Bought an e-kit (Yamaha DD65) - Lessons off YouTube, DVDs or teacher?

Arky

Platinum Member
On behalf of Andrew (username AfxTwn)...
(We're still figuring out some account/login problems he's having.)

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I'm just after some advice about learning to play drums really, I've just bought a Yamaha DD65 electronic drum kit and wanted to know whether to get lessons off You Tube or buy a DVD or to get lessons from an actual teacher. A lot of the lessons I've seen seem to use full acoustic kits and for reasons of space, money and noise (not wanting to upset my neighbours), I can't get one of those (or even a full-size electronic kit).
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Hi, I'm Andrew (the person Arky referred to), first thanks very much to Arky for posting this for me. As he said, I am having some problems logging in at the moment and so couldn't really post anything until now.

I'm looking for some advice about learning to play the drums, I am an absolute beginner and I have some specific needs that prevent me from going down the usual routes to learn an instrument. I have autism and so going to an actual music teacher would be very challenging for me as it would be a long process of trying to get to know the person and feel comfortable with them before actually learning the drums. Also, I've looked for some tutors in my area and there aren't any nearby and so there would be the extra stress of traveling further away to see someone, I'm not sure that would be something I could do.

As I mentioned in Arky's post, I have just bought a Yamaha DD65 electronic drum-pad kit as I don't have the space for a full-size kit and I don't want an acoustic kit or anything that would make a lot of noise. I don't want to disturb my neighbours and I am also quite sensitive to noise.

I had read a lot of good reviews for the DD65 and seen some videos of it on You Tube and so I thought this would be a good compromise. I've bought a snare drum stand for it and some birch rod sticks (I had read these can help to reduce the noise when hitting the pads and I do notice a difference in sound from using the regular drumsticks that came with the kit).

As the kit was second-hand it came with some books: Drums For Dummies, Simply Drums by Cameron Skews and Absolute Beginners Drums. As I am more of a visual person and find it difficult to understand some books, I thought a DVD or You Tube videos might be better but I'm not sure where to start as there are a lot out there.

I know you can get some drum lessons online such as mikeslessons.com which seems to be quite popular here but as I am in the UK and that is an American site, I think the time difference would be an issue.

So I'd appreciate it if I could get some advice here, I have looked through some of the threads already but as I have additional needs I thought it best to start my own and explain the situation.

Thanks very much for reading this long post and for any help people can provide.

Andrew
 
Hi Andrew,


I must admit rightaway I don't know much about autism but it seems to me you are taking a huge step forward becoming member of a discussion forum and starting to play drums even though you are sensitive to noise. Congratulations! Do you think you might eventually play in a band or would that be stretching the limits too far?

With regard to lessons, I believe a "real" teacher is more efficient than a DVD. I have bought the Great Hands for a Lifetime as well as the Groove Essentials dvd's by Tommy Igoe, who I think is a great teacher and drummer, but I can't get myself to do my homework regularly. I am thinking of taking lessons.

You said travelling to a drum teacher would be too stressful for you, what about the drum teacher coming over to you and have the lesson playing on your own drums?
 
Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the world of drumming. Another suggestion I'd make is to find a teacher that gives Skype lessons. You can choose any teacher throughout the world to give you lessons on Skype as long as they offer that and many do.

Good luck to you.

John
 
Hi Andrew, and a warm welcome.

Whereabouts in the UK are you? If by any chance you live near me (Wrexham) you could do an awful lot worse than my teacher, who would go to your house. His day job is a learning support assistant, and he's very very good at it. I think he already teaches a drum student who has autism; he certainly has a Down's student, and I know he's a very sensitive and gifted teacher. He plays drums pretty damn well too!

You can learn a lot from books, DVDs and online lessons, but the main drawback is the lack of feedback. Ideally, you need somebody with eyes and ears, and although we like answering questions on DW, it's very helpful to have somebody right there to ask.

The Skype suggestion is a good one, if you could manage it.

Please let us know how you get on.
 
Hey all, bless yer cotton socks, but he said he can't go to teachers. Personal presence can be too intense and distracting for people with autism. Andrew, would you be okay with Skype lessons - videophone?

If not then it narrows down to DVDs, YouTubes and books.

The top DVDs are more reputable than YouTube videos, since you KNOW they have been done by master players like Jojo Mayer (eg. Great Hands for a Lifetime DVD) or Tommy Igoe etc.

The above is just what I have heard here because I learned to play from watching other drummers play live, books and magazines (no computers back then).

Still, there are some quality YouTube instructional videos (eg. forum member Zack Albetta), the hard part is knowing whether they are any good or not. Pay close attention to the Likes and Dislikes. If there's a higher than usual percentage of dislikes on an instructional drumming video then the chances are that it's not legit.

When checking comments to see what other people think about the video's quality, it's important to assess whether negative comments are trolling or sincere. Ignore the emotional stuff and look for the rational informational comments.
 
Hi and welcome Andrew,

I'll second the suggestion of lessons via Skype. You can get lessons from some great drummers in the comfort of your own home.

I'll also recommend Tommy Igoe's "Great Hands for a Lifetime" DVD. Some of the exercises might seem a little overwhelming when you watch, but don't feel like you have to play that fast right out of the gate. Do what's taught in the DVD at a tempo that's comfortable for you and speed it up gradually.
 
Lessons are important but you can start with watching videos online on technique/grip by masters like David Weckl etc. My teachers has given my worse advice than I've been able to find online. Had one teacher that told me to grip the stick really tight to kill the rebound after an accent which got my hand really hurt, got something sticking up from my hand now =/
The problem with youtube is that you get random lessons on thousands different topics. You need to focus on on the basics in the start not watching 100 lessons on different bass-drum pedal technique/single hand roll that is just not important the first years!
Rudiments is what you need to focus on.

I would start with this series if I were you:
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/wessels_beginner-lessons.php
and:
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments/01singlestrokeroll.php
Scroll down for more guidance on the rudiments page...

Don't forget to have fun as well though!
Learn "the money beat" right away and try to play a long to some AC/DC tunes for example...
"Big balls" was the first song I learned completely.

There is also an awesome drum-"game" for e-drums called DTXmania check it out if you can find it online it's truly great and I spent thousands of hours playing it.(Don't fool yourself though, it's not practicing drums but it's fun!)
 
Hi everyone, sorry to bring back this thread after such a long time and sorry for not replying to any of you. Lots of things have happened since my last post and I also lost my login details as well as get a new computer so I had to focus on those things and not learning drums for quite a while.

I am now able to start looking at learning again. I was able to have a go of a Roland drum kit but I don't know what model it was but it had a proper kick and hi hat pedal and much better pads. This got me thinking about buying a better kit for myself because the DD65 has small pads and they are quite bouncy and loud and the little button pads for the kick and hi hat are rubbish, they move around too much and it doesn't feel normal to press them.

I was thinking about maybe getting either the Roland V-Drums Lite HD3, TD-1KV or the V-Drums Portable TD-4KP. Those look like small sets that would fit in my room and they don't have the full kick pedal with the pad so they wouldn't be too loud. Noise is a very big thing to me and I don't want anything that is loud or will annoy people when I am learning.

I will probably use headphones with the drums but I know the sound of the sticks hitting the pads can also be quite loud sometimes.

I looked at some You Tube videos and a lot of them use real acoustic kits or much more advanced electronic kits so I was worried that the lessons wouldn't really work for me.

I don't want to be in a band, I just want to play drums for myself and record some drums. I like making music but wouldn't feel comfortable playing live or with other people really. I mostly just make music on my computer and use lots of synths. I really like drums in electronic music a lot and have been watching videos of people like Zach Hill in Death Grips and Brian Chippendale in Lightning Bolt. I know that kind of drumming will be very hard to do and take a long time to learn but they seem to use quite basic setups.

I also like Phil Selway in Radiohead because he can play lots of different styles. I also really like Aphex Twin, I know he's not a drummer but I really like the drum patterns he uses. I know he will use drum machines and makes patterns you can't play with real drums but that style of drumming is great. I find it hard programming drum machines and using a step sequencer as I can't really match the drum pattern I have in my head with the steps on a drum machine. So I think being able to play drums myself would be better.

I make a lot of ambient and experimental stuff so I want to learn some simple patterns really that will sound good and then when I get better I can do something more hard.

Does anyone know if the drum kits I listed are good and would be better than my Yamaha DD65? Thank you for the help.
 
We all learn in different ways and speeds, go with the method that suits you. If you are the personality that needs formal lessons and a tutor to report to and display progress, go with that. If you prefer to be more relaxed and intuitive you can cherry pick lessons or drum parts to work on using the web or DVDs. I have never had a lesson but that cos I hate formal learning and prefer to find my own way, for good and bad.

Each to there own. Its rock and roll, there is no right or wrong way, just your way.

I will say one thing, I use an e-kit for most practice and I find setting up the pads at heights and distances apart to match my accoustic kit makes the transition very easy. What I mean is most e-kit pads are small, dont be tempted to have them close together to make it easier to get round the kit. Space the pads as you would an accoustic kit and use the size of the pads to make your sticking more accurate.
 
Check out drumeo.. it has been amazing for me and keeps me motivated also....
 
I don't think it matters what drum kit you use. You might watch some you tube videos and learn how to hold the sticks correctly. Then practice single stroke and double stroke rolls, slowly at first until you learn the movements. Then play along with your favorite songs, listen, learn what you can.
 
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