How to Play Drums - Getting Started

By Joe Maldonado


The most common problem with many amateur drummers is that they do not know where and how to get started. Their approach towards learning how to play the drums is wrong in many ways and they don't even know about it. Some of them are so ambitious that they end up trying to play the most advanced patterns before learning the basics of drumming.

You can learn to play drums in two ways. You can hire a drum instructor to teach you or you can learn yourself. Of course, hiring a drum instructor would cost you about 2000 dollars per year. Learning to play drums yourself is not impossible but it is difficult. It needs self-discipline and some time daily for your drumming. There is a popular saying that "Practice makes Perfect". Thus, the only way to get perfect is by practice. Only practice won't suffice, the practice has to be perfect as well.

In order to learn how to play the drums, you have to set mini goals which are realistic to achieve within a drumming session. You should make a schedule before sitting on the drums of what you want to learn. If you want to sound as good as a professional drummer you will have to take more time out than just a few hours a week. It is like the schedule of an athlete who prepares his or her day for the sport they play.

In order to speed up the drums learning process, there are a few things to remember. You need to buy a 5 piece drum set online. A decent drum set might cost $170 or more. Check out for Bridgecraft and Yamaha drums for the best deals. You need to carry out a lot of comparison shopping online. You should consider creating a soundproof room to practice in. Auralex Studiofoam Wedge Panels cost about 50 dollars per rack. This is necessary if you do not want the neighbors to start complaining.

You also need to buy a brand name drumstick like Pro-Mark, Vic Firth or Zildijan. These drumsticks are extremely reliable, durable and strong. They may be costly but they cost less than buying three cheap drumsticks that are not durable. You need to grip the drumsticks in a manner which enables you to play with comfort, extract the right bounce and utilize drumstick performance to the fullest.

You should start off with the drumming by maintaining the tempo on hi-hat with the hand you're more comfortable with. You need to start playing with a basic pattern on hi-hat and integrate with basic pattern of bass drum. Most important thing is not to become over-ambitious. You should now integrate the snare into the drum beat. These basic steps will help you to gain confidence.
Once you know how to play drums with this basic drum beat, and then try incorporating the rest of the drum hardware into the beat. Try to be creative and develop your own unique style of playing drums. You just try to be creative and originality will comes hand in hand with creative. You also need to choose a genre of drumming. There are many genres of drumming such as rock, jazz, r&b, Latin and African drums.




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