HOW TO LEARN DRUMMING BY YOURSELF

1. Plan a Schedule:
   Practicing is a discipline you discipline yourself to be able to be consistent in it. You need to draft out a consistent practice schedule that is in your best interest.

There is no denying the fact That practicing half an hour a day with an aim is better than doing it for three hours a week without an aim. 😂But hey, don't set goals that are unrealistic, or else you will end up disappointing yourself. Four to five practice sessions a week will be ok if you are consistent.

1. Get Your Practice Space Ready:
   You need to get a place that you can be practicing always, but you need to get a secluded place that won’t disturb the peace of people around. If care is not taken, drumming will not let you build good relationship with your neighbors. You will always get into misunderstanding because your drumming is disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.

Hence, when getting your practice space, make sure you put in mind to get drums that will produce less noise like electric drums you can even get practice pads or electronic drum sets.

1. Practice Good Form:
   After having a practice schedule, and creating a perfect practice space, you should work to establish a form. Forms include, sitting posture, forms of grip, form of stroking. So in every of your practice schedule “forms” should be exercised frequently.

2. Take Professional Drumming Lessons:
   Although you will have plenty of lesson online, it is advised that the best resource from where you can get a lesson plan is a teacher.

Teachers are aware of your skills, and they also know your strengths and weaknesses. You might not have a physical teacher, getting an online teacher can be useful also. An online teacher that you can discuss with and share your drumming problems with

1. Practice with a Metronome:
   A drummer always has to keep tempo while performing. Practicing with a metronome will help you to keep a steady rhythmic flow and not get off tempo or beat.

If you're a drummer and cannot roll on time or play a solid drum beat, how will you lead a band? I made that mistake also at the beginning of my drumming. I neglected using metronome to practice.

That is why some drummers can’t play with a loop during praise and worship, which is why you see some many drummers increasing the tempo of a beat during praise and worship and always adding plus one to the beat. All this is as a result of not practicing with a metronome. You can get the app on play store or by the machine itself.

1. Watch Professional Drummers:
   Not all lessons are learned in classrooms. You can enhance your drumming skills by watching
   professional drummers. Try to pick up their styles and techniques, and that will do wonders for you. You can also choose to watch band live performance or watch them online like the C.O.Z.A choirs and co.

2. Stick to One Learning Method:
   Stick to one thing. If you are doing a technique stick to that technique, and if you are learning from a single drummer stick to that drummer and learn.

3. Learn the Basic Drum Beats:
   Here in Nigeria, you know we have different praise beat we play, as a beginner or someone who want to be good, learning all those basic beat will do much for you. It will make drumming easier for you in this country.

4. Learn the Basics of Drum Notation:
   This fact may sound boring to you, but one of the essential elements of learning drums is indeed the ability to read drum sheets. Alot of experienced drummers at least know the basics of drumming which drum notation is part of it.

After learning the drum notation, you can pick up any drum score and start playing, which makes learning easier for you.

You will feel great when you can sit behind the drum kit and play the drum notation effectively And to round everything up, One piece of advice I have for every beginners reading this is:

“Learning to play an instrument is not always easy, but make sure that you are having fun learning it. Start with the basics and then level up slowly to the advanced level.

Learning to play drums requires the right amount of concentration and practice. The beginning are l certainly the most challenging, but, once you are determined to get past that point, there is no turning back.

Make sure to take adequate time out of your hectic schedule for practicing drumming. Also, follow your teacher's advice and act on it accordingly”.