Generally, no – you can’t teach yourself how to drum. There may be a few exceptions where a drummer achieves a high level of competence without personal mentorship or coaching, but typically there are other factors involved such as musical family members, and/or many opportunities to be playing casually with other musicians.

Generally, a new drummer needs constant feedback and input on how to improve technique, how to practice effectively, how to stay inspired and motivated, and how to push beyond the comfort zone.

Further, drumming is more than simply knowing how to physically interact with a drum set. There are complex traditions, cliches, patterns, and performance conventions that are what permit a drummer to interact with other musicians or to ‘sound’ like a particular style of music.

Someone self-teaching themselves may even be able to emulate a complex solo perfectly – but without understanding which elements were improvised, which drew on cliche, or what the drummer was likely thinking about while doing it, it’s nothing more than rote learning and likely not very transferrable.

Just as you can learn a spoken language without a tutor, you can’t learn a language without a tutor and in a vacuum.

The average age to start drums is between 7-8. However, there really isn’t an “average age” for drummers across the board – it’s an instrument that can be enjoyed right through life, and brings with it numerous physical benefits.

Drum sticks have a wooden shaft and a small, hard tip that comes directly into contact with the skin of a drum. That tip can be a plastic coating, or sometimes it’s the same wood material. It creates a very crisp and sharp attack and is the most common instrument with which drummers play their drum sets.

Drum mallets have a similar wooden shaft, however, the ends are fitted with extremely thick sleeves (1-2″ diameter is common) of felt that is packed at varying densities and tensions to achieve a variety of timbres when striking a drum. They have a much softer attack than a drum stick and tend to conjure a warmer tone.

Drum beats are as varied as cuisine or the dialects of a language and are literally too numerous to count. At a tribal/cultural level, beats tend to be associated with the regions they originate from, and since beats and dance are so closely related, each beat will have its own sub-set of associated dances as well. Africa and India in particular both have rich histories of rhythmic music-making which are distinct from other traditions, but within themselves can boast hundreds of sub-genres.

Many teachers and programs will prefer that a student take weekly lessons. And most drum students will need between 1-2 years of practice before gaining strong confidence in their abilities.

Learning the drums comes with its own set of unique challenges. While some may find drumming effortless to learn, others may find it very difficult – just as some may pick up piano easily, while others struggle for years.

It’s safe to say that on average, it takes less time to sound ‘competent’ on the drums as it does on some notoriously difficult instruments such as brass/woodwind or string instruments; but to achieve a top professional level, the amount of time and commitment is on par with other instruments.