The Paradiddler, Origins – Finale

With Number One

One fine anniversary day, not too long ago, my most awesomest wife gives me the greatest surprise of all.

Let me back up a bit.  When I met my wife to be, she got to know my obsession with drums.  I met her in the Dominican Republic, a long ways from Massachusetts, where I was living at the time.  It was a meeting of chance, a meeting that was not supposed to happen, a dream come true.  The most beautiful girl on the island - and she liked me too!  I was way above cloud nine -

But I digress!  That's a story for another day.  Anyways, as I frequented the island, I always brought with me whatever videos of Rush I had (VHS then).  She had brothers that were interested in music as well, and they thought this guy surrounded by drums was pretty awesome ("What's that guy doing surrounded by all those cans?").  But whether she liked it at the time, or suffered in silence , my girlfriend liked me (and later loved me) for who I was.

Fast forward several years later.  As I've stated before, many years went by without having any drums of my own.  So I spent my time air drumming to whatever I could.  After a while, though, I got tired of it.  In my mind I knew how to play, but if I didn't have a kit, well, I'll just watch and be a fan.  Nothing wrong with that either, at least that's what I told myself.

So one day my wife starts asking me about drums and what not.  Drums are not her favorite subject, but they are mine, so off and on we'd chat about it a bit.  Out of the blue she asks me which is the most important drum, if I could have one, which would it be.  Without hesitation, I answered the snare drum.  That is the most important drum.  You learn your rudiments on them, dynamics, accentuation (well, I didn't tell her all these things, but hey, it's true!), etc.  Then she asks where do they sell these things, and I said any music store will have them, so I ramble off some names like Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and the like.  Then she asks what they cost, and I gave her a range.  Mind you, these questions were not all at once, but I think you may sense where this is going.

Come anniversary day, she presents me with a gift - a box.  Actually two.  So I open the bigger one, and lo and behold, it's a snare drum!  A DW Pacific snare!  And a really good stand for it too!  How'd she know?  I'm so gullible.  She schemed with her cousin to buy it for her without my knowing ("Clever girl!").  I have to admit I was in tears (just a little ) - it was one of the best gifts she had ever given me.  The spark was back!

So on occasion, so that she wouldn't regret it, I would practice at selective times, albeit sloppily and without direction, single and double stroke rolls, mostly.  I was content with this for a while.  Hey, it wasn't a kit, but it was mine (you know, like the birds in "Finding Nemo" said, "Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!").  I was double-stroking here, accenting there, rim shots - it was a blast.

Now I have all this drumming in my head, all these experiences and opinions about drumming swimming in my mind, and I still didn't have a kit.  During this time I discovered blogs, and that you could write about anything you wanted in them.  Well we all know what I like!  So I start TheParadiddler.com, my outlet for expressing my views on drums and percussion.

Ok.  So now I have a blog about my favorite subject, but really, can I talk about playing without actually having a kit?  Well, I could do that, but I could only take that so far.  So I decided that enough is enough, I must have a kit so I can talk and demonstrate the different angles and points of view on drums.  I started building my kit methodically, without rush, so as to get the initial kit in an acceptable configuration (well, at least acceptable to me).  Finally, in November of 2008, my kit was completed!  The About page of this site will always have a video of whatever my current configuration is, but it has remained relatively unchanged (except for some of the heads).  But you know I had to have a double-bass pedal to start!

I was very proud to write my 'maiden voyage' piece, "The Reference Drummer".  I'd like to think I coined that phrase for what I'm referring to in the article (you read it and let me know!), and it's still one of my favorites.  On the playing side, I decided to record myself playing drum covers even though very rusty.  I wanted to show the progression, my journey of me getting better over time, accepting all constructive criticism (and kudos!), so that we can all learn from each other.  My YouTube channel shows my drumming getting better over time (hopefully!).  I hope it inspires newbies to just have fun - even if it sounds bad!  You'll get better with practice.

And that brings us to today.  That's how TheParadiddler.com came to be, and I hope to continue writing fresh and thought-provocative pieces concerning our most favorite instrument - the drums! - and everything that has to do with them.

So there you have it!  This has been The Paradiddler, Origins.  I hope you enjoyed it!  If you have a story to tell, you can share that with us here!

Drum on!

Part 2