Taking drumming lessons can be one of the fastest and most reliable ways to make progress in playing the drums. But how much do drum lessons cost? There are several factors that affect pricing, but let’s get a baseline so you can set a budget.
Drum lessons average around $40-50 per lesson but can cost anywhere between $25-70 depending on the experience of your tutor, your location and whether you take lessons at home or in a studio.
There are many aspects to consider when selecting a drum tutor, with cost just being one of them.
In this article we’ll take a deep dive into why drum lessons vary in price, how you can get a better deal on drumming lesson costs and the factors you should consider when selecting a drum tutor apart for price.
Factors that affect drum lesson costs
1. Experience of the tutor – This is one of the main factors that affects the cost and is definitely something that you should discuss with your potential teacher. A tutor that has studied drums at Berklee College of Music, played in bands for 25 years and been teaching for 15 years is going to command a higher fee than a relatively inexperienced teacher.
You should take particular note of the number of years that they have been teaching. Just because they are good at playing drums, doesn’t mean they can teach drums. Just like some famous football players have turned out to be terrible football coaches, the same applies to this instrument.
2. Location – Students in a big city can expect to pay a higher fee than people outside of expensive metropolitan areas. The cost of setting up a drum studio in New York, Boston or Los Angeles is going to be more than the Mid-West and your lesson prices will reflect this.
3. Your place or mine? – Whether you are travelling to your teacher’s studio, or they are coming to you may also affect the cost. It really comes down to the costs that your tutor is incurring in providing the service – ultimately these costs will be passed onto you, the student.
Running a drum studio can be expensive for the tutor in terms of equipment and renting the space. On the other hand, if they come to you, they have transport costs to consider. It’s worth checking with your tutor if there is a price difference between each of these options.
An interesting hybrid model that is worth exploring are drum lessons over Skype or Zoom. Numerous tutors now offer these. They can help keep the tutor’s costs down because you are playing your own kit and they do not have to incur travel expenses. This could be a convenient option for both you and the tutor, as well as keeping the costs down.
4. Length of drum lessons – Drum lessons typically range from 30 mins to 1 hour. Obviously longer lessons will be more expensive. However, they may work out to be better value in the long run. A tutor may charge $30 for a half hour session but only $50 for a full one hour session.
Cost shouldn’t be the only factor when deciding on what’s the best lesson length for you. Some young children may find it hard to concentrate on one thing for a whole hour, so a shorter lesson would suit them. On the other hand, more advanced drummers may be focussed on getting feedback on just one particular aspect of their technique and only need a short session.
Private drum lessons v Music school
The traditional way of learning any instrument is by one-to-one personal tuition. But things have moved on and there are now more options. Budding drummers can now take advantage of various different music schools that have become established.
A well-known school that has locations throughout the US, UK and other parts of the world is the School of Rock. As well as drums, they teach guitar, bass, keyboards and singing. A great advantage of this is they can put together bands of students, so you get the opportunity of playing with other musicians. In fact, performance is one of the cornerstones of their teaching methods.
They have teaching programs suitable for a range of different ages. You can expect to pay $150-350 a month for children’s lessons and $250-350 a month for adult lessons. This is dependent on location and the exact details of the program involved. Included are weekly lessons and weekly group performances.
How to save money on drum lessons
Having discussed the cost of drum lessons, you may be thinking this could turn out to be an expensive experience, especially if you’re planning on taking lessons for years to come. Here are some ways that you can save on costs.
Block bookings – Once you’ve found a good drum tutor, make a block booking of 5 or 10 lessons. Most tutors offer a discount if you do this. It works out well for the tutor because they can plan out their practice time schedule. It’s also useful for you because you can set goals and work towards achieving them in the set number of lessons.
Use online lessons – Using a combination of online lessons plus a tutor can be an effective way of keeping the costs down. If you’re thinking of going this route, check out TakeLessons. They have numerous drum tutors available who are rated and reviewed. Even the famous Jonny Rabb is on there!
How to find a good drum tutor
Finding a good drum tutor can be difficult. A good starting point is to go with a personal recommendation. But if you’re not in this lucky position, here are some important factors to consider.
Style - Do they specialise in the type of music you want to learn? If you’re an intermediate drummer and want to focus on jazz or Cuban styles of music, does your prospective tutor have experience with teaching this. Even some professional musicians only have a cursory knowledge of some of these more advanced styles.
Teaching style - It’s really important that you find a tutor that suits your personality. This will help you look forward to your drum lessons rather than dread them. Do you want somebody that will gently coax you in the right direction or a ‘hard task master’ that will ruthlessly point out your faults?
The best way to find out about their teaching style is to have a sample lesson or one-off lesson, before you sign up for a block of teaching lessons.
Kid’s lessons - If you’re booking lessons for a child, is you tutor familiar with teaching kids. Learning styles are very very different compared to adults. Keeping younger drummers motivated and interested is challenging. Just learning rudiments is not going to be much fun for youngsters, but this foundational skill is so important that it needs to be taught in a fun way.
Reviews and ratings - Many tutors are now on tutor and professional sites where you can read the ratings and reviews given by previous students. Examples include TakeLessons and Lessonface.
These sites make it much easier to choose a tutor based on their skills, feedback and whether you think that they’ll be a good fit for you.
Are drum lessons worth the cost
There’s no getting away from the fact that learning the drums is going to cost you some money. There are less expensive education routes that you could take such as watching YouTube videos or taking an online course.
However, the important things that these methods lack is the personal feedback that a tutor can bring. If your tutor can point out how your poor posture could lead to drumming back pain in the future, then it’s worth spending money on lessons.
A personal tutor can also help you set goals and provide motivation for your studies. You’re therefore likely to progress more quickly than without an instructor.
So rather than just thinking about the cost of drum lessons, consider the bigger picture: if your goal is to play in a band or with other musicians, you’re likely to achieve this quicker if you take lessons.