find another instructor or go without?

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monster

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here's my deal....i took lessons for several months, trying to stick it out, but it just wasn't working for me. This dude really wanted me to just learn songs and picked ones that I didn't care for. I dropped that weeks ago and have been improving more rapidly since. Question is should I find a different instructor? Or will I be ok on my own? I've only played for 6 months but I'm happy with my progress. I took lessons for 3. how bout just buying a few technique videos and trying to direct myself?
 
I just started taking lessons probably 3 or 4 months ago. The only reason I did was because I will be entering college and needed to learn a few new styles. If I were you I would keep looking around for a teacher, find one that works for you. My teacher and I mostly share back and forth... I've found this works best... if you can find someone like this I think it would work best for you. Good luck!
 
no doubt.....i thought about suggesting that we build on each others beats and bring back variations each week- but he seemed so disinterested in the actual teaching thing. I wonder though if this sort of experience might just be average. I guess I'm pessimistic. Wouldn't it be cool to just play with another drummer and have no one pay anyone? Damn, I need 2 drumsets!
 
Well I think there is hope if you keep looking for a good teacher. I finally found one and I have been learning so much faster. You learn alot by listening and doing, but you can also learn (sometimes more) by teaching. I learn things better and faster if I have to teach them to someone. We quite often trade fours in my lesson. This is really helpful.
 
i took lessons for about a year w/ some guy he was awesome problem was he wanted me 2 learn mostly on sticking and i didnt' care 4 that. I mean no doubt that stickin' is important but that wasnt wat i was into right then and there. then i found another teacher now this guy is all about beats. he is showing me wat i want 2 learn. R & B, double bass drum pedals, jazz, marching. wat i suggest u do is find some 1 who teaches u wat u want 2 learn not wat they want u 2 learn. find some 1 who makes u feel comfortable and gives good advice. ive only play for about 2 yrs. and my progress in 4 months with my new teacher has been better than the entire year i took with the other guy. so just keep lookin.
 
If you learn the rudiments though, its amazing how much they can help you play all this other stuff on the set. Try them on the double bass too.
 
Well rudements are just rudements. Any teacher can help with that, but a good teacher should work with the student in areas that they are comfortable with and determine a rate at which the student can learn and advance. You should always be open to moving in other arenas though. But you have to make that decision, not have that forced on you. Like me, I hate country music, but I have forced myself to take on learning that style, I never know when I might be filling in with a band, and may be required to play that.
 
get a good drum method book (hey, any one have suggestions?) and practice it on your own. If you have discipline you don't need a teacher to tell you "Left right left left right left right right", and if you don't have any discipline, then you aren't gonna do it anyway! (Just like me on piano as a kid... I wasn't digging it so I didn't do it)

Get a teacher who will talk to you about beats and rhythms and work with music you like and are interested in. but also keep an open mind- some of their musical suggestions might not be all that but they might have some merit.

One cool thing my guitar teacher would do is use music that I liked and relate it to whatever music theory idea he was trying to teach me (I guess it also helped that I liked RUSH! ).


Whatever you do, stay excited about playing drums. If a teacher is killing it for you, drop them like a bad habit.

You may not be too keen on sticking right now, but if you are really into drums you'll come back to it, I promise.
 
hey yo monster have u decided yet on wat your gonna do??
 
3 books I use alot... Drummers Guide to Odd Meters by Ed Roscetti (Hal Leonard), Rhythmic Aerobics by Jim Ryan (Mel Bay), and The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming by Bobby Rondinelli and Michael Lauren (Hal Leonard and Modern Drummer).
 
hey! sorry I've been away, the last couple of days have been a drag. I played last night and it just didn't go right, you know? Anyways, I've decided to not immediately look for a new teacher. I don't even know how to look (should I start interviewing them about their methods?). I'm going to plow my lesson money ($80/month) instead into some videos and books. I've already gotten Progressive Indendence: Rock by Ron Spagnardi and the newish Steve Smith dvd. Those solos are incredible to watch but they depress me too because I feel drum challenged when I go back to play. I'm going to buy a couple of more technique books and try to put myself on a schedule to practice. Probably start at 30 min/day technique practice and then however much I want on just playing. I bet that will work out well. Anyone know of any good books that are more descriptive instead of just exercises? You know what I'd really like right now, though?. Someone who knows what the hell they are doing to help adjust my toms right. I think I'm going to post a separate post about this issue......read about it there.

later...
 
