In this somewhat personal article, I describe my thoughts and experiences as someone who started playing drums at the age of 39 and otherwise has very little musical experience.
The original text of this post was created by my human intelligence in German. The translation was a collaboration between man and machine. The man was me and the machine was Google Translate.
What has happened so far
Before his 7th birthday, I asked my then-noisy child if he would like to learn drums and would forgo other birthday presents in return. Surprisingly, the child was very happy to oblige.
Since I myself, as a child of a similar age, had also felt an urge to play the drums, but my parents brushed me off with an unamplified nylon-string guitar and songs like “Alle Jahre wieder” (Every Year Again), this was also extremely welcome news for my own needs*Of course, I hardly practiced and stopped after two or three years, not touching a guitar again for at least ten years..
After we quickly found lessons for our child and bought a Yamaha DTX6 electronic drum kit from a large, rather disappointing music store, I also sat behind the drums regularly. I practiced much more often and, above all, more willingly than my child. I still remember how I desperately tried to motivate my limbs to play the following soca-like rhythm:
Count | 1 e & a | 2 e & a | 3 e & a | 4 e & a |
Hi-Hat | x - x - | x - x - | x - x - | x - x - |
Snare | - - - o | - - o - | - - - o | - - o - |
Bass Drum | o - - - | o - - - | o - - - | o - - - |
A few months later, I also got an opening with my child’s drum teacher. Since, according to my prejudice, only children get music lessons and adults already know how to play, I always felt a bit awkward on the way to the lesson. However, I discovered that there were other adult students. My awkward feeling didn’t care.
In any case, my comprehension wasn’t the youngest anymore, but I could keep up with the child who didn’t practice at all*My children are practicing a little now. I might explain how I try to motivate them both to practice in another post.. Admittedly, I had a little prior musical experience from playing guitar and bass guitar sporadically.
At the beginning, I practiced maybe 5-10 minutes most days and made noticeable progress. Unfortunately, then as now, I wasn’t financially independent and traded large portions of my time for money. Furthermore, fearing a midlife crisis, I had taken on additional side occupations like coaching youth football and teaching Rust. Hence, not much time was left.
After a year, some of my colleagues found out that I had started playing the drums. So, naturally, we gathered in a laundry room after practicing a few songs and had a good time together. My colleagues were mostly much more experienced with their instruments: electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard*or synthesizer, or electric grand piano. I don't even know exactly what he play. Spoiler: I love his song writing. As expected, I felt imposter syndrome from the very beginning. I was already used to that from other areas of my life and simply tried to ignore it.
Over time, playing music together gained more and more momentum. Band members started writing their own songs. We replaced the laundry room with a rehearsal space and an acoustic kit. However, we haven’t had a gig yet. A nearly 40-year-old beginner on stage is certainly a different experience than the performance of a child just learning their first instrument.
Is it really never too late?
If you look around the internet, you’ll find numerous posts 12 that unanimously claim it’s never too late to start playing drums. Every day you haven’t started is honestly branded as a missed opportunity. The best time is now, they often say. Incidentally, all the posts I’ve seen so far come from people who started playing music as children themselves. “It’s never too late” sounds good. But what is it actually never too late for? My personal assessment follows in tabular form. It is sorted from never too late to virtually impossible.
