This Should Be Everyone's First Drum Lesson

The definition of Fatal is "leading to failure or disaster"...and this mistake in our drumming leads to just that. This is the #1 issue and mistake I have had to address with students over the past few years. Are you working on music or material that is directly related to music you want to learn? We should ALWAYS be working towards the music. I spoke to a drum student just the other day...they had been playing almost a full year and had never learned a song! And they were discouraged, demotivated, bummed out. As they should be! Your first drum lesson should be working towards playing a song. Period. My students in my online drum school learn to grip the stick, play a beat, play a fill, play a song. Each of those short lessons is geared towards conquering that first song. It's a HUGE win!

Learning the drums is not NEAR as challenging if we connect it to MUSIC as soon as possible.

If you're just starting out on the drums, I also give a TON of examples of songs that you can play almost right away. There's no better way to learn the drums than to play with music!

Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!
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Cymbals: Zildjian

Drums: Tama

Sticks: Vic Firth 5A

Heads: Aquarian

In Ears: Alclair In Ear Monitors

Earthworks Microphones

[Nmdixon-cuvm]

This was a primary reason why my uncle, back in the 80’s, dropped lessons after a year. He was probably 13 or 14 at the time and he said all he was doing was rudiments and never even sat behind a kit. He said I got good enough and bought my own kit and started playing to records and the rest fell into place.

[thecorporatelawgroup]

Daughter took one harp lesson. Learned Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and played it at school talent show a few days later, and has played harp over 20 years.

[ILikeWafflz]

Honestly, this is basically all I've done in my 13 years of owning a drum set. I assigned music I wanted to learn, found exactly what I couldn't play, and practiced specifically that.
A few times over the years I would wonder if I was causing trouble for my future self by never doing any of the "do X amount of Y rudiment at Z bpm" type of practice; but I can comfortably play songs I like, so I'm happy with how it's been going so far.
One thing I learned recently that's helped me a lot though is breathing through my nose. That got rid of a lot of general tension.

[Deeevious]

Just got my first ever drum set today. This has me super excited for my journey

[peacegroove]

Playing music is what the student wants, our job as teachers is to go backwards from the drum part to the basic skills he will need to master in order to play the song, creating a pathway that shows the road map, the bridge between where they ARE and where they WANT TO BE. That connection is the difference between BORING ( not knowing why they practice) and EXCITING (this is getting me closer everyday to my goal!). Thanks for your wisdom Stephen, keep it up! 💯

[StephenTaylorDrums]

This is an instant win for any drum student. Playing music. This is the #1 issue and mistake I have had to address with students over the past few years. Are you working on music or material that is directly related to music you want to learn? We should ALWAYS be working towards the music. I spoke to a drum student just the other day...they had been playing almost a full year and had never learned a song! And they were discouraged, demotivated, bummed out. As they should be! Your first drum lesson should be working towards playing a song. Period. My students in my online drum school learn to grip the stick, play a beat, play a fill, play a song. Each of those short lessons is geared towards conquering that first song. It's a HUGE win!

Learning the drums is not NEAR as challenging if we connect it to MUSIC as soon as possible.

If you're just starting out on the drums, I also give a TON of examples of songs that you can play almost right away. There's no better way to learn the drums than to play with music!

Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!

[roadboat]

I was a drum/percussion instructor for a number of years. I agree with you a hundred percent. I was doing this 40 yrs ago with my student.

[CamaroSS]

Thank you!! Just got a kit agin after 20 years without one….loving teaching my sons kit playing….THIS is priceless!! 👍🥁🤘

[thahyst]

So true. I've been drumming for a little over 20 years now, and years ago, when I started following along with songs, it helped me so much more than anything else did and allowed me to be more creative while I'm playing.

[timduggan]

I bought an e drum kit and joined drumeo a couple of years ago. I enjoyed the lessons up to a point, but after a year I still hadn't learned a song, which you are absolutely right about. I want to play along to songs.

[lisaspera]

i have to say I've learned so much from you.... You really are a great teacher I love all your videos I watch them over and over, keep doing what you are doing and thank you so much for your content, it's awesome.

[happytimz]

Back From the Dead - Skillet was my first song. Took a couple lessons but every lesson was the basics of drum beats and fills and it's what made me fall so deep in love with the drums: music.

[exticbutterss__]

I can’t believe I searched a video about the drums because my first lesson is tomorrow, and I got weezered

[classixdrummer]

Absolutely brilliant, Stephen. Spent a long time with the 28 basic rudiments on a concert snare in my first year on the drums. Not that I ever regretted it but if I hadn’t bought a trap kit and played it at home to learn songs I don’t know if I would have stuck with it. I mean, you can only take Bolero for so long right?

[meekoloco]

Great vid Stephen! Great ideas, I use some of the same songs to teach beginners!🤘🏼

[normlor]

SUCH GREAT ADVICE. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING PERCUSSION FOR 56 YEARS AND WHEN WE HAD A BAND PRACTICE THE BAND LIKED TO JAM. THIS WAS NEVER MY LIKING AND I WAS NEVER GOOD AT SOLOS ON MY CONGAS. I TEND MORE TO EASY POP/ STANDARD JAZZ. A GREAT VIDEO, MANY THANKS

[ZaxDrumsandGolf]

I agree with this!! I wish when I started up I would of been more consequent and told my teacher want to learn a song. But his thing was if I learn what he is teaching me I would be able to learn the songs by myself. Which after a 20 year break and getting my e-Kit finally worked out. But I think I would of stuck with it if I would of learned songs right away!!

[fepatton]

This is really a key point, and one that I'm struggling with as a beginner guitar player after many years of playing and teaching drums. What I did as a teacher (like MY drum teacher did), was break the lesson into two parts - learning a song the student likes (adding complexity as they get better), and reading/rudiments. I didn't want to skip the rudiments and reading, but you want the student to have fun. My drum teacher had me playing the Doobie Brothers "Long Train Running" right from the beginning.

[ronlagrone]

Brother, your snare sounds FANTASTIC! My daughter is watching your video right now...she just got her first kit :)

[ItsLemontree]

just like piano, I did the boring stuff then printed music from songs i liked and learnt them. Self taught so I did a mixture to keep myself passionate about it. I don't know how far into drums I want to get, but I can get started on electric drum pads for cheap. ty for this, cant wait to see the rest of the videos