I have been debating getting lessons for awhile now. Things have worked pretty good so far without them. I have gotten plenty of instructional DVD's. Any particular reason you think lessons would be better, or not?
DG, I developed a lot of bad habits early on. By the time I thought of getting lessons the teacher wanted me to go back to the very beginning and stop playing in my rock band because it would reinforce my poor technique. I liked my rock band, we had regular gigs and I was having fun. So I figured I'd just work within my limitations.
So now, many years later, my playing is necessarily very limited. I think getting the push-pull stroke down early so you can get clean doubles from a single movement is super-helpful. The DVDs are no doubt a good tool but a teacher can pick up straight away if you're going off course and correct errors before they become habitual.
I have always found the drumming/musical body of knowledge to be rather overhwelming - there are about 100 different things I could be working on at any one time!
Should I practice my stroke and stick control? The 40 rudiments? The rudiment combinations? Speed? Slow playing for timing and groove? Four limb coordination? Two and three limb combinations? Foot control? Swing? Latin? Rock? Reggae? Odd time signatures? Different accents? Dynamic control? Feel and touch?
I found it all too overwhelming and ended up just playing along with records plus doing singles and doubles on the pad plus some pretty half-hearted paradiddles, five, six and seven stroke rolls. I now work as a statistician - lol
A good teacher can chunk down this humungous body of knowledge and put it in a logical sequence that will help you execute your musical ideas with ease and control - the musical holy grail.