Re: Drum lessons.
I have lessons once a fortnight for about 45 mins. Initially I was going weekly, but I can't consistently practise each week (and IMO not practising between lessons wastes them), plus it was more than I could afford.
I've actually had the opposite problem from some others here in that my tutor is almost too nice a guy and we end up chatting and exploring stuff rather than cracking on with the rudiments! From the start I've spent a lot of time learning songs rather than practising the technical side of things and he's indulged that a bit (not that I needed any encouragement!)
I need a bit of discipline in my learning and a goal to strive for, so we recently changed things about so that I'm now focussing more on working through the rudiments and observing the technical side of things. He's also really good for giving me specific exercises when I hit a particular problem in my playing, e.g. right now I'm trying to work on independence between my right foot and right hand for some songs I want to play.
Overall though, it's worked out well for me. I know from previous instruments I tried to learn that if I'd started out just trying to do rudiments rather than music, I'd have gotten bored and given up. So the first year of primarily playing simple songs has worked to get me hooked. Now I want to step it up and play more advanced stuff, and the way there is to study the technical side of things. But I have the experience to see that now and also a specific goal for the rudiments I'm learning, so I'm still motivated.
You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common:
they don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views,
which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.
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