Thank you, Jack - I love how honest and authentic this video is! I'm only months into learning the drums (no prior experience with music) in my middle years. I welcome your tips and will continue to follow your journey.
Most of what you found out is good. A couple of things that will help that you did find part of it is you need to learn rudiments. Learning songs can be fun, but to understand what you are playing, you first need to learn rudiments. Once you learn the basic rudiments, you will not only understand how they are used in songs, but it will also give you a drumming vocabulary that will make improvisational playing much easier. The other thing is watching tons of drummers from all kinds of generas of music, whether live or on RUclips, etc.. This will show you things you may want to try or show you how things are played. Also, watching other drummers subconsciously, you will pick up things that will come out usually unexpectedly in your playing.
Well done. I'll add 1 thing I did that helped and 1 thing I know I should do that's slowing my growth a little. 👍I don't play very often without recording and it's true that usually when ya think you were killin it the playback says keep practicing 👎I should 'work' harder on stuff but I always end up just playing. All I wanna do is play. I have no goals attached, I just love drums.
First year drummer here, almost 2nd. Drumeo really efficiently sped up my technical journey with those courses and pack, but honestly practicing musicality is really important too. So now im learning jazz with the art of bop drumming book, getting that feel, and yeah i can say paid resources really help, especially if youre self teaching yourself and have no idea what to practice. I dont have a mentor to actively monitor my progress but drums just consumes a lot of time to practice, so having that long term thinking is important to not get demotivated. Watch drumming youtube videos, get some exercises or book for yourself, work on em, and repeat
Learn and play too as many styles as poss. Also a guitarist of nearly 30 years, took up the sticks 18 months a go. Played before in 97 for about 3 months. Love it
Playing quietly as a consequence of having neighbors could prevent your language in loud dynamics from thriving, however, the importance of individual fluidity in a soft dynamic cannot be understated. There is bottomless nuance to be discovered in quiet dynamics. Drummers like Marcus Gilmore and Nate Smith are great examples of this. In short, utilizing the full dynamic range of any instrument pays dividends.
Great point. and 100%, Nate Smith is a genius. I should have said we should play dynamics purposefully and not just because the drums is a loud instrument.
@@jackoliverdrums He’s awesome right?! I totally get your point too; I just wanted to share my thoughts! Playing confidently out of love for the instrument versus playing tentatively out of fear of being heard is a knowledgeable perspective! Great job with the video! Keep it up :)
I've been playing drums for over 20 years, started bass guitar months ago, and really feel the same with a lot of this, I need a teacher but their are none in my small town, and I need to learn to read sheet music as I don't think tabs are helping learn. Drum notation has always been easy for me to learn, it just looks right and it's not complicated for me, but bass/guitar notation is over my head
That's awesome. Perhaps you could start with reading TAB notation first just until you are more confident with your playing, and then move on to standard notation after? The Rock School grades are all TAB notation which makes more sense logically - but it depends what you are after. Keep on slapping!
Before I watch this I'll comment. I'm almost 1 year into learning. I haven't been getting the practice time in I'd prefer but that's life. Anyway, I just wanted to learn how to play cool stuff. I hardly practiced with a metronome. Now when I try to play along with songs just for the fun of it I realize my timing is terrible! #1 play with a metronome. When I learn something new as soon as I kinda got it figured out I'd move on to something new. Then I'd forget what I knew before. #2 spend more time practicing what you know rather then jumping to something new. And the last thing for me is I have yet to work on rudiments (I know that sounds crazy) but these last couple of months I've been working on my kick pedal. So #3 get a practice pad and work on rudiments. Other than that for the most part I'm having fun learning but now I realize it takes a shit ton of time and practice to become a decent drummer. I'm happy with my progress so far but I'm not very good for playing for 1 year.
Thanks for your comment! Finding the time to practice can be tough for sure - excited to hear about your journey, and glad to hear you're enjoying it. I'm finding the same where I forget songs I haven't practiced in a while. Rudiments can be a bit boring at first, but fun to play once you get them on the kit. Keep on going!
