should i quit drum lessons?

XdrumerboyX

Junior Member
my teacher is cool, he doesnt really play my style though... i pay 20 bucks a week, its a 20 min drive for a half hour lessons, and its been 5 months and i dont really think im learnig anything, we just flop back and forth on it? ya know what i mean?

should i quit or continue?? and how long does a drummer really need lessons anyway??

Is it better to teach your self, like MOST famous drummers.. such as, lars ulrich, dave lombardo, mike portney, neil peart, joey jordison, etc etc etc.... and honestly i think i learn more when i teach myself??
 
my teacher is cool, he doesnt really play my style though... i pay 20 bucks a week, its a 20 min drive for a half hour lessons, and its been 5 months and i dont really think im learnig anything, we just flop back and forth on it? ya know what i mean?

should i quit or continue?? and how long does a drummer really need lessons anyway??

Is it better to teach your self, like MOST famous drummers.. such as, lars ulrich, dave lombardo, mike portney, neil peart, joey jordison, etc etc etc.... and honestly i think i learn more when i teach myself??

I think you should stop. You're not getting anything out of it. You are aware that at the height of his playing, Neil Peart went off and took lessons with Freddie Gruber, right? He changed his entire way of playing because he always feels there's something more to learn. If you have a handle on everything already, I guess you could stop learning.

I'll leave the decision completely up to you.
 
What are you looking to achieve through taking lessons? Perhaps you should make a list of things that you want to learn and present it to your teacher. Ask him to help you with those things in your lessons and maybe you will feel like you are getting more out of it.

If your current teacher just isn't a good teacher, I would find a new teacher (preferably one with a good reputation around town) and start taking lessons with him/her.

The length of time you take lessons and what you want to get out of lessons is all personal and up to you. However, I believe finding a great drum teacher can prove to be priceless.

As a side note - I think there are probably as many famous drummers who took lessons as there are self taught. It all depends on what type of effort you put into the activity and how much you engage in what you're doing that can determine how successful you become at it. Even if you take lessons with a drum teacher, you can still use other resources and media to teach yourself things you want to learn on your own.

Best of luck with your decisions!
 
Why limit yourself to two choices..........black or white? What about another teacher? One who you think you might actually benefit from.

Look into some other options rather than just saying "I either stay with this bloke or quit all together". There's more than one way to skin a cat mate.

Good luck whatever you choose.
 
Seek out the best teachers and performers in your area. Focus on those with expertise in your area of interest. If you are into drum corps and marching percussion, you wouldn't seek out a jazz teacher (unless you are trying to make yourself more well rounded). Take a trial lesson off of a few teachers and go with the one you feel is the best.

Jeff
 
Is it better to teach your self, like MOST famous drummers.. such as, lars ulrich, dave lombardo, mike portney, neil peart, joey jordison, etc etc etc.... and honestly i think i learn more when i teach myself??

Mike Portnoy went to Berklee where private lessons are part of the program.

Jeff
 
Howdy,

I agree with those who suggested finding a different teacher more aligned with your style. I think there's incredible value in having a teacher who can objectively appraise what you're doing. It's not something that is easy to do yourself. But then... maybe go it alone for awhile and see how you find it?

Cheers.
Jen.
 
Seek out the best teachers and performers in your area. Focus on those with expertise in your area of interest. If you are into drum corps and marching percussion, you wouldn't seek out a jazz teacher (unless you are trying to make yourself more well rounded). Take a trial lesson off of a few teachers and go with the one you feel is the best.

Jeff

Yeah im mostly into heavy metal drumming, and my teacher is a sort of jazzy, 70's , early 60's kind of guy?
 
Howdy,

I agree with those who suggested finding a different teacher more aligned with your style. I think there's incredible value in having a teacher who can objectively appraise what you're doing. It's not something that is easy to do yourself. But then... maybe go it alone for awhile and see how you find it?

Cheers.
Jen.

