New member: What is the best way to learn without a teacher?

Hey Drummerworld forum,
I am very new here. Just yesterday I believe. I have a question I hope I can get some help with.

What is the best way to learn without a teacher? I cannot afford one right now (maybe if I quit buying drum stuff I could). Playing to music is kid of out for me due to some minor hearing issues. I cannot hear certain frequencies. So I cannot always tell exactly what the drummer is doing. I can read music a little (just very slowly) so I might be able to do that. Does anyone know a site I can get beginner actual drum sheet music for free from?

Basically, I play the one or two beats I know over and over and try a few fills I have learned here and there. With getting the new 7 piece I have attempted a few fills I am making up as well. That helps, but I seem to just play the same thing over and over and would like to branch out some. I know I am not going to be a pro in a couple weeks, I just want to add a bit to my practice times.

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!
 
I was going to suggest purchasing beginner snare lesson books, but it seems you are to cheap to spend $10.
 
I wouldn't call myself cheap, just poor with odd priorities. Lol. I have actually thought of that, but I cannot find anything except Mel Bay books and actual band music at my local shops. Nothing wrong with Mel Bay, I have a couple and have worked through them. Might be a good idea to do it again.

Could you suggest any books and I can look them up on the net and try to purchase something? Thanks
 
I would look for anything that has technique and reading skills as part of the text.

Usually, a teacher helps you out with that, but in your case you will need it more that books teaching certain styles of music.

Ultimate realistic Rock by Carmine Appice is good.
Jungle/Drum and Bass by Johnny Rabb has good exercises as well.
 
Thanks MrPockets I will see if I can find those and check them out. That is if I am not too cheap. Much appreciated.
 
Picodon, thanks but I will not part with cymbals. Never get anything out of them anyway.

YouTube is a good idea. I have seen stuff on there before. I could set laptop on my old throne and go to town. Thanks for the reminder....great idea!
 
THE Ohio State University....my alma mater. Go Buckeyes!

I have been teaching myself....basically watching lots of utoob vids on technique, tuning and songs I want to learn. Dave Weckl back to basics I thought was a great help.

What also helped was to identify 20 songs I felt had foundations of rhythm and styles for a working cover band drummer....this really helped me find my weaknesses and then isolate and work on them.

Get Stick Control by George L Stone....
 
Does everybody need to open a book to get ideas? I think the ideas are in you, you just gotta muck around and they come out. You'll naturally keep the ideas you like and discard the rubbish (hopefully).

And just about every instructional video I watched (and paid $60 odd for) in the late 90's is on YouTube for you to enjoy.
 
Really great ideas guys thank you! I mean that.
 
Hey Drummerworld forum,
I am very new here. Just yesterday I believe. I have a question I hope I can get some help with.

What is the best way to learn without a teacher? I cannot afford one right now (maybe if I quit buying drum stuff I could).

Free lesson 1: stop buying stuff and save for some lessons.

Free lesson 2: go see live music in the flesh and start listening to music as much as possible. Try to imitate what you see and hear.
 
I wouldn't call myself cheap, just poor with odd priorities. Lol. I have actually thought of that, but I cannot find anything except Mel Bay books and actual band music at my local shops. Nothing wrong with Mel Bay, I have a couple and have worked through them. Might be a good idea to do it again.

Could you suggest any books and I can look them up on the net and try to purchase something? Thanks

Stick Control, you'll only need to know the difference between your Right and your Left to get started.
 
Thanks for the feedback, but I do see a lot of live music (my buddy owns a pretty good size club), and I listen to music constantly. Like I said I have hearing issues and am unable to always know what is being played. Basic rythem yes, but knowing what is being payed is hard for me.

I am also saving some money for lessons, but always round here you pretty much have to sign a contract to get them. But, you are correct I do need to save more.

I have tried to make friends with other drummers. I have even had a guy come by a few times, but he just jams a bit and then he is done. Very difficult personality as well. I will keep trying.

I plan on sitting down at the kit tomorrow with the laptop learning from youtube. That was a great idea.
 
I thought I didn't need a teacher when I started playing drums either. I had about 4 years of piano under my belt by then and that's where I learned to read music.

The time I started I had middle school and high school and was taking lessons at school. They were very general, the teachers knew of percussion but they were not percussionists.

I thought I didn't need a teacher that later had to fix my hand position on the sticks. The damage was done, however, having to deal with carpal tunnel and mild tendinitis to this very day.

At that time, while I didn't have a teacher, I was picking up any magazine and catalog I could get my hands on. I credit Modern Drummer magazine with helping me find names I should know and check out, certain items I decided that I should know and MD had the resources for me to learn them. (I learned my afro-cuban drumset beats from an excerpt of the Malabe/Weiner book in MD).


