Drumeo Review

Drumeo has over 2,000 classes and 5,000+ note for note song breakdowns. It's dominated the online drumming world since it was founded. And with 150,000+ users and over 3 million YouTube subscribers, it seems they must be doing something right. 

But is this a case of people jumping on the bandwagon or is there substance to Drumeo's success?

I’ve been playing the drums for 15 years, in groups ranging from jazz combos to symphony orchestras. Growing up it was a massive part of my life and I still play as much as I can. 

Drumeo's been on my radar for a while, and whilst I’ve watched their YouTube and Instagram tutorials, I’ve never subscribed to the platform itself…

Until now!

Using my actual experience on Drumeo I’m here to tell you all about the content, pros, cons, costs, alternatives and most of all – is Drumeo worth it? 

I’m also going to compare everything I’ve found on Drumeo to my own years of experience with drumming, and any other courses I’ve taken. 

So, without further ado, let’s dive in to my Drumeo review. 

Here’s a quick summary if you're short on time. 

Here is a taste of what's to come:

• All about Drumeo and Drumeo’s features
• My review of Drumeo’s courses
• What I liked and thought could be improved 
• Who I think this platform is for
• Drumeo cost
• Drumeo free trial
• Other Drumeo reviews and Reddit Drumeo reviews
• Any potential alternatives and most importantly…

Is Drumeo worth it?

Let’s go…

What is Drumeo?

Drumeo was officially launched, as we know it today, in 2012. But before that, there were another 10 years of growth and other smaller websites set up dedicated to drum teaching.

The face of the company is Founder and CEO Jared Falk. Jared often appears as either the main teacher or to the side with a guest instructor, asking questions about technique, groove and experiences. 

In 2012 Jared decided to pool all the drum sites and resources he had been working on for the past 10 years on to one website. The result was Drumeo, short for Drum Education Online. 

Drumeo is probably the largest drumming platform around right now, with 147,000 users. They also have 2.14 million subscribers on YouTube. 

Drumeo is also part of the larger Musora family, which includes Guitareo, Singeo and Pianote.  

How does Drumeo work?

Once you’re all signed up to Drumeo you get access to everything it has to offer. 

Drumeo’s main offering is “the Drumeo method”, a 10 level process designed for beginners to methodically (clue’s in the name) improve their playing. 

You can dive straight into this, but you’ll also notice a little sidebar that includes all of Drumeo’s other features. 

I talk about some of these in more detail below, but some of the main features include:

• Songs
• Courses
• Quick tips 
• Forums 
• Student focus 
• Rudiments 

There are no rules as to where to start. Drumeo tracks your progress, so you can always keep a record of which lessons you’ve completed, or need to finish. 

If you find a particular lesson, course or instructor you're interested in, simply click on the icon. This will take you to the webpage with the course. 

You’ll notice each course is led by one or two instructors and divided into anywhere between 10 and 20 lessons that vary in length. You’ll see several comments, helpful diagrams and recommended lessons once you're finished under the main video player. 

Once you’ve set up your kit or practice pad, simply press play and start learning. 

Drumeo Classes

Drumeo has a huge number of courses (2,000+ lessons and 230+ courses) for you to choose from. 

They are also constantly updating their instructors, courses and features so these numbers will only go up. 

With so many lessons and features to choose from, it’s difficult to know where to start. 

So, here are a few of my favorite as well as some of the most popular Drumeo courses and features:

• The Method: Drumeo’s main offering includes 10-levels of video lessons designed for beginners to methodically improve
• Rudiments: The cornerstone of most drumming, this page includes all the sticking exercises you need to practice to improve your fluidity on the kit 
• Forums: A place for students and teachers, for all drummers, to discuss their progress
• Shows: This is a chance to watch some edited together performances of Drumeo students and instructors from around the world
• Quick Tips: Short spurts of video lessons on the little things that will help your playing in a big way
• Coaches and Courses: Both organize the remaining Drumeo content by either content or instructor

What is a lesson like?

