Learning Drums
Learning Drums is Fun!
Just because you didn’t learn to play the drums as a child doesn’t mean that you can’t learn now! Learning drums is a hobby that can be taken up at any stage of your life. You don’t have to be taking a band class in the sixth grade, or starting a garage rock band as a teenager to learn drums. All you need is a pair of sticks and an inexpensive method book or instructional DVD and you can even teach yourself to play the drums.
One of the major concerns that beginning drummers have is buying a lot of expensive equipment. This really isn’t necessary to learn to play the drums. You can save up for a nice start up drum kit, and in the meanwhile, if your budget is tight, you can still be practicing some of the basic fundamentals of drumming and learning to read drum notation. Many countertops, desks, and tables have a surface that allows a drumstick to bounce. These are suitable to practice on until you can afford to buy the set that you really want to rock out on. You could also use a school textbook (or any other kind of large hardcover book) to practice basic sticking. If all else fails, the sole of a tennis shoe will also let the sticks bounce in a way that will allow you to practice.
You will need a pair of sticks since there really is no appropriate substitute for drum sticks. Ask your local music store salesman what the differences in the types of sticks are. These experts, especially in local stores as opposed to big chain stores) are usually willing and eager to share their wisdom with those just beginning to learn drums. You might even find yourself getting an impromptu lesson in the store if you ask the right questions! Find a pair that the salesman recommends, or if you are on your own, choose a pair that is not too thick and not too thin. There are different sizes for different purposes, but the sizes in the middle are good all-around sticks for the beginner. More advanced drummers actually have a few tests to make sure their sticks match each other perfectly, but as a novice, these minute differences won’t matter much to you.
As you are beginning to learn how to hold your sticks, you can begin to look for equipment, even if you need to do it a piece at the time, and build your kit slowly. If this is the case, you will want to start with a snare drum. This way, you can begin learning to play the snare drum while you save up for the additional components. The next choice should be a bass drum, then cymbals. These three items can be quite useful in learning to play drums because they will enable you to practice coordination between your right and left arms, as well as your foot (to hit the pedal that plays the bass drum). Once you feel comfortable with the basic snare drum technique, try to add the bass drum into the mix, just using it to keep a steady beat at first. The more you practice playing bass drum along with playing snare drum, the more comfortable with it you will become. You can start by tapping your foot on every beat, and soon, you will advance to playing the bass drum on different beats, beats one and three, for example, or two and four. After you have mastered using the snare drum and bass drum at the same time, try to add the cymbal into the mix. Don’t forget that slow and steady wins the race, so don’t try anything too advanced at first! Yes, it can be fun to make some noise, but the real learning takes place when you are focused on coordinating all of the parts of the set and making them do what you want them to do.
There are a wide variety of step-by-step method books for learning drums that you can use to teach yourself to play. We recommend Jared Falk's Rock Drumming System which comes complete with 4 books, 4 DVDs, and a play-along CD. It is the ultimate package that will guide you when first learning the drums.
Once you have completed the above lesson, you can move on to the lessons below: