To All You Drummers Out There

Okay, me being a drummer in a band, DFHP, I thought I'd do something about drumming. So if you want to start drumming, where should you begin? It depends on your age, but if you're in elementary or middle school, or even highschool, join your schools "Band" as a percussionist. It will help tremendously! You'll a feel for your sticks, and a feel for playing live when you do concerts(though it's not much like a rock concert). Next, start learning the key drum rudiments. There are 40 key rudiments you should learn before you can call yourself an accomplished drummer. So what's a rudiment? It's a scale for drums. If you play any other instruments then you probably know what a scale is, but if you don't, it's a base for playing. Scales are you in all songs that you play on your instrument. Drum rudiments are the same, all drum songs use drum rudiments. All solos use rudiments. All beats, just about, use rudiments! So that's pretty big. You can find these rudiments by googling them, I used a website called www.drumrudiments.com, there's also iphone apps like Drum Library(which is another thing I used) that has the 40 key, and also hybrid too. So next, get a full on drum set. It can be pricey, and if you see any that are less than $500 it might not be a good drum set. After you have a drum set, practice the hell out of it. Beats, Fills, Songs, and eventually Solos, everything! And take in as much information as you can, become a vaccum, use drum books, websites, tabs, play some of your favorite band's songs and try to cover them, and even record them and put them on youtube! So after a couple months, maybe a year of hard practice, join a band. Maybe it's you and your friends, or you and someone elses friends, or you and strangers, anything works. Get to know your band, and try to practice at least once a week, and if you get serious, 3 times a week. Get to really know your band members, and play anything you can get your hands on, talent shows, open mic nights at places, and always be on the lookout for gig opportunities. After you play 10,000 hours together, you will officially be an accomplished band. Congratz, you're a real drummer!