Learning the drums for the first time can be a very difficult thing to do. There is so much to this massive instrument that somene could get lost very easy. Perhaps you already know how to play the drums but are finding it hard to progress with your skills. Whatever the situation is, learning the essentials of this massive instrument is a must. There are a few lessons that need to be learnt in order to be able to play and practice the drums effectively. Before starting any other lessons on the drums, make sure you go through these essentials and master them. If you are an advanced drummer already, you definitely want to go through them again to make sure you haven’t missed anything. There are a lot of drummers that do not know a few of these skills, which throws their whole groove off! Like I said; these skills are ESSENTIAL for every drummer!

The first essential skill a drummer must know before anything else is how to hold a drumstick. This is something that most drummers do not take the time to actually learn; they will just grip the sticks any way they feel comfortable. This is not the right thing to do at all! There are specific ways to hold the drum sticks for a reason, so make sure you go over all the different variations. Whether you play traditional grip, matched grip, or French grip, there is a distinct way to hold the sticks in order to get the Continue Reading...

As drummers, we strive day to day to find new and unique drum beats to challenge ourselves and carry us to a new level of drumming. With the variety of new music coming out these days, there is no stop to the amount of new drum beats that we can learn. But how do we go about learning these unique drum beats? And what about some very common drum beats, like rock drum beats, jazz drum beats or Latin drum beats? As drummers, we need to not only know how to play these, but also how to teach ourselves new drum patterns to keep our list of beats growing. Here are a few ways to learn new drum beats.

Be Sure You Can Read Drum Notation
This is a must for any drummer who is looking at developing new drum beats. When you are searching for new grooves, you will definitely need to be able to read sheet music and drum notation. This is similar to learning how to read drum tabs. If you can fully understand how to read drum notation, you will be able to learn so much more at a faster rate. There are hundreds if not thousands of drumming web pages online scattered with beginner drum beats all the way to advanced drum Continue Reading...

The twenty concepts you need……and the five things to forget!

If you are like most players, you are desiring to become a better guitar player. Through my own learning experience and through teaching well over 1,000 students, I have learned a lot on this subject. Students often ask why they are not not at the level that they desire to be and what can be done about it. I have asked myself this same question many times in the past. A long time passed before I began to understand the answers.

Like you probably have done, I have read a ton of interviews with great players and articles written by many of these same players. I often found it frustrating whenever the subject of learning to play guitar came up or when advice was offered on improving one’s playing. With a small number of exceptions, very little time and space was offered on this. Its not uncommon to see the player’s advice be summed up in a grand total of three words: Practice! Practice!! Practice!!! Well of course we all know that practicing is the main ingredient. But rarely are we told much more than that. In my long quest to become an excellent player and to help my students do the same I carefully took note of what worked and what didn’t. What parts conventional wisdom is accurate and what parts are (at least in my opinion) are not. I believe the twenty concepts that have proven to bring great results to those who use them are:

1. Educate yourself! No matter what level you are at today, you can be and should be learning more. If you are currently studying with a teacher or enrolled in a music program at a high school, college or university, you are on the right track. If you aren’t doing this (or if you feel that your current teacher is not helping you enough in reaching your goals) I strongly recommend looking for a new teacher. (I have written an article on this exact topic titled: Choosing a Teacher ) I can’t stress enough how important it is to find the teacher that is right for you! Your teacher (or music program) should Continue Reading...