Monster;
most teachers worth their salt will give you one lesson free, or a mini-lesson free. In addition, if you talk with them about their "methods" on how to start, you get a feel for the person. After this talk and mini-lesson, do you like this person? Do they inspire confidence?

Sorry to hear that you aren't feeling too hot about this. HANG IN THERE! Keep playing!

30 min on technique sounds great. If you get a little burnt out, you can skip a day here and there.
One great tip is to try to play a roll as fast as you can into a pillow, for like a minute or two straight. Keep pushing, and shortly you will see that you are faster. Its little things like that that can help boost your confidence and keep you into it.

Regarding your toms- sorry! I don't have any tom's on my kit ;)
 
hey man, I have given guitar lessons for the past few months and if you not getting what YOU want out of them, then you should do it another way or try out another instructor. YOU are spending your hard earned cash to try and learn something that you like or love to do. So, i would suggest finding the right instructor, which could take a few trys or learning on your own. Good luck bro! the dude abides!
 
Work with several instructors and study a lot. I worked with one drum teacher for almost 8 years back in the 60's and I wish he was still around because I would go back and work with him just to get a refesher on certain techniques. There are now others that I will go to.

It depends on what you're after.
If you want to be a drummer/musician you have to study. Don't be a crybaby about tehniques and rudiments, they are the foundation of what we do. You should also learn to read music and be able to write notation,at the very minimum time notation. You will hear a lot of people tell you it's not neccessary and they will point to endless famous musicians that never studied and can't read and write music and I can pont to endless successful "musicians" that can't play worth shit or can only do one thing fairly well. It depends on what you're after.

Study, practice, experiment, study on your own from books, tapes, videos and watching others and stealing licks. Study with several mentors and learn to have command of your instrument and eventually master it. It takes a lot of hard work and practice. Even Neill Peart, Steve Smith and Dave Weckl went back and studied to improve their craft long after they were finanially successful world famous "stars". Yeah, it is that important, and good for them for caring enough.

Or just become one of the endless punk or heavy metal "skin beater- cymbal breakers" that hasn't got a clue. Who knows, you may make millions, but you won't be a musician.
 
I have a degree in percussion performance. I'd say get another teacher. Especially when you are just starting you need a teacher. They will get your physical stuff working right. I used to teach drumset when I was in the University. Kids would come in and have bad hands and I would run them through rudiments as well as drumset stuff and talk to them about playing in bands as well. If you want to play like Weckl or whatever you will need good hands and feet. These kids would come in and hold their drumsticks really hoarked up and they would get blisters and stuff.

The kids would be like "shit, when am I ever gonna use a paradiddle or a flam tap?". I would swap seats with them and _shred_ for about a minute or so. "Ok, that was all paradiddles and these are flamtaps with paradiddles and ratamaques and five stroke rolls" (shred shred). Then they would shut the fuck up and practice.

There are bad teachers, but a good teacher is not about being your buddy and trading beats with you. That's not a good teacher, that's a dude who is taking your money. My students could not play the stuff I was working on, I was just trying to get them coordinated enough so that they could someday or play something cooler someday.

You need to be good so that you can go to the next level. You want to play with good musicians. You're going to have some sort of audition to get into a good band. You need to be able to get past that hurdle.

Keep yourself motivated as much as you can. Play with other musicians alot. Play with records alot.

I think that you will thank yourself for taking lessons. I have had many great drum teachers. I have taken lessons with Bill Chapin, Paul Wertigo, Phil Haynes. I got alot better and also got wisdom from them.

A couple of years from now you will find yourself shredding the neighborhood drummers to bits and you will be like yeah baby ahm the bom!
 
all good stuff! you guys are coming on strong. The instructor I took lessons from earlier worked out of a drumshop along with other teachers who market themselves to the public. I really do see it as a bussiness venture first (for them) and a teaching venture next. I think they are used to getting kids in there from rich families who play a little while and then bail- they are not used to having a long-haul mindset for truly teaching the instrument. So the question is where to go next? The classifieds? Does anyone have some connections in NC (triangle) who can make some suggestions? I'm wary now of "music store drum teachers"
 
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