Uhm … How often should I practice drums as a beginner?
That’s a question I get asked a lot.
So to help you out, I’ll answer it in this article.
Also, you’ll find some helpful tips to get the most out of your practice time.
Even if you’re a quite busy person:
You can still rock the drum set.
Yeah! 🙂
Practice The Drums On A Regular Basis
Table Of Contents
To learn to play the drums, you have to practice.
Yeah. I know …
That’s pretty obvious.
However, there’s no such thing as the right amount of practice time for
- each day,
- week or
- month.
It simply depends.
If you have quite a bit of time on your hand, you can practice a lot.
You’re pretty busy already?
Well, that’s fine, too.
In this case, you can learn to play the drums as well.
You just need to focus on the quality of your practice time spent.
However, that’s my recommendation for each time frame available.
It’s about high-quality practice time in combination with regularity.
So make sure to practice the drums
- regularly and
- concentrated.
Concentration and understanding what you’re doing are the key elements to a high-quality drum practice time.
What Practicing Regularly Really Means
I think most professional drum teachers – me included – will tell you about the importance of practicing on a regular basis.
However, you still might wonder what this ominous regular basis exactly means.
Each day? Every Wednesday?
Thing is:
For me, practicing regularly means each day.
Or at maximum every second day.
Of course, you still need to
- take breaks,
- go on vacations and
- sometimes just don’t feel like practicing.
Hey, that’s fine as well!
We’re all humans, let’s not forget. 🙂
After all, drumming should equal fun.
(Also when you get paid for it.)
So yes, I’d recommend to practice each or every second day as a drum beginner.
You don’t have so much time to spend?
As I said, that’s fine as well.
If you’re more busy with other stuff, practice three or two times a week.
Make it a habit.
That’s the key to your drumming success.
How Long Should You Practice?
Ok, you now know about the importance of regular practicing.
But how long should you practice the drums, let’s say each day?
That’s an even more important question!
And to be honest with you, it again depends.
When you don’t have a lot of time, you just can’t practice for hours on end.
So it again depends on you.
However, I really feel that practicing at least 25 minutes is a good benchmark.
This time frame’s not too extensive, but also not too small.
You can learn something new and also revise an old exercise.
Plus: You can also integrate jamming to your favorite songs into such an practice schedule.
Also, 25 minutes is a great time frame for staying concentrated.
Do you know the famous Pomodoro technique?
I actually practice with it and I definitely can recommend it.
Basically, it defines a certain time span chosen for maximum productivity.
It’s pretty handy and works great for me.
Maybe it does for you as well.
How Often To Practice The Drums? Each Minute Counts!
Maybe you’ll be thinking:
But Manu, five to 25 minutes of drum practice time will get me nowhere!
Yea … NO!
It’s important to see the long-term vision.
You’re going to learn a music instrument, right?
This simply takes its fair share of time.
Nothing wrong with this, it’s all natural.
So let’s do a little calculation.
If you practice
- 5 minutes
- on 100 days a year
- (which is around each third day of the week)
How long have you been practicing?
500 minutes or 8.3333 hours.
Is that nothing?
Definitely not.
Yeah, it’s not too much (won’t lie to you).
BUT it is something for sure!
It’s 8,333 hours of the most precious commodity you have:
Time.
Don’t waste this most precious asset – own it.
How To Establish Your Drum Practice Routine
So it’s important to practice regularly.
You can spend as much – or as little – time as is possible for you.
Me, I try to practice for at least 50 minutes each day of the month.
It surely depends on my other chores, of course.
For this reason, there are also days I don’t practice at all.
I think that’s important to know, too.
But how did I establish a strong drum practice routine for myself?
- I started out with small intervals fitting for my lifestyle.
- Plans and goals are what gives me a clue what I want to practice – or what I need to practice.
- Dedication and passion keep me motivated.
- Having fun is crucial to what I’m doing.
Basically, it’s a mixture of challenges and having fun that helped me create my drum practice routine.
I’m also a huge fan of taking the best drum lessons you can.
However, that’s only what I did and for this reason recommend.
So if you want to create a powerful drum practice routine, my advice is this:
Set bigger goals and extract small goals from them.
Ask yourself: What can you practice today helping you to reach your big dream?
Then, do it: Simply practice.
The most important factor to becoming the drummer you want to be is acting.
Getting things done.
That’s it.
Cheers,
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