This was prompted by a response to my post in another thread on a particular technique issue.  I must confess part of this rant is also because of a conversation I had with a drummer recently.  This guy wanted to sell me his DW Double pedal because he couldn't figure out how to really play it well.  I offered to loan him a video on DB playing and his response was "I'm self taught; I don't need anyone to show me how to play music, I play from the heart".  He added that since other people had shown me how to play, I didn't feel the music from the heart; I let my brain get in the way.     My method is highly controversial and is sure to cause a stir amongst a certain number of members, but I'll plunge on anyway.

The shortcut is practice, lessons and hard work.  While I appreciate the efforts of some members who find "new and head turning" ideas and feel the need to post them as some drumming breakthrough, the simple truth is most of these ideas are old, tired, tried, true, tested and been around for years.  Which doesn't make them any less valid or exciting; in fact, they are invaluable licks and tricks to know.  Some, such as the Carter Beauford lick that gets bounced around every few months are staples in rock/fusion drumming.  Carter copped it from Billy Cobham, who copped it from Jack Dejohnette, who copped it from lord only knows who.....etc.
 
This is why so many members here advocate lessons for younger and newer drummers.  While one can certainly get from point A to point B with a lot of hard work on their own, it's so much easier with even a limited number of lessons.  Learning to read proper notation and fundamental techniques, such as how to hold your stick, are the "magic shortcuts" everyone seeks.  Taking the time to implement the lessons you've learned through correct practice makes more sense than trying to find a shortcut, or learning the wrong way.  Those of you who claim to not have time, money, a teacher, or any other reason need to come to grips with the fact that these are excuses.  If you want something bad enough, you'll grind it out.  If you can lay out $50 for the new Mike Portnoy video, you can certainly buy 3 half hour lessons that will teach you so much more about how to get to the creative level that Mike Portnoy is, rather than teaching you how HE achieved that level.  I've long advocated that anyone can copy what guys like Portnoy, Peart, Weckl, etc. can do.  Their true gift is creating the music that drops your jaw.

There is some kind of badge of honor for drummers to state that they are "self taught" and a certain pride that comes from people who've "never had a lesson in their life".  Well, I can tell you that to most schooled drummers, your self teaching is painfully obvious.  Here's how:

Most of the posts I read here about are things like "how do I get faster feet" or "how important are my pedals to my DB speed" or "why my hands hurt after I play for more than an hour".  The answers can relate back to the fact that you probably never had a lesson and never had someone show you the proper fundementals.  I'm nearing 40, and have played my drums nearly everyday for the last 25 years.  In the last 10 years, I've played more than ever, sometimes a much as 5x a week.  I'm the epitome of the working part timer in this industry.  I have a full time job, a family and I play 1 rehersal and 2 gigs a week, every week, bare minimum, with 3 different bands.  One is a corporate rock band, one is a club/party rock band that varies from a 2 piece to a 4 piece and one is a jazz trio.  Between the three I have to be able to play somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 different songs, and sometimes I have to play the same song arranged 3 different ways, one for each band.  I admit it gets busy, but I never get tired of it, not physically or mentally.  I attribute this back to my schooling.  I use methods I was taught to achieve the most result with the least amount of energy expended.  I do 20-30 minutes of simple conditioning exercises a day on a practice pad.  Not to get faster, I can play as fast as I want.  It's to continue to have the endurance and authority to play what I NEED, when I NEED to. 

I say all this to say that if I didn't do these conditioning exercises that I was taught 20 years ago, I would have probably hurt myself physically time and time again.  If I wasn't able to read and write music, I wouldn't have utilized Kenny Aronoff's index card cheat sheet method for the huge library of songs I have to play.  Call it what you would, I'll call it a steady second income because I'm prepared, professional and can make adjustments on the fly.  I know the standard non-verbal communications/cues used by most musicians, and I was exposed to such a huge variety of music and musical styles by each of my teachers that I'm competent enough in most styles to accept work as diversified as playing a huge rock show with a national touring act with no rehersal to doing a weekly acoustic 2 man show on Monday nights at the local pub.  I subbed in Saturday night with a band I haven't played with in 2 years, yet I had all my notes and sheets from when I did a few mini-tours with them 4-5 years ago.  I was able to use these to roadmap my way through their show without any real hitches.

