How To Stay Motivated To Practice Drums

How do you stay motivated to practice drums?

That’s a fantastic question.

Let’s keep things real here:

There will be the bad days of drumming.

The boring ones.

And maybe even the days you feel like giving up on drumming for good.

Been there, felt that.

Actually, multiple times.

Still, I stuck to drumming.

Why?

Because there’s still music in me that wants to be played.

Practice Drums? Just Do It!

Sometimes, we don’t need to overthink stuff.

Instead, we just need to do it.

Being motivated to practice drums is nice on paper.

But when I really think about it, motivation is kind of overrated.

Why?

The harsh truth of doing something impactful is:

Practicing The Drums Is Not Always Fun

Yeah, I said it.

Practicing the drums – or any other musical instrument – can be exhausting.

It can demand a lot, mentally and physically speaking.

Also, nobody sounds too good while practicing.

After all, it’s all about learning new things.

That’s why staying motivated to practice drums can feel like a struggle for you.

Especially when your days are already quite packed.

So how do you stay motivated?

These tips have helped me a lot:

Practice, Play AND Fool Around

Practicing makes good.

In the end, however, life’s too short to stick to a plan that doesn’t fit you.

You want to have some fun while being alive, right?

Then put the fun back to your drum practice routine as well!

I love jamming with others, or just drum to music I like, for example.

That’s what’s most enjoyable for me.

What puts a smile on your face?

• Playing to your favorite music?
• Improvising and coming up with your own drumming ideas?
• Or maybe watching inspiring drummers doing their thing live or online?

Whatever excites you about drumming:

Do it more often!

Focusing on the fun parts can really transform your motivational level.

Just like the right goals:

Set Drumming Goals, But Intentional Ones

There’s so freaking much to learn as a drummer.

To be honest, I don’t think you can master everything in a lifetime.

The good news is:

You really don’t need to practice everything.

Instead, practice what helps you reach the goals you want to reach.

I’ll give you a quick example:

You’re really into rock drumming?

Then focus on

• learning basic rock beats or drum fills,
• fundamentals of the genre (e.g. double bass drumming)
• dive into the history of rock music (and rock drumming)
• and listen to the music you’re so passionate about right now.

By pursuing things you enjoy, you’ll be much more motivated to invest time and effort into them.

When Struggling With Motivation To Practice Drums: Keep It Nice And Simple

Everybody’s struggling with certain things.

Hey, we’re all human.

You’re not motivated to practice the drums today?

Nobody can force you to do so.

(And honestly, nobody should!)

But maybe you still want to give it a try with this short and simple exercise:

The 1 Minute Drumming Exercise

1. Set the timer of your phone to 1 minute or 60 seconds.
2. Sit down behind your kit – or practice pad* (ad) – and just play or practice for 1 minute. Feel free to play whatever you like.
3. When the timer rings after 1 minute, stop.

That’s the whole exercise.

What you might notice:

You likely want to continue playing or practicing the drums.

Why?

Because you’ve already done the hard part, starting.

The exercise is designed to take 60 seconds, after all.

If you want to stop then, you just stop.

But if you don’t, you keep drumming.

Let’s see what happens! 🙂

Passion: Another Key Helping You To Stay Motivated To Practice Drums

Learning how to play the drums can be hard and frustrating.

It’s not always fun.

I’ve been a drummer for more than 15 years, so I really know the ups and downs.

That’s why I need to share another practical tip with you:

Always search for your inner passion, your love for playing the drums.

Try to learn from the good and from the bad days of drumming.

Both can teach you a lot.

And if you can’t find your passion right now:

Be patient.

Tomorrow is a new day for drumming.

You can always start again as long as you’re alive.

Wishing you all the best,

Manu