Many of us have overlooked little technical details on the drums, even if we’ve been playing for years. The truth is you can go really far on the instrument but your playing still be haunted by little technical details holding you back in ways you may not have ever noticed. Let’s cut to the chase and get your technique squared away right now!

These are the 5 biggest technique lessons I’d give my beginner self if I could go back in time, so it’s safe to say that I personally believe these to be the most crucial tips for any drummer’s success. Whether you’re beginner or advanced, I think you’ll gain something from this discussion.

WATCH: 5 Must-Know Drumming Technique Lessons for EVERY Beginner

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God Bless,

Stephen

Imagine you’re practicing a song on the drumset. It’s not a crazy technical song (assuming you’re not in a Rush or Tool tribute band), and it’s a song you’ve heard a lot and know pretty well from a musical standpoint (think “Enter Sandman” or “Back in Black” - that type of song).

What typical technical struggles might you encounter when practicing this song? Is it hard to play with perfect time, locking in with the recording? Is it hard to play the fills smoothly and finish them on time? Do you ever feel stiff and not able to relax while you’re playing? Do you feel like your sticks don’t move smoothly from one drum to the next?

These are some pretty common frustrations I hear a lot, and every one of us has been there. So what’s a productive, efficient method for eliminating these issues? Especially how do you solve this if maybe your kit practice time is limited and...

You don’t have to practice a song over and over and over to learn it, nor do you have to download drum tabs or sheet music in order to learn it the right way. We’re digging into a predictable, repeatable method you can start to implement in your song learning, practicing, and performing TODAY.

Yes, we’ll be talking a little about my favorite “cheatsheet” charting method. But that’s not the only piece of the puzzle when we’re talking about learning songs fast. After all, you want to be able to learn then perform songs without physically practicing if you’re in a hurry. We’re covering some powerful tips you absolutely must implement in order to pull off the no-practicing gig prep. You can do it, though, so let’s get going!

WATCH: How to Cheat at Learning Any Song Fast on the Drums

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God Bless,

Stephen

 If you’ve spent any time digging around the internet for drumming education material, you’ve likely found a lot of different opinions and methods out there. We like to trust that because someone is teaching online, they must therefore know what they’re talking about. Unfortunately that’s not always the case, so today we’re debunking 5 “flawed drumming philosophies” that you really ought to avoid. Let’s get started!

1) “You must master the snare before learning the drumset.”

Before I ever started taking drum lessons in high school, I owned a book that was sort of like a “beginner drummer’s encyclopedia” of everything drums. In a lot of ways, this book was super helpful. It explained a lot of the musical jargon we drummers use, including basic music theory and time signature. But this method strongly pushed the concept of learning snare drum etudes and mastering every kind of rudiment and roll before...

If you’re afraid that you’ll never reach that true comfort level on the kit where you’ve fully freed your hands from your feet…this lesson is for you! We’re taking a simple method from the book “Stick Control” and using it to free your feet so that you can play intricate grooves with ease.

Even if you've never heard of "Stick Control," no worries because I'll provide you with everything you need to get started!

We're going to apply various sticking patterns to different limb combinations, which will free your feet and teach your limbs to smoothly execute more intricate patterns. This stuff is cool, so I hope you get a lot out of this and are able to take this straight to your practice room. If you practice everything I’m about to show you, your coordination will improve a TON! I’ve seen it in so many of my students and in my own personal practice.

Here’s what you’ll be able to do if you...

As we’re getting into springtime, many of us are getting our hopes up that the gigs of 2019 we used to know and love will start to come back around. I know this is different for everybody depending on where you live, but I hope that you’ve at least been able to get back to rehearsing with your band or playing at your church if that's what you were doing pre-covid. Even if things aren't the way they used to be, any chance to play music with real people is a huge blessing!

I'm speaking to two groups of folks today:   

1. Those who lost gigs due to COVID.
2. Those who have always been wanting to gig…but just haven’t had the chance yet.

...and maybe there's a third group of folks who have no plans of gigging...but you know you want to get better at your instrument for your personal enjoyment and satisfaction, which is still awesome. Mastering an instrument is great, regardless of what you choose to do with that.

Besides the obvious of...

If you’re struggling with coordination and improvisation and you don’t know where to turn…this lesson is most definitely for you. 

If you practice everything we discuss in this lesson, your coordination will improve a TON! I’ve seen it in so many of my students and in my own personal practice.

Here’s how this works:

We’re taking a simple rhythm from the popular method book “Syncopation” by Ted Reed, and we’re seeing how many ways we can play it on the drumset. You could probably create a near-infinite number of these variations, so we’re just going to create 5 versions in three popular drumming styles that you can take to your practice room today to greatly push your 4-way coordination.

This method is powerful, and it’s super practical and actionable. So let’s get going! Watch the video, then head to your practice room. :)

WATCH: IMPROVISE & Achieve Limb Independence with ONE Rhythm...

If you’re totally honest with yourself, what do you think the biggest obstacle is standing in the way of your growth on the drums? I have an idea what it might be, but think hard for a moment before you keep reading…

BIGGEST OBSTACLE:

Feeling demotivated because you feel like you don’t have enough time to practice nor the right resources to make sure you’re practicing the right things the right way. So as a result you don’t really practice much, and when you do you’re not getting much done.

Now I know I’m speaking to a wide audience, but this is something I’ve personally faced and seen a lot of other drummers face, too. If this is you, we want to help you break past this. Know this one thing:

You have to “show up” to your practice space, and you have to put in the work on a regular basis in order to grow.

Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? But here’s the key. You have to show up and put in the work…even...

If your snare is too ringy, lacking in tone…or it just sounds plain cheap and you don’t know why… I’ve got you covered with a bunch of solutions today!

A mediocre-sounding snare might not be your drum’s fault - or at least not your snare drum shell’s fault. We’ll cover all the bases here and get your drum sounding way better without you going out and buying a new $500 snare.

Here’s what we’re helping you do today…

• Create a nice sounding ring that isn’t annoying (or get rid of ring altogether if you don’t want it)
• Create a “dead” sound without losing “beef” and “punch”
• Muffle your snare the RIGHT way without losing all the tone and character
• Sound way more professional by striking your snare the right way (sometimes a cheap snare sound is 100% the drummer’s fault! :/ )

WATCH: Why Does My Snare Drum Sound Cheap?

The solution for nailing those quick open notes on the hihats is actually pretty simple, and it all starts with coordinating your left foot.

The truth is, you CAN conquer the notoriously challenging hihat “barks” when you know what to practice. I’ll show you the best techniques for pulling these off as well as a practical exercise to get smooth open note barks happening in your grooves.

Here’s what we’re covering in today’s video!

• The ideal stick placement on the hats to achieve maximum contrast between your closed & open notes
• A simple exercise to help lock your left foot with either of your hands
• How to coordinate the mechanics of open notes, eventually building them into a groove
• How to ultimately “CHEAT” at all of this and play rapid barks on autopilot

Don’t miss this! Take action with your left foot and hihat creativity right now. Check out the lesson…

WATCH: The hihat bark CHEAT for nailing...