So I've decided to start taking lessons.

Yes I have, My progression has really started to slow, figured the best way to six it is professionally. Just starting to looks for a teacher, what should I look for? What should I expect to pay? And what should I try an avoid?

I am in the same situation, don't need a ton of instruction, just enough to get the ball rolling

I teach 20 students between the ages of 7 to 40 and it's my opinion that number one, you need to find a teacher that is well organized and one that can develop a specific plan for YOU based on your current needs.

Depending on the teacher, you can spend from $15/30 minutes to $90-100/1 hour with a professional clinic type.(Maybe more, that was 3-5 years ago. Inflation affects everything.)

What to avoid? I think you need to avoid a teacher that is unorganized and without a specific idea or "curriculum" that will help you improve. That being said, you can choose the greatest teacher in the world, but YOU still have to do the work.

I don't know what you are looking for, but here's a suggestion. Buy the 1st CD of the Turn It Up and Lay it Down Series and buy the book. Work through that at your own pace everyday and you'll improve and you'll become more versatile. The book also suggests other books like for example Ted Reed's "Syncopation" to be used with some of the tracks on the CD, so my point is that one CD alone will keep you busy for a long time at the cost of what, 40 bucks.(CD/13, Book/27) (By the way, the book comes with a CD, but it's just an instructional CD, you need #1 with the tunes on it.)

In all honesty, if you motivated enough, there's a lot of great information available to you today and you might not need a teacher.

Good luck!

If you know what you want to learn, search you tube. You will most likely find it. If you find something that just has you stumped, and you just can not get the trick to the riff, take it to a teacher and get the 411 on how to make it happen. Unfortunately only way to find the right teacher is to pay for a lesson, if you don't like they dude, move on the the next. Ask the teacher to jam a little so you can hear what he can teach you to do.

On average, drum lessons cost about $20. Before you select a teacher, he/she should meet a the following criteria:

1) You and your teacher get along fine.

2) Your teacher isn't obnoxious.

3) Your teacher can teach you better than you can teach yourself.

I would also augment lessons with a $20 DVD from someone like Tommy Igoe.

I agree that a teacher shoud be well organized. Also, a good teacher will ask what your goals are and come up with a plan to get you where you want to be. Remember the teacher is sometimes the student and the student is sometimes the teacher, so I believe it's important that you have a positive open minded relationship with a teacher. "Be the sponge":)

I've been taking lessons for about a year (started lessons about a month after I started playing because I wanted to learn correct technique), and I'm considering stopping. My wife got me 3 good books to go through, and I just duno about shelling out $45/hour for lessons anymore. The guy is great, amazingly talented, and one of the few instructors in the area who are metalheads. First thing he asked was if I wanted to learn how to play drums, or if I wanted to learn drum theory. Glad I opted for the second path. Longer, more difficult, but rewarding to this point.

Anyway, I think I'm going to take a break from lessons and see if I can even teach myself anything at a reasonable rate. Might be back in lessons before I know it.

yeah i need a teacher as well

last year i started with this company that started up called Mr music. n i reackon i got the best teacher there because i no a lot of people not necessarily doing drums. but doing guitar and bas and they had {censored}house teachers who were ful of themselves. but my teacher was wicked. good bloke n a good teacher. he didnt just show me what he could do he just showed me how to do it n got me on there letting me do it. never answered the phone. etc. he was one of the best teachers i've had n i no i won't get another one which im pretty annoyed about. but yeah i stopeed end of last year cause he had to leave end of last year for work. just thought i'd fill u guys in on my life. lol:D.

but yeah goodluck with the searching.

No disrespect, but the teacher in me has to ask. Do you experience lower back pain? I'm afraid if you don't now, you will at sometime in your drumming career considering your picture and your posture at the kit. You might try sitting on the front 1/3 of your throne not the rear as in the picture. It will make you sit up straighter and play more efficiently.

Hmmm...I'm pretty impressed that you managed to not end that comment with: "But I'm sure your You Tube instructor observes that and you're working on it with him."

Since I'm new to drumming, the main reason that I would use a teacher would be to make sure that my grip, posture, form, etc. is all correct so that when I use YouTube or a DVD, I am doing the basics right and can focus on the video.

get a teacher , guys like me need the money.

$20 bucks? Where? I haven't seen lessons for twenty since about 1980.

yeah I charge 30/hour 4 lessons paid in advance/first lesson , 40/hour one timers