Noodle, you're so lucky you have a band. When I was in a band it was one of the happiest times in my life. I loved the feeling of purpose and doing something I loved...
One of my goals this year is to take drum lessons and meet more local musicians, try to get into a band in the next year or so. I think I'll have better luck with drums than guitar, because they come naturally to me and there aren't any chords/ lyrics to memorize, you just go by feel. My last band broke up because I was single, started messing around with the bass player, a recovered alcoholic, after a few months, he was in love and I wanted to marry an illegal brazilian for money. he flipped out, started drinking again, started harassing me with phone calls, embarrasing me in public, etc, so I had to avoid going anywhere where I might bump into him, which was basically, all of the places where I knew musicians and played out! I am totally out of the local music scene now and I feel bored with the guitar. It took me 11 years to get decent on it, but the first time I picked up a pair of drumsticks, I was playing real beats and I was in love. Everyone who's ever heard me play them says I have natural ability and I've been offered free lessons by a real music teacher (he said I could bring my husband with me
), but the guy lived too far away...I sold my drums a while back to pay for rent when I was still single and now my neighbors have small children and they didn't agree to me getting a set and practicing during the day, because the kids take naps...I don't know...
I used to read self help books everyday, about 1 book a week...I also read autobiographies of successful people, as instructed in one of the books...Anyways, I read Chuck Norris's autobiography, and he was a firm believer in the power of the subconscious. So, I went out and got a book called "The Power of the Subconscious Mind" or something like that...he book said that if you ask yourself a question right before you go to sleep, you will wake up with the answer. So, while falling asleep, I kept repeating in my head "The power of my subconscious mind will reveal my life's purpose to me..."
Well, I woke up with a voice in my head, and I NEVER hear voices, okay?!! Anyway, it was like a man's voice that kept saying "you have the beat, you have the beat, you have the beat"
And this was before I ever played the drums, or even thought about playing the drums. This was even before I got serious about guitar and got into a band!
And then, the first time I get on the drums, the guy was like "wow! I've never seen anyone play a real beat their first time!" After 6 months, He was like "I'm a little jealous, I've been playing for 8 years and it took me years to get that good...you could be professionally good if you keep playing..." One time, I went to jam with a band that needed a bass player, so we went through all the songs, blah blah blah, (bass is boring) and then i asked if I could play the drums and after I got done they were thinking of having me be the drummer and letting their current drummer play bass instead...Except that band never came through, kind of fizzled away.
GOD, I'm rambling.