Want to get you Mojo Going as a drummer? Well...There is a lot of people that want to learn the arts of drumming. However, they are not sure what to do or where to start. Somehow they get lost in the process of reaching out for help or looking for ways to begin. Now with all the technology around us, most of the beginners start their learning process through self-learning, but many times it doesn’t work out, especially when you have never touched a drumstick before. So there are 5 pieces of advice for new drummers, that will change you.
1. Don't condition your learning process to anything
What I mean by this is simple as not making excuses. When you first pick up the drumsticks, it could go perfectly or be really challenging. But it's up to you what will happen next. The key is to find your motivation again and work until you pull it off. This idea applies not only when your first start playing drums but in all learning scenarios. Many people condition their learning to things they think they can’t do beforehand. That is a huge error. In other words, you will never know what happens if you condition your learning process to what you think you can or can't do. So the advice is simple, just go for it!
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" -Michael Scott
2. Practice and Practice and Practice
If you don't practice enough, you’ll be a beginner your whole life. Practice drives to greatness, however, it depends on the kind of practice. The best formula for an adequate practice session is a long-term repetition and challenging exercise. The brain needs time and repetition in order to develop a new skill. So, if you practice for a whole day but wait a full month for your next session, it would take a lot of time for you to get better at drumming. Besides, your practice should be challenging, otherwise, you'll be simply repeating an exercise but not developing a new skill. You will be practicing the things you already know. This approach doesn’t mean you have to practice difficult exercises for your level. Simply look up for exercise that actually adds up to the skill you want to develop.
3. Try Personalized Lessons
Yeah, it sounds old fashioned but let’s be honest, for now, nothing can replace a real teacher. It's true, there are a lot of websites with information on how to start playing drums, but they lack something essential, real feedback. No software or web page will be enough for a beginner. From my perspective, there are two main problems.
First, no one is supervising your technique. You would have no one to actually help you and most importantly correct you. Second, It happens to me, even though I already played drums, when I reach for information online there isn’t a clear path. I could watch any lesson I wanted without any order. It is ok, but when you are a beginner you get easily lost, and in most of the cases, you need a clear path.
So my advice is simple if you are starting up try personalized lessons until you feel you can learn by yourself. Try taking at least a couple. You will have a much clearer path and most importantly solid foundations, both technically and musically.
4. Be prepared for Frustration
Drumming is a skill that requires your whole body. That means that first of all, the key to starting out is coordination and, in many cases, it could be very difficult. Talking with other drummers and in my own experience, one of the hardest things when starting to play drums was just getting coordinated and be able to maintain a steady beat. When you are able to make it through that part, everything becomes easy and intuitive.
Of course, you would still have a lot of things to learn, and there will be other frustrations. But to overcome frustration, the formula is simple. First, slow down, so you can approach the exercise or song much easier. Second, start over again, and play every note and rhythm carefully. And third, identify what is causing you trouble, and correct it. As you get more comfortable and gain confidence in your playing, it becomes easier to overcome any barrier.
5. Enjoy the Process
I get it, most of the beginners want to play like John Bonham at some point (I did, still wan to). But unless you are a prodigy, you have to take all the steps before. All of us learn differently, some people need their time while others do it really fast, but as that cliché quote says “is not about the destination, is about the journey”. When starting out don’t be thinking every time when are you going to be a great drummer, but rather take that energy and use it to master the basics.
The beauty of learning an instrument is that there are always new things to try. It is a never-ending process. Even the legendary drummers have things to learn or improve. In other words, just get in love with your instrument and with all the thing you can learn from it. Try focus on the amazing feeling of learning new things, and at any moment, without expecting it, you'll be a master.. or the next John Bonham?
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