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We have awarded Online Drummer our prestigious Bronze Award in this category, having reviewed 10 Teach Yourself Drums Websites. Read our review below to find out why...
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Editor's Review:
OnlineDrummer.com offers a wide range of free resources for drummers of all levels. It has well structured courses, or video lessons which you can dip in and out of at your leisure. You can also explore content based on musical theme or drumming technique, with engaging, informative articles to keep you busy. In addition, the site has a vibrant forum area where members discuss a range of useful and exciting topics.
Normally, free lesson websites aren’t all that great. However, Online Drummer really breaks the mold. Not only does it offer a decent number of lessons, which are well organized, it also provides a substantial number of tracks to play along to, a lively forum and more.
Let’s start with the lessons. We were really pleased by how these have been organized. That might sound a bit ludicrous, but some sites are too restrictive (only allowing you to view the lessons in a very particular order) whilst others are too chaotic (letting you dive into any lesson but without telling you in which order they would best work, so you can begin at too high a level, then it suddenly drops). OnlineDrummer provides a variety of sorting options, so you can easily locate courses for beginners, intermediate or advanced drummers, or you can dip into a course based on a particular musical genre you wish to explore. If you want to practice a certain technique or beat, you can also find lessons suited to that approach.
Lessons are a little mixed in terms of quality but we found the majority were clear and well designed. You can see the kit from above, with animated notation, plus a voice over from the tutor. This isn’t the case with all lessons, but on the whole we found them engaging and well planned.
Aside from lessons, there’s plenty to do around the site. You can visit the busy forum areas, where a lot of drumming topics are going on. Members use these pages to discuss their projects, ask for advice, share tips or simply to chat about drumming and bands. It’s a good way to meet other enthusiasts, and potentially even make friends.
A range of engaging articles can be found as you explore the site, including pieces on particular bands, musicians, songs or other drum-based topics. These are linked around the site, so if you are – for example – checking out notation for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, you can listen to the song, read the article and then purchase the premium notation.
The site, we assume, makes its money from sales of premium notation and the few products it sells in its store. These are affordable, with full notation for a song costing around $3-$4. Files can be downloaded, and the site stores records of your downloads in your account so you can easily locate them from any device with an internet connection.
With a great range of well organized video courses, songs, articles and community features, it’s pretty astounding that Online Drummer is a free resource. It might not have every feature a modern drummer wants, but there’s plenty to learn from this site and it won’t cost you a cent. Check it out!
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