Like in-person drum lessons, no two Drumeo lessons are the same

However, part of the reasons for Drumeo’s success is its consistency as a brand. So even if the lessons vary massively by content and instructor, there are normally some underlying themes in each. 

Drumeo lessons will normally open with a brief introduction of what you’ll be covering, followed by a demonstration on the kit.

It’ll normally be led by a teacher who is sitting behind the kit playing, but sometimes they’ll be accompanied by Jared, or another member of Drumeo staff, just to help illuminate concepts and ask the instructor any questions the audience might have. 

This is especially true if the instructor is a renowned drummer explaining a difficult concept. 

Once you have an idea of what the lesson is about, the teacher will often break down the sticking or elements of what they're teaching for you to copy and play along with. 

This will typically be accompanied by sheet music both on and below the screen, and shots of the instructor from multiple angles of the kit. 

Lessons will normally end with a final performance of the concept from the instructor, often with some groovy backing music, and a few final tips for you to try in your private practice.

My review of 3 classes

Rather than take the Drumeo method, I decided to browse what was available the Courses page. 

This meant I was able to take classes aimed at a range of abilities, so whether you’re a beginner or a pro, this article will give you some insight as to what to expect with Drumeo.

I took courses from levels of difficulty marked as 1, 5 and 10.

Getting Started On The Drums 

My first drum lesson was 15 years ago, so it’s been a while since I’ve properly sat down and re-familiarized myself with the basics.

But, after taking this course, I’d highly recommend that any experienced drummer go back to the basics, even if only to get a new perspective. 

Jared Falk teaches this class. He's designed it to teach you the absolute fundamentals of the kit if this is your first time sitting behind one. 

You will learn:  

• Where to adjust your drum stool
• How to set up the kit 
• Tuning the drums 
• Holding the sticks 
• Basic counting and drum notation
• How to play your first beat, song and fill
• Getting familiar with a practice routine

Pros: 

• Jared is great at breaking everything down and making you feel comfortable
• Manageable step by step pace
• Goes over things many beginners miss, like tuning 
• Instills a musical approach to the kit from an early stage 
• Covers everything you need to know 
• Provides resources for personal practice if you’re just getting started

Cons: 

• Miss out on the benefits of in-person teaching, although this can always be a supplement to your learning
• Could go into technique more, as many drummers struggle with this later down the line (but this will be picked up later down the line)

Best for: Anybody with an interest in drums who has never touched the kit before. Particularly helpful if you are serious about practicing and becoming a drumming superstar!

Overall: I found this to be a wonderful way to be introduced to the drums. I’m not a beginner, so it’s difficult to say whether these concepts are as straightforward as I found them to be. But, from my perspective, everything was clearly explained and all the fundamentals were covered. Jared has just as much passion for teaching as he does for drumming as it shows. As a place to start with drumming, you can’t go wrong with this course. 

Creative Practicing 

I took this second course for a few reasons:

It was marked as difficulty level 5, smack bang between the highest and lowest on the scale. 

It goes over tips for practicing, which is something I must admit I don’t do very often. 

And Peter Erskine teaches it – one of the most legendary jazz drummers alive today. 

You will learn: 

• The comping game; how not to get stuck playing the same thing 
• Limiting what you play to develop new ideas
• Triplet variations 
• Approaching practice as a place of self-discovery 
• How to approach difficult new ideas
• Slowing down ideas and breaking down their elements 
• Why to record yourself when practicing
• Using the Erskine Essentials app

Pros: 

• Absolute genius of a teacher 
• Erskine is oozing with knowledge and stories about the jazz scene 
• A comprehensive, musical approach to the drums 
• Direct practice tips 
• Jared accompanies Peter, helping to draw out and clarify info 
• Introduces you to Peter’s app, which in turn encourages you to keep practicing 
• Perfectly balances loose musical concepts with practical advice 
• Ends with a killer performance

Cons: 

• Requires a certain level of jazz knowledge 
• Could be longer 

Best for: Jazz drummers or drummers interested in jazz who have difficulty with knowing how to spend their time in the practice room. 

