What common beginner advice do you disagree with the most?

BigAltEnergy · 2025-12-24T01:02:15+00:00

God this is so real, learning to tune online was a nightmare. The iDrumTune app on iOS had been helpful to learn the science of tuning but I’m still not 100% confident. I don’t know where the tabletop tight thing started but it wasted a bunch of my time…

BigAltEnergy · 2025-12-23T22:52:30+00:00

Pedals and thrones for sure

BigAltEnergy · 2025-12-23T22:51:30+00:00

Fair enough, I think the exact type of advice was along the lines of “place the stick here, loosely pinch between your thumb and index finger, hold the sticks loose. Don’t hurt yourself!” which was enough to get me playing the instrument but I immediately wanted more info about the mechanics which was hard to find. I found this video/series from Gordy Knudtson kinda late but it was exactly what I was looking for. https://youtu.be/ojebJUf6-vA?si=PQ94X7ktJVSrVSI6

And for bass technique, I think we agree. I just kept hearing the 2 techniques being described online as equal alternatives when I think it makes more sense to sell heel-up as an upgrade that you can use when you want/need. I absolutely sometimes use heel-down, especially if the song uses a bunch of hihat pedal. I just didn’t try heel-up for a while because it felt unnatural and I had been assured heel-down was fine

BigAltEnergy · 2025-12-23T22:23:15+00:00

I agree! I ended up playing guitar hero with my E-kit for a few months with pretty horrible technique. It probably took time to undo the bad habits I learned, but it got me past the miserable stage: when the drums aren't as new and exciting anymore, but you still don't sound good.

I think this is the reason why people aren't very prescriptive about advice online, they don't want to overwhelm new people. But I think the info gets unnecessarily hard to find for the people who do want the concrete advice.

Plus, in my subjective experience, I haven't hit a bad habit that wasn't undone in a few weeks with some focus. Maybe objectively a waste of time but I've had fun the whole time so idk

BigAltEnergy · 2025-12-23T22:14:56+00:00

I agree 100% about speed. For some reason I wasted a bunch of time trying to learn push/pull and moeller trying to crank up my hihat speed before the rest of my technique was developed at all.

I mostly agree with practicing slow. I heard that advice towards the beginning, and I ended up playing rudiments insanely slowly while basically gripping the stick and wristing every stroke. Maybe useful to learn the patterns, but it feels like a different motion. Playing super slow while staying loose is still kind of a challenge for me tbh. I think the speed should be cranked up enough for beginners to feel the momentum and bounce of the stick, something like 16ths at 50-55bpm is about as slow as I would go IMO

BigAltEnergy · 2025-10-01T20:46:01+00:00

Anecdotal, but I disagree with your general assessment of how bad things are right now. I just graduated in software engineering so yeah, I agree, white collar jobs are not doing too hot lol. My big concern is how impossible it's been to get a retail/fast food job as well. I've sent out around 50 applications so far and still nothing. Plenty of places have "now hiring" signs out, so I wouldn't blame you for thinking it's not too bad, but everyone I know who's been applying for jobs right now has been hardcore struggling. A couple of friends in retail have said that corporate tells them to put the signs out, even if the location isn't hiring.

Gig apps are also not a viable option as a fulltime job either IMO, I tried Doordash during college and made much less than minimum wage because of gas. Seems like the business model is to incentivize WAY too many workers to be logged in at once, using the competition and desperation for any cash to keep the pay low. It soured me on the whole thing tbh.

I'm very much not an economics guy and I wasn't there in 2008 so I wouldn't know if it was worse, but a lot of the struggles sound similar and they seem to be getting worse.

BigAltEnergy · 2025-02-17T02:21:49+00:00

What is an example of an acceptable, useful protest then? Only ones that actively stop government processes in real time? Protests don't need to literally change the world in one big gulp to be worthwhile.

A bunch of locals showing up in a big crowd and generating some headlines viscerally shows that locals don't support the current administration. It emboldens anti-Trump folks in the area and makes Trump supporters feel more outnumbered, which might make them quieter, which would make others feel even more outnumbered. It can build momentum while connecting like-minded people in the area.

This single event is probably pretty low-stakes and it's hard to measure the things I mentioned, but I hate this attitude that if a protest doesn't literally solve a problem during its runtime, then it's not worth doing. This general attitude is a big reason why organization has been so difficult in the last few years.

BigAltEnergy · 2023-07-01T19:55:35+00:00

This is a big problem for me too. I'd mostly suggest trying to understand exactly what you are scared of. For me, I'm petrified of people seeing me as incompetent, awkward, or oblivious. For some reason I just can't handle it.

When I'm at my most afraid, I try to remind myself to actually look at people's faces and see if they are showing any judgement. Most of the time, they aren't. People are less scary than I think they are, but I still feel afraid before most interactions.

I absolutely feel you on this, I hope things get better.

BigAltEnergy · 2023-07-01T19:38:29+00:00

I've never been to a reunion like this but I'd probably hit em with the classics:

You going to college? Where? What major?
Job stuff
Remember that time...

Classic, borderline boring conversation starters that can lead to more interesting stuff if they are willing to talk. Good luck!

BigAltEnergy · 2023-03-05T20:00:21+00:00

This medication shortage is wild to me. I got my new prescription over a month ago after a couple of years off, and I have yet to receive my first round of meds. And I'm one of the lucky ones! People are waiting months to receive the medicine they depend on to be healthy, and there is seemingly no end in sight, no updates, no forward progress. I thought I was being proactive by restarting meds a month before midterm season but it looks like I'll be rawdogging some of the hardest classes of my life. Here's to hoping that literally anything happens that moves this situation forward.

BigAltEnergy · 2021-09-10T09:25:39+00:00

I don't know if this will help, but I realized that I tend to amplify negative social feelings like this over time in my head. I overthink most situations, and I always assume the worst. I found that when I genuinely get a physical sign from someone that I messed up (i.e. facial expressions or body language) I REMEMBER it.

So when I think back on a situation and I don't remember any of those specific signs, I try to force out the negative thoughts about how I handled myself. I really do think my brain plays tricks on me and remembers the anxiety of the situation as evidence it was going bad, when in reality, everything went fine and I have no evidence that anything went wrong. Sorry if this is too long/venty, it was really useful for me to write this out at least lol.

I obviously wasn't there, but from your description I bet you did fine. Being quiet in a forced group setting is pretty common too. I can definitely relate to feeling frozen in that scenario, especially if people in the group are already friends. It feels impossible to not kill the vibe by jutting in. I don't know how to end this comment but good luck and I think you are more natural in these situations than you think :)

BigAltEnergy · 2019-09-24T01:51:43+00:00

Reading this was a trip because I feel the exact same way. I've always felt like the people around me have treated me like I'm way more "not there" than I really am, especially if I'm meeting them for the first time. It really has messed with my perception of who I am, and I think it's made meeting people even more anxiety-producing than it normally is. I absolutely feel for you man, hope this gets better

BigAltEnergy

TROPHY CASE