There are a few great rock drummers I can think of that come to mind who can also rock out on the guitar pretty hard. One of them that most of us are familiar with is Dave Grohl, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Foo Fighters and formally the Drummer for Nirvana and has also stood in as the drummer for a variety of popular rock acts both in studio and also on tour.

So why am I telling you about this? Well because sometimes as much as a drummer loves the groove they get off their instrument they can crave more. Not too many artists write songs on the drums, and there are some drummers (Don Henley, Phil Collins) who enjoy writing songs and have done extremely well at it. So picking up the guitar doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch considering.

If you’re going to pick up the guitar there are a few places you could consider to learn fast, or at least faster then taking private lessons once a week from a local instructor. The two places I’d suggest you check out if you already have a guitar and are ready to go are Jamplay.com and GuitarTricks.com. Both of these sites offer awesome online guitar lessons in a variety of styles and genres.

You can read more about the first service in this Jamplay review, it will give you a lot of the detail might want, but I’ll give you the basics.

Jamplay has over 350 hours of guitar lessons from 40+ different instructors. They offer beginner acoustic and electric lessons along with a series for kids. They also have a whole slew of intermediate lessons from country and blues to metal and classical. Quite literally if you want to learn it then chances are you can do so with Jamplay.

Registration is quick and easy costing less then $20 bucks a month and if you do a search there are some solid coupons you can found out there.

Guitar Tricks on the other hand is the competitive product/service to Jamplay. They have thousands of lessons online also from a variety of instructors. They more or less mirror the genres and styles taught by Jamplay. THe cost is under $15 bucks a month and they offer a 14 day free trial you can take advantage of to test them out.

Parents always want the best for their children, and this also applies as you search for the right drum lessons for them. If your kid has expressed interest in learning to play the drums, you are probably thinking about how to best go about getting the drum instruction that they will need to become successful in this field.

One-on-One

Most parents would immediately look for a music school or studio in the area where a private drum instructor is offering lessons. One-on-one instruction is hands-on and highly customizable to specific student’s learning needs and age. Some schools also offer in-campus venues and instructors, but most private drum lessons would be held at the instructor’s studio, so a major consideration would be the weekly schedule. Lesson times would have to be fitted in with your child’s school schedule, as well as your availability.

The price range for most private drum lessons varies depending on the instructor and your geographic location, but most generally cost between $20-$30 per weekly lesson, and each session can last 30 minutes or one hour. This translates to a monthly cost of between $80-$120 for tuition per student (imagine the cost for multiple children wanting to take drum lessons?). Factor in your additional expenses for fuel, and the eventual need to buy a drum set for the kids to practice on, and you pretty much have an idea how much you would need to invest.

Self-Study

Let’s compare this with DVD or Web-based drum courses which have become increasingly popular over the last few years. The Drumming System, one of the more popular self-study drumming courses, costs $147 or $33/month for 5 months, and this price includes access to all of their online lesson videos and resources, jam-along tracks for practicing, and other online help and bonus materials. The DVD version of this course, meanwhile, includes all the lessons on 20 DVDs, 15 practice CDs, and workbooks for just $297 or five monthly payments of $67.

The Drumming System’s video library totals over 30 hours of drum lessons, and easily compares to the very best professional drum instructors because it was designed by Mike Malkowich who is himself a performer and seasoned drum instructor. The savings on the cost of self-study drum courses alone is enough reason to consider this option, but you also need to remember that since the lessons are viewable anytime and anywhere, 2 or more children can benefit and learn from the lessons at the same time. So if you, as a parent, are also interested in learning with your children, there is no need to sign up and pay separately for each of your lessons. The Drumming System can be used over and over for each learner.

Because of the differences in how drum lessons are produced and delivered to the student, their price ranges vary from each other as well. It is up to you, as the potential student, to determine which type of drum instruction would best fit what you need, and if it is worth your investment of your hard-earned money, as well as time and effort.

