Shaking Off The Rust

I was recently laid off from a company I got to not like very much. To get the most from this gift of time a friend suggested putting a daily schedule together designed to awaken my right brain. I'm putting the DAW production studio back together, writing these posts, and scheduling 30 minutes of drumming a day. For the first time in over a decade the kit is set up. With the exception of the bass drum they sound horrible and before I tune them I'm committing to getting back in shape (first things first!). Last Thursday I went back to the configuration that worked well for me in Someone and the Somebodies: ride cymbal in a vertical position above the floor tom, seating at an angle with snare in the middle, feet in natural alignments to ankle quirks, everything set to within easy arm's reach to ensure upright posture. I am more effective when sitting low. The bugaboo is I bought a new throne that sits me higher, and the adjustments have been difficult. To address this the snare and floor tom drums are elevated to the top reaches of their supports, the rack-mount tom as close to precarious as I will allow, crash cymbal squarely between the hi-hat and rack-mount tom. When I sat behind this configuration I immediately felt at home, could easily find all the components with my eyes closed and maintain posture. Now the challenge is to be able to switch from hi-hat to ride cymbal without breaking the beat or losing tempo! When I mentioned getting back to it to my friend Steve who drums for Tom Petty and I was thinking about working with a metronome to get my sea legs back he said, "Nah. Just get with some guys and play. They'll tell you when you f*ck up!"(Ha!Ha!Ha!). Guess it's time to round up the usual suspects...