I have three people to thank for getting me started; Doug Marks, Troy Stetina, and husband Chuck. I had recorded a cover of "Still Got the Blues" by Gary Moore using sequenced drums. They sounded very stiff. My friend Doug privately suggested that I look into other options. I did not want to play with loops, and it was too expensive to hire an online drum service. I bought a copy of "Speed and Thrash Metal Drum Method" by Troy Stetina and Charlie Bushor. It was out of print but I found a copy on eBay. When it arrived, I sat down and read it while listening to the audio cassette.

As I read and listened, I visualized myself playing the excercises on a kit. It seemed that it would be fun! However, acoustic drums are way too loud for me. Soon I learned about electronic kits. My husband gave me a kit and monitor as a wedding anniversary and Christmas gift.

After the holidays, I took some lessons with an instructor who lived three minutes from my house, Art Rodriguez. I told him that I just wanted to work on a practice pad and cover hand technique and rudiments. I would work for an hour with the metronome on a practice pad each day. Then I would practice grooves and fills on the full kit. Books and videos provided most of the material for this, as well as drum magazines.