‘Let’s have the idea come before the tool, not the tool before the idea.’
I love double bass! But through exploring and questioning, I let it go because it just wasn’t me. I’ll challenge you with the same question.
Drumming is an INNER journey of curiosity. it takes courage to delete the unessential, to take a stand and speak your voice with less. The theme here isn’t to tell you how to create your set up, or tell you what you are doing is wrong, because there is no wrong! There are only 2 rules in drumming, music, and art: #1) There are no rules #2) Always refer to rule 1! To truly go your own way, relentlessly question what it is you are doing, and if you really need the tools you have chosen for your expression. Finding your own voice happens not by adding, but DELETING, both in your craft and in life.
I remember saving up for my first double bass pedal, it took months! I brought it home, added it to my kit, and there I was having fun getting a deep bass drum sound with not one but TWO feet! But after a while, now what? Doing my best to copy my heroes I had learned some patterns and grooves, but over time it became something I ‘should’ have, using it just because it was there. What I thought made me more creative, was actually making me less creative, because it gave me more options than I needed. Having too much prevents us from going deep into an idea, or seeing the idea there in the first place. In a smokescreen of more sounds, more choices, and one more thing to learn and practice, the real YOU can get lost. Minimalism, simplicity, and doing more with less while looking deeply into all that surrounds us, is the big idea here.
Is double bass really you? Does it come from your heart, or are you just sounding like every other drummer out there? Let’s use the craftsman’s approach. Faced with an array of choices, we must choose carefully the best tool to achieve the finest outcome, and eliminate the rest. Can you really convince me that you need your tool to express the idea? In other words, does the IDEA come first, fully formed in your mind even before you get to the drums? If the answer is no, then get rid of it! Let’s have the idea come before the tool, not the tool before the idea.
