Can I learn drums on my own? How hard is it to teach yourself to play drums alone? How do I start learning to play the drums at my home? Is self teaching drums possible? These questions always come out when a novice drummer is curious about self-learning and how reliable it is, so if you are one of them, now you are going to find whether it would be worth doing it or not.
In old times, new students would always find a drum teacher to help them learn how to play the drums. Yes, this is a proven way to learn how to play the drums, but with the new technologies nowadays, you already have the option to learn and practice how to play the drums on your own.
Of course, there are still many drummers in the past that learned by themselves even with the lack of the resources they could get, but with all the materials you can find now on the internet, self-learning how to play the drums can already be an excellent option, and it is also cheaper compared to hiring a drum instructor, as hiring one would really be expensive.
How To Teach Your Own Self In Playing The Drums
Teaching Yourself To Develop A Practice Routine
In learning an instrument, especially if you are planning not to hire any teacher, you will really need to develop a practice routine that you will follow throughout your journey as a musician. If you would not be able to establish a practice routine, then it will really be hard for you to keep up with the discipline and routine that will be required of you to learn to play the drums.
It would really be better if you personally own a drum kit if you are planning to self-teach yourself how to play it. Acquire all the necessary things to play the drum kit, like a drum stick and cymbals. If you are planning to learn on your own, it would be better to give yourself the nearest possible setup you can have so that you can get used to it.
If you have the equipment, then you should make a schedule on how many days you are going to practice and how much time you are going to spend in every practice session. This is an important factor as the more time you are going to spend in practicing the drums; it would also be a greater chance of a faster development for you as a drummer.
As more and more materials are uploaded to the internet as the primary source of your learning as a drummer, it would be better to find the most basic techniques that you should master first before going to harder things. Your practice routine should really be in an ascending direction to give importance to the fundamentals of playing the drums, which is really important for all drummers to master it.
Learning The Drum Fundamentals
If you are really willing to practice on your own, you can go to the internet and find some instructional videos about how to play the drums. As of today, there are already thousands of videos available on Youtube that can teach you the drum basics that you will need to become a better drummer. Many of these videos explain the step-by-step procedure of playing the basic drum beats that you will need to learn as a drummer.
Just by watching drum tutorial videos from some websites, you can also learn how to play some basic drum fills. A drum fill is a great way to be able to transition between a section of a song. A drum fill is an important skill that a novice drummer should master, so if you are planning to learn it on your own, it would be better if you watch some tutorial videos of it first to have a better idea of how to do it.
Another skill set that you will need to learn on your own is playing the drum rudiments. The single and double stroke rolls, paradiddles, and flams are the most important drum rudiments that a drummer should master, and you can also learn all of these by watching some drum tutorial videos online on your own.
With the correct mindset and willingness to learn on your own, it is not really an impossible task to learn how to play the drums by self-teaching as you can acquire many references nowadays to serve as your study materials for playing the drum kit.
Practice With Metronome And Learn How To Read A Drum Sheet Music
If you have already decided to learn how to play the drums on your own, then maybe you should also master how to play the drums with a metronome. Playing with a metronome teaches you to stay in control of the beat, so mastering this will be a great asset for you as a drummer.
It would also be great for you if you would study how to read drum sheet music. Although it might be a little bit boring at first, most of the experienced drummers know at least the basics of drum notation, so maybe you should also learn this as it will greatly help you in the future.
So, can I learn drums on my own? Is self teaching drums really reliable? Yes, you can learn how to play the drums on your own and teaching yourself is a reliable way to learn how to play this instrument. With the discipline, right mindset, and the correct study materials, you can learn how to play the drums on your own.
