12 Mistakes Drummers Make (Are You Guilty?)

Fix your hand technique:

We interact with hundreds of drummers each week. Whether it happens while having conversations with the Drumeo community or giving feedback on member videos, we notice many of the same issues coming up when drummers are practicing or playing live.

Have you been making any of these 12 mistakes? Here are the recurring issues we see a lot, and how you can get past them:

1. Not practicing a healthy drumming diet (of theory and technique)
2. Becoming obsessed only with things you can measure
3. Trying to buy results
4. Thinking you don’t need a teacher
5. Thinking you don’t need to know how to read sheet music
6. Practicing for fewer long sessions instead of more short sessions
7. Putting yourself down
8. Trying to buy your way to a good sounding kit
9. Trying to learn too much at once
10. Rushing drum fills
11. Practicing on an electric kit and expecting the results to translate to an acoustic kit
12. Practicing showmanship over groove

Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas -- and a Happy New Year with LESS of these common drumming mistakes :)

[ianomonastero]

Mistake: NOT WEARING EARPLUGS! After decades of playing, I have an ultra high Eb overtone ringing in my ears every waking moment. It sucks! No cure.
Mistake: NOT PRACTICING WITH A METRONOME. Your primary job is to keep time.
Mistake: PLAYING TOO MANY NOTES or PLAYING TOO LOUD. Keep time and stay out of the way in general. Then when you do play a fill, be tasteful and match the music.
Mistake: NOT PLAYING MUSICALLY. Anyone can bang on drums. But if you know the tune you're playing, use musical cues from it to enhance the groove and support the music.
Mistake: ONLY PLAYING ONE STYLE OF MUSIC. Learn everything, from every culture, on every instrument. By understanding other styles, you'll play more musically all around. Plus you may be surprised how much you enjoy new things and stop being ethnocentric.
Mistake: BRINGING YOUR EGO TO THE SESSION. Be nice, get along, support your band mates. Nobody cares how great you are or where else you played or how much money you made. Check your ego at the door and make great music together.

[ddrumcorner]

You're right Jared, the data supports shorter sessions rather than blocked (longer) sessions. For instance:

Interleaved session-
Idea A 5-10 mins
Idea B 5-10 mins
Idea C 5-10 mins
Break 10 mins
Repeat 2 times.

The length of time can vary; dsnt have to be 5-10 exactly. It should be a short period though.

You can even choose one idea and break it into smaller parts and use the same system

Varied session
Idea A 5-10 mins
Idea A part 2 5-10 mins
Idea A part 3 5-10 mins
Break 10 mins
Repeat 2 times.

Repetition is the act of playing something over and over.
" Recall is the act of retrieval such that the idea is at close to if not at performance level" So the goal should be both repetition and recall for Practice sessions in my opinion.

[vintagemxer]

What really inspired me to get back in to acoustic drums ( and I was already a good player ) after playing electronics for years was noise reduction headphones. Yes! Believe it or not, they make your drums sound so...recording quality. I guess they deaden some of the frequencies that are unfavorable. It's like they eq your drums.If your drums sound good it will make you WANT to play. And get some Vic Firth headphones so you can play along to drumless tracks. Made me a hugely improved player.

[Ezmath]

I always watch your tutorials and I always learn the mistakes I'm doing. I'm currently having trouble with double kicking in a bass drum with a single pedal. I'm a beginner drummer here dreaming to be a good drummer someday

[chewfoo]

i have been drumming for 10 years or so. i'm pretty much self taught and up until recently i thought i didn't need a teacher. but now i'm seeing areas that i lack and really wish i had gotten a teacher to teach me the fundamentals.

[changeind]

What really helps me is a list of things I want to practice. I write down the things I wanna practice and set a specific time. Then I will set a timer and stick to my self made rules. If something felt too short or too long, I will write it down and consider it on the next list. My List consists of mostly 2-3 about 60 minute blocks with pauses in-between. I was very surprised how good this method works for me. I am no longer confused or waste much practice time not knowing what to do next or trying too many different things and get bored or frustrated. It's really a game changer for me, I think everyone should try it.

[ronaldtartaglia]

Number 2 has freed me. Thanks. I've been drumming for a month now and that took so much weight off my you are awesome.

Merry Christmas

[HeadMinerve]

Longer sessions can be very good for beginners / people with a lot of potential to unravel, then it's all a matter of energy & lucidity. Are you well awake, hydrated, self-aware of muscular tensions in your body, etc...? I think long sessions are easier to screw up while you have no experience with them, and not the right lifestyle.


