Listening Skills

As a musician the most important skill that you will need to have is to be able to listen and not just hear.  I'll explain further. Listening to as much music as possible, including things that you would not usually choose to listen to will form opinions in your mind about what you consider to be good, bad, boring and interesting, this in turn will make you analyze and listen more closely and pay attention to detail.  After analyzing music you have listened to (you don't write this down, you do it in your mind to get used to responding quickly to music) your are able to pick and choose ways you want your drum kit to sound (there are many different sounds that a single drum can produce) and this will be probably in line with a particular genre that you have grown fond of.  After learning the basic drum patterns (this usually takes around 2 weeks depending on how much you practice) the best thing to do in my opinion is to put on a pair of headphones and try to play along with your favorite music, but remember to keep listening closely. Closing my eyes helps me.


Listening closely will make you a better musician and therefore a better drummer.