Private Lessons

Depending on the area where you live, private or one-on-one lessons with a professional drum instructor may range between $20-$30 per one weekly lesson. With private lessons, the instructor is able to personalize the lesson content to your specific needs, and monitor your progress as well as give you feedback each session. The bigges downside to private lessons, aside from the strict time schedule and cancellation or rescheduling policies, is the price tag which could be quite a challenge for many. $20-$30 weekly may not seem like much at first, but this adds up to around $80-$120 on a monthly basis, not including transportation expenses and any other additional workbooks or materials that need to be procured.

Self-Study Courses

Online drum lessons and courses now abound online. With just the click of a mouse, you can access video lessons uploaded by professional drum instructors, and some even do live streaming lessons via webcam that are even better alternatives for traditional one-on-one instruction. Another option that is fast gaining ground is DVD drum courses, where step-by-step training is provided to the student via DVD sets for easy access anywhere at anytime.

If you have done your fair share of searching online for drum lessons or DVD courses, you have most likely come across The Drumming System. This lesson course follows a structured lesson plan guiding the student through each step of the drum learning process, and lessons are available for beginner to advanced levels. The online course is priced at $147, or 5 monthly installments of $33. This easily compares to a weekly private lesson with an instructor, but the difference is you have access to as much of the content as you want and at anytime.

The DVD course for The Drumming System, should you prefer it on DVD, is $297 or $67 for 5 months, and is still reasonably lower compared to what monthly private lessons would cost. Both versions of The Drumming System also come with a 90-day risk free guarantee, so in case you are not happy with the product or decide that this is not the right drum lesson source for you, you are fully protected.

The importance of receiving an accurate, comprehensive, and well-balanced drum instruction cannot be emphasized enough as you set out to learn to play this instrument. Your ability to understand complex drum techniques and concepts, as well as relate the drums to the other instruments in a band or orchestra, hinges heavily on how well you have learned and mastered the very basic skills involved. This is the reason why getting the most appropriate drum lessons for you should be your utmost concern.

Choose Wisely

If you are like a lot of beginners nowadays, you have likely considered Web-based drum instruction in order to avoid exorbitant tuition fees for private drum instructors, as well as committing to tight weekly lesson schedules and transportation concerns. Learning to play the drums through online or DVD drum courses is indeed an attractive alternative to traditional one-on-one lessons, however, careful consideration and discretion must still be practiced in the selection of your lessons provider.

Perhaps you have already seen the many free drum tutorials uploaded on YouTube by instructors and drummers. Usually, these videos focus on one topic per video, and you can follow the user’s channel in order to get notification when a new lesson video has been uploaded. These free videos, however, can be quite a challenge to browse through. You need to be patient in browsing through the videos and finding material that is suited for your current skill level. Also, if you are a beginner, you may not know yet how to distinguish this, let alone figure out if the instructor is qualified or disseminating correct knowledge. While free lesson videos can be helpful for more experienced drummers, beginners may just end up confused with them.

Lesson books, both on paper and e-books, are also becoming common online. These are formal training in style, and go through the same lessons that a drum instructor would teach you, but in book form for self-study. Their main disadvantage is the lack of demonstration in teaching the lessons. While pictures and descriptions may be enough for some learners to follow along, most people would prefer and in fact learn better if shown how to play the drums.

Our Suggestion

For online drum instruction, the best route to go would be signing up for online drum lessons provided by reputable websites with professional drum instructors. These lessons charge for their services, but the cost for lessons are still much lower compared to private drum lessons and at the same level of quality instruction. One such example of a superior video drum lessons provider is The Drumming System, which features the talent and personalized drum-playing knowledge of veteran performer and instructor Mike Michalkow. The lesson materials are available both on DVD ($297, or $67/month for 5 months) as well as online ($147, or $33/month for 5 months. The course features more than 30 lesson hours of videos and tutorials, as well as play-along CDs or tracks that allow you to practice the drums with a simulated full band. Bonus materials and resources are included, as well as workbooks (with the DVD set).

Everyone likes free stuff. We all tend to be attracted right away to any advertisement, promotion, or deal that promises freebies along with any purchase you make. Also, if we find out that we can get something for free at pretty much the same quality as a purchased item, who would see the need to even pay for it?

A quick search on video streaming websites like YouTube for drum lessons online would lead you to a smorgasbord of video tutorials offered by instructors and drummers of all ages and backgrounds, free for anyone to view and learn from. Some of the free videos are geared towards beginners, while some are clearly for those who have had more experience playing the drums.

Do They Deliver?

Are free drum tutorials on YouTube a viable alternative to other forms of drum instruction? It is possible, no doubt, to learn some techniques or tricks from free video sources. After all, a vast majority of these videos were produced by drummers with experience who also started out learning to play the instrument and know how to impart their knowledge.

The purpose and the sincerity behind free YouTube drum tutorials aside, what you will need to carefully consider as you start learning to play the drums is the proper order in which you learn the basics and the theories of drum-playing. If you are not yet fully-versed in this field, and you rely solely on a quick search of free online drum lessons to master the skill, you may end up shortchanging yourself by unknowingly focusing on a lesson that is not appropriate for your skill level yet, or worse, skipping an entire section of drum fundamentals without even knowing it until you come across a more complicated lesson in which the fundamentals are necessary.

Check Reliability

Aside from the skill-appropriate lesson content that may be lacking from YouTube drum lessons, you need to be aware also that the reliability of these free instructors in uploading new material is not uniform. Because they are not duty-bound by any contracts or enrollment to churn out lessons every set period of time, you may find some gaps in between uploaded lesson videos, or even experience following a user channel for a few weeks only to find that the instructor decided to stop producing videos today. In short, you are only getting new content as long as they still feel like doing it.

Why Pay?

This is in sharp contrast to a paid drum lessons website or course, where your monthly payment or membership fee gives you guaranteed access to video lessons and additional resources, and lessons are arranged chronologically in order to ensure that you are getting the knowledge you need at the right intervals. One such example of an online drum lessons provider is The Drumming System, which was envisioned and produced by long-time drummer and instructor Mike Michalkow. The online lessons include over 30 hours of videos, play-along tracks, and many other bonus material that you can access anytime, anywhere. In addition to the step-by-step training, they also offer interactive learning times where you can ask questions directly.

The Drumming System’s online content is priced at $147, or can also be paid in 5 monthly installments of $33. It is a good investment for your drum learning endeavor, considering that private lessons with a drum instructor would cost you way more than $33 just for a month’s worth of sessions. The peace of mind that you will get knowing that you are making a good investment is also well worth the price, aside from the 90-day risk free guarantee.

If you are like most people who love playing music or even just listening to different bands playing different styles of music, you may have dreamed of someday being able to play in a band, in front of an adoring audience singing along to your songs. Truth is, rock stars were not born overnight; they also, once upon a time, had to learn to play their instrument, whether it was the guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, etc. Countless hours of practice and rehearsals by themselves and with the band had to be logged in order to achieve that great sound that we hear when they perform live.

Any musician would tell you, however, that all the hard work is worth it once you are performing. There is a certain escape that music provides, as you are able to let go of your worries and daily routines even for just a few moments and simply play the music. The adulation of friends, family, and strangers is just an added pleasure; the satisfaction of having achieved something and mastered it is already a thrill on its own.

Simple Search

A beginner looking for drum lessons need not go very far, as a simple search on Google or YouTube will take you to some free video lessons and tutorials uploaded by drummers and drum teachers from different parts of the world. These lessons touch on different aspects of drum-playing, and range from the most basic lessons to the most complex drum techniques for professional players.

Many free video drum lessons are quite beneficial, but they also have disadvantages. A student who has just started to learn the drums might get confused, because free lessons are not always structured in a way that specifically caters to a beginner. A student who relies on free video tutorials may end up skipping over some important lessons he should learn first with regards to playing the drums.

Better To Pay

On the other hand, there are websites and online drum instruction courses you will find on the Internet that have a detailed, structured lesson plan for beginners to advanced players. These paid lessons cover all the necessary information that a student would need, so the quality of instruction and the results are much higher. Because paid online lessons are produced by professionals, you are also more assured of the quality of the information being disseminated.

The Drumming System is an online drum tutorial learning course that you need to check out if you are looking for the right course for you. Its online course provides lesson content worth over 30 hours, online help and resources, practice tracks, and other bonus material to help you learn faster and more efficiently. It comes with a 90-day risk free trial period, so if you are not completely happy with the product, you are not stuck with it. And with a 5-month payment plan of $33/month, you get the professional quality of private drum lessons at about a fourth of the normal cost.

Learning to play the drums is not as simple as it seems. It takes hard work, determination, and the right attitude towards learning and practicing what you learned in order to master the skill. One thing that has a major impact on your success or failure in playing the drums is the quality of drum instruction that you receive early on, because this will determine whether or not you will have the necessary knowledge and tools to move up further.

Drum lessons come in many forms and methods nowadays. As the traditional one-on-one drum lessons become more expensive for more people, alternative forms of drum instruction offered on the Internet, on DVD, in lesson books, and other types of tutorials and courses are becoming more popular.

Free Videos on YouTube

If you regularly watch user-uploaded videos on YouTube, you can easily search for free drum lesson tutorials and videos on that site. These are mostly uploaded by drummers of varying skill levels and ages who give out their own little tricks, techniques, and drum-playing lessons based on their own experience and learning. Some of these free lesson videos are great quality-wise, but some are not, and you may have to browse through many, many free videos before finding one that suits your playing level.

E-Books

Another resource you can find on the World Wide Web is lesson books or downloadable e-books for drum tutorials. Some of these courses also provide minimal video lessons or CDs. However, these formal training resources may not be of much help to a student who learns more through demonstration and actual application, because most of the theories and concepts taught by lesson e-books are only described and not actually shown.

Online Courses

This need for demonstration in learning is the advantage of paid online drum lessons, because instructors can teach the lessons while also playing and showing the students how it is done. While online drum lessons are self-paced study courses, the lesson content is more reliable because they are arranged in an order that the beginning drummer needs to progress correctly. All points of drum-playing, from beginner to advanced levels, are covered and discussed in paid drum lessons online.

One of the best online drum lesson courses you will find is The Drumming System, with over 30 hours of video lessons that you can easily access and view at anytime. Other additional resources such as workbooks, play-along tracks, and other bonus material are included in the $147 cost (5-month payment plan is also available). If you want to try The Drumming System first before purchasing, they even have a 90-day risk free guarantee, so if you are not completely satisfied with the product you are completely protected. The lessons are also on DVD if you would prefer that medium.

When learning a new process, it is very important to be able to lay a good foundation on your knowledge by getting good instructions from the beginning. This is exactly the case with learning to play the drums as well. A student who has received high-quality professional drum lessons from the very beginning would have a much higher chance of progressing further and becoming more successful with the instrument as compared to someone who was given wrong information and developed wrong habits.

Different Options

Today’s aspiring drummers have several different options to choose from in learning to play the drums. The traditional method, and still the first option for many, is private lessons taught by a drum instructor. In this mode of instruction, the teacher and the student agree on a scheduled time and day of the week to meet for a learning session. Usually, the classes last from thirty minutes to an hour, depending on the arrangement, and the tuition is paid on a monthly basis. Due to instructor availability and other students in other timeslots, cancellations or schedule changes are generally quite a hurdle, and most have a strict 24-hour policy for calling in or otherwise the lesson is forfeited.

While one-on-one drum lessons have that personal touch and have proven their worth, most people have difficulty with its price range. With drum lessons ranging from $20-$40 or more per weekly lesson, depending on geography and instructor experience, the cost can very easily add up. Aside from the tuition fees, transportation costs are also factored in, and if you live quite far from the studio or lesson venue, this can be a setback as well.

Self-Study Lessons

On the Internet, drum lessons and tutorials have popped up by the dozens, offering drum lessons at the click of a mouse. Video streaming websites like YouTube have become a venue for drummers and drum enthusiasts of all backgrounds and skill levels to upload their own tutorials and drum techniques for other learners. While these free lessons can be a good source of information, the wide-range of playing levels and techniques usually addressed by these tutorials may make it confusing and harder for a beginner who will have to sift through dozens of videos to find one appropriate for him. Also, a newbie may end up getting wrong information from the wrong source, causing more harm than good in the long run.

Also to be found on the Web is online drum lessons and DVD courses. These are professionally-produced lessons that simulate an actual one-on-one lesson with a private instructor, but in the comfort of your own home. Paid lessons usually give you access to lesson content (some are downloadable), resources, online help, and tracks or recordings to help with your practice time. Web-based and DVD courses are self-study, and leave it up to the student to pace his or her own learning progression.

What We Suggest

One excellent example of a high-quality and reliable DVD drum lesson course is The Drumming System, a brainchild of professional drummer and music instructor Mike Michalkow. This drum course has over 30 hours of lesson videos about everything you need to learn about drums, from the basics such as drum notation, theory, and rudiments, on up to the more advanced lessons for drum fills, soloing, and genre-specific playing techniques. Other resources such as workbooks are also included in the package, including play-along CDs for practicing with a complete band.

You can choose either the DVD set priced at $297, or the online lessons costing $147. Either way, The Drumming System gives you the peace of mind that you are learning what you are supposed to be learning as far as playing the drums, and you are getting it from someone who has had tremendous success in teaching drums to hundreds of students. The upfront cost might seem like a lot, but the savings as compared to weekly lessons and travel expenses are undeniable. Of course, the lessons are yours to keep as well, and you will not feel the pressure to move on to the next lesson if you are unsure and what to dwell some more on a particular topic. The great thing about a DVD lesson course such as The Drumming System is their accesibility, as you can view and learn the lessons at anytime that is convenient for you.

I don’t want to take the focus away from learning the drums on this site, but sometimes people enjoy being multi instrumentalists. The bass guitar is a nice fretted and stringed instrument to learn if you enjoy the drums. The bass and drums work together to tie together the beat, groove, rhythm and chords of a song. Because the bass guitar has the ability to play notes and chords like a guitar or piano and follows the beat of the bass drum in a song it ties everything together.

This is no more noticeable then when you take the bass guitar away in a song. The bass may be missed to the normal ear until you take it away. That’s when you will really notice that it was once there but now the song feels like it’s missing something.

It’s ones of the first bass guitar lessons you’d take that would explain how the bass guitar usually plays the root note for the chords in a song and follows along with the beat from the bass drum.

This unique mix gives a groove to song. It’s the concept that less is more when it comes to the bass guitar since rarely will a bassist be playing chords on their instrument during a song that also has a piano player or guitarist.

Here are a few tips if you’re interested in learning bass guitar.

1. Learn the fretboard. This is the most important tip and is easily done if you focus on major and minor scales. This will let you know where a particular note can be found all over the fret board and give you versatility for how you play along with other rhythm instruments such as guitar or piano.
2. Start with a 4 string bass. While many people feel more strings are better they are only going to confuse you when first starting out. Get the four strings down before you move up to five or six strings.
3. Practice is key. Like playing the drums you need to practice to get better, and practice little things until you get them perfect. A good rule of thumb is if you can play something ten times quickly without error you’ve got it under your fingers and you can move on to something new.

I wanted to post about something a bit different then drum lessons today. I wanted to introduce you to yet another program by Legacy Learning Systems, the company that makes Learn and Master Drums.

Legacy specializes in artistic self study courses and the newest program I’ve been introduced to is their Learn and Master Piano lessons dvd.

This course, like the drums, is meant to be a replacement for expensive and time consuming private instruction for a fraction of the price.

For most beginners you’ll have more then a years worth of content to watch and learn from on the 17 disc course along with jam along tracks you can put in your cd player or iPod and play along with during practice sessions.

Legacy chose another world class instructor to record and teach their piano course. Will Barrow, the instructor they chose, is a Grammy Award winning pianist who has played with some of the biggest names in music across an array of different genres.

If you’re remotely interested in learning to play the piano check out their course.