After having played music with many different musicians on many different skill levels I have noticed something interesting among most of them. Each one will usually play his or her instrument according to his or her respective personality.

When this concept comes to drumming it is really noticeable.

I've noticed that drummers who are a relaxed type often play relaxed. A drummer who is a more bold person usually plays the same way... bold. A drummer who lives his or her life a little sloppy and wreckless will often play the same way. Likewise, a drummer who is a very organized individual will fairly play rather consistantly. All this is okay to an extent. But, we just can't let our drumming be subject to our personality, feelings, or mood at any given moment.

Our instrument, the drums, are our expression in the band. It's our voice. And, many times, we must drum in a manner that does not line up with our personality, feelings, or mood.

Being an outstanding drummer requires becomming a bit of an actor. What I mean by that is, sometimes we have to play drums a certain way despite our true personality, or how we may feel at any given moment. That's what a good actor does, he temporarliy forgets who he is and becomes someone else for a time so that he can pull off what he needs to pull off in order to get the job done.

As you know, sometimes we have to drum a little harder than we may feel like drumming. And then at other times we may have to drum a bit softer when what we really want to do is rock out.

In order to be an outstanding drummer we have to be able to put out what is required of us at any given moment. For example, sometimes a certain song needs to convey a certain message, feeling, or mood. But, your particular mood at the time does not jive with it at all.

If we want the song do what it's supposed to do, we can't expect the song to submit to how we feel right then. We have to submit to the song and forget about ourselves by becoming a part of the song.

The bottom line is this... don't play your drums according to your personality. Play your drums according to each individual song's personality. Only then will your songs truly come to life.