How Difficult Is Learning Drums As An Adult (The Real Answer)

It’s not that difficult to learn drums as an adult. It’s easy to learn the basics of the drums, but it takes a lot of time, dedication, and focused effort to master them. It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

If you want to make drums a more enjoyable pastime, you can get up to a decent level of expertise in a short amount of time. However, if you want to become a professional drummer, it will take a lot of dedication and hard work with a few years of practice.

Some believe that starting out when you’re young, as a kid, or even as a teen has advantages and can help you get to a certain level faster. However, it’s reasonable to presume that as an adult, you have a stronger understanding of the ways that you learn most effectively. Adults can also generally have far more discipline, as long as they are dedicated to the task at hand.

Learning To Play Drums as an Adult

There has never been an easier time to learn how to play drums. There are countless websites and even YouTube tutorials to help you take up a skill. When it comes to learning the drums, there’s a lot of information available to assist you when you’re just getting started. There are plenty of great drum lessons websites, and Drumeo is one I often recommend. They have a wealth of video lessons at their disposal, and it’s a fantastic place to learn how to play the drums.

When you’re just getting started, the greatest piece of advice I can offer is to go slowly. If you approach it with the intention of becoming an excellent drummer fast, you may actually slow your progress. Setting a goal that is much higher than it should be at the moment would end in failure. To advance, you should first grasp the fundamentals before moving on.

It’s better to play the basics really well than to play the more complex stuff really badly. Once you get in, you’ll start to figure out your playing style and learning approach. This is important because once you figure out what works best for you when it comes to absorbing knowledge, it will be much more beneficial.

The most essential thing to remember is that not everyone will be equal at first. Rhythm is a very personal thing, and it depends on the individual’s rhythmic inclination. Some people have more of a natural rhythm to themselves, while others do not. This is not something to be discouraged by. It’s just something we’re born with.


If you spend a lot of time bobbing to rhythms in your daily life, and you find yourself listening to music and merely mimicking drumming and following the rhythm, then you’re probably naturally very rhythmical. This will most certainly improve your learning experience in the future since, without a solid rhythm, it will be more difficult to learn how to play the drums.

It’s never too late to learn how to play drums. The internet has made it easier than ever before to learn a skill, which is something that should not stop you from discovering and learning new things.

Benefits Of Learning Drums As An Adult

Drums can help you deal with anger, sadness, and stress. Playing for only a few minutes may improve your mood. Immediately after playing drums, drummers’ brains produce feel-good endorphins in the same way as runners’ do. It’s basically a good exercise.

Drumming can also increase your confidence. As you gradually become better it’s only normal that your confidence gets a boost when it comes to drumming or learning any instrument for that matter. You’ll find that when you break down a technique that’s challenging and you end up learning it, it’ll definitely be confidence-boosting as you’ll see that you can overcome any obstacle.

If you didn’t know this, drumming can actually improve your IQ, because to play drums you coordinate all four limbs to work together. This actually requires you to use both sides of your brain at the same time which increases brain power.

But I think the best benefit about playing the drums would be improving your motor skills. This actually increases your reaction level as well as having a higher degree of dexterity. Because you’re synchronizing your brain’s visuals with your body muscles.

Drawbacks Of Learning Drums As An Adult

One of the major drawbacks to learning the drums as an adult will be making the time. As an adult, you have way more responsibilities than as a teenager. You would have to balance out your job, your day-to-day errands, in order to learn the drums. It all comes down to whether you’re ready to make the commitment and devote your time to learning how to play the drums.

Another disadvantage I’d mention is having high expectations. Our brains are set to expect that we must accomplish something as soon as possible as adults. When learning to play the drums, you don’t want to take things too quickly. Because as learning any instrument, you have to take things slow and learn the fundamentals first and then gradually progress. The bad thing about high expectations is that you might end up being disappointed. My advice is to lower your expectations in the beginning.

Summary

It’s never too late to learn to play the drums. It’ll take you about two years to get a firm grasp of the concept. If you’re looking to become a professional, it might take up to seven to eight years but it can be done in a lot less time if you work really hard.

As mentioned before, drums are probably the easiest instrument to learn and one of the hardest to master. You just have to figure out whether you want this to be a hobby or a professional career. As far as learning how to play, with all the information on the internet with lots of different platforms that can teach you how to play, it’s easier than ever.

There are several benefits to learning drums as an adult, some of which are that it can increase your confidence as you’re gradually getting better. Drumming also produces feel-good endorphins in the same way as runners do. So it is considered a really good exercise method. It can also help you improve your IQ because you’re synchronizing and coordinating all four limbs. It also helps improve your motor skills which can help you have a quicker reaction level and a higher degree of dexterity.

Some of the drawbacks to learning as an adult are having the time to actually learn between balancing out your job and all different kinds of errands. You might not have as much time as you would like to learn this particular skill. Another one is also having high expectations. This could in turn affect you negatively because you might end up being discouraged. So my advice would be to take things slow.

Mike O'Connor
Mike O'Connor

I've been playing drums for over 18 years. I work as both a session drummer and a drum teacher, and I love to share my knowledge and tips on this site. You can also find me on the Electronic Drum Advisor YouTube channel.

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