How did you learn to play?

[max_fischer101]

I am a hobbyist drummer, and started playing drums when I was young. I came from a small town with limited resources. Rudiments were NOT stressed, and I learned mostly on my own. After a loooong layoff, I am playing again, but feel I've reached a small plateau. Some drummers say "listen and practice" others say, "rudiments, rudiments, rudiments", and the worst, "I've never had a lesson in my life". It gets rather confusing. What do most people consider the "ideal" or "best" way to learn to play?

max

[Wavelength]

- Play and practice every day, but take a day-off once a week.

- Listen to all kinds of music, and pick as much vocabulary as you can by imitating and playing along.

- Work on your technique, focusing on the free stroke, single strokes, double strokes and flams.

- Learn to read and write music. This will enable you to learn from the vast amount of drumming books available, and it also allows you to write down and transcribe ideas that you think are worth remembering.

- Buy a metronome and spend some time working with it.

- A few good books that you can use 'til your days are numbered:


"Progressive Steps to Syncopation" by Ted Reed
"Stick Control" by George L. Stone
"Art of Bop Drumming" by John Riley
"New Breed" by Gary Chester



- Finally, getting lessons from a good teacher helps a lot. And I mean a lot.

[Class A Drummer]

I am a hobbyist drummer, and started playing drums when I was young. I came from a small town with limited resources. Rudiments were NOT stressed, and I learned mostly on my own. After a loooong layoff, I am playing again, but feel I've reached a small plateau. Some drummers say "listen and practice" others say, "rudiments, rudiments, rudiments", and the worst, "I've never had a lesson in my life". It gets rather confusing. What do most people consider the "ideal" or "best" way to learn to play?

max

Those things you listed in the 2nd to last sentence are all essential to learning and shaping your technique, style, and ability. I learned from a teacher. After close to 10 years, i still have the same one and he is great. We have worked through many books, and recordings. Because of him, my snare chops have reached a pretty high level.

Its all about getting a teacher. While you certainly can learn on your own, you would most likley learn much more in much shorter amounts of time with a good drum teacher.

[max_fischer101]

Do you think rock drummers need to learn to read music? And what about all these guys who just say they learned on their own? Are they just naturals?

max

[stasz]

Do you think rock drummers need to learn to read music? And what about all these guys who just say they learned on their own? Are they just naturals?

max

Nobody needs to learn how to read music. However, doing so puts you at such a huge advantage. Simply having a way to write down ideas will help you in practice and performance, and you'll be able to communicate with other musicians so much more easily. There is a wealth of knowledge on music out there which is most easily learned if you can read music.

As for those who have a strict "autodidact" policy and become as incredible as those who take years to become great, I don't know how to explain it. I've never been a fan of anybody with a sort of self-proclaimed idea that they don't practice to become good, and it just "comes naturally". In my opinion, the real greatest players of our time put countless amounts of time in to their work to have the talent they did. Maybe they had to be a little crazy to do that, but that amount of work is what it takes.

For the originally posed question... I believe that Wavelength's suggestion covered it very well. Since I don't believe that there is a "correct" technique, then the development of it, whichever technique you learn, is just a matter of finding what works best for you and then working with it. A metronome is great because having perfect time, or at least being able to work with the idea of time, making it feel perfect or imperfect (in general), can only be verified by the standard of perfect time that is a metronome.

[max_fischer101]

Well it looks like I'll be looking for a teacher. Thanks for the info.

max

[budman]

I am self-taught on the drumset, but I played the trombone for seven years before I started drumming. Because of this, I feel that I was able to pick up drumming much easier than I would have if I had no prior musical experience. I knew how to read music right from the start; and I knew the importance of focusing on the little things (technique, dynamics, time, etc.) to become a better musician.

To continually develop skill on the drumset, I do these things: 1. Work through instructional drum books and dvds 2. Practice with a focus on technique and rock solid time 3. Play with talented musicians who make me a better player. 4. Constantly listen to, and play along with, challenging music. 5. Observe other drummers.

I am also considering taking some private lessons in the near future. If this is your first foray into the world of music, I think that private lessons are indispensable.

[max_fischer101]

I am not completely new to music or drumming. I just feel I'm getting back into it late. I'm 42 and I am wondering if the rudiments are really that important to me at this phase of the game? When am I going to need to do a five stroke roll?

max

[Wavelength]

When am I going to need to do a five stroke roll?

Ask yourself when you are going to need to play the drums. Other than the fun aspect, what is there to gain from playing? Now, transfer this analogy to rudiments. They are conceptual building blocks of drumming. Learning and practicing them will improve your technique and your fluency on the instrument. Learning them will give you new phrasing and sticking ideas you can use on the drums. Learning them will open your eyes to the relations between seemingly different phrases -- you'll start seeing and hearing paradiddles and six stroke rolls all over the place. Of course, you can do fine without them, but they're a great way of finding out how drumming works.

