Drum Lessons

Drum kit set up and equipment – advise on equipment best suited to your needs including types of sticks, acoustic or electronic percussion, drum shell types, drum heads and tuning, cymbal choice and how to select them.

Ergonomics – the relationship between you and the drums including movement, height, angles, motion and posture – it’s important to get this right!

Good practice routine – when, what and how to practice – developing a positive approach.

Listening to music – playing along to selected songs, writing out drum parts, listen to & studying other drummers/performers.
Singing rhythms and phrases is great way learn!

Independence/hand & foot control – combining patterns between all four limbs and studying the basic mechanics of hand and foot techniques leading to greater independence/facility on the drum kit.

Technique – learning the essential rudiments of drumming as adopted by N.A.R.D (National Association of Rudimental Drummers) and applying those to the drum kit, placing great emphasis on stick grip and stick control improving accuracy and timing.

Reading music/charts – because we often learn from books I like to teach this skill from the start and help pupils gain a good ability to read and also write music. It helps us gain a greater understanding of rhythm and makes learning new material much quicker. It’s not as hard as you might think. I recommend you purchase “Teaching Rhythm” by Joel Rothman.

Styles – all styles are covered including Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues, Latin, Reggae and more, with a great emphasis on the study of time (inner clock) together with grooves, phrasing, and playing along to sequences and click tracks.

Solos/fills/breaks – developing a good vocabulary for solo work and fills.

Grades – preparing students for exams including Rock School/Associated Board etc. I have 100% success rate with students who take exams.

Lessons are given on Roland TD20/V Cymbal electronic drums, DW drum kit & practice pads