I can compare with studio sessions, being competitive at videogames, training hard for olympics... Many great performers in their discipline do hours long sessions, because it can lead to a result only a try-hard effort can accomplish in the short to mid term. When you know there's something to finish, to unlock, just go for it. Tenacity dooesn't mean over-training.


Now, as a longtime musician, there are areas where I still suck bad, and I need long sessions to unlearn technics that slow me down, actually I feel like a beginner in those times.


But you know what, I'm the obsessed kind of guy, I won't stop until I am satisfied, until I see some progress, until I see a better me at the end of the day. It counterbalances so much with all those days I don't practice at all ! ^_^'

[digvijaymukherjee]

You guys should get Rob Brown on here.

[jmfs]

My biggest weakness is trying too hard when I am learning something new. I end up tensing my muscles trying to be perfect, and wearing myself out in 5 minutes. I'm learning to focus on really relaxing while working through new material, and allowing myself to kind of flub through the tougher parts in order to keep a relaxed flow. i can play longer and work through a piece of sheet music several more times and eventually the flubs start working themselves out.

[TheSPACEDIEVEST]

This was an excellent video. Thank you Jared for your vulnerability toward all of us. I think good posture, steady breathing and drum positions for one’s kit are crucial toward playing with fluidity. I suppose this falls under technique.

[peterknispel]

So very true Jared. Even Buddy Rich could not read sheet music. It is a great asset to faster learning if you can read sheet music. I agree with shorter more focused practise sessions and taking mini breaks in between. It helps me a lot to lock stuff down. Great lesson Jared. Rock On

[DavidOakesMusic]

Before I knew what Moeller even was - i would try and copy the 'arm movements' of other drummers - especially Steve White ( Paul Weller ) and his brother Alan ( oasis ). I tried to put as little effort into actually hitting the drums and make everything fluid. And this was when i was starting out. So i think I had a good foundation. Also - I was *never* into being fast. I loved drummers like Jeff Porcaro when I was learning. For whatever reason - I was into groove and feel and playing for the song. People like Gene Hoglan, Dave Lombardo etc etc do absolutely nothing for me. There was another local drummer - all he could do was do lightning fast fills - but that's literally all he could do and he couldn't even come back in on the "1". It used to annoy me when other drummers would tell you that _they're better than you_ just because they can do _faster double bass and fills_ ... But they had terrible technique.

[djurdjepavlovic]

Props to you Jared for being honest and really wanting to help! You have biggest channel for drummers on youtube yet you still say people need a teacher and shouldn't depend on youtube leassons. Most people wouldn't say what you did because it might hurt their brand.

[DunklerZebralord]

So much value in this video... If you’re an amateur, sit down and make it your goal to nail at least 6/12 things in this video you will have become an intermediate at the very least. Good job as always Jared (:

[Viciousverb]

I agree about practicing in shorter sessions. The return on that is usually a more satisfied feeling because you were able to focus on the enjoyment you get from playing vs pushing past that enjoyment and getting somewhat disappointed in yourself because you have already peaked for that session and you can’t get there again.

[Fitandover]

About drumeo and teaching I feel that the hardest thing to figure out for a biginner, specially if that person hasn't had the chance to practice any other skill whether musical or the other kind in a systematic, goal ariented manner, is How to practice and how to organize it in a methodical way, ltyough until certain level the improvement will happen no matter what, after that point, organized practice seems necessary to produce sustained improvements.

[AFGautonompunk]

i found this rather reflected and helpful, even though i haven't sat on my set for a couple years (haven't had the time or place in new phase of life, but i've started playing piano again and focus on that quite seriously for now)
thanks for sharing !

regarding my mistakes, i didn't really practise at all and didn't like doing rudiments with metronom.

after a couple years i have great interest in doing so, i've learned to focus and how my metronom practise, nonetheless, has improved my understanding of music (piano) notes greatly.


what i find most sustainable is focus, reflecting the effictiveness on practise (i don't need to exercise things i'm good at as often as things i fail) and continuouty. lower my expectations and reflect on what I want to learn, as i'm practising for myself primarily if not solely.

[DavidOakesMusic]

Hi J. I only have an electric kit because I cant afford or play a real kit in my flat... But it's got mesh heads and is velocity sensitive so it's pretty close. I will get an acoustic again one day. x

[qsb_hyper]

I like practicing for long sessions because it makes me feel comfortable and happy at the end of my practice👍👍👍