How to Learn Drum at Home by Yourself? 5 Methods to Self-Taught Drum

1) Instructional Books and e-Books

Instruction books for learning how to play musical instruments have been around for hundreds of years. These books are filled with step by step instructions, many full-color pictures, and diagrams. Today’s digital technology brought us from the Dark Ages when it comes to publishing “How To”. These e-books covering how to play the drums can be found everywhere on your norm

2) YouTube Videos

The “How To” videos are extremely helpful as a way to teach yourself how to play the drums. With billions of homemade and professionally made video clips available that cover a plethora of topics including how to play the drums, there truly is not a better, completely free source of reference material.

3) Online Professional Tutoring

One on one professional tutoring has been one of the leading methods for people who are looking to pick up a musical instrument. With the recent explosion of the use of the Internet, it is no wonder that someone figured out how to use today’s digital technology to bring the concept of one on one training without having to be in the same room or even in the same country. By using technology like Skype and FaceTime, you can easily connect with a tutor and for a nominal charge, you should be about to find someone that you can work well with.

4) ArtistWorks - Peter Erskine Drums Lesson

5) Udemy Drums Lessons Online

7 Tips to Make You a Better Drummer

• Learn to read and write music

As with any musical instrument, playing the drums will require you to become proficient at reading sheet music. To be truly gifted, you need to become well-rounded and that includes being able to write your own sheet music as well. This will add to your skills at playing the drums.

• Choose the best way to handle the sticks

As a drummer, it is always best to learn the best way to handle your sticks. Since there are a number of different ways that you can hold them as you are playing. How you grip the sticks as you are playing is very important and there are three very distinct methods; American (thumb in a ¾ position), French (thump is on top) and German (thumb is on the side). Each one of them has its own good points and bad points.

• Dynamics are very important

The drums are considered accompaniment pieces of any band, how they are used within the music depends on the dynamics of the music genre. Certain types of music employ the build-up that the drums provide. Whether it is a crescendo, accents or more of a balanced approach. Whichever genre of music you choose to play, you will need to tailor your drumming to match it.

• Choose the right way to learn to play

When you first begin to play the drums there are 5 specific ways that you can choose to learn to play. Choosing the right way that fits in with your abilities and personalities is going to get you the most success as a drummer. The following are examples of the ways you can choose to learn; Vocabulary, One note at a time, Copy Cat, Deconstruction, Play softer.

• Timing is everything

While drums have always been considered to be an accompaniment, there are times that the drummer becomes an integral part of a song or performance. In order to hit all of the notes at the right time, a drummer needs an incredible amount of timing. To help with timing many musicians rely heavily on a device called a metronome. The device creates a clicking sound with its rhythmic motion back and forth. The movement is adjustable depending on what tempo you playing.

• Stretching and warming up

Last but not least you need to take care of yourself so that you are able to play longer in order to get the most enjoyment out of your training sessions. It is very important to do stretching exercises for joints of your fingers, hands, wrists, feet. Hearing protection is also extremely important, you don’t want to lose your precious hearing while you are playing, earplugs and headphones are the two most common forms of hearing protection used by drummers.

• Sticking is very important

Along with how you hold your sticks in your hand, the way that you use your sticks (sticking) is equally important. There are two very distinct ways to use your sticks; logical and alternating. With logical sticking (dominant hand comes first), you have a much predictable approach to playing which is much easier to be able to coordinate with your foot play as well. With the alternate way, you are constantly switching hands and that can be a bit more challenging for your footwork coordination.