| Too late to...? | Learn an instrument and make music for the sheer joy of it |
|---|---|
| I think: | It's never too late for that. |
| Too late for...? | Playing in a band with others |
| I think: | It's never too late for that. |
| Too late for...? | Earning some extra money with a wedding or cover band |
| I think: | Maybe after about 5-10 years of disciplined practice? I don't know any specific data points. With sufficient prior musical experience, it can certainly happen faster. |
| Too late to...? | Teaching drums |
| I think: | If you find students, you can teach. Teaching rhythms to your family members is possible as soon as you learn them. Earning significant income as a teacher probably takes a while. |
| Too late to...? | Become a drum YouTuber |
| I think: | Most of the YouTube drummers I've seen who teach, cover songs, or show off with crazy fills started as kids. Maybe you can think of a niche that doesn't require so much skill. |
| Too late to...? | Become a rock star |
| I think: | Meg White started playing drums in 1997 at the age of 23 and founded the White Stripes in the same year*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_White. That was only 6 years before the worldwide hit Seven Nation Army. I couldn't confirm that she had any prior musical experience. Meg White is apparently an exception. The vast majority of successful rock stars started as children. |
| Too late to...? | Become a studio drummer and record drum tracks for professional music productions for money |
| I think: | In the age of AI*Boo!, unfortunately, that sounds like a uncertain career choice. I once heard that you need about 10,000 hours* At 2 hours of practice a day, that's over 13 years, at 30 minutes, over 54 years. to really master something. I think studio drummers usually really master their instruments. |
| Too late to...? | Become world-class |
| I think: | You should start as a child and practice a lot. Examples*This is also a lot of hearsay or personal taste. I can't objectively judge whether these are all world-class drummers. with their starting age in parentheses: Vinnie Colaiuta (7), Steve Gadd (3), John Bonham (5), Dave Weckl (8), Jeff Porcaro (7), Danny Carey (10), Chad Smith (7), Stewart Copeland (13), Annika Nilles (6), Thomas Lang (5), Benny Greb (6) |
If you simply want to have fun alone or in a group and keep your mind sharp, then it’s really never too late. And that’s fantastic! However, if you’re ambitious and/or want to go far beyond a hobby, then you probably can’t start too early. It might not necessarily have to be drums at age 3, but having started playing an instrument as a child and practiced regularly and intensively for many years, or perhaps attending a music academy, is not something you can easily catch up on at 40. Especially, if you can only carve out a little time on the side. By the way, I have not heard of people at 40 who said that they don’t care about their careers anymore. From now on, they were going to play drums for many hours a day. Does this exist*You can supposedly find anything on the internet.? And what will the outcome be? If anyone knows a story like this, let me know. My guess is that most people who play drums at 40 started much earlier. Someone who starts at 40 is likely to be, quite literally, a below-average drummer for their age group for a significantly longer time than a child who doesn’t quit quickly. Furthermore, the probability of ever realizing their dream of becoming an internationally acclaimed professional musician is much lower. Well, adults have less ambitious dreams, and at least they can call themselves drummers.
Another angle from which to look at the question is whether physical and mental decline has already progressed too far, making learning extremely difficult. I can confirm that it sometimes feels that way. Fortunately, it only surfaces sporadically for me. But when it does, it’s quite persistent. It’s also clear that I no longer possess the sponge-like brain of a seven-year-old. On the other hand, I don’t cry when something doesn’t come easily. At least most of the time.
Advantages of starting late
Not everything is worse when you start later. You haven’t given up just because you didn’t feel like practicing. Sometimes you endure sweat and tears to reap even more rewards later, because you know it’s all part of the process. In the almost four years that I’ve been playing drums, I’ve spent more days at the kit than not. Further, I prefer the passenger seat when traveling by car so I can practice on my thighs, a pad, or the car’s interior, much to the suffering of my fellow passengers. In meetings, I sometimes do very inconspicuous bass drum exercises with my legs*Others walk on a boring treadmill.. Children often don’t think that far ahead. Perhaps you even have a job or other financial inflow that allow you to pay for lessons and buy more equipment than you need, without relying on the favor of opinionated others like your parents.
So what about the midlife crisis?
I can’t really judge that. Either playing the drums and perhaps other distractions prevented my midlife crisis, or I wouldn’t have had one anyway, or I have one but don’t know it. If anyone accuses me of clickbait for using the term “midlife crisis,” then I confess to being partly guilty. In any case, I play now for almost 4 years with a lot of fun and I plan to write more about my drumming experience in the future.