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Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums (Paperback + CD + DVD) Review

Learn more about Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums (Paperback + CD + DVD)

 

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Learn more about Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums (Paperback + CD + DVD)

Cost Popup Currency Converter

  • Book/CD/DVD combo: $24.95.  (Currently $18.96 on Amazon.com.)
  • DVD only: $14.95 on Amazon.com.
  • Other package combinations are available directly from www.melbay.com.

Features:

  • 96-page step-by-step lesson book, covering topics including:
    • Basic reading
    • Basic blues.
    • Drum fills.
    • Dotted notes and ties.
    • Triplet beats.
    • Shuffle beats.
  • The course uses four 'learning tracks' so you learn the topics comprehensively and in different ways:
    • Technique - learning basic techniques for performance.
    • Reading - learning to read drum notation.
    • Writing - learning how notation works by writing it out.
    • Application - applying what you learn to your playing.
  • 67 minutes of video lessons on one DVD.
  • Play-along CD.

Learn more about Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums (Paperback + CD + DVD)

Editor's Verdict:

Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums is a multimedia course on book, CD and DVD that covers all the basics needed by self-taught drummers.  Taking you from stick grip and reading drum notation to playing basic rock and blues beats, the course takes a friendly step-by-step approach and explains each new concept in easy-to-understand terms.  As a result of this, the program never reaches a particularly high skill level, and if you intend to stick at the drums you will soon need more material.  However, the course succeeds in conveying the basic techniques it covers.

The tone of the book is conversational, informal and at times humorous.  This could lighten up the task of tackling a new instrument, or it could irritate you, depending on your sense of humor.  Though the tone may not be suited to very young children, this perhaps makes the course suitable for teenagers. However, the level of professionalism certainly isn't up there with the top products in this category, and you should consider this if it is something that matters to you.

The main strength of Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums is that it combines book, CD and DVD, meaning you can learn from the notation and be aided by the audio and video material.  This is likely to create a more well-rounded musician, and encourages music-reading as well as playing by ear - both skills that are highly prized by other musicians.  The course draws on this strength with its four 'learning tracks', which encourage you to learn a concept in several different ways.  As any teacher will know, this will ensure the maximum likelihood of actually remembering what you learn!

As has been discussed, the main limitation with the product is its length and relative sparsity of material. And whilst it is not particularly expensive, there are more comprehensive courses available for the same cost.  You will soon be after more music to play, and this can be expensive.  The course also covers relatively few musical styles.  As drumming beats and techniques can differ considerably between genres, you may develop better flexibility if you practice these different styles from an early stage.  Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Drums covers the basics well, but it does not go this extra step.  For something more varied and comprehensive, see our Top 10 in this category,

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