock musics. He taught me to play Jazz musics - Samba, Bossa Nova, and a few more other kinds of Jazz music. It was not that easy to play this musics so I didn't really go and practice them which i have regretted now. =)... So guys, don't be LAZY and go practice what you've just learned if you want to improve your drums!

I stopped taking lessons from David around the mid of 2005 because I have not much time left for my studies. It was my final year at secondary school and I had my SPM (governments exam) coming up and I have not really studied. So I stoped taking lessons from David.

So to summarized my story, I took DRUM lessons for about 4 1/2 years and I had been playing drums on my own since then for around 2 1/2 years - that makes me playing Drums for 7 years. =)

Sometimes I feel quite embarrassed when I see drummers playings way better then me by using such a short time. BUT... I'm not going to give up so easily but I'll keep on practising and improve the talents GOD has blessed me be the best drummer I can be.=)

P.S: So guys - If you think that this post is interesting, do leave your Comment after you've read. =)

See Ya & God Bless !!

- Ben The Drummer

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