Dave Elitch — How to Get Out of Your Own Way (#348)
Photo by Dan Gillan
“Slow down. Do it again.” — Dave Elitch
Dave Elitch (IG: @daveelitch) first garnered attention with his band Daughters of Mara’s debut album I am Destroyer in 2007, but his time touring with the American progressive rock band The Mars Volta in 2009-2010 is what really put him on the map. He has since worked with Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, M83, The 1975, Juliette Lewis, Big Black Delta, as well as many others.
Dave conducts master-class lectures worldwide and is a regular in the L.A. session scene, including performing on film scores for many major motion pictures. As an educator for the last 20 years, Dave has developed a reputation as the technique/body mechanic specialist who has helped many of the world’s top players and educators overcome physical and mental plateaus at his private studio in Los Angeles. His brand new online course, Getting Out of Your Own Way, is available now at DaveElitch.com (use the code FERRISS at checkout for a 25% off discount).
Please enjoy this episode with Dave Elitch!
Listen to the interview on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, or on your favorite podcast platform.
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#348: Dave Elitch — How to Get Out of Your Own Way
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Further curious about how drummers see the world? You’re not alone! — Make sure to listen to my conversation with Stewart Copeland, drummer for The Police and son of a bona fide CIA operative! (Stream below or right-click here to download):
#262: The CIA, The Police, and Other Adventures from Stewart Copelandhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/438e7af7-6545-48d1-99a3-f21bc272f2d0.mp3Download
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Connect with Dave Elitch:
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Dave’s Getting Out of Your Own Way Course (use the code FERRISS at checkout for a 25% off discount)
I Am Destroyer by Daughters Of Mara
The Mars Volta
M83
The 1975
Big Black Delta
Do Drummers Have Different Brains from the Rest of Us? by Richard Metzger, Dangerous Minds
Dave’s Slow Down/Do It Again T-Shirt
The Anatomy of a Drum Kit, Making Music
Dave Elitch On Having Good Posture, DrumChannel.com
AC/DC
Beginner Drum Lesson: The Money Beat by Chris Atchley
The Mars Volta Goliath Dave Elitch Drum Cam Video
How to Build a Memory Palace, ArtOfMemory.com
Metronome Online
Fear-Setting: The Most Valuable Exercise I Do Every Month by Tim Ferriss, TED 2017
Sam Harris, Ph.D. — How to Master Your Mind, The Tim Ferriss Show (with guided meditation bonus)
Antemasque
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Killer Be Killed
Kelly Starrett and Dr. Justin Mager, The Tim Ferriss Show
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green
What is Zen? What is Buddhism?, zen-buddhism.net
The Matrix
4 Ways to Hold a Drumstick, wikiHow
Facing Love Addiction: Giving Yourself the Power to Change the Way You Love by Pia Mellody, Andrea Wells Miller, and J. Keith Miller
The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
Believe by Cher
The Gerbil’s Revenge: Auto-Tune Corrects a Singer’s Pitch. It Also Distorts — a Grand Tradition in Pop. by Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker
Beat Detective, WikiAudio
The Century of the Self
HyperNormalisation
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
Sources of Existential Angst by Brett and Kate McKay, The Art of Manliness
“Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.” — Erich Fromm
The Smashing Pumpkins
You Want to Climb Mount Everest? Here’s What It Takes by John Branch, The New York Times
Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
Mindfulness by Ellen J. Langer
Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness with Ellen Langer and Krista Tippett, On Being
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Zero by The Smashing Pumpkins
Bullet with Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins
Topo Chico
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies, the Original Handwritten Cards by Martin Schneider, Dangerous Minds
Do the Strand by Roxy Music
Ambient 1/Music For Airports by Brian Eno
The Space Between the Notes by Bruce Hembd, Horn Matters
Taxi
Taxi Driver
Arnold Schwarzenegger — A Great Man by Bill Burr
What Is Embouchure? Saxophone Lessons, Howcast
Searching for Bobby Fischer: book and movie
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, The Tim Ferriss Experiment
Led Zeppelin
John Bonham’s Drum Set Up, JohnBonham.co.uk
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
Open by Andre Agassi
Trolls
The Book of Love
Logan
St. Vincent
Divergent
Insurgent
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland
Which Writer Coined the Phrase Generation X?, Fun Trivia
Book Recommendations by Dave’s Therapist:
When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair: 50 Ways to Feel Thin, Gorgeous, and Happy (When You Feel Anything But) by Geneen Roth and Anne Lamott
To Hell & Back: How to Have Feelings & Stay Sober at the Same Time by Jasmin Rogg
Recovering Spirituality: Achieving Emotional Sobriety in Your Spiritual Practice by Ingrid Mathieu
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Third Edition by Alice Miller
Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill W.
