How long could it take to be a good drummer.

You can be a "good" drummer in a few months, if your goals are "just to be average good".

You can be one helluva great drummer if you are never satisfied with how much you learn, play, and live drumming.

Me, I'll never be satisfied with my drumming- ever. I'm so much better than I was years ago, but I'm still lesser that some others I compare myself to.

I figure that when I stop comparing myself to those that are more advanced than I am (in all important aspects of my life) then I will have become stagnant, and that is the beginning of decline.

C. P.

He has said it all here,

it really depends on what YOUR defenition of good is in drummer terms, and if you reach it, it wasnt high enough.
 
It would all depend on what you call a good drummer. Being able to keep time usually just comes natural. You still have to work on it though. Practicing the right things consistantly will eventually make a good drummer out of you.
 
I don't really consider myself good, but it took me about 3 months of private lessons to be better than my friends. Depending on who your comparing yourself to, it could take a few months or a lifetime.
 
Interestingly, I've found that as I've improved, my definition of what a good drummer is has evolved. My suggestion would be to just enjoy the process. When you become what you think is a good drummer, you'll be so caught up in enjoying the process that it won't even matter.

Best of luck to you.
 
I am by no means a good or seasoned drummer (yet) but I'd like to throw my meager thoughts in:

Simply put, being "good" is defined by the person viewing it. If you are asking yourself FOR yourself, than being good simply means being happy with your level of skill. If you are asking from the view of an audience member, then a solid grasp of technical skill and a good ounce of energy and creativity will make you look good.

In the end, though, it's like a job/career: You can make lots of money, you can do what you love to do... but the best jobs give you money and enjoyment. Find that middle road and you will be balanced.

And THAT would be good.
 
Re: How long could it take to be a good drummer-about three years minimum.

Man every single one of those responses above is total BS. Some bozo writes in 48 years. What good is it to tell any young person that? "Depends on what you mean by 'good'" what a load of cr@p. Any musician I've ever played with will tell you exactly how good every single drummer he's ever known is. Drumming is a critical slot in any band and it needs to be good, really good. Any drummer that isn't "good" will suffer major abuse from his band mates.

The answer is it should take a few years, maybe 3 years minimum. Below I have listed some drummers and their ages. Many of them were star drummers before they were 20 years old. Much of the drumming that shook the world was done by drummers in their early 20s. You should be a great drummer by the time you are in high school and you should be playing in a band and gigging and getting paid for it by the time you're 18. The younger you are the less good drummers there are at your age and thus the less competition there is. Any rock career chances are over by the time you're 28 and you're starting to go bald.

Less important than thinking you are "good" or even "good enough" is that you get on stage and play. No matter what you think your level is, get in one or more bands and set your goals on hitting the stage. No one should be "good" when he joins a band and hits the stage, he should be on stage way before that. That's how you "get" "good."

I knew a guy in my elementary school band that could play the drum set just fine in 4th grade. He could play along with the band and he sounded great.

I know a two-time Grammy award winning drummer that was playing in night clubs since he was 10 years old. By the time I knew him in high school he was a pro. Surprise! He went on to become a successful drummer.

Buddy Rich-Playing vaudeville at 18 months old, bandleader at 11 years old, recording and a star performing with Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra at 21.

Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky from I Love Lucy)-$500 a week at the age of 3, touring with the Horace Heidt Orchestra

?uestLove-drumming on stage at shows by the age of seven, and by 13, had become a musical director.

Gene Krupa(Benny Goodman Orchestra)-Playing professional when he was 16, playing in a house band and touring when he was 18, a superstar at 25. Benny Goodman says it wasn't until sometime *after* Krupa was with him that "he started playing pretty good drums."

John Bonham (Led Zepplin)-got a snare drum at 10, playing around town at 16, a superstar at 20.

Louie Bellson-At age 17, he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa contest. Here's a photo with Louie to our left of Gene and my former drum teacher Joe Raynor to our right of Gene. http://www.drummerman.net/contest.jpg

Ringo (The Beatles)-First started with music at 11 and was sick for much of his young life, but by age 17 he was playing with a band and at 19 joined famous band "Rory Storm and the Hurricanes," at 20 he was professionally drumming nightly in Germany, by 24 he was a worldwide phenomenon.

Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac)-He doesn't imagine that he was very good at 17 when a neighbor heard him practicing in his sister's garage in London and recruited him and started his career.

Dave Grohl (Nirvana)-At 17 he lied saying he was 20 and started touring and recording. At 21 he became a superstar with Nirvana.

Danny Seraphine (Chicago)-started when he was 15 and by 21 he was immortalized on Chicago's first album.

Carmen Appice (Vanilla Fudge)-a superstar at 21.

Greg Bissonette-Got a college degree and started recording at 26.

Ginger Baker (Cream)-A star with the supergroup at 27

Hal Blaine (Wall of Sound) - Played on a #1 record at age 32-an apparent late bloomer that went on to have a stellar career.
 
When it comes down to just technique it can depend a lot.

If 2 identical people with the same genetical abilities start drumming at the same time, one can advance 50 times faster than the other if one practices correctly and the other incorrectly. Same amount of time spent. That's why it's important to have a good teacher.

I've been playing for 2 years and have gotten to an intermediate level I guess by teaching my self but if I could go back now and be my own teacher I could probably get to the same level in 6-7 months. There are no teachers in my small town so I have to get by anyway.

...if you practice correctly with a good teacher it will take 10000 hours before you get as good as humanly possible. However reaching that level is probably not considered "good" but rather amazing. So it depends, maybe 3000 hours of correct practice to get "good", 10000 to get amazing ;)

This is just what I think, it's not a more reliable answer than answering: how long is a piece of string?
 
Re: How long could it take to be a good drummer-about three years minimum.

Buddy Rich-Playing vaudeville at 18 months old, bandleader at 11 years old, recording and a star performing with Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra at 21.

Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky from I Love Lucy)-$500 a week at the age of 3, touring with the Horace Heidt Orchestra

?uestLove-drumming on stage at shows by the age of seven, and by 13, had become a musical director.

Gene Krupa(Benny Goodman Orchestra)-Playing professional when he was 16, playing in a house band and touring when he was 18, a superstar at 25. Benny Goodman says it wasn't until sometime *after* Krupa was with him that "he started playing pretty good drums."

John Bonham (Led Zepplin)-got a snare drum at 10, playing around town at 16, a superstar at 20.

Louie Bellson-At age 17, he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa contest. Here's a photo with Louie to our left of Gene and my former drum teacher Joe Raynor to our right of Gene. http://www.drummerman.net/contest.jpg

Ringo (The Beatles)-First started with music at 11 and was sick for much of his young life, but by age 17 he was playing with a band and at 19 joined famous band "Rory Storm and the Hurricanes," at 20 he was professionally drumming nightly in Germany, by 24 he was a worldwide phenomenon.

Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac)-He doesn't imagine that he was very good at 17 when a neighbor heard him practicing in his sister's garage in London and recruited him and started his career.

Dave Grohl (Nirvana)-At 17 he lied saying he was 20 and started touring and recording. At 21 he became a superstar with Nirvana.

Danny Seraphine (Chicago)-started when he was 15 and by 21 he was immortalized on Chicago's first album.

Carmen Appice (Vanilla Fudge)-a superstar at 21.

Greg Bissonette-Got a college degree and started recording at 26.

Ginger Baker (Cream)-A star with the supergroup at 27

Hal Blaine (Wall of Sound) - Played on a #1 record at age 32-an apparent late bloomer that went on to have a stellar career.

Lars Ulrich has been playing for 38 years, just sayin ;)
 
That depends on you. Being a good drummer is so broad for any of us to really give an answer for that. I've been playing for 25+ years, and I'm still finding myself trying to improve my craft. It's like being a doctor, you're always gonna being educating your self. Maybe you are already good, but don't realize it, but now you're just trying to keep on improving. That's a very hard one to answer. practicing always makes me feel good.
 
Re: How long could it take to be a good drummer-about three years minimum.

Man every single one of those responses above is total BS. Some bozo writes in 48 years.

Ah, but then the same guy came back with a month. So I think it's fair to say that it's somewhere in between a month and 48 years, yeah?

Then again, he could've just been displaying his wicked sense of humour to a largely open ended question that has an infinite number of answers depending on the criteria applied to it and it flew straight over your head.
 