Thats the thing i sont know where to find one? how do i do this?
 
...mike portney...

Haha, I can't imagine Mike Portnoy without going to Berkley for a while.

If the bill doesn't fit, then change teachers. There's no such thing as too much learning.
 
Thats the thing i sont know where to find one? how do i do this?

Is there a contemporary music school somewhere near you? Or a music store that also does lessons? You could give them a call and they might be able to recommend someone? Or maybe someone on here knows your area and can give you a steer.
Where did you find your current teacher?
 
my teacher is cool, he doesnt really play my style though... i pay 20 bucks a week, its a 20 min drive for a half hour lessons, and its been 5 months and i dont really think im learnig anything, we just flop back and forth on it? ya know what i mean?

should i quit or continue?? and how long does a drummer really need lessons anyway??

Is it better to teach your self, like MOST famous drummers.. such as, lars ulrich, dave lombardo, mike portney, neil peart, joey jordison, etc etc etc.... and honestly i think i learn more when i teach myself??

You don't say how long you've been playing / learning or how old you are.

It took me years to realise the true value of what I was being taught and why I was being taught it !!!!!
It was atually watching the Benny Greb video where he said that with drumming you're biggest your limiting factor is being able to play what ever you want, whenever you want with either hand. All of the excercises that you're being taught / your teacher should be giving you are striving to take you in that direction and unfortunately it's not like they sit you down teach you an awesome jaw dropping fill and 2 days later you've perfected it and are using it in your everyday playing without thinking about it and ready to learn the next one - it just doesn't work like that or we'd all be Aaron Spear's or Gavin Harrison's in a few weeks.
As others have said though maybe try another teacher and see how you get on with them, don't burn your bridges with this guy as you may well think he's good after trying someone else for a while and want to go back to him. Explain you've just hit a wall and don't think you're getting much out of it at present so you're taking a break from lessons for a bit but would like to leave the door open to come back in the future.
 
I must say keep getting lessons. I regret that for the first few years that i didn't get lessons other than watching buddy and gene on the internet. I've come to find out that its nice to learn from a few different drummers. Everyone is different and i mean everyone no two drummers drum a like so you can always learn something. If i were you and this is just my opinion stick with the jazz teacher. Joey Jordison who i imagine is someone you really idolize was once a very accomplished jazz drummer in his highschool and earlier years. So gain knowledge from everywhere you can and pick up on every little piece of anything you can and youll be able to play metal, jazz, bluegrass, whatever the hell you want and be awesome at it.
 
You don't say how long you've been playing / learning or how old you are.

It took me years to realise the true value of what I was being taught and why I was being taught it !!!!!
It was atually watching the Benny Greb video where he said that with drumming you're biggest your limiting factor is being able to play what ever you want, whenever you want with either hand. All of the excercises that you're being taught / your teacher should be giving you are striving to take you in that direction and unfortunately it's not like they sit you down teach you an awesome jaw dropping fill and 2 days later you've perfected it and are using it in your everyday playing without thinking about it and ready to learn the next one - it just doesn't work like that or we'd all be Aaron Spear's or Gavin Harrison's in a few weeks.
As others have said though maybe try another teacher and see how you get on with them, don't burn your bridges with this guy as you may well think he's good after trying someone else for a while and want to go back to him. Explain you've just hit a wall and don't think you're getting much out of it at present so you're taking a break from lessons for a bit but would like to leave the door open to come back in the future.

I went to a benny grebb clinic :D i've been playing for a year and 4 months, and im 15 years old.
 
If you feel it's time to quit then it probably is.

I had 4 years of lessons with a pro and really got a massive amount from them. But eventually you start to think what it would be like with other tutors or just enjoying 6 months without a tutor. I had a year off and then took internet lessons, which suits me perfectly.

I also think the more tutors you try the better. They will all have a different slant and that's worth investigating.

Cheers
Davo
 
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