I started playing the drum in March of 2022. I'm completely self taught. And I went a very simple route: 1. I am doing this to have fun and nothing else matters. After a hard day of work this is the perfect way for me let some steam off end get my head free. 2. I am not trying to become the next Phil Collins or Simon Philipps. That won't happen and I know and accept that. 3. I learn by playing to songs. At first these were very simple and over all very familiar songs. The first song I played was "Urgent" by Foreigner. 4. I am making mistakes. That's completely ok with me. Those are "funny little accidents". Don't be angry at yourself, just realize, your made the mistake and analyze how it happened and try to avoid it the next time. 5. I tend to not overthink anything. I try to keep it simple. If I can't play it like on the record, find a workaround that works for you. 6. I´ll probably never play in a band (I´m 47 now...), but I try to play with other people as often as I can. I play with friends or (even better) at jam sessions at local clubs. You'd be surprised how open other musicians will be to beginners! 7. I don't read music. I learn by ear. If it sounds and feels right, it´s OK for me. I just wanna have fun. 8. I occasionally recored myself and listen to those recordings. So I can find mistakes which might otherwise have gone under. 9. I don't give a f... on what others think. Unless it´s an honest and close friend. 10 I watched hundreds of YT Videos. The are insprirational to me but they aren't gospel. You can take a lot away from them but not everything. And that's not necessary art all. (But I remember the Dom Fomularo Video on Drumeo, I learned a lot about stick holding. 11. I don't care about rudiments. And I stand by that. (That's a hard one, I know... And I don't care!) These are my personal opinions. You might share them, bur you don't have to. It´s that simple. The fact it does work for doesn't mean, to works for you! Go your own way! Do what you want to do as long as you're having fun. Because having fun playing ANY instrument is the only thing that counts! If you wanna listen to the "crap" I am playing while having a lot of fun, look here: ruclips.net/video/-Dk0EbE-nls/видео.html&pp=gAQBiAQB Feel free to tell my how bad I am... 😜
Thanks so much Marcus. I love the one about doing it for fun and nothing else matters. That is the best advice! Also it's amazing that you are playing improv with other musicians, that will surely get you inspired and help you to learn different timings and rhythms. Keep up the great work!
Playing quietly should not hurt your progress on drums but teach you the importance of dynamics. Some songs require a light, quiet touch on drums and so playing quietly should not be overlooked.
@@Iamadrummer that's what I mean but you are giving the wrong example here. Some songs (and the most of the songs I played during that period) require a 'heavy' touch, and when you not deliver, you don't progress within that sound or song. It takes another effort to play with force, and maintain it. So it needs practice. If you are doing "but playing quietly is important, most drummers fail at it" bit, just don't 😅 We are officially beyond it. And if you are really curious, watch my drumplaythroughs, especially the last part of 'camduvar' where I switch from heavy punk drumming to gentle touches on ride within half a bar ✌🏼
i kind of disagree a bit on how playing quiet hinders your progress, yes playing quiet all the time will hinder a bit progress when it comes to heavy hitting songs, but what are you gonna do when you’re playing soft songs? also, it’ll be hard to play without getting fired at a restaurant or a mall, learning how to play quietly as well as when you’re playing loudly helps a lot :) also, just something i want to add, i have a little recommendation (obv might not work for everyone) set goals and learn very hard songs over the course of a few months as your main goal, try and choose a song that has techniques that you think you could probably achieve if you practiced within that time frame, for me, it’s heavily improved my skill, and coupled with a very good practice routine (just focus on fundamentals can be just 5 minutes each exercise, they’re boring but me practicing them has gotten me as good as people who have played for years, when in reality i’ve only played for one and a half years.) it works wonders. I also highly recommend grade songs, they range from Grade 1 - Grade 8, easiest to hardest, it can be trinity college, trinity rock and pop or rockschool, these songs focus on techniques and only aim to test your skills, find out what grade you are and start practicing from there :) I went from spending a good 4 months learn Smells Like Teen Spirit(Grade 6), to now spending 4 months trying to learn Couscous by Benny Greb (Grade 7) (this is coming from an intermediate drummer, so just take all of this with a grain of salt)
Yo! Thanks for the feedback. That's a good point about playing in a restaurant or mall - I didn't think of that - some places you perform will want you to 'play quiet'. I'll have a look at some more technical songs, I did try 'No One Knows' QOTSA but it was pretty challenging. Appreciate the pointers!