What you get out of drums depends on what you put into it... As with any musical instrument.

Hey, time flies when you're having fun! So maybe it's relative... Playing super hard and super fast, you suddenly find yourself an hour into the future, y'know?

- Reggae Mangle
 
depends if you have any natural ability i suppose
 
This is a very interesting topic to me...I just turned 50 and next month I will have been playing for 4 years; yes, I started at age 46.

What I have learned thus far...and I don't consider myself to be "good" by any stretch of the imagination...is that there are several areas to work on; not all of them include actual playing.

1. Gear and Tuning
2. Foundational beats and rhythms
3. Stick Control
4. Kick Pedal Control
5. Hat Pedal Control

independence goes without saying...that is part of learning foundational beats and rhythms and finding those things by going through hundreds of songs and identifying them...In my opinion a good drummer should be able to play a texas shuffle properly, a 6/8 blues properly, straight 4/4 and also be able to feel things like 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 triplets as well as how to sit in the pocket and give the song a good feel...as well as how to signal different parts and move them or pull them back a hair.

I think I'm slower than most due to age and impatience...but I do think, depending on age, inherent motor skills and effort, two to five years should get most folks in to be "good" where good is defined as playing songs correctly and knowing how to drive a band.

Of course, "good" is just one of the initial stepping stones....lots of work to do after that

I would also like to point out that the kids and children that are broadcast as "wunderkinds" playing songs anmd with bands on youtube are not "good"; sure they can amaze people by getting through songs, but what I have seen is that they are parroting and not really feeling the song or playing it properly....
 
Wow. This is an old thread. Here's my take - because I hear alot of people say "well, it depends on how bad you want it" blah blah blah....

I think it does take time. Even if you're so enthusiastic about it and that's all you did for eight hours a day, it will still take time. The text book stuff I think comes easy - you can get that any time from anybody, or out of a book or a DVD, but you still physically have to put in the time to train muscles and develop your musical ear, and you can only listen to great players for so long every day. And that's just the physical part. You still have to develop the maturity part so good players would want you to play with them because it ain't always about your talent level - you have to be able to get along with people because you're hanging out with them more than you are playing music. Take it from me, I play for high school kids - you know what a nightmare it is to be stuck on a bus with those kids on the way to music competition? Gah!

So I think, if you start out with the intent to want to be come a better player, that's great. I think it's healthier to make that the goal - to intend to be better. To think about being great enough to have "made it" - whatever that means - is too much of a stretch and you're running on too much faith that too many good things will happen just because you put in the time on the drums.

Robert Fripp said it best when he said, "You start with an aim".

I think too many people compare themselves to everybody else (I suppose we all do this to certain degrees), and this is what makes this such an emotional rollercoaster. If you can eliminate the comparing yourself to others part, and retain your aim of what it is that you intend to do, you should be ok. Good luck on your quest, padawan!
 
Focus on the basics and learn to play music.

Avoid any shortcuts that make you skip fundamentals, practice focused and regularly and you'll easily be a well functioning drummer in a couple of years.

By that I don't mean Colaiuta level, I just mean you should with the right focus be able to make music sound ok. (Using your ears, focusing on the groove and listen to the people you play with.)

It's a never ending journey.

If you want to do more than play a basic beat, you need to walk the course as anyone else. It's a lifetime of study, tons of music and styles to discover as well as a journey in developing your style as a player and human being.

If you know how to read and can play basic rock rhythms and fills with a band I've recently become a fan of Claus Hesslers Daily Drumset Workout. I use it in some form(sometimes just the mp3s) on almost all my students now. When you've been through that book you are ready to go further in any direction you might desire.
 
This question is the same as 'How Long is a Piece of String?"

how long is a piece of string ?

Keep up you blokes.......you're nearly 4 years behind the game. :)

As posted by yours truly back in Feb 2010:

Although I'm sure the real answer is, as long as a piece of string!!



You will never answer it.

I do disagree with this though. There's an answer alright......and it's a pretty bloody definitive one at that.

It's when "good" players around you pick up the phone and say: YOU'RE the guy we wanna play with. Can't get much better endorsement that that.
 
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