The old saying goes, "Life is hard for musicians, but for drummers, it's nearly impossible."
I certainly won't dispute it. We've got a tough lot in life. Drummers have more equipment than other members of a band, and it's bulkier, heavier and needs to be replaced more often than other instruments. We're the butt of just about every joke related to band life. We certainly sweat more in the course of a set, and there's little more noticeable than when we screw up.
I certainly won't complain about any of those issues, however, only pause to make note of them. Overall, it's pretty good to be a drummer, and I don't think there's an instrument (or set of them) I would rather play.
But I will complain, vocally, about drummer blisters. As you can see from the attached photo, I braved a particularly vicious one at tonight's practice, and based on prior experience, I can tell you this one won't be done healing before our next practice. I made sure to stop at the corner store and pick up some medical tape on the way home tonight to make so I'll be ready to wrap.
I won't lie: this blog post probably isn't for the squeamish.
The key to avoiding drummer blisters, DBs for short, is just to drum a lot and build up callouses. They form most frequently where the stick lays across the thumb-side of the forefinger, but also the side of the middle finger and the heel of the thumb where it presses the stick against the forefinger. Every time a drummer swings a stick, it rocks back and forth over the skin, softening it up. That tenderizing effect is exacerbated by the impact of the stick on the drum head, the shock of which travels up the stick in into the hands via the very tiny surface area that actually makes contact with the stick.
Once a drummer has built up good callouses, though, a long session of practice will generally just scuff up the surface of the skin, drying it out and making it flaky. DBs become something of a rarity.
When Common Swift first started coalescing a year ago, I found myself coping with some pretty frequent DBs because I hadn't drummed regularly for more than four years. Lately though, they've been few and far between, which is why I was so surprised at the nasty one I suffered tonight.
It may have been because Ian McNamara was at practice tonight to observe the band, shoot some photos of us in action and absorb some inspiration for some potential cover art, so I was playing a little more intensely than I usually do at practice. It could have something to do with the fact that we were in our third take of "Everyday SA," and we were pushing the tempo. It could be that I'm using a new brand of sticks that aren't so prone to shattering and spraying me with shrapnel.
Either way, we were in the middle of the second chorus when the index finger on my right hand got that familiar, gross feeling like it's wrapped in wet paper towel that's starting to fall apart and I knew I was going to have a nasty one to deal with.
Of course, the blisters don't hurt at first, and even after they start to smart, you can't stop the song -- or the set -- to deal with a blister. You just play through the pain and maybe try to reposition the stick in your hand to minimize the rubbing on the raw area. But that throws off your balance, your accuracy and your speed, so sometimes it's best to try and ignore it.
That's what I tried to do at first, but by the third chorus, the blister had popped, and an ear bud-sized chunk of my skin was started to stick to the drum stick, sliding back and forth against the deeper flesh and getting ready to sluff off the side of my hand.
I warned you this wasn't for the squeamish.
We finished the song, and I immediately dazzled my bandmates with the big, gross flap of skin that was hanging off my finger. My drummer callouses run about an inch along the side of my finger, and this blister had gouged about half of that off. We paused for five minutes, and I ran to the bathroom, yanked off the hanging skin and wrapped my finger in an improvised Kleenex and medical tape bandage.
Parker offered me some alcohol to throw on it, and I called him a sadist. I knew I had to disinfect it, but I had a better, slightly less painful method in mind.
You see, the best immediate treatment for a drummer blister is to fill up the sink with hot, soapy water and do the dishes, and I had a nice stack waiting for me at home anyway. I used a jack knife to cut the makeshift bandage off my finger, then put on some music so the neighbors wouldn't hear me cussing at the sting.
Now that's hardship!
wah wah wah, no blood, no complaining!
ReplyDeleteSee, I knew you'd do this! I try to write a thoughtful blog post that's from the heart, and all you do is make fun. I'm going to go write spiteful poetry.
ReplyDeleteI liked the post...more detail than I needed while I ate my nectarine though.
ReplyDeletepff. i tried to make fun of my 'injury' and Dusty goes and gets a real one.
ReplyDeleteAlso - who eats nectarines?? ha ha ha
Yeah, you go write some spiteful poetry.
ReplyDeleteHere's my haiku for you:
The blister is pain
Being a drummer is too
I cut my wrists now
ROFLMFAO.
ReplyDeleteJeff, who gets up to comment on blogs at 6:22 in the AM? Yeesh.
I have no idea. Certainly not me...that's pretty weird. I wrote it in the afternoon while I was...uh... on break at work.
ReplyDeleteHe says at 6:26 AM...
ReplyDeleteOh, problem solved... the blog was set in the Pacific time zone for some reason.
ReplyDeleteI have to do this: I'm officially calling out the fact that Brian and Alissa have not joined or commented on here yet...epic fail.
ReplyDeletemaybe Alissa should write a post about the fabled comic strip.
ReplyDeleteDude, drummer blisters suck. Oh, yeah, i'm Brian's cousin by the way.
ReplyDeletejust practice your technique dude! fulcrum point, finger control=no blisters
ReplyDeleteI love the drummer sound, i feel energizer every time that i listen music where the drummer is notable. i think any band could be sustainable itself without a drummer.
ReplyDeletecosta rica investment opportunities
So I was walking down the road, and I found a sleeping dragon on the street. No one noticed him so i took him home. I couldn't get him through my door because he was so fat so I got my monkey face scooter out of my garage living room and scootered him into the room. Then I went to costa rica
ReplyDeleteit was weird a lot i couldn't use a monkey face scooter with bug wheels because of that. It was strange, because at the same time, my hippo was eating streak frites and french fries at the local swimming pool. And... my monkey face dog made a brown, stinky lump of glop under my bed, so I had to clean it. But I liked the facts, just add more it wasn't satisfying i had to make place cards for my pets were were having a tea party in my treehouse shower/bathtub. But, my cat stanley didn't want to have the tea party, she knocked over the tea pot and got my foot leg burned, my foot screamed and shriveled up then my cat pooped green and pink pop tarts into the flowers. My other dog charlina peed sprinkles on to my frozen yogurt, and I ate it anyways. then, a wild dinosaur crawled down my chimney and grilled neon yellow and purple crap balls on a stick over the neon pink fire. Then, my gopher bunny frog crawled into the -60000000 degree fire and ate the crap balls off the stick, the dinosaur got so mad it trampled my house down and ate the butt off the gopher bunny frog. My verbal elephant then launched a rocketship from a sewage pipe and it blasted off a whole forest of giant mushrooms. The mushrooms killed all my pets.
I had to sleep out in the highway that night, and when I woke up, the traffic went all the way to china! One car rolled right over me, but because I weigh 5000000 pounds, it bounced off me into space and onto the moon. I got up and build a new house out of monkey guts. I found some neon pink frozen yogurt and spinkles in the bush, so I ate it. It was poop. I pooped pink and purple rainbows and flew around the sky and turned into Nyan cat. I jumped over planets and landed in costa rica, where I found out ALL OF THIS CRAP IS WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
seriously?
Deleteyo u guys are sooooo mean! Just appreciate someone who would actually write this blogs! your comments are utter CRAP! OK? be nice for once! Also, I eat nectarines for breakfast every day. nothing wrong with that. and the detail was fine!!!! but one question, what weirdo posted that whole story? they are crazy. it was funny though
ReplyDeletethat was meeeeeeeeeee
ReplyDelete