About us
Practice Drumming is founded by Lane Parsons & Joseph Naccarato.
A note from Lane:
I started Practice Drumming for a simple, and powerful concept: I wanted to give drummers the ability to play along with me online, just as they do in person.
This idea actually came from 2 interactions, during my private drum lessons:
1. After a lesson, the parent of one of my younger students, asked me 'I know there are a bunch of online drum lesson websites, but I had my son use one and it just wasn't engaging enough. Are there any websites you know of, that specifically have practice videos that he can play along with?'
'Huh, I don't actually know the answer to that' I responded, 'I'll have to look into it and get back to you'.
After talking a bit more, I found they were looking for videos that essentially did what we were doing in lessons: Taking a basic exercise/beat/fill, repeating it over and over, then speeding up.
After looking through the most popular online drumming platforms, and searching Google extensively, I found there was nothing to fill their request.
This was such a simple idea, and I was astonished that it wasn't being done, given how many fantastic online drum teachers there are.
Photo | Dave Gaslin
2. After a lesson with one of my adult students, he said to me 'Lane, I really appreciate that you spend the time to write lesson notes for me, but honestly, it's just sometimes hard to get the groove back from looking notation or text. Would you mind if I just took a quick video of you playing so I could play along with it at home?'
I agreed, he took the video, and next week came back to his lesson, having practiced more than ever.
Now, you may read this and think... Duh! But this was not so obvious! For my whole life worth of taking private lessons, I was given written notes and notation, and was expected to use them at home to practice. That was the standard I had to work from as a teacher.
I was blown away by the results a simple video made, and was excited to try this with my other students. Such a simple act made such a difference!
I began suggesting this at the end of most of my lessons and the effect on practice was astonishing.
This got me thinking: are many of these online drum lesson platforms missing a demand amongst drummers? Is it even known by beginner/intermediate drumming community that this type of video instruction would help them?
This set me on the path to start Practice Drumming and give you, the drummer with limited time, who's looking to make measurable progress, a way to get the benefits of an in person lesson, online.
This concept is dear to me. I've spent thousands of hours teaching drum lessons, and thousands more in pursuit to bring this concept to life.
I've seen the joy that lights up a students face when they are exhilarated by the prospect of playing drums as well as struggle they face of getting past the beginning stages.
Photo | Kristin Bennett
Every time someone mastered enough of the basics to be able to play a song or improvise some beats, I could see how much happiness it brought them.
Every time someone who started with so much vigor, wasn't able to make time for practice at home and fell off from lessons after little progress, it made me wonder: was there more I could have done?
I understand how busy you are, and you don't need to feel guilty that it's hard to make time to practice. You know what? It's just hard to practice!
This website is not meant to be a lesson website like so many others out there. It's also not meant to discredit them. This website is meant to give you a platform to practice.
If you shut out distractions, like your phone, and dedicate even 20 minutes a day to practicing with any of the videos on the website, I guarantee you will see progress.
You'll learn drum rudiments you never knew existed, add more beats to your mental tool box, and move into fills with more confidence.
I'm not teaching you to play your favorite songs, I'm teaching you the tools that will let you dominate when you play your favorite songs.
If there's one thing I can give you from this website, it's results from your precious time spent.
Good luck, thank you for checking out the site, remember that even a small amount of time (even 5 minutes) is far better than nothing, and get in touch with me if you have questions, or comments.