Find the best drum teachers in Leeds

Finding a Drum Tutor for Private Lessons

Drums are an important part of a lot of music and there's something about them that draws in a lot of music students. While some may be interested in fronting a band and playing the guitar or bass, the drums and percussion are the driving force, the motor, behind many different genres of music.

If you want to learn how to play the drums, finding a private drum teacher or tutor is one of the best ways to do it and in this day and age, it's never been easier to find people teaching the drums online.

The Benefits of Playing the Drums

The drums are interesting as they're one of the few instruments that don't require an understanding of tone, pitch, or frequency. That said, that doesn't mean that they're really easy to play either. What they lack in melody, they make up in rhythm!

When playing music on the drums, you have to make use of all your limbs. There's nothing quite like a drum kit to have you using your hands and feet all independently of one another. By learning how to play music on the drums, you'll have to coordinate all your limbs in order make contact with the right drum at the right time. Playing the drums has been shown to improve brain performance by making you use your brain differently. Studies have also shown that those who play the drums or percussion perform better when tested on fractions. After all, notes are regularly divided into fractions so it makes sense.

In addition to the cognitive benefits of playing on a drum kit, there are also physical benefits. Drumming is very physical and drummers burn close to 300 calories by playing the drums for just half an hour!

This exercise is also great for stress release. There's something primal about playing the drums and you can hit the drums in a cathartic way that you can't with other instruments. Sure, you might be able to thrash out some metal on an electric guitar or bass, but it's just not the same as putting your drum kit through its paces.

Challenges When it Comes to Playing the Drums

Any drummer will tell you that playing the drums is harder than it looks. As we mentioned earlier, getting your hands and feet to do different things whilst keeping time can be a nightmare. As you learn, you'll find it gets easier, but even after a few lessons, you probably won't be able to get each limb working independently.

The drums aren't necessarily an instrument that you'll understand right away either. You might leave your first piano tutorial being able to play a basic melody but it might take a few weeks of tuition before you're comfortable playing a “Two and Four” drumbeat.

Drums aren't the most accessible instrument either. Before you go out and buy a drum kit, you'll need to make sure you have somewhere to put one and somewhere you can practise playing it. Your typical drum kit takes up quite a bit of space and makes quite a bit of noise so you mightn't be able to practise as much as you'd like, especially if you live in a block of flats.

Their size also makes them much harder to transport. An acoustic guitar or bass is quite light and can go into a soft case that you can wear like a backpack. Drums, on the other hand, require individual cases to be transported and then need to be reassembled once you get to where you're going.

The Benefits of Drum Tuition

Once you've decided that the drums are for you, you'll probably want some lessons. A video tutorial on YouTube is all well and good but without a proper teacher giving you feedback on your timing, coordination, and rhythm, you may find that your progress is a little slow.

Similarly, without a private drum tutor, you may be forced to invest in your drum kit. If it turns out that the drums aren't for you, this is an investment you mightn't get back. Many tutors will let their students use their drum kit during the lesson.

We can't stress enough just how much you can learn and benefit from having a private drum tutor. The drums can be difficult to pick up and without a teacher there to help and correct you, you may make little to no progress, get disheartened, or pick up bad habits.

As we mentioned, learning to play music on the drums can be tricky and ultimately frustrating. A drum teacher can make sure that you're not trying to tackle beats that are beyond your abilities, manage your expectations, and ensure that you enjoy playing every time you sit down at your drum kit.

Finding a Drum Tutor in Leeds

If you're looking for a drum tutor in Leeds (or West Yorkshire, for that matter), a quick online search through Superprof will provide you with a comprehensive list of private drum tutors that you can contact.

There are plenty of people teaching students how to play the drums and the service they offer is often tailored to you. Need a drum tutor to travel to you? No problem! Looking for someone teaching the drums who has their own rehearsal space? Just ask!

There are also drum tutors online so if you have the right equipment, your drum lesson can even take place via webcam. Of course, with something as practical as playing the drums, it's usually better to have face-to-face lessons over online ones but that doesn't mean that online drum tutorials are ineffectual.

Before you pick your drum tutor, remember that many of the tutors on Superprof offer the first lesson free so you can try a few before deciding on which tutor is right for you. Make sure that you get along and that they teach the styles of music that you want to learn. You don't want a jazz drummer teaching you if all you want to learn is pop or rock rhythms!