@@jackoliverdrums no one knows is pretty damn hard, it’s a very good practice for hertas and triplets, good job to you! I still trip up at that song most of the time also, fyi trinity pop and rock is obv for people who want to just do rock songs mostly, rockschool has more diversity and has rock, jazz, and even latin grade songs that are pretty tricky, trinity college however, is mostly jazz and latin, and is absolute insanity, at least to me it blows my damn mind. Also, i recommend trying out other genres, for me i’m currently branching out to jazz and latin songs for my main goal songs, and it’s been a real experience since I started off mainly rock songs, i also have minor goals, which usually consist of endurance based songs, they’re minor because they don’t test technical ability as much as endurance, a good example is Song for the Dead by QOTSA. (I don’t recommend putting songs that push beyond your physical ability in your main goals, like when you wanted to play american idiot when you started drums, i would much rather recommend putting in technical songs as main goals instead, as it’ll cover more variety of techniques, coordination stuff and etc)
I do think reading music is a good skill to have as it opens a lot more drumming opportunities, such as playing with lots of different musicians as a studio drummer. That said, there are many fantastic drummers who could not or can not read music. I learned how to read music when I took drum lessons. I can not just sight read like a good studio musician, but I can figure out what to play by what is written. Since I was in the high school marching band I really have not played to sheet music. I like most non sheet music reading drummers play by ear and feel. The real good drummers that have to learn a set in a day or less are excellent at sight reading music and can play a whole concert set of music just by sight reading even without ever hearing it first.
![Chino Pacas - Modo Capone (with Drake & Fuerza Regida) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zjv8TQ0gBkg/mqdefault.jpg)
this really helps because my first drum lesson was a few days ago and i don't even have a drumkit yet
Nice! Great to have lessons - enjoy 🥁
Thank you, Jack - I love how honest and authentic this video is! I'm only months into learning the drums (no prior experience with music) in my middle years. I welcome your tips and will continue to follow your journey.
Really appreciate this comment Oliver! Good luck with the progress :)
I’m on month 4 of learning the drums so it’s good to hear from someone a bit ahead of me. Thanks for sharing!
That’s great to hear, enjoy!!
Most of what you found out is good. A couple of things that will help that you did find part of it is you need to learn rudiments. Learning songs can be fun, but to understand what you are playing, you first need to learn rudiments. Once you learn the basic rudiments, you will not only understand how they are used in songs, but it will also give you a drumming vocabulary that will make improvisational playing much easier. The other thing is watching tons of drummers from all kinds of generas of music, whether live or on RUclips, etc.. This will show you things you may want to try or show you how things are played. Also, watching other drummers subconsciously, you will pick up things that will come out usually unexpectedly in your playing.
Thanks dude, really appreciate the tips! I definitely need to watch more drummers in different genres as I tend to stick to rock mostly.
Well done. I'll add 1 thing I did that helped and 1 thing I know I should do that's slowing my growth a little.
👍I don't play very often without recording and it's true that usually when ya think you were killin it the playback says keep practicing
👎I should 'work' harder on stuff but I always end up just playing. All I wanna do is play. I have no goals attached, I just love drums.
Yeah dude, these are such good points. Recording and looking back over your playing especially! Good for timing and style as well.
First year drummer here, almost 2nd. Drumeo really efficiently sped up my technical journey with those courses and pack, but honestly practicing musicality is really important too. So now im learning jazz with the art of bop drumming book, getting that feel, and yeah i can say paid resources really help, especially if youre self teaching yourself and have no idea what to practice. I dont have a mentor to actively monitor my progress but drums just consumes a lot of time to practice, so having that long term thinking is important to not get demotivated. Watch drumming youtube videos, get some exercises or book for yourself, work on em, and repeat
This is awesome to hear, especially learning jazz too. Drumeo is great as it’s got such a variety of music styles. Cheers to your second year 👍
fantastic video, congrats.
Thank you 🙏
Learn and play too as many styles as poss. Also a guitarist of nearly 30 years, took up the sticks 18 months a go. Played before in 97 for about 3 months. Love it
Glad you are having fun! I think as you played guitar before you probably have good rhythm and timing already :)
Playing quietly as a consequence of having neighbors could prevent your language in loud dynamics from thriving, however, the importance of individual fluidity in a soft dynamic cannot be understated.
There is bottomless nuance to be discovered in quiet dynamics.
Drummers like Marcus Gilmore and Nate Smith are great examples of this.
In short, utilizing the full dynamic range of any instrument pays dividends.
Great point. and 100%, Nate Smith is a genius.
I should have said we should play dynamics purposefully and not just because the drums is a loud instrument.
@@jackoliverdrums He’s awesome right?!
I totally get your point too; I just wanted to share my thoughts! Playing confidently out of love for the instrument versus playing tentatively out of fear of being heard is a knowledgeable perspective!
Great job with the video! Keep it up :)
For sure ! Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate any feedback on how I can improve
I’ve watched all your videos and I don’t understand why you have so little subscribers. Your channel is great
Thanks so much, this means a lot! It’s still early days, so hopefully I can make better videos and grow the channel. Thanks for watching :)
spelt mistake in the thumbnail incorrectly
Might have done it on purpose 😉
@@jackoliverdrums There's always at least one that misses the obvious jokes lol
I've been playing drums for over 20 years, started bass guitar months ago, and really feel the same with a lot of this, I need a teacher but their are none in my small town, and I need to learn to read sheet music as I don't think tabs are helping learn. Drum notation has always been easy for me to learn, it just looks right and it's not complicated for me, but bass/guitar notation is over my head
That's awesome. Perhaps you could start with reading TAB notation first just until you are more confident with your playing, and then move on to standard notation after? The Rock School grades are all TAB notation which makes more sense logically - but it depends what you are after. Keep on slapping!
Great job man. Keep it up.
Thank you! Much appreciated!
Before I watch this I'll comment. I'm almost 1 year into learning. I haven't been getting the practice time in I'd prefer but that's life. Anyway, I just wanted to learn how to play cool stuff. I hardly practiced with a metronome. Now when I try to play along with songs just for the fun of it I realize my timing is terrible! #1 play with a metronome. When I learn something new as soon as I kinda got it figured out I'd move on to something new. Then I'd forget what I knew before. #2 spend more time practicing what you know rather then jumping to something new. And the last thing for me is I have yet to work on rudiments (I know that sounds crazy) but these last couple of months I've been working on my kick pedal. So #3 get a practice pad and work on rudiments. Other than that for the most part I'm having fun learning but now I realize it takes a shit ton of time and practice to become a decent drummer. I'm happy with my progress so far but I'm not very good for playing for 1 year.
Thanks for your comment! Finding the time to practice can be tough for sure - excited to hear about your journey, and glad to hear you're enjoying it. I'm finding the same where I forget songs I haven't practiced in a while. Rudiments can be a bit boring at first, but fun to play once you get them on the kit. Keep on going!
I started playing the drum in March of 2022. I'm completely self taught.
And I went a very simple route:
1. I am doing this to have fun and nothing else matters. After a hard day of work this is the perfect way for me let some steam off end get my head free.
2. I am not trying to become the next Phil Collins or Simon Philipps. That won't happen and I know and accept that.
3. I learn by playing to songs. At first these were very simple and over all very familiar songs. The first song I played was "Urgent" by Foreigner.
4. I am making mistakes. That's completely ok with me. Those are "funny little accidents". Don't be angry at yourself, just realize, your made the mistake and analyze how it happened and try to avoid it the next time.
5. I tend to not overthink anything. I try to keep it simple. If I can't play it like on the record, find a workaround that works for you.
6. I´ll probably never play in a band (I´m 47 now...), but I try to play with other people as often as I can. I play with friends or (even better) at jam sessions at local clubs. You'd be surprised how open other musicians will be to beginners!
7. I don't read music. I learn by ear. If it sounds and feels right, it´s OK for me. I just wanna have fun.
8. I occasionally recored myself and listen to those recordings. So I can find mistakes which might otherwise have gone under.
9. I don't give a f... on what others think. Unless it´s an honest and close friend.
10 I watched hundreds of YT Videos. The are insprirational to me but they aren't gospel. You can take a lot away from them but not everything. And that's not necessary art all. (But I remember the Dom Fomularo Video on Drumeo, I learned a lot about stick holding.
11. I don't care about rudiments. And I stand by that. (That's a hard one, I know... And I don't care!)
These are my personal opinions. You might share them, bur you don't have to. It´s that simple.
The fact it does work for doesn't mean, to works for you! Go your own way! Do what you want to do as long as you're having fun. Because having fun playing ANY instrument is the only thing that counts!
If you wanna listen to the "crap" I am playing while having a lot of fun, look here: ruclips.net/video/-Dk0EbE-nls/видео.html&pp=gAQBiAQB
Feel free to tell my how bad I am... 😜
Thanks so much Marcus. I love the one about doing it for fun and nothing else matters. That is the best advice!
Also it's amazing that you are playing improv with other musicians, that will surely get you inspired and help you to learn different timings and rhythms.
Keep up the great work!
@@jackoliverdrums Thanks, mate!
As a long time drummer, I am recently noticing playing quietly hindered my progress. It is an easily overlooked aspect 🙌🏼
@@OlmezDrums yeah man! I’ve never heard this before but seems like a really problem for some people. Keep shredding!
