I got myself a practice pad and a few sticks. I’ve messed around with it a bit now but I need to start actually focusing and practicing so I can do it right and eventually be decent. Where is a good place to even start my very first ‘lesson’? Any particular social media accounts I should check out or anything like that?
I’m hoping to start learning next year and I’ve been looking around and I’m probably going to use Drumeo.
There’s quite a few YouTube channels that focus on drumming and I’m about to start watching some of them. Hopefully there’s some good ones.
Drumeo
I might try the free week trial thing to check that out. Seems more geared to someone with a full kit already though. I guess I could setup a makeshift kit with buckets and my practice pad just to try it out. I wanted to see if I could actually stick with and enjoy it before spending hundreds on equipment. Thanks for the suggestion.
Been using Drumeo myself, and there are a lot of courses for beginners, and lots of them doesn’t require anything than a drumpad and a couple of sticks, Domino Santantonio is a great teacher for people starting out drumming, and John Wooton have some more advanved lessons using a drumpad, but as u/harrys_balzac said, there are also a lot of great free lessons on youtube, one of my favorite is a series made by Gordy Knudtson (Steve Miller band):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXgqiDB1SuuJuMsZBT7BScwyXCakr_eoG
I love the detailed explanation and the setup with all-black except his hands/for-arms, sticks and pad, it makes it easy to see what’s happening when he’s explaining the technique behind things like open/close and MoellerI’m looking forward to hearing more about your journey. I’ll probably have to rent a storage unit and use that as my practice area. My place doesn’t even have room for an electronic kit. Too many neighbors also.
A bit late, but I highly recommend practicing rudiments and working on consistency in sound. Watch some videos for form and play in front of a mirror. There’s a ton of exercise pdfs out there if you know how to read music. I haven’t looked into any in particular but I haven’t met any instructors who dont value them. Looks like video versions are everywhere from a quick search.
It sounds super boring but hear me out. The amount of awesome sounds you can get on a kit just by playing a standard rudiment with one hand on something like a snare or hi-hat and the other is going around the toms is insane. Or just playing one hand’s part on the ride. It makes a lot of things you hear drummers do make sense. Someone will pull out something that looks and sounds amazing, but is simple at its core. Don’t underestimate rudiments on the kit!
It also just helps in general with making your hands do what you have in your head. Gives you better control over time. Builds a solid foundation for you to mould into something unique. Gives you pieces that you can slap together however you want it infinite ways.
Side note: a cheap snare stand to hold the pad would probably be a huge QoL upgrade, depending on where you plan to practice most.
