What 10,000 Hours of Drumming Practice Taught Me

[@famous7512]

I'VE BEEN PLAYING ON/OFF SINCE HIGH SCHOOL. AM 70YRS OLD JAN 2025 AND I SAID "WHERE WAS THIS GUY WHEN I NEEDED HIM!!!

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Haha! I'm here now! Glad to have you hanging on here with me my friend

[@jclewis5975]

@famous7512. So well said. And so true.

[@williamkjwilliamkj1815]

The listening thing is so important. Before learning a double set list of 25 new songs I don’t even attempt to play them until I listen to all them at least 20 or 30 times over for at least a month. You can’t play what you don’t know. I then start tapping on my legs or a table and stamp on the ground to learn where the beats are before I even sit at the drum set. Learning smooth transitions is also VERY important. Another thing that is helpful is watching live performances of those songs that you are learning so that you further internalize the song visually.

[@ammo6057]

The Zen of Drumming Maintenance. You are a true teacher, excellent musician and evolving human being. Great video!

[@MARCOS44GP]

This is gold, Jerry. Gold! Ive been playing for years, and just recently, finally, became disciplined with my practice time. Im playing from 1 to 1 and a half hours a day, mon to sun. And im finally seeing some results. Its the way to go.

[@MickSoutherland]

Short focused practice is great for learning concepts but it’s not enough when your training your body. Building muscle memory, improving flexibility and getting your body in shape whether it’s for music, sports or anything physical takes time and repetition. You cant rush coordination and physical conditioning. Its like being an athlete you need those longer sessions to really lock in and change how your body works. Short sessions help your brain but longer ones train your body when you are in the early stages and not yet in "maintenance" mode. Thomas Lang, Kenny Aronoff, and Thomas Pridgen have all talked about practicing for 8 hours+ in their early days. Love your show btw.

[@eschaef71]

Good one! The common learning aids for drummers, start at a slow tempo till comfortable, move up a few bpms, rinse and repeat, take some concentrated time at the set. We all have to grind a bit, but for me practice is fun and soothing. Cheers!

[@Wizzgigging]

10k hours of drumming taught me I need another 10k hours 😂

[@ptronicmusic]

Great video! Thank you. I am going to get as organized as you this year! I'd like to add a #30: Protect your ears! We only get one set of them :)

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Yes! So important

[@Mr-vp8kw]

Amazing video sir thank you! This was honestly life lessons that can be applied to anything. God bless you brotha!

[@pweis82]

Amazing video. Thank you! I needed it right now.

[@randyburton8462]

You taught me a lot, and you taught me to listen and focus, and I love listening to drummer like jojo mayer,elvin jones, tony williams, and buddy rich , thank you

[@rsi2493]

Great stuff. You mention playing along to music and I always struggle finding songs that have good drum parts that will challenge and improve my skills. Too often they are repetitive and basic particularly in country music. A big help would be a list of well known songs in both rock and country that have drum parts that will challenge my skills. I think you could do a whole video on this to help those of us that don't know what to play. Seems like everything is either too hard or too easy vs just intermediate songs.

[@DashingGinger]

That brain photo was gold. Made me laugh instantly.

[@HomeDrummer55]

Expert drumming advice, but also general learning and life

[@Ialwaysrally]

Hi, Stephen, Thank you for sharing many valuable insights. This is so good that I decided to subscribe. I suspect that you could make your points in about 1/2-2/3 the time.

[@andreyzasypkin2530]

Very well said , I am preaching the same subject to my students, but the problem with with youth now days is, they most likely would not have patience to watch this very important video to the end.. :( .. only some .. and those are who will succeed !!!!!

[@thepractisepadchannel]

Social media and instant gratification has become a big problem.

[@scottfeatherstone99]

So valuable, thanks Stephen!

[@thekennaman]

Thank you for this insight💪🏾

[@StevenBLevy]

I'm not a drummer, but I really appreciate and enjoy your videos. Thank you.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

One day we're gonna fox that and make you a Drummer haha! Thank you for the kind words

[@Johnnygigdrummer]

Good video thank you. Keep on rocking 🥁

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks so much!

[@erichemard7066]

I have never sat down and “practice” at all. I make a playlists on my phone of all the songs I want to learn and I set it on repeat 1. I’ll listen to the same song for 12-14hours while I’m at work, by the time I get home and sit in front of the kit…I’ll have the 80% song nailed. Best form of practice is just play.

[@konstantinlebedev1999]

Amazing information

[@jclewis5975]

My thing is trying to count while I’m playing. Hard for me to do unless song is slow or pattern is very basic. Songs with speed and changes cause me to focus so hard on execution that I get lost in the count.

[@BryanWard-n9l]

I have the exact same problem. Especially counting 16ths at high tempo. My god it’s so hard. I can’t talk or even think that fast hahaha 😅

[@yokozuna021]

Pure life wisdom!

[@jasper9767]

Amazing video! The amount of mind games within drumming is something great to discover, anybody that can help me out with finding the book he is talking about at 19:34? My best guess is Grit written by Angela Duckworth but can’t really get a grip on if that is the one. Thanks in advance!

[@ajb-drums]

Gong drum with a mallet. 🤘 This guy doesn't mess around.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Not gonna lie, that drum was one of my favorite parts of that gig haha

[@RobynStanicki]

Hi! How does one sign up to become your student?

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

You can head over to my website at www.stephensdrumshed.com and sign up there. If you've got any questions, happy to answer those. The number to the studio is on the bottom of every page of the website, there is a chat feature on the website as well, or you can email [e-mail]

[@CraigFlowersMusic]

So I have a question, and maybe a video idea for you, idk. This may be something unique to me. But I have a thing I've been trying to do for years and years and just can't get. Have you ever had that? It's a simple enough part, Poor Tom by bonzo, but no matter the speed and no matter the amount of years I spend on it, I just CAN'T. I play every instrument, and there are are a couple other things on a couple other instruments that come to mind, things I've been trying to play for in some cases decades and getting nowhere. For context, I'm a complete autodidact utterly self taught but learn extremely quickly. So I don't know what I don't know, because I don't have a teacher, and that can make for some slow progress in ways but also clears a path for me too.

[@Lupine.]

I don't play drums, I play practice pads and admire my drum kit. :(

[@_bassmentdweller]

Grab yourself an e-kit and bridge that gap! They are fantastic for practice at all hours. I’m currently using Stephen’s Drum better daily for organized knowledge and Freedrum Studio with the E-kit for playing songs to a click. Its like a video game which is fun too. Its buggy, but it gets the job done. Good luck!