Playing quietly should not hurt your progress on drums but teach you the importance of dynamics. Some songs require a light, quiet touch on drums and so playing quietly should not be overlooked.
@@Iamadrummer that's what I mean but you are giving the wrong example here. Some songs (and the most of the songs I played during that period) require a 'heavy' touch, and when you not deliver, you don't progress within that sound or song. It takes another effort to play with force, and maintain it. So it needs practice.
If you are doing "but playing quietly is important, most drummers fail at it" bit, just don't 😅 We are officially beyond it.
And if you are really curious, watch my drumplaythroughs, especially the last part of 'camduvar' where I switch from heavy punk drumming to gentle touches on ride within half a bar ✌🏼
i kind of disagree a bit on how playing quiet hinders your progress, yes playing quiet all the time will hinder a bit progress when it comes to heavy hitting songs, but what are you gonna do when you’re playing soft songs? also, it’ll be hard to play without getting fired at a restaurant or a mall, learning how to play quietly as well as when you’re playing loudly helps a lot :)
also, just something i want to add, i have a little recommendation (obv might not work for everyone) set goals and learn very hard songs over the course of a few months as your main goal, try and choose a song that has techniques that you think you could probably achieve if you practiced within that time frame, for me, it’s heavily improved my skill, and coupled with a very good practice routine (just focus on fundamentals can be just 5 minutes each exercise, they’re boring but me practicing them has gotten me as good as people who have played for years, when in reality i’ve only played for one and a half years.) it works wonders. I also highly recommend grade songs, they range from Grade 1 - Grade 8, easiest to hardest, it can be trinity college, trinity rock and pop or rockschool, these songs focus on techniques and only aim to test your skills, find out what grade you are and start practicing from there :) I went from spending a good 4 months learn Smells Like Teen Spirit(Grade 6), to now spending 4 months trying to learn Couscous by Benny Greb (Grade 7)
(this is coming from an intermediate drummer, so just take all of this with a grain of salt)
Yo! Thanks for the feedback. That's a good point about playing in a restaurant or mall - I didn't think of that - some places you perform will want you to 'play quiet'.
I'll have a look at some more technical songs, I did try 'No One Knows' QOTSA but it was pretty challenging. Appreciate the pointers!
@@jackoliverdrums no one knows is pretty damn hard, it’s a very good practice for hertas and triplets, good job to you! I still trip up at that song most of the time
also, fyi trinity pop and rock is obv for people who want to just do rock songs mostly, rockschool has more diversity and has rock, jazz, and even latin grade songs that are pretty tricky, trinity college however, is mostly jazz and latin, and is absolute insanity, at least to me it blows my damn mind. Also, i recommend trying out other genres, for me i’m currently branching out to jazz and latin songs for my main goal songs, and it’s been a real experience since I started off mainly rock songs, i also have minor goals, which usually consist of endurance based songs, they’re minor because they don’t test technical ability as much as endurance, a good example is Song for the Dead by QOTSA. (I don’t recommend putting songs that push beyond your physical ability in your main goals, like when you wanted to play american idiot when you started drums, i would much rather recommend putting in technical songs as main goals instead, as it’ll cover more variety of techniques, coordination stuff and etc)
Congrats, cheers to year 2
Let’s go!
@@jackoliverdrums Haha yeah. I'm actually moving to the UK in October so I have to start looking for rehearsal spaces...
@@man-vs-drums That's awesome, where are you moving to?
@@jackoliverdrums I'll be in Cambridge but doing occasional archival work in the Southampton/Portsmouth area
Teaching I’m going to buy all 8 rock school
Good idea! They are very good!
Many drummers in Indiana don’t read . 🤔
I do think reading music is a good skill to have as it opens a lot more drumming opportunities, such as playing with lots of different musicians as a studio drummer. That said, there are many fantastic drummers who could not or can not read music. I learned how to read music when I took drum lessons. I can not just sight read like a good studio musician, but I can figure out what to play by what is written. Since I was in the high school marching band I really have not played to sheet music. I like most non sheet music reading drummers play by ear and feel. The real good drummers that have to learn a set in a day or less are excellent at sight reading music and can play a whole concert set of music just by sight reading even without ever hearing it first.
Complete beginner and even I know drumeo good, doing the 30 day drummer series….. even great for a complete 50 yr old noob
So many good resources on there! Being a noob is fun, I'm enjoying it too haha. Keep it up!
Great video Jack!
Thank you so much!