Drum Lessons

I looked up lessons around my area and could only find a few places. I'm going with a guy that charges 90 a month for 40 minute lessons once a week. Il spend 20 minutes on snare working on rudiments and fundamentals and 20 minutes on a kit working on the fundamentals and learning other variations of time and other neat stuff. I think it will really help me go to the next level. Just thought I'd share!

That's a good price for lessons, which are well worth the cost. Have fun!

Thanks. I figured it was pretty good. I spoke with the guy and I feel good about the situation.

Definitely a great price, and anyone who spends half a lesson focused on just your hands and technique has their wits about them. Kudos!

Congrats Bubster!!!! Even just 6 months with someone with the capacity(patience)to work with you will be your BEST investment yet!!! Not saying you suck or anything,but I think it will help you level up for sure!!! I'm proud of you.

Thanks dad! I know there are things I can do well and that I have the potential to be good. I feel like taking lesson will teach me the finer things I never learned. I'm really looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing and hearing the results.

Good4U! My lessons are 20 a half hour but my Skype lessons always run longer...technology is not foolproof yet. Make sure he's a good teacher and not just a good player. Those sometimes are 2 differnt animals. Have fun and PRACTICE!!!!

Wise words right here! I'm a crap player, but the 3 people I've given lessons to all have said I'm their favorite person to study with. I come from a family full of teachers, so it's in my blood... I just wish I could learn more from myself!

You are so full of it!!!! Not on the teaching part, but you are a solid super player so back off...boogaloo (I had to throw that in...sorry....:p:p:p:p)

If it doesn't work out with this guy and he ends up being a bad teacher il be getting in touch with you Carmine.I dont think he will though due to what i have heard amd because he has over 30 students some of which have been going to him for years. To bad none of you guys live around the Northwest Florida area specifically close to Pensacola.

Pick his brain about everything.Don't waste your lesson time talking,spend it LISTENING!!! After all you are going to be paying him to help educate you.Don't let the chance to have a real pro educate you on TUNING go by either. A mediocre drummer on mediocre drums that are tuned right sounds 100 Xs better than a "great" drummer on "great" drums that are out of tune.With or without being miced up through a killer P.A. {censored}ty sounding(out of tune) drums are just louder {censored}ty sounding(out of tune) drums through a P.A.!!!

Yeah that's one area im lacking in. I can tune ok, plus it takes me forever. I'm calling the guy later today to set up a time to meet up. I'm really looking forward to it and the results!

Well man you are really just getting back into it,and with {censored} YOU bought,not {censored} that was bought for you. But back in the day you never really had to learn how to tune them coz Glen always took care of that. As the sound-guy (P.A. owner) I can not stress to you enough the importance of correctly tuned drums!!! Anyways good luck on this venyure,Corey.

Thanks dad. Yeah Glenn helped me out a lot. I just want to go from the playing level of amateur to professional. I dont have to be playing out necessarily, I just mean I want my level to be that of a professional. Im really excited.

Just to clarify so that it doesn't inadvertantly become an (unobtainable) goal, there's really no such thing as 'correctly' tuned drums, since there are numerous ways to tune a drum/drums so that it/they sound 'right'.

What's important is being able to have a set of well tuned drums. And always keep in mind that what constitutes well-tuned in one setting or location or style of music, etc., does not necessarily apply to all/others.

I just called a the guy and my lessons start next Monday!

Good news, now go get 'em. Have fun, ask questions and listen.

Yea,exactly. Thanx for putting what I meant into words.I would think (I know,with me being a bassist you probably didn't know that was possible),that just like a stringed instrument,tuning should actualy be checked every time you sit down to play.

Eh...yes and no.

Depending on the drums one is playing being able to keep/hold tension and HOW one plays (how hard/soft one hits, frequency of playing time, etc.), drums may or may not go out of tune, and may or may not go out of tune to a noticeable level from playing.

Keep in mind that outside of rare circumstances, drums are not generally used in a truly melodic manner, and even more rarely are they used in a melodic manner in conjuction with other melodic instruments; when the bass player is out of tune with the guitarist or keyboards, for instance, you're going to hear that.

When the first tom slips tuning a bit, it won't necessarily clash with the floor tom nor sound 'out' of tune...so it may or may not warrant tuning depending on the situation/person playing/preferences/etc.

Now that being said, I tune my toms (3 of them) to relatively specific pitches and intervals.

Generally speaking, for rehearsals, I will give them a quick run down when I sit at the kit just to make sure they don't sound wonky with each other...my 14" FT on the practice kit really only sounds good in a very narrow range and has a tendency more than my other drums to loosen/slip tuning. But at the rehearsal space, I generally only spend a few seconds tweaking a couple tension rods here and there at the start of practice to make sure things are close. This is really less about really tuning than making sure they don't sound bad; there's certainly some range in what I personally find acceptable sounding, and as long as a given drum is within that range, it's ok by me.

At gigs, though...yeah, I double check tuning of everything ahead of every gig once set up, and re-tune as necessary. Luckily, the primary gigging kit holds tune incredibly well and the reso heads rarely need any attention at all, so it is also usually just a small tweak here or there.

Cool deal that you are getting into lessons. With all the videos and youTube etc, there is still no substitute for a teacher right there with you. A teacher can correct bad habits he sees and tell you about it. Stuff you don't even know is wrong.

Don't shortcut on the rudimental hand work. Even if you have no plans to try out for center snare of the Blue Devils, this stuff will come in very handy in your playing.

Most of all, have fun!

Let us know how it goes.

**Note** a.k.a. "Unless your name is Terry Bozzio"

DB

A great topic, thanks.

Landscaping in fountain hills

Yeah, like I said...rare circumstances.

Realistically speaking, it's almost like looking for unicorns.

Between being in gigging bands for nearly 30 years, working a number of years in drum shops in a major market city, working even more years in concert/event production (from 100 capacity clubs to House of Blues to 70k festivals) I know/have personally known, as friends more than merely acquaintances/on first name basis with each other, easily a couple hundred drummers.

Out of those...only ONE guy comes to mind who regularly plays a multi-tom set-up in a truly melodic setting as a regular thing.

Obviously, the Bozzios of the world show us what can be done by using drums in a melodic idiom, but I suspect the number of people that applies to for day-to-day playing is slim indeed.

At the end of the day though...yeah, developing a good ear for tuning is a good skill for a drummer to work on.