How to Teach Drum Myself??

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hoon

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Hello,

I play guitar, but have a lot of interest in (real) Drum.
I read some article that I really don't have to have drum set
to start to learn drum. So I bought a pair of drum stick.

However I still have problem to teach my self.
like, most drum lesson website are saying that I don't need
drum set to learn it, but when get into 'real lesson',
all that stuff are set up on regular 5pc drum set.

Thus I want to know some kind of "way", or website(or book)
that provide easy understandable lesson for beginner.
(I like to see some websites rather than book though =)

Any suggestion or advice are so welcome,
have nice day!
 
I don't have any resources for materials to help you teach your self, but here are a couple of suggestions:

-Get a Remo practice pad- it has basically the same action as a drum head, and you can learn how to doublestroke (one stroke, two notes), and hit without doublestroking, way better than a rubber practice pad, IMHO.

-Practice with a metronome- even if you are already good at keeping time on your guitar. It's a different dicipline to make your hands keep up with the metronome when you practice your excersizes, rudiments, etc.

-Tap your feet when you practice. At first I'd say just work with something simple like right foot (if you are right handed), on the downbeat, and left foot on the upbeat, to get used to your feet working in time and being indepentant of your hands. After that feels pretty good, start using the right foot for bass drum lines (pick some music you like and try to play it, even if you have to slow the beat way down). You might eventually want to get a bass drum pedal, it can be mounted up to something like a bucket (I had an old plastic square bucket that worked well for quiet practice when I first started playing again), to give you a bass hit for practice.

Really, the most basic beginners kit would just be a Bass Drum, Snare, and High Hat. Then maybe add a crash-ride, or ride and crash. You really don't need a 5 peice kit to get started. There are also whole sets of practice pads that are available pretty cheap used, but they sound totally unreal, and cymbals have somewhat different action than drum heads do. If you are like every drummer I've ever heard, you'll use cymbals a lot more than you'll use toms (even though toms are so fun).

Good luck, the main three things it takes are practice, practice, and practice.
 
Coloradojay, I appreciate your great tips for beginner!
Yeah, I think I definitely need "metronome",
also maybe will buy with "Remo practice pad".

Just post any tips, because I am not good at teaching myself, hehe ;)

Gidge & Leeking, thanks for resourceful websites!!!
 
try this, boom - bop - boom boom - bop, turn on some audio and try an groove to it, and add HH & cym from there :)

if you catch yourself tapping your finger to a song you may have what it takes, foot also, if your body build allows, (strong) drums are demanding no doubt, good exercise though....

i use to slap/tap my legs fingers to just about any song in time without knowing what i was doing till a friend said i should try the drums...eh.

i learned to play in the very early 70's this way, long before there were many if any tutorials, now if your looking to learn by just reading your not gonna get far, like guitar, practice is everything...
 
If your a guitarist with good rythm your in better shape than most. But it will take years to become a good drummer. I've been playing skins for 28 years and still learning. Beating on pads is not the same as playing real drums. Pick up a second hand basic 5 piece kit and work on em.
 
Well...

First i learned by tapping my hands on a table along to loads of songs. Also from experience with friends -you either have timing or you dont. If you havent you need the time to learn. Luckily i have got a good sense of rythm.I made myself a pretned drumkit out of boxes and a biscuit tin and various other things and practised on that for awhile to develop snare timing. My mate who didnt have timing at all and who actually bought a real drumkit quickly found he was hopeless with no prospects of getting too good gave me his drums. It was hard at first to transer tapping on a table and homemade kit to real drums, but i got there and now consider myself a decent drummer - all self taught. If you have timing and co-ordination then real drums shouldnt be too much work once you get the principle down.
 
If you have the money get you some cheap but good 5pc drum kit and start whaching people play drums and start playing along to music with headphones. That's how i learned. And if you want, after you learn, you can take a few lessions to correct any rusty parts that you may have.
 
hoon,

Since you already play guitar you have a basic understanding of rhythem.

Candidly, there are only 6-12 basic drum beats and all the other beats are variations. (Much like there are 7 chords Amaj-Gmaj and everything else is a variation like minors, 7ths, etc).

Naturally I'm making a rather general and overly simple statement, but once you learn a half doazen basic beats (classic 50's backbeat, cut time "polka" beat, 16th note "disco beat, etc) the rest comes with practise.

You can start on a practise pad just to learn hand technique (and tap your feet to pretend you're playing a kick drum). Many instructors suggest playing on a pillow, since the stick rebound must be more controlled with wrist techique.

As someone else pointed out, a snare, kick drum & hi-hat is the basic instrument, the rest are just colors (much like a guitar is your main axe - all the foot pedals just add color).

However, if you can afford it, at least spend a few lessons with a qualified drum teacher to learn proper hand technique. It is very hard to "unlearn" wrong technique once it is in place.
 
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