Please, I'm begging all of you younger, newer drummers............Go find a decent teacher to show you the fundamentals.  Then practice properly.  Even an hour a day of proper practice on a pad will do more for you than 6 hours of aimless bashing on the kit.  Which certainly is fun and necessary.  I still get together with my old college professor once a year to go through some things because I get sloppy and need an outsider to look at what I do.  Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world and still has a coach.  Because these people can assist even the greatest with becoming that much better.

Thanks, and have a nice day 

Also, Sorry about this being so long, but you'll either get it or you won't 

Didn't I have this self same rant about a month ago? 

I agree with you entirely about the 'badge of honour' thing too.

This also feeds into my 'fast food' thread. Instant results etc.......

Funny you should mention the pedal. I was going to post on the 'are pedals all that important' thread, but let me tell you, I'm aware I float around the forum pouring cold water on everyone's enthusiastic posts, like the grinch who ate drummers.

But I've never bothered that much about pedals. If you need foot speed, you have to practice for hours.
Lot's of old pedals are great pieces of engineering IMO. As long as they are fairly sturdy and don't come apart as you are playing.
I've looked at the Trick's and Axis pedals, they are not for me. I'm sure some drummers can get great results with them.
However, and here comes my grinch point, I feel some drummers who agonise over which pedals to use because they are trying to play doubles like Dennis Chambers, or their blast beats don't sound right, just haven't put in the hours of practice it takes to play that kind of material.

Over and out. 

Hear, hear!

Great post, Tony.

ive been drumming for three and a half years now, just about 16 years old, and i couldnt agree more. i have friends who will come up to me and ask me for a "drum lesson". i can show them a basic backbeat, but other than that, not much can be done in ten minutes when they dont know how to play properly. when i started, i found a teacher, who is an amazing drummer, and a great guy. whats also an extra bonus for me is that we think on the same wave-length, and i already knew how to hold a steady tempo in my mind from years of piano.

even when i dont play for a few days, i start to feel rusty, like im out of my prime. but every once in a while, ill just tap my hands on my legs, doing my singles. keeps my arms loose. but i dont understand how people can be great when they sit down and try to do something. a lot of people dont understand just how hard it is to do certain things, and especially drums. in my music class, the percussion is often ignored byu the conductors, except when we make a mistake. i even had one of my teachers ask me to show them a few things on snare drum. lets just say that didnt work

but i completely agree with you in the sense that the only way to become great is to put hours of work into it...now im off for some rudiments!

You should have taken the blue pill Tony, that's the one that gives instant skills.  


I agree with you Tony, only because a private instructor is the quickest way to learn but there are those of us out there who had no "private instructor" to spoon feed us while we learned to play. I don't want to start another thread war so don't think that but here goes; I learned to read music at age of 5, started drumming when I was 8 and my family couldn't afford lessons for me; age 10 I joined elementary school band, handbell choir at church; age 12 made jazz band (audition only) and concert band aalso started playing for Youth Group at church; age 14 jazz, concert, Drumline , AGE 15 -National Champion Sweepstakes Winner Division AA Jazz/Rock Highschool competition at DisneyWorld in Orlando Florida; age 16 Drumline and Concert band (switched schools, no jazz ensemble) was now playing drums for both wed nite youth group as well as special music and worship team every Sunday morning; Went to a local college, made the jazz ensemble and recorded with them; I had marched both the Rose Parade and Fiesta Bowl Parade before I was in the 8th grade. I'm not even close to being done yet, I am 31 years old now. My point is that as much as I agree that a private instructor is the best way to go, you can not take away someone's "badge of honor" just because they didn't pay for it like everyone else.
That being said, I would still recommend private teachers when available, but not having a private intructor or taking college music theory classes doesn't make you less of a drummer. Telling us that we can never achieve the same level as those who "pay" for a teacher is strickly the opinion of those who believe they are great because they "paid" for their skills. I remember those people in in jr high and high school, they had fancy pro mark sticks and laugh at my Jo-Jo's...then get mad when I would be picked as 1st Chair Section Leader.

