when is the right time to stop getting private lessons?

I have been taking drum lessons for about 3 years. I have learned most of the basics, and I feel that I can learn stuff on my own from watching videos online and practicing with exercise books. I am also in a band that practices around once in two weeks. Should I stop going to my drum teacher and practice on my own?

Even some of the best drummers in world still take lessons here and there.
Greg Bissonette, Neil Peart, Dave Weckl and many others will still seek out lessons from top teachers.

There is always something else to learn, or something to improve on.

If you feel like you've reached a point with your current teacher you're not sure if you should continue, perhaps it's time to find a different teacher who has a different approach, or specializes in a different aspect of drumming. Maybe a change of teachers will change your perspective on lessons.

Joe Morello said that if George Lawrence Stone and Billy Gladstone were still around, he'd still be studying with them.

Three years is not a long time to take lessons. If you feel you are not learning anything, try another teacher.

Jeff

I've been playing the drums for about 11 years. I just starting taking lessons again after a 10 year break.

I wish had I never stopped.

In my opinion, you should keep with it if you can afford it and you are serious about making progress on the instrument.

Good luck!

murakami said:

I have been taking drum lessons for about 3 years. I have learned most of the basics, and I feel that I can learn stuff on my own from watching videos online and practicing with exercise books. I am also in a band that practices around once in two weeks. Should I stop going to my drum teacher and practice on my own?

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"when is the right time to stop getting private lessons?"

Simple answer: NEVER!

Cheers

Hey Dude,

That's a completely unfair question to ask those of us who have never heard you play.

The best answer I can offer is: you will know when it's time to stop, and only YOU will know.

I keep continuing my "lessons" by watching videos, reading Modern drummer, coming to this forum 2-3 times a day, and checking out other drummers at gigs and concerts.

To the wise-- the learning process never stops. Once it does, you become stagnant.

Cheers,
C. P.

thanks for all the replies, what do you guys usually go over in a lesson? my teacher goes over snares then drum kit so basically stick control, sight reading on snare, coordination on drum kit,etc.

There is NO good time to stop taking. Ever. you try to take them as long as you possibly can.

murakami said:

thanks for all the replies, what do you guys usually go over in a lesson? my teacher goes over snares then drum kit so basically stick control, sight reading on snare, coordination on drum kit,etc.

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I usually follow a similar lesson pattern with my students, but also focus on snare drum reading and styles - concert snare etudes, rudimental etudes, etc... On drum set, I focus on application of stickings, different styles, drum chart interpretation, transcribing, listening, etc... I also have an extensive collection of play-along charts/CDs to simulate actual performing experience. I can also record and mix the play-alongs to my laptop so we can analyze his/her playing.

The last two lessons that I took with my teacher, I brought in CDs of me playing with the big band and had him critique it.

Jeff

i still take lessons even though i'm in a gigging band and i can handle most types of playing. for me, taking lessons keeps me motivated and focused on improving. i'm sure i'd be ok if i stopped taking them, but i'm afraid i'd get bored and would stop learning new things.

You should stop taking lessons when you can play better than your teacher.


Or you can't afford it...which is my boat.

maddrummr said:

You should stop taking lessons when you can play better than your teacher.


Or you can't afford it...which is my boat.

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Nah, I don't agree w/ that. I quit taking lessons when I felt like I was getting very little from them. I still can't play better than my teacher but I'm moving along every bit as fast as I was when I was taking lessons - only now I work on the things I want, the way I want, when I want to. I took weekly lessons until I learned how to practice effectively.

As a teacher, these are some of the times when it seems appropriate to stop lessons;

1. If the teacher isn't quite "cutting it" for you as a student. (either relationally or material-wise)
2. If you are unwilling or unable to put in the (practice) time necessary to make the lessons worth it to you.
3. Lack of financial feasibility.
4. If you just "want a break" or want to try a new teacher.

It sounds like you are wanting a break. We all want breaks, even from things we love to do. It's natural to want to do so, but make sure that you set a deadline for yourself to start again, or maybe re-schedule your next lesson for 3 months in the future, because it's easy to just "get out of the habit".

My advice is to use the money you'd spend on lessons, buy some DVDs/books and study on your own. Try it out for a while. Keep a running log of what you learned and the questions that arise as you study on your own. When you start up lessons again, go over this log with your teacher, re-evaluate your goals, and get a fresh start on lessons. It will be refreshing for both you AND your teacher.

If you have a good teacher that you like, the answer is NEVER.

I have had the same Drum Teacher for the last 12 years, and the ONLY reason I am currently not taking lessons is because I moved out of state.

If you want to keep learning and taking lessons, but your teacher isn't cutting it and making you interested to learn more about your craft then shop around for a new one. That's what I did, I took lessons for a few years from two other teachers before I signed up with my current teacher.

