6 Options for Teaching Yourself the Drums

December 6, 2021

Have you recently become interested in learning drums? Or perhaps this is something that you have been interested in for a while but have not been able to pursue until now. Either way, you may be wondering if it’s possible for drummers to be self-taught and what resources you can use to help you teach yourself how to play. There are a number of different ways that you can teach yourself the drums. These include watching and learning from tutorial videos, reading books for learning drums, or taking online lessons. The best option if you want to get good as quickly as possible is to take structured online lessons.

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The Different Ways to Learn Drums at Home

Today, there are countless resources available online to help you learn just about any skill you like. However, finding the resources is just the start of the journey – once you have found them, you need to figure out how to put them to work most effectively for you. When it comes to learning drums at home, some of the best resources available to consider include:

Online Lessons

Today you can find lots of different online courses for those who want to learn drums. All you need to do is search for ‘online drum lessons’ and you’ll get tons of options to look through. Some lessons are free of charge; however, these are not often structured, so they can be harder to keep up with. Others are paid courses, and these can certainly be worth it if you can afford them as they are a bit more in-depth and usually more structured to ensure that you are learning the right things at the right time.

Tutorial Videos

If you are just getting started, want to learn the basics and aren’t ready to commit to paying for an online course, free tutorials can be a great way to do this. YouTube and even TikTok are great resources for anybody who wants to learn a new skill, including playing the drums. Tutorial videos are a great way to visualize the skills that you want to learn as there will often be somebody demonstrating, usually in slow motion.

Read Books About Playing Drums

If you tend to learn better by reading, then books on playing drums are going to be a great option to help you learn. Check out your local library or bookstore for instructional books on how to play the drums. A good book should cover the different styles and types of playing the drums, history and theory, and some practical instruction. For the best results, look for a book that also contains lots of diagrams and pictures to help you better visualize the steps.

Use Sheet Music and Play Along to Tracks

If you can already read music, it’s easy to download sheet music from the internet and use them to play along to tracks of some of your favorite tunes. You can find tracks designed for practicing drumming that leave out the drum part for you to fill in, or simply play your favorite track on Spotify and play along with the drummer. However, the good news for those who can’t read music is that you can still play along to tracks by ear to get a better feel for playing the drums by practicing the beats and rhythms in a hands-on way. You can practice in a music studio like those offered by Pirate. Pirate offer a range of professional, quiet music studios in different locations around the world where you can play the drums along to tracks and record yourself to help you get a better idea of how well you’re doing. You can also use them to practice and record drum rudiments and other practice sessions, and their website offers a wealth of advice and ‘how to’ articles on how to hold drum rudiments and everything else you need to get off to the best start.

Consider Getting a Teacher

While online resources and books on drumming can certainly help you learn how to play the drums at home, getting a teacher is the best way to make sure that you are learning the drums correctly. Hiring a drum teacher is a great investment as it will help to keep you accountable, and your teacher can encourage you when you are struggling and offer tips and advice that you might not have thought of by yourself. They can listen to you play and make sure that you are performing rhythms and rolls correctly and help you with finding the right practice materials.

Practice as Much as Possible

No matter which resources you find to help you teach yourself to play the drums, none of them are going to work if you are not dedicated to practicing your craft. Once you have learned the correct forms, it’s important to practice them as often as possible until playing them comes naturally to you. Once you’ve mastered one, start building on your skills by adding new ones. When it comes to practicing, it’s important to dedicate some time to it every day, and make sure that you are practicing correctly. Getting it right is key since if you are practicing incorrectly, you’re going to be mastering skills that are not quite right and unlearning them to relearn them correctly will take more time and effort.

How Long Does Learning the Drums Take?

Once you have researched the resources available and decided how you are going to learn the drums, you might be wondering how long it’ll take. In short, it will depend on how much you are willing to put into it. You can learn very quickly if you have a lot of time to practice, have chosen good resources, and are determined to get good at it. The best thing about teaching yourself how to play the drums is that you can go at your own pace, with no pressure to become a pro by a certain time.

Playing the drums can be a fun hobby or even something to consider doing professionally. And the best part is that there are now plenty of resources available to get you started with learning the drums at home.  



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