Well, I come from a different school of thought because I've never had a lesson and I never "count" measures. I've always felt that I could use some lessons. I do more like what the Doc was talking about. Learn more about song structure like verses and chorus and bridges. Rather than counting, I break the song up into verses, chorus's and bridges. You practice enough and you get a feel for how long the verse is, how long the chorus is, blah blah blah. I am also a songwriter so that kinda helps with that. If I have a problem with a particular area of the song, like the break after the second chorus right before it goes into the bridge, for instance, then that's where I need to focus because I got the rest of the song wired. Visualize that part even when you're away from your kit and listen to it over and over again until it is burned into your brain. Some songs I'm asked to play I've never played before, but for the fact that I've heard that song so much in the past that I only need to hear it once to get a feel for the bass/snare pattern, how are the HHs/ride being played, what pattern. Where was that break again? Oh yeah it was right after the bridge before he goes into the chorus. How many times does he hit that cymbal? Oh yeah, it was 5 times.