House of Drumming.com

Something else important:

Learn to manage money well while you're young. It's easy to slip into bad habits and build up a lot of debt quickly. It's quite hard to save money to a certain point, but it's easy to loose it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0ZJqtkJ3yw[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-vGr2yxXE[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgTgh8NBa6Y[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk78nCfTR-o[/youtube]

Does being 25 still count as the 'young' category? More advice from me:

-Everyone has an opinion and everyone will have something negative to say. Learn to see which criticism is constructive and which is just plain old negativity.

-Seek out as many opportunities to play as possible, but don't sell yourself short. If you're involved in something that doesn't speak to you, isn't paying you fairly, or is too inconvenient (commute, rehearsal location, etc), then it's really not worth your time. Don't be afraid to back out (gracefully) if need be.

-Assess what your strong points are as a player/find out what makes you, 'you'. I've found that I can cover many styles fairly well, but at the core I'm a pocket player, a time keeper, and a groover. I'm not an incredibly chopsy player. I get hired because I can make things feel good and make the other guys in the band do their job easier. I don't hit too hard, have good sounding gear (always get compliments on my kick sound), and guys can tell that I'm listening and are responsive.

-Keep in touch. That's with former teachers, former employers, players you meet at a hang, on the road, whatever. Keep tabs, say 'hi', and you never know when you'll get a call from a friend of a friend needing someone for a gig last minute.

-Always be open to reassessing your goals. When you've played all the clubs/venues in town, know all the cats in town & have played with them, and find yourself doing the same gigs for years, then it's a good indication that you've gone as far as you can go and maybe it's time to consider a different market if you're trying to make this a full time thing.

-Teach. Keeps your fundamentals in check. It's kind of a fun to see a kid learn/execute something that you learned from one of your teachers. A lot of the traditional grip/moeller stuff I know was taught to me by a good friend of mine who studied with Joe Morello for years. Talk about passing on the torch- yikes!

-Be willing to do a favor/help someone out in a pinch. I was at a gig recently to see someone play that I knew from my time at LAMA. This cat has gone on to do some big things and he forgot a snare drum stand. Shit happens. Fortunately I was there and didn't live more than 15 minutes away and was able to run home and help him out with a stand. I haven't seen any result of that, but I'd like to think that stuff like that goes a long way in terms of your rep.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, but the above is the most recent stuff I've though about that's directly applicable to my personal journey.

Have fun.

Rob

How understated, Rob! Haha

It´s all about this...

More than important than practicing by yourself:

-Play with other musicians
-Learn to play with other musicians
-Become a musician, not just a drummer

Stay in school and do well in school or go back to school and do well in school. I mean the 3 Rs school.

Get a job. Figure out what you like about music, and follow that. Don't hang out with other drummers. Hang out with keyboardists or guitarists. Learn how to write your own music. Know how to put chords together etc...

Learn how to play drums for a singer or any other instrument that requires people to breathe while performing live. If you want to play what Vinnie plays, you won't play with anybody.

Keep it simple stupid.

Apply yourself to other areas of interest, and persevere even if it feels like you suck and nothing will ever happen for you.

Read about science and the world, less about the idiots in Rolling Stone.

Read this book: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/