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The 4 Stages You MUST Pass Through To Become The Drummer You Dream Of

The view's better at the top

...but how do you get there? How do you learn to do something? How do you learn to do anything? These are big questions. When you know the answers, you will truly be unstoppable.

Knowing how to play stuff on the drums is cool but learning new things consistently over a long period of time is what will set you apart from the other drummers that you know.

Before we look at the 4 stages, lets quickly cover some definitions that we'll be using:

• Conscious: You are aware of something.
• Unconscious: You are unaware of something.
• Competence: You are good at something
• Incompetence: You are bad at something.

So, how you do learn anything? You MUST pass through these 4 stages:

Stage 1 - Unconscious Incompetence

Put it this way: You suck at drumming and you don't even know it. You don't know what you're doing. You don't know how to get better because you don't even realise that you can get better.

Drummers at this stage are ignorant of how bad their playing is. Some people never move out of this stage. But, if you're not happy with your drumming and you know it needs work then well done! You have made it passed Stage 1 and into...

Stage 2 - Conscious Incompetence

Ok. So your drumming is still as bad as it was in Stage 1 but at least now you realise it. You're looking at YouTube videos, music videos, you're going to gigs and you're thinking: "Wow! That's what I wanna do!" Its a really exciting stage to be at.

To sum this stage up: You know where you want to be but you don't know how to get there yet.

Stage 3 - Conscious Competence

This stage isn't nice. It's uncomfortable, difficult, lengthy... Lets face it: it's hell. This is when you know how to so something (play a groove, fill, get faster etc.) but it requires a huge amount of effort and concentration to do it. Your mind must be ever present, continually watching to make sure you are doing it right. It's a Herculean effort. It's the movie "300." You will feel like you are fending off a 1,000,000 man army with only 300 men.

You get the picture? It's tough. What you are trying to play requires almost all of your available brain power just to hold it down. You know you are at this stage when it takes half an hour to learn something and half a second to forget it. Most people give up at this stage. But if you keep going and keep practising you will be rewarded! You will eventually reach the last stage...

Stage 4 - Unconscious Competence

Well done, you did it! This is when you have learned something fully. It is now imbedded in your body. Your mind no longer has to pay attention. You are using only your muscle memory. You know you are at this stage when you can play while simultaneously thinking about something else or talking to your band mates or drinking a beer. This is where you want to be at.

This is when you are an expert at your skill. This is the gold medal. Or is it?

Bonus: Stage 5 - Conscious Competence of Unconscious Competence.

Now that's difficult to say! It's difficult to do as well. This is when you can play things without thinking about them but you aware of what's going on so you can easily explain it to someone else and show them how to become competent at it. In other words, you are fully able to teach your skill to someone else.

You need to ask yourself

What stage are you at with your drumming? What parts of your drumming are at stage 1? What parts are at stage4?

Everything you learn in your drumming is a journey. You are trying to take whatever it is you want to be able to do and take it through each of these 4 stages... and perhaps even to the 5th stage.

Keep On Climbing,
Alex

What do you think?

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