If you are intent on learning to drum at home, I have some good tips for you.

A bit about my background: I’ve been playing drums for 13 years. I played in my college’s jazz ensemble and play in a rock band outside of that. 

I took lessons with a beast of a pro at my university. I generally practice 3 hours a day. I am a touring musician with one of the biggest Beatles cover bands around.

If you want to learn how to play drums, chances are you’re going to need to do some real work on your own. This means practicing and jamming by yourself. 

Here are some of the best ways to learn drums when you’re at home all by your lonesome!

Become a 'Drummer 4/4 Life' with our exclusive JA t-shirt!

Show your dedication to rhythm with our unique 'Drummer 4/4 Life' t-shirt. Proudly display a music staff with the 4/4 time signature, the heart of most popular music beats. This piece of Jam Addict attire not only makes a bold statement about your passion for drumming, but it also lets you be a part of the JA community, a team dedicated to fostering musicians for years.

Regular practice makes something close to perfection

You will advance most quickly by doing this: 

Commit at least 30 minutes a day to practice. 

It is much better to practice thirty minutes every day than 3 hours and 30 minutes one day a week. 

Make certain you don’t jam randomly on some beats and call it practice. It won’t make you better to do this since you’ll end up playing the very same beats you can already do.

It’s much better to pick a small bit of new music you like. And I do mean small, as in even just a bar or two. 

Focus on playing this small piece of music perfectly. Every little detail should be intact, from the velocity of your hits, to the timing of your strokes, to the precision of your technique. 

If you learn to play (with near perfection) one new bar of music every day, in just a year, that’s 365 bars of music you’ll know! 

Keep it basic, keep it fundamental

Ensure you keep things basic.

The downfall of quite a few drummers is trying to show off via complexes fill that add nothing to the core of the music. 

Understand that your part as a drummer is to improve the whole of the music instead of sticking out like a kid trying to impress his crush at an 8th-grade talent show.

As the drummer, you’ve got to guide the whole band. The most important element of any type of music is always the rhythm. 

Without rhythm, melodies wouldn’t be recognizable in the slightest. 

Whenever people perceive something as “catchy,” 9 times out of 10, they think that because of the rhythm.

Use a metronome so you learn the pocket

The best timing requires you to be in the pocket. 

The metronome is on the entire time I practice. If you practice to a metronome regularly, it will be easier to keep a steady beat without one, since you’re mind and body will be familiar with the “correct” timing of the metronome.  

To make it a lot more challenging, give yourself a metronome pattern with only beat 1 of 4 – this actually tests your capability to keep time. 

Are your downbeats not syncing with the metronome? It means your time is off! If you’re nailing it though, that means you’re ballin’ on the kit like Travis Barker. 

Practice SLOW Speed comes from practicing a pattern irritatingly sluggish. It is simple to play quickly when you have actually practiced slow.

Use a practice pad if you don’t have your kit

Drum pads are light, portable drumming tools that imitate the feel of genuine drums but are much quieter. 

To master holding your sticks and ramping up your speed (and to enhance your lower arms and condition your shoulders ) you may need to boost your fitness!

To practice your 8th-, sixteenth- and thirty-second-notes, vanquish paradiddles and sample fills, a practice pad may be necessary.

Don’t be afraid to seek help

Keep in mind that you can register for online drum lessons if you see yourself ending up feeling uninspired or if you’re beginning to plateau. 

Don’t give up! If you have a bad day, know that tomorrow will be better.

Everybody has days where they’re running out of motivation while learning a particularly hard passage of music. The internet can help you a lot, specifically when it comes to teaching yourself to play the drums.

Cheesy but true: always have fun

Whether you like reggae, funk, rock, or folk music, you can play along to your preferred tunes and improve your drumming. 

If you still don’t feel confident mentor yourself to play the drums, you can always take a look at discovering to play the drums online, in a drum school, at a music conservatoire or with the aid of a private tutor who can tailor their lessons particularly to you! 

A tutor can work with you to establish a learning strategy with goals that are suitable to your level and learning style.

Drums require a great deal of work! Don’t be afraid to seek out inspiration wherever it finds you. Do a Spotify radio scramble and find some songs to play along with.

Be curious, stop a song and rewind it to see what the drummer just did in that fill.

Drums are so important and rare to find nowadays, become a great drummer and you will be in demand! This is one terrific reason to start learning out how to play the drums.

Check out more drum tips right here on Jam Addict. We’re always coming at you with simple tips and tricks to start banging with the best of them.