Is it harder now than it used to be years ago to find your own thing?

Some years ago there were just good drums and not so good drums...manufacturers usually had one "Standard" line and an "entry Level line"... Zildjian cymbals were just "Avedis Ziljdian" and so on. And then to no one's surprise, marketing caught up with music, artists and aspiring artists started to become "consumers" of companies with target markets... niches began to be found and filled.

Add a solid economy and the growing acquisition power of the young and all of a sudden, there are not a few choices, but literally dozens. And each one from driven, focused companies determined to be leaders.

Now, drum gear models read like detergent... "with new and improved resonant channels of filtered wood recovered from a lake and defrosted with a patented baking technology to enhance the natural sound characteristics of the shell" Of course it has to be fitted with Die cast hoops and Rim mounts over a rack mounted on double braced, non slip hardware.

The funny thing is, although that huge selection of gear to choose from has benefited drummers in a very big way, now it takes huge amounts of a new ingredient in your personality to become a drummer... DECISION.  After all, it takes a very focused mind to decide which ride to choose from between all those models. Add to the fact that there are some we feel obliged to check out, based on our style.

And what about all those other ones?
"Hey man, which one does John Otto use?, cause I like his sound"
"I've never heard him play a ride cymbal kid"
"Oh... Ok, how about the one Lars uses?... "

Picture this, let's say you like 4 brands of drums the best, go down to 2 models for each... what finish?... (well, a custom one of course)... what heads?... let's say you've pretty much made your mind to choose between 2 models of 2 brands... Cymbals, how many?, 2 crashes a ride and a hi-hat don't cut it anymore... at least not if you are "creative", (you need Zil-bells, Chinas, Splashes, and weird Latin sounding stuff for that)... what brand?... come to think about it, if you add it up, there is something like 200 choices needed to be made in order to have a drum set.

It used to be much simpler.

Of course, I'm not nostalgic... I think today's drums and equipment are far better than those ever made before, and heck, it's unbelievable fun to shop around and look at equipment too.

But it seems to me that drummers are focusing more on what they should be like, equipment-wise and style-wise, rather than getting busy trying to get there.

A huge distraction, that only a more focused mind can crawl from, has music become one of the cornerstones of communism?... in which we are forced to change to the current?

Believe me it has.

Although not nearly as much as other aspects of industry... or guitar players for that matter, who always seem to be looking for new ways to sound old.

I'd like to get a chance to do some advertising on drums... It would be interesting not to ecpoit young aspiring drummers insecurities, also NOT to say for once that "This company makes the best drums in the world bar none... blah, blah, blah"

The same has happened (in a much more dramatic fashion) to the music itself... on the last 10 to 12 years, the music scene exploded with a revitalized generation of talent that pushed the envelope in just about every direction. All of a sudden, all those comfortable tried and true aspects of sound brought to us by Corporate Rock were broken, now there was no such thing as a "Rock sound", or a "pop sound". Much more music was being made "breaking the rules", and now it seems that the only rule there is, is to make sure we're breaking one.

A process that has somewhat stopped due to the relentless force-feeding of lollypop music the media is applying to everyone of us, but nonetheless, a process that has made it's mark on rock music.

It has broadened the spectrum of what we "should" learn.

I've heard aspiring drummers saying "I'm striving to get a powerful, resonant, dry, funky, jazzy, natural, open, ringy, beefy, sound."... seriously. Believe me, it will be years before a young friend caught up in that clears his mind.

Bill Bruford said on an interview some time ago that when he first came up, there were just drums, cymbals and friends with other instruments... all there was to do was getting busy creating music. No wonder he could play the way he did at 20.

Drummers are trying too hard in my opinion to get "the style", "the personality", to have "the sound", "the look"... to be the drummer we dream of being, rather than just becoming it.

I believe drummers have put too much pressure upon themselves to reach a standard. A standard that by itself, doesn't mean anything.

Getting busy trying to lay a groove like Carter, play double bass like Virgil, have "feel" like Vinnie and solo like Dennis... what good is it if you haven't made a decent song with your band?. Sure, Carter lays a heavy groove, but he is part of something bigger, that ability serves a purpose, and it is that purpose that ultimately brings success and an ideal vehicle to show it.

The very essence of drumming is interaction, drums are nothing without other instruments to play with them... you think you play the drums? You don't play them just by yourself, the guitar player does also when you make music with him or her, so does the keyboard player, and every other musician and singer that makes music with you. Drumming is about sharing your talent, not just building it.

That's why many "just Ok" drummers have made it, of course it's a lot better to be just OK and make great music than being great with mediocre music.

So, at the core, are all these choices a good thing or a bad thing?... I don't know. To me they are The Natural Thing, just part of the evolution of drumming.

And hey, you may think there are many choices now with all this equipment for performing and recording, but the biggest changes are still to come. What will make them harder is that what we have now will always be part of that equation.

Now I'll go back to the Internet and see what other Weird China or effect cymbal I can add to my drums.