To begin with I want to say Drumeo is fantastic, there is a stack of really useful information on the site dished up by some great teachers in a really easy to understand and clear format. It’s much better to pay a subscription to them than hunt around on youtube looking for the good stuff, which is there but is buried amongst a ton of not so good stuff and some really dangerously bad stuff too. As a self learning method it’s a lot better than going it alone or random internet scouring.
However I feel that while drumeo has some great benefits it should not be a replacement for an actual drum teacher doing a one on one lesson with you in real time. Unless your coach is actually watching you play in real time and correcting you as you go then you will undoubtedly miss things in your technique that need to be corrected. I don’t believe it’s possible for your average drum student, especially younger more inexperienced players to analyse their movements and sound whilst they are playing as they are already concentrating on just trying to do it. One way of getting around this would be to video yourself playing and look back and analyse what’s going on, but then do you know what to look for? Will you notice the flaws in your playing that will end up coming back to haunt you down the track? Some people might but many I fear won’t. This is where a private professional tutor is so worth the money spent and where the drumeo model is lacking in my opinion. Unless you can be monitored and corrected in real time then you simply are going to miss things that a good tutor will spot and correct before bad habits are formed.
So again I’m not looking to bag drumeo one bit like I said I think it’s got some great material that can be so useful to drummers of all levels but I don’t think it can replace an actual drum teacher sitting with you in real time working with just you to move your drumming forward correcting mistakes as they happen and before they become ingrained in muscle memory and hard to break.
Sure, you might say you would say that you’re a drum tutor! Yes, I am and of course I want people to come and see me but this is not an exercise in self promotion, it’s just my opinion based on my many years of experience doing this. I genuinely want everyone to get the best drumming outcomes possible with or without my help. Like all musicians I’m still learning and have found some great stuff online.
Summing up I’d really advise if you’re going to learn by the drumeo route especially if you are a beginner then at least get a few lessons first or a one on one lesson with your drumeo coach so your playing can be analysed in real time, or even a lesson a fortnight or month face to face to compliment your drumeo lessons to check all is on track and always remember the age old adage “You only get what you pay for!”
Happy drumming!!