[volvoguy]

I never took a lesson... just bought a drum set and started playing. Mostly listening to and playing along with my favorite music, and watching drummers play. I did play with the high school band for a year or so and taught myself how read music for playing tympani, bass and snare. I promptly forgot how to read music after that. :-)

Definitely picked up some bad habits over the years, but... I suppose it's all about what you want to "get" out of playing music. There are some basics to learn. The goal with any sort of education for anything you want to learn is to get to the point where you can start to teach yourself. Lessons may help you get to that point.

-Ryan

[Ian Ballard]

When I was about 3 or 4, my mom put drumstick in my hand (traditional grip, at that!), gave me a practice pad and showed me "rebound". She had been in drum corps in school. In addition, we had early incarnations of The Rainmakers practicing in our basement and the drummer (being that I was more interested in drums than the other instruments) would sit me down and show me things... maybe I was 5 or 6 at that point. I was obsessed with Buddy Rich and Keith Moon big time! Years went by of being mildly into music, but video games and toys reigned supreme. Finally, in middle school, I had a chance to start playing with groups. Unfortunately, I had been ill the day we were to pick instruments, so I missed the drum opportunity. But since my grandma got me into Artie Shaw and Bennie Goodman, I thought the clarinet would be cool. Frankly, I did very well and floated between 1st and 2nd chair the whole year. The next year, I wasn't into it and was "demoted" to bass clarinet. However, these two years were important because it taught me how to read (often challenging) melodic music and how to play bass lines (which is all the bass clarinet does).

Incredibly valuable experiences, indeed.

I got some sticks in high school and began beating on any pillows and chairs I was allowed and was really wanting to play in bands. Finally, I met a girl at coffee house that needed a drummer for her band. She quit drums, had a kit and was willing to let me use and/or buy it from her, so she could play guitar and sing. It was a Christian thrash-core metal band... I kid you not. I instantly took to it, and played my best attempts at Lars Ulrich and Dave Lombardo stuff, but my interests went all over the place. I would play along to every record I owned and anybody who could strum power chords. I played in punk bands, started hanging out at any venue I could. That was around the time I started taking drum lessons from Jim Riley(who now plays in Rascal Flatts and has a profile here in Drummerworld!) who showed me the light of how to be a true professional and expanded my horizons incredibly. I began playing in my town's community band, playing mostly marches, light classical pieces and some jazz. I was also heavily jamming at The Grand Emporium, Harling's Upstairs and maybe most importantly The Mutual Musicians Foundation. These places are hollowed jazz and blues spots, dating back to prohibition days. White and black musicians would get together and play when they were segregated from each other in public venues and The Foundation was a "speakeasy".

I could feel the ghosts of Jo Jones and Charlie Parker in these places.

I've been very lucky to have met great people and played in some cool bands for many years. Without these people, I could not make music and that's what it's all about!

I learned to play by listening to music and figuring out what it takes to make that music. Period.

[Vic_Rattledeth]

I learned to play drums through listening to everything I heard and trying to play it. I had lessons for about a year sarting off when I was about 13. That got me off to a good start and I took off from there. I basically absorbed every amount of drum information I could and practiced alot everyday. It seemed to have worked pretty well. After the first two years I started focusing more on technique and joined my school band drumline, that helped alot. I just threw myself into every kind of musical situation I could and learned as much from others as I could. I'm still doing the same today, just practicing and keeping an open mind to learning.

[mikei]

I took up the drums 3 years ago at age 35.

Played guitar for 20 years or so. Played bass for a few years.

I took a couple of lessons, but they were not for me. I live such a busy life, that I don't have time to stick to a schedule.

I play along with music and other musicians as often as possible.

At my age, I know I will never have the skills of wavelength or some of the other amazing drummers out here. But, I play well enough to have fun and do pretty well jamming with others.

For me, it is for fun only. No need to become a GREAT drummer. But, I do try to improve and see improvement regularly.

Hopefully, someday my life will slow down and I will be able to learn proper technique. If I don't, I don't.

If I was younger, I would definitely take advantage of lessons and learning proper technique.

It depends on your goals.

[The Keith Moon]

I always liked tom tom rolls. and I always wanted Tom Tom rolls through out any rock song that I hear. So I picked up the stick and taught myself. I am not a fan of steady snare /hi hat sounds.
Now I have been playing along all the songs which have steady snarebeats (almost 95%) and try to play like Keith Moon.

[caddywumpus]

I picked up the sticks almost 12 years ago. I started playing along to Nirvana and Green Day and playing in some grunge/indie bands. I did that for a few years. Listening and playing and learning. I went to college for music (classical percussion) and learned how to read and write music, how to learn pieces quickly, how to "listen" in an ensemble, how to add "musicality" to your playing, etc......

Learn to read and write music. It opens up whole worlds of information that you can access to get better. Listen to music that inspires you and challenges you. You can't go wrong learning the rudiments, as long as you make them practical to your playing.

