Hitting vs. strumming

It's a cloudy, windy, and imminently rainy day today and my iPod knows it. The Never Played playlist is giving me hushed tunes from Mia Doi Todd and Devendra Banhart, moody grooves from Amon Tobin and Pizzicato Five and easy-on-the-hungover-brain '60's pop from The Free Design and Chad & Jeremy. Thank you, little white musical pill. You know me so well. Actually, a little too well. It's freaking me out. Maybe you should leave, iPod. No, wait! Don't go! I'm sorry! Give me one more chance! I can still make you happy!

I'm in a fragile state today. Shredding takes a lot of out me. Last night, I was up on stage with a guitar for the first time in almost a decade, trying my best to remember how to rock and roll while standing up. It took me back to my Touk days, when I had both more and less hair, and me and my strat and my troublesome amp would get all high energy with the boys. My God, we were spazzes. In a good way.

But the debate club in my head got started up about which was more fun to play: drums or guitar? The debate rages on.

Pros of playing drums:

• Get to hit things
• Don't have to worry about feedback or other technical problems
• Get to sit in back and take comfort in the fact that almost no one is looking at you
• Is much easier to hear a song and immediately know how to play it
  

Cons of playing drums:

• Have to lug all that gear around
• Expensive parts and accessories
• A lot less glory
• Loud/Nearly impossible to practice in an apartment
• Have to sit down
  

Pros of playing guitar:

• Get to dance and jump around
• Is considered a "hotter" instrument to play
• Can swing the guitar around and pretend you're The Edge
  

Cons of playing guitar:

• Have to deal with technical issues
• Have to "figure out" how to play songs
• Harder to improvise and come up with parts (for me, anyway)
• Every other person in the world plays guitar
  

This is all academic, though, as drums are the clear personal winner when you take into account that drummer Reid puts guitarist Reid to shame. To analogize it with languages, I can get around alright with a guitar, engage in some conversations and know what's going on, but I'm fluent on drums, and while I may not always be able to express myself as fully as I'd like, I can easily do it without thinking too hard. And anything I can do without thinking too hard is something I love to do.

But still, after all these years, it felt great to get guitarded again.