Personally, I stop taking drum lessons after three years with my teacher. I think he'd teach me all he was able to teach and I felt him a bit overworked with his schedule, so I gradually stop taking lessons to accustom myself with learning alone. Actually, it has been three years since I have not taken drum lessons but next year, I'll study the drums in college, with teachers and musicians.

So, I think the right time to stop getting private lessons is when you feel yourself able to learn alone, when you know where you go, and you have the capacities, the skills to evolved your own playing. But this doesn't stop you from taking lessons with other teachers or mentors.

There's something we should all know, is that we'll never stop learning throughout life.

i know a couple very phenomenal drummers that still take lessons, one of them give private lessons to others and still takes lessons. i was always a firm believer in music is a constant learning process, nobody is ever a master or knows it all, just some know more than others.

My own story is that I stopped taking lessons after three years mainly because of the recession and partly because he'd given me so much to learn I felt I needed to consolidate the things I was doing with him.
After a 12 month break I think I'm probably ready to get back to lessons, although I still haven't caught up.

murakami said:

I have been taking drum lessons for about 3 years. I have learned most of the basics, and I feel that I can learn stuff on my own from watching videos online and practicing with exercise books. I am also in a band that practices around once in two weeks. Should I stop going to my drum teacher and practice on my own?

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I still take lessons. It's been 31 years now. Just because you take lessons this doesn't mean you cannot practice your own stuff as well.

3 years is nothing. Try 31. The benefits outweigh anything if your teacher is good.

murakami said:

I have been taking drum lessons for about 3 years. I have learned most of the basics, and I feel that I can learn stuff on my own from watching videos online and practicing with exercise books. I am also in a band that practices around once in two weeks. Should I stop going to my drum teacher and practice on my own?

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I practice quite a bit on my own but I am a very well-disciplined and motivated person....I also enjoy working on new things. I also try to study from someone who is a success in the music business when I can.

Yes, you can learn some from videos online and from books, but a book or DVD can't watch or hear you play and tell what is wrong in your playing, such as hitting the wrong part of the drum or that you are wasting motion. A DVD or book can't tell you that you are rushing or slowing down or why your playing doesn't sound the way you want it to. Case in point, when I studied with Ed Soph, one of the chief concepts I left with was that books don't teach dynamics which is crucial part of jazz as many of the jazz guys (jazz nazis - kidding with you) will let you know, real quick! How can you get that from a book? How can a DVD tell you that you are playing you snare drum too loud?

You sound kind of young, so your age may be a factor in wanting to quit lessons - maybe you think you are ready to replace Travis Barker in Blink 182. Many young drummers get caught up in this thinking as I recall Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction) saying something about his being fourteen and knowing all of the Led Zepplin songs so well that when Bonham died, he thought Zep was going to call him. Could this be a similiar problem for you?

Also, don't be trapped in your thinking that because you can play alot of stuff fast that you automatically have it covered. Your teacher probably knows better! Case in point, Zoro's "Commandments of R&B Drumming", pages 136-137. Sit down play those two pages with a click track (yep - if you are as good as you think you are, you should already be playing to a click track), each exercise 20 times each heel up and then 20 times each heel down.

I remember that all I wanted to play when I was 13 was Rush songs but my teacher kept pushing me to be a better reader, play better rudiments - boring stuff like that. What he was doing was trying to get me to develop good habits so that my reliance on my talent alone, wouldn't fail me down the road. I have to admit, I sometimes thought Paul Bowman was out to lunch......wish that I could go back and take every one of those lessons again!
We worked out of a small room with practice pad set and crappy cymbals. When he sat down and played, he was unbelievable to me....I always wondered what he sounded like on a real drum kit!

Having traveled down the road, I can't remember the last time I got paid to play a Rush song but I use the reading skills every day! I apply the rudiments every day!

Your band practicing once every two weeks is irrelevant; it isn't practice for you and working out chinks in your armor. It practice for something very specific; that band and doesn't apply broadly enough to be a well-rounded musician, capable of taking on the world.

If you want to be limited that is your choice; if you want to be locked into one band and be limited to only what they want to play, that is also your choice.


I am not going to tell you what you want to hear on this subject. The real question here is what have you brought your teacher. I get inspired by what my students bring me and we can work those problems out. But I also apt to point out that they also need to work on what I give them to work on so that we don't constantly cover the same ground, over and over!

Case in point, one student brought me a problem he was having. By the time he left, he had twenty different ways of experessing that idea.


Mike

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"When you can take the pebble from my hand, it is time for you to go."

If you're bored with your teacher and want a fresh voice to hear, change teachers. Your teacher shouldn't be shocked to hear this, and may even recommend other good teachers in town.