Drumming MISTAKES That KILL Your Progress (I did them all 😭)

"Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today". Great video!

The combination of 6 and 16 is why I left my first drum teacher. His method of teaching was showing how it's done instead of explaining it. Whenever I was struggling with something he would just jump in and play it perfectly and 3 times faster. My thoughts were "okay, dude, I get it, you can play drums, that's not why we're here". I wasn't trying to compare myself with him, but that felt so on the nose that I couldn't help it.

Ain’t no way, I got one of your ads on your video lmao I love that

"Stop comparing your insides to somebody else's outsides." That's true for anything that is personal to you. Great advice.

As a drum instructor for over 30 years, I greatly appreciate all that you do. Could you do a list of drum instructor mistakes or red flags to watch for in a drum instructor? They might be 2 separate lists.

I can't even imagine not playing to music. I mean, I jam with an empty kit all the same if push comes to shove, but trying to "one-shot" fresh songs is basically my entire drumming modality. Also clued me in into the fact that people mistake drummers for deaf clicktracks all the time when hearing the other players is pretty much everything and allows (good) drummers to pick-up stumbling mates... or just makes playing together properly possible in the first place. Good collection right there.

I've been a percussionist for 5 years and I immediately feel the wisdom from this one video. Bravo!

Hey Stephen, I'm 16 nearly 17, and have been drumming since I was 11, so about five years of experience, for the majority of my first 4 years I was extremely stuck, Because I started with Gospel music for my family's church, I was often stuck with simplistic style, and never really got the opportunity to explore other genres or never really took at as seriously as I started to this past year ago, I had a really bad left hand technique on the Hi-Hat which is fine for some, but I noticed how much It hurt my playing and that Cross Sticking was more of my thing. This past year I skyrocketed into taking my playing more seriously, I've been learning to find a way to play other genres, It was certainly a wakeup call, I was like, "Oh, this was far different than I imagined." I recently discovered your channel and am certain I will primarily come to this channel for knowledge and to further my drumming. Thank you Stephen.

This is gold, Stephen. I’m 50 years old with a successful full-time career as a keyboard player/producer, and here I am determined to learn drums on the side... always wanted to. I'm making progress, and your channel is invaluable.

Also I just wanted to say that my uncle who’s a drummer who say to me all the time “play to music. Most music is recorded to a metronome click and it will perfect your timing and playing the song properly.”

Im not a drummer, but I would absolutely love to learn once I finally live by myself because I'm really passionate about rythim and its relationship with melody. Thank you for this video You re not only a great drum teacher but also an amazing human <3

Stephen, you have a gift for teaching drums. You easily put into words the concepts I have learned and skills I have developed over my years of playing but could never articulate to other drummers—especially the part about mixing. In my opinion, that is the last rung on the ladder of drumming skills, and is the one that separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Excellent video, man! Love the content.

When I was a self taught drummer I often wanted to play fast and honestly sometimes I fall back into that pattern. My drum teacher is helping me. He is also helping me with how to set up my kit and setting goals.

Wow. I really needed to hear that last part. Thought im taking it too personally but so glad u identified it for us. When comparison start spiraling in your head its so hard to keep motivation on practicing. Thanks for always great advices and motivating us new drummers!!🔥

Absolutely fantastic. There are so many teachers who tell us what to do. But what NOT to do is equally important and I am happy you spoke about them.

Great video! I’m a relative beginner drummer and not only found this very helpful and well explained, but also has reassured me that my drum teacher is great as he’s implemented almost all of these straight away. It has turned my evening of scrolling through drum vids on YouTube to one of me practicing. Will consider your programme!

I definitely suffer from some of these, but there used to be a LOT more I was guilty of. I'd say the thing that helped me overcome that the most was being able to play live at my church consistently which forced me to break a lot of bad habits and learn new techniques.

Been playing for 30 years and still needed to be reminded of these keys

In regards to the comparing yourself to others, another way I like to look at it is you are as good as your level of experience. People who don't put in the time have a low experience, when you see these god tier drummers you need to realize the sacrifice they gave to be where they are. It took me a good ten years to get past feeling jealous and learning to appreciate those that show us it is possible. You just have to be willing to look past yourself and give in to the thing you love doing.

I fell into one of these in a major way as well as another I didn't see mentioned. First, the "wandering generality" one...for a while I fell into a routine of just playing the same exact songs every time I sat behind the kit and not trying anything new (like trying to learn fills or grooves I wasn't comfortable with), and that impeded my progress. The other error I fell into (and this lasted for over a decade with effects that STILL linger) was the polar opposite issue: putting too much pressure on myself. I also coupled it with my desire for an ego boost (i.e. "I HAVE to prove to myself that I can do this), and this combination had me walking on eggshells for over 10 years and whenever I'd finally get that ego boost, I'd sooner or later end up sliding backwards into that zone of insecurity again. It wasn't until the past year or two when I finally started to force myself to only play and practice when I WANTED to or NEEDED to (and refused to play when I had any kind of ego boost motivation) that my mindset and experience began to drift back in the right direction. Still suffering from some lingering effects but thankfully I'm back on the right path for good! I've also forced myself to practice new skills and stuff even when it's uncomfortable or repetitive. It does help to put something on to watch on low volume while I'm practicing rudiments and grooves with a metronome for long periods to help keep myself from getting too bored from the repetition, though, lol.