by Alex Mc
If you're willing to practice the techniques
you learn from drum lessons regularly, then
drum lessons are
definitely for you. However,
if you're not willing to make a daily time
commitment to practicing playing the drums,
you still can benefit from taking lessons,
but you'll definitely learn at a much slower
pace then a drummer who
practices would.
The main reason that regular practice is so
important for drummers is that when you
practice something like
a drum roll, the
movements done by your fingers and wrists
slowly get imbedded in your muscle memory,
making it
easier for you to play a drum roll
the next time you see. This concept also
applies to your feet and the bass drum.
Want to start grooving? You have to practice!
In addition, the most important thing for a
drummer to do is to really feel and
understand the rhythm of
whatever drum beat
they're playing so they can start grooving to
it.
When a drummer's playing near perfect rhythm,
they're making the drum set piece they're
playing come alive,
allowing the listener to
feel the drum beat. Sounds cool, right? You
may be thinking, ‘just how can a drummer
accomplish
this? The answer, of course, is to
practice regularly. Not only do you have to
practice regularly, you also have to
practice
the right way to understand the concept of
rhythm and groove, which is where lessons by
a good drum teacher
will come in handy.
Finding a drum teacher
Go to your local drum store, and ask them if
they offer drum lessons. If they don't, look
around the store
for any bulletin boards
where drummers post band information and you
may be able to find an offer for weekly drum
lessons.
Still can’t find a drum lesson? Try your
local community centers, or try going to any
places with musical
equipment and asking
around there. By then, you should be able to
find somebody offering a drum lesson You can
also
try checking out the links on the bottom
of this page for a few different directories
of drum lessons being offered
all over the
US.
The drum teachers that I've talked to are all
very passionate about drum sets, and many of
them play professionally
in bands, so you
should be able to get a good lesson from just
about any drum teacher. Most drum teachers
offer
lessons once a week, for 30 minutes to
an hour. (I'm sure though, if you wanted to
take more lessons a week you could).
Monthly lessons should be affordable (I pay
60 dollars a month for weekly drum lessons),
but if you're really
on a tight budget you
might be able to negotiate with the teacher
for a lower price.
Anyone can benefit from a good drum lesson
What you work on during a drum lesson will be
different depending on your skill level.
Beginners may work
on snare drum rudiments
and drum fundamentals, while more
intermediate and advanced drummers work on
how to play
drum solos. (You can really work
on anything you want though, just ask your
drum teacher what you want to learn and
I'm
sure they'd be glad to help you.)
No matter what your skill level, a good drum
teacher should be able to listen to whatever
you're playing
on a drum set, and immediately
tell you what you're doing incorrectly and
correctly.
How drum lessons have helped me
I've been taking drum lessons for years now,
and I have some excellent tips on how to
practice better technique,
play quicker, and
become a better drummer overall. The best
benefit of drum lessons definitely are to
learn the
concept of drumming from a veteran
in the drumming world, which a drum teacher
almost always is.
Interested in reading more about drum set
related topics?
I post a bunch of other great stuff
in my
"Drum Smart" Newsletter. Most of which
will never be
posted here on my drum blog,
so make sure you sign up!