The most important things I got out of the whole college experience were the regular lessons, the playing experience, and the talking with other musicians (mentoring/being mentored). That's what I would focus on...lessons, practice a lot, and play with other people as much as possible.

[byronand]

...Finally, getting lessons from a good teacher helps a lot. And I mean a lot.

As usual, Wavelength is right on with his advice, but I'd say the key word here is good. A bad teacher can ruin your love of drumming. If you can't find a teacher who you feel great about, keep looking.

[Tutin]

In 1998, when I was 8 my Dad bought a drum kit with money he inherited after his aunt passed away. Lovely big kit, with Zildjian A customs and K's, and some Sabian hand hammered ones, which are signed under the bell. As soon as it was set up I started playing a basic rock pattern which came surprisingly naturally. At the time I used to make songs with Ejay, and I'd write out drum-only tracks and learn them. My Dad taught me a bit, like paradiddles and double stroke rolls but I was to shy to ask him for more advice which I will always regret. Eventually I put my own fills in and then I moved to learning songs or beats I'd heard. When I got to high school I did some music and I completed all the drum stuff for the year pretty quickly.

When I was 11 I got into heavy metal bands like Slipknot and Chimaira, then 12 or 13 I got into Morbid Angel, The Berzerker etc. and I decided I needed lessons if I was going to be able to play that stuff. So after 6 years of being self taught I got lessons from Simon Pooley, who toured in Motorhead when their drummer broke his wrist. He taught me how to read, rudiments, technique and introduced me to Jazz and Funk music. When I was 15 he said he couldn't teach me any more so referred me to his teacher Ted McKenna. Ted's played with loads of folk, SAHB, Average white band, Diana Ross, Iain Gillan... list goes on and on. Ted taught me a lot more about stick control, using the fingers, basic independence and a lot of fusion.

In 2006 Ted went to tour with SAHB again, so since then I've been left to teach myself. Drummerworld has really helped shape my playing since! I have books like Stick control, Advanced techniques for the modern drummer and Jojo's DVD and several others which really help. There's so many pro's and teachers; you can't lose. I intend on getting a teacher again when I can afford to do so, but I feel I'm progressing comfortably musically so I'm happy with that.

As for learning rudiments, what Wavelength said is right. You'll start to hear where they come into music. I used to always wonder how jazz drummer got a certain "flaring" in their snare parts, sometimes it was just too fast to see. For example, the six stroke roll phrasing: RLLRRL with accents on the and 1st, 5th notes. Played as a roll, this was what I was looking for all along. It wasn't until I tried to apply the rudiments to my playing that I could figure it out.

So I'll say that rudiments, although not necessary actually help a lot and can be fun when they do.

Good luck pal!

Tutin

[max_fischer101]

Thanks for all the great info. It's really interesting to hear all these different backgrounds on how people learn to play! As far as my own progress, I guess I'd have to agree with Mikei on this one. I think it depends on your goals. I work a full time job, have a family, and limited time to practice. I sincerely wish I would have grown up in a drum corps or something like that and learned to read at an early age, but I didn't. I read some...With a teacher it will get better I'm sure. My goals are to play in a weekend band, learn how to read a little better and to finally play Rosanna correctly!

max

[Drummer Karl]

Hi Max,

No worries. The worst is definitly not "never had lessons", the worst is not picking drums up if you want to. This would really keep an important experience back!

So many - and I think it`s totally natural - begin learning by ear, by listening, trying...more or less autodidactic. If you get more serious about it or wanna improve certain things, lessons will definitly be very helpful.
Regarding the thread title: I started playing by trying it out with pots. I listened to some bands I really liked and tried to play with them.

Later I took lessons. In conclusion, that should be your next step in my opinion. Find a teacher...take lessons, make this experience. He`ll help you to structure, to improve, he`ll be able to give you individual book/DVD recommendations etc.

Good luck and have fun!!

Karl

[dea]

Started private lessons in 1978, and continued for 5 years. Learned; rudiments, reading/writing and jazz drumming exclusively. My teacher was not a rock drummer by any stretch of the imagination. I then decided to leave because I could read well enough to learn from any book and wanted to focus my attention on rock, as opposed to jazz. During high school, it was all about rock-n-roll. I played in various bands while a senior. Worked some recording projects after graduation for a couple of years. Not much money there... I then went back to college to study something other than music so I could afford to keep my hobby alive while supporting my 3 kids. That was the best decision I could have ever made. Now, many moons later, I still play and in band with a bunch of other grumpy, cynical dudes who just need an avenue to vent our creative energy.

[Vril drumms]

I think its primarily up to the kind of person/drummer you are. If your very precise and proper (for lack of a better word) then I suppose lessons and things like that would be the way to go.
Personally though, I taught myself when I was 5 and started out by listening to Zeppelin records and playing along to them, never took a lesson. The downfall of that method would be that I have no idea what casual drum terms mean or how to read any music. It works for me though, I get to be really personal about the music I make since I haven't taken any lessons on how to do it the "right" way.