Overall: This was the best course I took and I only wish it was a little longer. It’s not often that you get drum lessons solely focusing on practicing, let alone practicing creatively, so these classes were a real breath of fresh air. Erskine is just as good a teacher as he is a drummer, and I could listen to him talk and drum all day. Jared’s enthusiasm is also a welcome addition. I loved how this course was able to combine actual advice and combinations you can try in your own time with a more general approach to practicing creatively. It certainly gave me a lot to think about. 

How To Groove With Odd Subdivisions

This course was marked level 10 –– the highest level in terms of ability.

Grooving with odd subdivisions sums up this course very nicely. If you don’t know what that means, it probably isn’t the best place to start. Subdivision essentially means dividing the beat or rhythm into smaller units.

Whether or not this is odd depends on the music's meter, but basically, if it sounds weird and like you can’t dance to it, it could well be an odd time signature.

That’s what makes it fun!

This course is led by Marco Minneman, who is known for being a technical wizard on the kit. To say I was excited for this one was an understatement. 

You will learn:  

• Why to use internal quarters on the hi-hat
• Forming a melody by ending the groove with a double left hand 
• To use quintuplets, septuplets and ninetuplets as grooves 
• How to apply what you’ve learnt to your own compositions 

Pros: 

• Methodical, as you can see from the lesson titles 
• Teaches you exactly what it aims to teach you
• Compositional understanding of drums 
• Difficult concepts are broken down well
• Marco is a beast of a drummer and a cool teacher 
• Grooves that you can use in your own music 
• Another way to watch a wonderful drummer just play 

Cons: 

• Sometimes the recommendations for incorporating this in your own playing aren’t very clear
• Felt like it was made for rock and metal drummers; odd subdivisions appear in all types of music

Best for: Drummers interested in odd groupings and incorporating subdivisions in their groove with odd time signatures. This works especially well in progressive rock, progressive metal and jazz fusion music. 

Overall: This course gives you exactly what you sign up for. Marco takes you directly through each odd subdivision and how it applies to a groove context. He then elaborates on different ways you can try this out on the kit. I loved how direct and methodical everything was. There was no fooling about. Maybe some of the ideas could’ve been articulated a little better. But if you have a core understanding of odd time signatures, and a little knowledge about rudiments, you’ll have a field day with this one. 

What I liked about Drumeo

A Wide Range Of Content, Led By Top Instructors

The content is one of the most important things to look out for when signing up for any new course. After all, that’s what you're paying for. 

And when it comes to providing quality, Drumeo is on top form. 

There is an incredible range of lessons here within over 2,000 courses, covering virtually everything you need to know about drumming. 

Everything from technique, to gear, to practice, to performance and so much more is covered on the site. For many drummers, it would take years of different books and lessons to curate all that knowledge, but here it's all in one place. 

Just scrolling through the courses page, everything I could think of when it comes to drumming is taught here in some form. On top of that, Drumeo provides all kinds of resources to help along the way, both as part of the lessons and separately.

There is a whole page dedicated to rudiments, which is absolutely essential, yet increasingly overlooked aspect of drumming. Other features like the forums and performance section give the whole platform a rare and warm community feel. 

Drumeo matches its range in course content with a who’s who of excellent drummers on their teaching roster, including some of the most legendary players around today. 

I never thought I’d be able to take courses from Marco Minneman and Peter Erskine, and it’s not an exaggeration to say Jared is becoming a famous face in the drum world on his own merit. 

Methodical And Well-Structured 

So, the content is great, but that's only part of the story. 

Having good lesson concepts doesn’t mean much on its own. How you communicate what you’re teaching is also incredibly important.

Luckily, Drumeo doesn’t falter here either. 

Every aspect of the site adopts a methodical approach to the kit, where you are slowly introduced to concepts that gradually increase in difficulty. 

This gets its clearest articulation in the method, which is the closest thing I’ve seen to a step-by-step guide on getting good at drums. 

