Let’s be honest. We all face those times when we’re frustrated by a lack of progress, we feel like we’re practicing the same things over and over, and we’re not sure where the light at the end of the tunnel is - if there even is one. We lose sight of our goals, and maybe we’re doubting our decision to even get into the drums in the first place.

This is a real challenge, and I bet every one of us has been there at some point. Good thing is, there are some simple solutions to the mental traps that halt our progress and stall our motivation. Let’s dig in.What was your biggest hobby as a kid?

Think hard… Were you into sports, music, riding your bike, building forts in the backyard, playing video games, designing your dream mansion, collecting rocks, trapping bugs….?

What got you excited about it? What made you want to rush to it each day after school? Here’s my guess why:

Because it was fun, there was no pressure, and you were a...

This is a story I bet many of you can relate to. Have you ever had one of those "not-all-that-you-expected," "almost-lame," "less-epic-that-it-should’ve-been" kind of gig? This exact scenario happened to me recently, but the sleepy, less-than-epic night was redeemed by something unexpected at the very end of the show.

On a rainy, winter night in Georgia, I was playing a cover gig with three other musicians. We were playing for three hours at a nearby restaurant that’s often packed with a late dinner crowd (who are often generous with their tips for the band). The thought of a bustling crowd tossing twenties and fifties into the jar is always exciting. Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to bring the container we normally used for tips. That was a little discouraging, but we started playing anyways, hoping to maybe rig something before the second set.

We soon realized, however, that our lack of a tip jar didn’t matter anyway. There was hardly anyone in the...

A really odd (and funny) occurrence at a gig caused me to play better and enjoy the music at a deeper level. What started out as a potentially huge technical problem ended up being... I’ll tell the story:

At this particular gig I was playing drums in a total enclosure. Picture an aquarium, terrarium, or any kind of airtight glass container you can think of that’s large enough to house a drum set and a drummer. This enclosure did it’s job VERY well. With the doors closed, sound could barely come in or out. Neither could oxygen, but that’s another story.

In case you didn’t guess based on the “caged-drums,” this takes place at a church. :) We kicked things off on this particular Sunday with the first song, which went pretty well. After the opening song, someone came up to give announcements. As I double-checked the next song on my Ableton Session on my laptop to my left, I was startled by a tap on my shoulder. It’s amazing...