Learning the Drums

I’ve always been interested in music and felt that I would someday be able to play an instrument to some degree. I had some guitar lessons around the age of 14 but always felt frustrated in getting it right and practice felt like a chore. As these things are generally about the quality and quantity of practice, I didn’t get very far although have gone back to the guitar now and again to mess around and whilst have a little bit of skill, I certainly couldn’t play in a band or in front of anyone and have them enjoy what they were listening to!

I’ve always wanted to have a go at drumming and recently started with some lessons with Gregory Hills to get the desire to try drumming out of my system and to find out if I enjoyed it. You never know if you could be amazing (or at least enjoy it) at something without trying, right!? Having lessons has been great fun and the nature of drumming seems to be a different experience for me as it feels much easier to ‘get into’ than guitar playing as its easier to create a fun beat to play and doing so is a great feeling!

I’ve been enjoying it so much and the desire to practice away from lessons led me to buying an electronic drum kit. I used the Art Council’s Take It Away scheme which meant I only had to pay a deposit and the rest is monthly 0% payments. I got the Alesis DM6 which was £369 and, for the novice drummer, seems to have everything I need and is a relatively cheap way to have something to practice on.

I’ve been looking for songs to learn and have learnt a few already (all be it my simple versions of them!) such as In The Air Tonight, Clocks, Honky Tonk Women, Supersonic and a couple of others. I’m planning on making some YouTube videos soon with me playing so that’s something for everyone to look forward to!

Learning an instrument lets you listen to familiar songs in a slightly different way as it means you’re concentrating on a particular instrument within it. Its always great to listen and watch how others play and breakdown how they do it to try and replicate they’re playing.

I’ve been looking around at other people’s videos and here are some drummers I’ve been impressed by: