How to Learn Drums
- Rob Bishop
- May 14
- 8 min read
Rob Bishop | robbishopdrums.com
Quick Answer
To learn drums, start with the basic rock beat — hi-hat, kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4 — and play it slowly with a metronome until it feels natural. Then add songs. The biggest mistake beginners make is jumping around between techniques without mastering the fundamentals. Structure and daily practice beat talent every time.
How to Learn Drums: The Complete Beginner's Guide
I was twelve years old when I walked into the music room at school and heard one of my mates playing a Green Day tune on the drum kit in the corner. I had no idea what he was doing, but I knew immediately that I wanted to do it. I was genuinely amazed.
From that moment, I spent every break time and after school session in that music room. Watching, listening, copying. There were only two really good drummers in my entire school and they were popular for that reason. I wanted to be better than them. They could play Oasis and Green Day tunes.
I wanted to be them.
There were no formal lessons. YouTube didn't exist yet. I used to borrow drum DVDs from the library. And then my mum, bless her, bought me a cheap Argos drum kit once I'd been playing for about a year, set it up in the garage, and that was it. I had mates over, we played all night, and the neighbours were banging on the garage door threatening to call the police. We thought we were playing Wembley.
Now I'm 42, I've been playing professionally for over two decades, and I teach drums to beginners who are exactly where I was back then, keen, a bit lost, and not sure where to start.
This guide is everything I wish I'd had at the beginning. Let's get into it.
Is Drums Hard to Learn?
Honest answer: it depends on what you want to do. If you want to play a basic beat and keep time, that's achievable in weeks, not years. If you want to play at a professional level, you're looking at years of consistent practice.
The thing most beginners wrong isn't the physical side, it's the coordination. Getting your hands and feet to work independently of each other takes time. It feels unnatural at first. But, one day it just clicks, and when it does, you'll wonder why you ever found it hard.
The mistake beginners make is expecting to sound good too quickly. Drums rewards patience and consistent, focused practice far more than raw, natural talent. I've seen people with no natural rhythm become genuinely excellent drummers, and I've seen naturally gifted players plateau because they didn't put the work in properly.
What Do You Need to Get Started?
You don't need much to begin. Here's the minimum:
• A practice pad and a pair of sticks, this is genuinely the best starting point before you spend money on a kit. A practice pad costs around £15-20 and lets you work on hand technique without the noise. You can even use the pad as your hi hat and snare and tap you foot on the floor as your bass drum. I've been playing over 20 years and I still do this to work stuff out or play along to a tune where I don't want it too loud, or for a quick ''jam''.
• A metronome — download this free metronome app on your phone. https://www.metronomeonline.com - Drumming without a metronome is like learning to drive with your eyes closed. Use one from day one.
• A drum kit or electronic kit — when you're ready to play a full kit, an entry-level electronic kit is ideal for home practice. Quieter than acoustic, still teaches you the fundamentals.
You do not need an expensive kit to learn drums. The cheap Argos kit in my garage was barely functional. It didn't matter. What mattered was that I was playing every single day.
How to Learn Drums: Step by Step
Step 1: Start With Your Hands - What Should I Practise on Drums?
Before you even sit behind a kit, spend time on a practice pad. Learn how to hold the sticks correctly, matched grip is the standard starting point for most beginners. Learn to just play the pad with the sticks, it's going to feel unusual, some beginners the stick even flies out of their hand a few times. It's - it happens!
People in the drumming world talk a lot about the Moellor, or the Gladstone technique, ''efficency of motion'' and all of that. Yes, these are good techniques, but they are also trendy buzz words. Right at the start of your drumming journey learn to hold the sticks in a relaxed manner, exact, specialist hand technique shouldn't be priority number.
Spend at least two or three weeks just working on your hands. It feels boring, but it pays off enormously later. The biggest issue for beginners early on is tension. If you're tense, your playing will sound tense and you'll never get speed.
Step 2: Learn to Count
Music is built on time, and drums is the instrument that holds the time for everyone else. You need to understand how to count beats and bars before you try to play patterns. Knowing where you are in the beat is essential. It also helps to internalise pulse, rhythm and flow.
Start with 4/4 time, four beats to the bar, which is the most common time signature in most western music. Count out loud: 1, 2, 3, 4. Then subdivide: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. That 'and' is the eighth note in between each beat, this might feel easy now, but we haven't added your hands yet!
Step 3: Learn Your First Beat
The basic rock beat is where almost everyone starts, and for good reason — it's simple, it's in thousands of songs, and it teaches you the core coordination between kick drum, snare, and hi-hat.
The pattern is:
• Hi-hat on every eighth note (1 'and' 2 'and' 3 'and' 4 'and')
• Kick drum on beats 1 and 3
• Snare drum on beats 2 and 4
Play it slowly. Your right hand should be TOGETHER with your bass drum and snare drum notes (no flamming) and use a metronome. Don't move on until it feels comfortable at a slow tempo. Speed comes later — consistency comes first.
Step 4: Learn Basic Rudiments
Rudiments are the vocabulary of drumming, repeating stick patterns that form the basis of fills, solos, and complex grooves. The most important one to learn first is the paradiddle: right, left, right, right — left, right, left, left.
The Percussive Arts Society https://www.pas.org is the global authority on drumming education and has a full list of the 40 essential rudiments every drummer should know. As a beginner, focus on these first.
Paradiddle
Double Stroke Roll
Single Strokes
Now if you want to see me play a song utilising these very rudiments in a musical way, check this video out -
Ten minutes a day on rudiments will transform your playing over time. Most beginners skip this and regret it later. Remember your grooves and fills ARE ALL THE SAME STUFF!
Step 5: Play Along to Music
This is the part where it stops feeling like practice and starts feeling like drumming. Pick songs you love, ideally songs with a clear, simple drum part, and play along. Don't worry about getting every fill right. Focus on locking in with the groove.
When I was learning, I played along to Green Day, Oasis, anything with a solid backbeat. It built my ear, my feel, and my confidence at the same time. There is no substitute for it.
Step 6: Get a Teacher or a Structured Course - Can You Learn Drums at Home Without a Teacher?
I taught myself for two years before I had a formal lesson. And when I finally sat down with my first proper drum teacher, he took one look at my playing and told me there was a lot of work to do.
He was right. I'd picked up habits that took months to correct. A good teacher — whether in person or through a structured online course, will spot the things you can't see in yourself and save you enormous amounts of time.
That teacher, by the way, had taught Andy Gangadeen (sessions for the Spice Girls), Steve White (Paul Weller's drummer), and Alan White of Oasis (plus many many more).
I walked into his garden studio thinking I was going to impress him. Safe to say he put me straight — and I'm enormously grateful he did.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Drums?
Here's an honest breakdown:
• A few weeks of daily practice: you'll have a basic beat that sounds like drumming.
• 3-6 months: you'll be able to play along to simple songs and have a handful of fills.
• 1-2 years (depending on how much you practise): you'll have a solid foundation and the confidence to play in a band.
• 5+ years: the real depth starts to reveal itself, dynamics, feel, musicality. No reason why you can't be doing recording sessions, touring etc
The variable in all of this is how consistently you practice. Thirty focused minutes every day beats three hours once a week, every single time.
The Most Common Mistakes Beginners Make
1. Practising too fast too soon. Speed without control is useless. Always start slower than feels comfortable.
2. Not using a metronome. Your internal clock is not as good as you think. Use one from day one.
3. Ignoring technique. Grip, posture, and stroke technique matter. Bad habits learned early are very hard to fix.
4. Skipping rudiments. They feel boring but they are the foundation of everything. Don't skip them.
5. Practising inconsistently. Ten minutes every day is better than an hour once a week. Consistency is everything.
Ready to Take Your First Proper Steps?
If this article has got you fired up and you want a structured starting point, I've put together a free drum starter pack — it covers the exact foundations I wish I'd had at the beginning. No spam, no catch. Just practical material to get you started on the right foot.
Download the free drum starter pack, and take your first steps towards playing real songs on drums.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I teach myself to play drums?
Yes — I did it for two years before I had a formal lesson. But self-teaching has limits. Without guidance, it's easy to pick up bad habits that slow your progress later. A structured course or a good teacher will get you there faster and with fewer bad habits to fix.
Do I need a drum kit to start learning?
No. A practice pad and sticks is the best starting point. It's cheaper, quieter, and focuses your attention on hand technique rather than trying to coordinate everything at once. When you're ready to move to a full kit, an entry-level electronic kit is ideal for home practice.
Am I too old to learn drums?
No. I've taught students in their 50s and 60s who have gone from zero to playing songs they love. Drumming is about feel and patience, not youth. The biggest obstacle is usually confidence, not age.
How many hours a day should I practice?
As a beginner, 20-30 focused minutes per day is more valuable than an hour of distracted noodling. Quality over quantity. As you progress, you can increase the duration — but consistency is always more important than session length.
Is it harder to learn drums than guitar?
Different, not harder. Guitar has a steeper early learning curve with fingertip pain and chord shapes. Drums has a coordination challenge that guitar doesn't have — getting all four limbs working independently. Both take consistent practice over time to play well. The right answer is whichever instrument excites you most.
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