Thanks for your time

I read this earlier and decided to wait to comment til now.  I actually thought that when I opened the post to see what the short cuts were (knowing there aren't any) I was going to be "blasted" by some catchy phrase indicating my lack of intelligence in opening the post to "get all the answers".  Kind of reminds me of the greeting card I saw one day which says on one side "turn card over" and on the opposite side "turn card over" or something to that effect. 
There certainly seems to be no quick and easy answers to skills that we so often pour years into.  On an interesting note though its funny how somethings just at some point seem to click, all the pices fall into place and what was once very difficult now comes easy.  Thais really is probably more illusion than truth in that a certain style of play was once difficult for me and years later I have no recollection of when it happened, just that now that style is no problem.  I'd bet that if I had recoreded myself every 6 months or a year for a couple minutes at each time I'd notice the gradual change rather than the mystical magic moment it all fell into place.  It didn't come from lack of trying though- thats for certain.

I don't think this thread was directed at you - I think it was aimed more at the drummers who make such a big deal about lessons somehow "contaminating" their playing. 

I'm sorry you resent my opinion, but if you didn't have a private instructor would you still resent what I said? Probably not. Instead you might take offense to the fact that as a child if your parents couldn't afford lessons, you are labeled as someone who "gives excuses" and looks for shortcuts rather than someone who put in twice as much work trying to achieve the same thing as those who did take lessons. If you are trying to imply that Tony is refering to hitting up your local band director for lessons, you are sadley mistaken. Mr Holland Opus is not teaching music in any of our school districts. I know what is expected of me as a drummer and I do everything in my power to make sure it happens. Do I regret not having a teacher? Sure, it would have been nice, and I could have probably focused on learning another instrument as well.

I think the people who are proudly self taught are taking any perceived criticism in this thread way too seriously.
I don't think any of the regular Cafe crew are against self taught musicians. Well done and good luck to you, is the usual vibe I get.
There is a long history of drummers posting questions about fundamental problems with their playing though. If it is suggested they seek professional help, they either reject that advice, or more often ignore that advice and continue posting the same question at The Cafe in various re-worded forms.
Some of us wonder why they are so reluctant to get a couple of lessons.
Now I've been nice, I might add a slightly harsh note here......
Lack of finances are often sited as an excuse, but many of the same people post questions about buying gear etc...
Better to own a BD, SN and Hi-Hat kit and know how to play it properly I think.

Sorry ayl19, I shouldn't have picked a particular topic to make my point. Nothing was directed at you, as I said when I mentioned your post, I hadn't even read it. I was more making the point about ME. Saying I was aware I was flitting around the forum being gruff on a number of threads.
My attitude is that pedals are not that important. The title of your topic was enough to suggest I should steer clear and avoid an argument with any forum member who thought pedal choice was crucial.
My point wasn't directed at you, after all you could have posted the question 'how important are pedals?' and answered it yourself in your text; 'not that important'. Sorry if I seemed to pick on you.
Anyway, I don't think any of this should be taken to heart by anyone who believes in the self taught philosophy.
There is no one way to learn the drums.

nutty,

Here's where I think the line is drawn:

- If someone's coming here to ask about polyrhythms, hey, that's a complicated subject that has potential to be answered here, and if the person asking the question is anything like me, they need to ask a bunch of different people until they find the answer that makes the most sense.

- If someone's coming here to ask a question about how to play X metal song, and they're not even clear on reading tab (much less notation or basic counting), that person is begging for an instructor. To a man, I've never seen anyone turn this type of person away for advice on this board, but I've seen the hackles go up when that person asking a beginner question gets haughty or acts like we're obligated to explain it in a simpler way. As if that were possible!

It gets frustrating when you give everyone the benefit of the doubt and you go to great lengths to help someone, and they greet you with an attitude. That's the kind of person that needs a boot in the backside and a trip to the local instructor. I can understand the frustration at the heart of Tony's original post, because so many of these questions can be answered within the first three lessons. That's, like, $45.

Hey, not everyone wants to be the next Vinnie Colaiuta. I'm very cool with that. I have to come to grips that I'll never be that guy, and I do aspire to that level. What I don't understand is the aversion to the most rudimentary education. Frankly, using your comparison, it would be like wanting to be a blue-collar guy but refusing to learn the English language or the most basic technical understanding of the business. It would be like someone saying, "No, don't give this manual and don't ask me to go to junior college. I want you to teach me everything you know from scratch."

It's not about being self-taught. The frustration of the post is in an attitude that has an aversion to any kind of formal training. Do you see anyone like that working in the Industrial Electronics industry?