Because I was hungry for info, I was content at the time, proud even, that I didn't have a private teacher to show me what I discovered for myself. I can only imagine what that time would've been had i had a private teacher. In addition to technique and hand issues, that teacher would've shown me fundamentals. That teacher would've shown me a practice routine. Gigs you'd never thought you would have or even do will be because of that teacher. The money spent on a teacher isn't just solely on the lesson. It's much more.
 
drummaman1 it is not that i don't think that I need a teacher, because I do. I need those fundamentals, and practice routines you spoke of. Also someone to say "Hey your doing that wrong. Try it this way." I have had 2 teachers 1 was pretty bad, but i did not know until I learned from the 1 that was good. I just do not have an extra $200 or so each and every month to get them right now. Also being in college really hinders practice time and makes lessons not as beneficial sometimes. It's tough to get good grades and study all the time and still find time to practice.

Everyone here has given me some great advice and I really do appreciate it. I practiced today for a pretty good while. Tomorrow I plan to do the same. Check out some more YouTube videos, or maybe the same ones again and go through the lesson book that I still have and brush up on that stuff. I totally forgot I had that actually.

Thanks again everyone.
 
i used to tell everyone to get a teacher so, get a teacher! now that i got that out of the way, the times have changed and being in a room with a physical teacher is not the end all anymore. use whats available to you, youtube, maybe some used dvd's to save money. a dvd after the initial cost you can go over time and again, a teacher is 35 bucks a half hour! find your money beat and play it over and over adding fills and different sticking. those two beats you play are the foundation of your playing, learn them cold inside and out. a lot of us started with the basic boom bap boom boom bap and built from there. good luck and keep playing!
 
I will admit, although I had instruction in my younger days, a majority of my "learning time" was spent emulating the greats, listening and learning and trying. Looking back on 40 years of always having played the drums, there are some things I wish I did better that never got the attention it should have. But it might be safe to say that everyone experiences this. The only problem that comes up with alot of newer players is "who are the greats to emulate?" In my time (mid-70s when I really got serious and mom and dad got me my first snare in 1973 and a kit a couple of years later) mom and dad took me to see people like Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson when they came to play at Disneyland, and my uncle was a jazz trumpeter with the US Army and was always leaving jazz albums to listen to - so not that I'm a jazz snob, but I was put on this jazz path and really didn't discover guys like Ringo, Watts, James Brown, R&B until later. I get a little worried when a kid tells me he loves to play, but he hasn't listened to anyone else but Travis Barker. Perhaps if kids these days would dig a little deeper and find out who influenced their favorite players? I remember when Tommy Aldridge did a clinic and everyone was so blown away by the fact that he was so influenced by Joe Morello with Dave Brubeck - that's what people should dig deep to find out.

I know what its like to not have money for lessons, but that's when you have to really open your ears and listen to everything and not be biased. I think if you're aware of everything that you can play with a set of drums, and you're open to learning it, that's 70% of the equation right there. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I listened to alot of music as a kid - because when I got older and started working, if someone said, "it's a bossa nova" or "its an easy swing", "or drop 3 because its a reggae tune"..... at least I knew what those things sounded like and honed my skills playing them. If you really want to be a good player, and can't yet afford to get with a working pro, you gotta open up and listen, and try. I wish it was all about rock 'n' roll, but it ain't. I've played for dance studios, choirs, churches, ballroom dances, musical theater....there's alot of music out there to play, adn even more to listen to.
 
I will admit, although I had instruction in my younger days, a majority of my "learning time" was spent emulating the greats, listening and learning and trying. Looking back on 40 years of always having played the drums, there are some things I wish I did better that never got the attention it should have. But it might be safe to say that everyone experiences this. The only problem that comes up with alot of newer players is "who are the greats to emulate?" In my time (mid-70s when I really got serious and mom and dad got me my first snare in 1973 and a kit a couple of years later) mom and dad took me to see people like Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson when they came to play at Disneyland, and my uncle was a jazz trumpeter with the US Army and was always leaving jazz albums to listen to - so not that I'm a jazz snob, but I was put on this jazz path and really didn't discover guys like Ringo, Watts, James Brown, R&B until later. I get a little worried when a kid tells me he loves to play, but he hasn't listened to anyone else but Travis Barker. Perhaps if kids these days would dig a little deeper and find out who influenced their favorite players? I remember when Tommy Aldridge did a clinic and everyone was so blown away by the fact that he was so influenced by Joe Morello with Dave Brubeck - that's what people should dig deep to find out.

I know what its like to not have money for lessons, but that's when you have to really open your ears and listen to everything and not be biased. I think if you're aware of everything that you can play with a set of drums, and you're open to learning it, that's 70% of the equation right there. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I listened to alot of music as a kid - because when I got older and started working, if someone said, "it's a bossa nova" or "its an easy swing", "or drop 3 because its a reggae tune"..... at least I knew what those things sounded like and honed my skills playing them. If you really want to be a good player, and can't yet afford to get with a working pro, you gotta open up and listen, and try. I wish it was all about rock 'n' roll, but it ain't. I've played for dance studios, choirs, churches, ballroom dances, musical theater....there's alot of music out there to play, adn even more to listen to.

well said Bo

my favorite is when people say

"I don't want to emulate anyone....I want to sound like ME"

I love what Lewis Nash says on this topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN7pWFl4VMQ
 
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