The 7 Systems of Balance: A Natural Prescription for Healthy Living in a Hectic World by Paul Sorgi
Bradshaw On: The Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem by John Bradshaw
Therapy with Single Parents: A Social Constructionist Approach by Joan D Atwood and Frank Genovese
The Anxiety Book: Developing Strength in the Face of Fear by Jonathan Davidson and Henry Dreher
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell
Becoming Your Own Parent: The Solution for Adult Children of Alcoholic and Other Dysfunctional Families by Dennis Wholey
Further Book Recommendations by Dave:
A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance — Portrait of an Age by William Manchester
Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
The Brutality of Fact: Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester
Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
The Awakening of Intelligence by J. Krishnamurti
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin
A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber
Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver
SHOW NOTES
Who is Dave, and why is he in my house? [04:28]
“Slow down. Do it again.” [08:49]
How Dave quickly identified and alleviated one of my greatest sources of discomfort behind a drum kit. [10:48]
My first introduction to Dave and his capacity for monster drumming in The Mars Volta, and why he’s known as a bit of a mercenary cleaner on the music industry tour circuit. [13:13]
How does Dave prepare to tour with a band — often on last-minute notice? It’s actually not dissimilar to how I prepare for speeches. [18:55]
What does the day of the first show of a mercenary tour look like for Dave? What advice or rituals does he suggest to others who find themselves facing a similarly stressful trial — musical or otherwise? [31:21]
How mastering or understanding the inner workings of one discipline — whether it’s drumming, tennis, Zen Buddhism, or something else altogether — can extend to solving the problems posed by countless other disciplines. [39:03]
A book exchange that took place between Dave and his therapist. [48:40]
What Marshall McLuhan might have told us about the influence of Auto-Tune on modern music. [50:01]
Who really sculpted our world’s love affair with consumerism: Sigmund Freud’s nephew or Edward Bernays’ uncle? These Adam Curtis documentaries should shed some light on the answer (while blowing a few minds in the process). [55:24]
Visual art, coping with met expectations of success that lead to burnout, and microwave manifestation. [1:03:36]
Oblique Strategies: how Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt can help us reconsider perspective and possibly course correct. [1:17:00]
How has a failure set Dave up for later success — and how did he reframe this failure to recognize it as a runway to that success? [1:25:28]
What makes Dave doubt the choices that led him to where he is today? [1:32:10]
It’s been said by some of Dave’s most well-known students that he excels in teaching patience. Why might drums make this an easier feat than if he taught saxophone? [1:39:50]
What would Dave’s billboard say? [1:44:46]
If Bill Burr doesn’t approach comedy like Sam Kinison, why should he approach drumming like John Bonham? [1:48:11]
Does Dave have any unusual habits or love of weird things — Himalayan or otherwise? [1:50:29]
Dave didn’t begin therapy until he was in his thirties. What made him start, and what keeps him going? [1:52:31]
Dave has contributed to quite a few film scores. What does that process look like from his perspective? [2:02:38]
Book recommendations and final thoughts. [2:04:30]
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Jimmy Chamberlin
Miley Cyrus
Justin Timberlake
Juliette Lewis
Hermann Rorschach
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Cicero
Bear Grylls
Sam Harris
Timothy Gallwey
Gautama Buddha
Cedric Bixler Zavala
Flea
Kelly Starrett
Neo
Pia Mellody
Marshall McLuhan
Quentin Fiore
Jerome Agel
Cher
T-Pain
Drake
Spock
Adele
Jack Johnson
Adam Curtis
Edward Bernays
Sigmund Freud
Slavoj Zizek
Erich Fromm
William J. Clinton
Molly
Krista Tippett
Ellen Langer
Maria Bamford
Janet Jackson
Brian Eno
Peter Schmidt
Stacy Jones
George Daniel
Matty Healy
Freddy Sheed
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Franco Columbu
Al Pacino
Robert De Niro
Bill Burr
Michael Jackson
Josh Waitzkin
Bobby Fischer
John Bonham
Sam Kinison
Cheryl Strayed
Andre Agassi
Bill Murray
Douglas Coupland
Mara