I also love how this site is organized. 

When you're trying a new skill, the whole process can be daunting, so you don’t want to be faffing around with navigating the website or get too overwhelmed about how to actually start. 

Drumeo’s main page is catered to new students, so everything is really easy to find and knowing where to start and where to go next is completely intuitive. This saves a lot of time, energy and stress, and lets you just crack on with the learning. 

But it’s not like Drumeo is holding your hand either. 

The onus is still on you to decide where to start and what to focus on. You can choose to go step-by-step with the method, go with a course from a particular drummer you're interested in or just dive into whichever lesson looks interesting. 

A Musical Approach To The Drum Set

As someone interested in both drumming and education, I’ve spent a lot of time, in person and online, observing how people are taught and what kind of difference this makes to their playing. 

All too often, the focus is on just getting from Point A to Point B. You hit this drum with this stick and voila, you’re playing a beat. 

This approach is fine for quick tips and learning certain fills or patterns. But I wouldn’t call it learning drums. If you’re just regurgitating whatever you’ve seen onto the kit, you won’t improve as a player. 

Drumeo doesn’t do this. 

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll learn practical things. But there is a broader focus as well. Every lesson, no matter how quick or simple, has the wider aim of developing your skill, not only as a drummer but as a musician. 

This applies less to beginner lessons, as some basic practical concepts should be established first. However, even in Getting Started On The Drums, Jared is teaching how to count, how to feel the kit and how to play along with a track. 

This all serves the purpose of developing your musical intuition. If you approach these concepts at an early stage, they’ll become embedded in your playing, and you’ll be a much stronger all-around musician for it. 

The same concept applies even more so to the more advanced courses I took. 

Sure, I was taught something practical, like odd subdivision grooves and the comping game. But I was also encouraged to apply what I’ve learnt to my playing, to take each concept as a blueprint and develop it in my own way. 

All of this means that Drumeo students will have a lot more tools at their disposal when it comes to practicing, and will approach the kit as musicians, rather than just a person hitting things. 

Encourages Personal Practice

This is a final, small point I’d like to make that relates to the last one.

Another thing that’s great about the site is how it encourages personal practice. 

Sure, taking loads of classes focused on developing your musicality with leading instructors is great, but it won’t help with your playing too much if you don’t practice what you learn. 

As with any instrument, and any skill, you need to practice the drums if you want to see progress. It sounds like common sense, but the way consistent, regular practice impacts your playing works like magic, whether it's 10 minutes or 10 hours a week.  

The Drumeo crew clearly know this. 

Every lesson ends with a little word on how you can incorporate what you’ve learned in your practice. Drumeo assumes and encourages that, no matter how much it is, you're doing some kind of practice along with the site. 

But they also provide the tools to make practice easy and fun. Whether it's the rudiments page, or the sheet music and downloadable resources from any lesson, practice is made easy with this site. 

What could be improved?

Not Exactly Unique In Content

Drumeo seems to be a fairly faultless place to start as a beginner drummer. 

However, the thing is, when it comes to the fundamentals of drumming, you can find these taught in a lot of places. So in that respect, some of the material covered early on isn't completely unique to Drumeo.

This should come at no surprise. Fundamentals are, well, fundamental.

That said, whilst you can learn drums elsewhere cheaper and even for free on YouTube, what matters is how something is taught.

Drumeo’s instructors, organization and approach are all on point, and I’d say that’s really what you’re paying for as a beginner. 

Also, having a site like Drumeo, where everything is carefully curated in one place, makes it a lot easier to stick with what you’re learning. I’m sure we’ve all said we’ll acquire a new skill on our own, but a structured site like Drumeo offers a lot more incentive to keep learning than just choosing videos on YouTube. 

Another way to look at uniqueness is through the lens of advanced players. Druneo has a lot of content available on their YouTube, which could lead you to think that it's not worth getting a subscription if you are advanced.

That said, what I found, as an advanced drummer myself, was that the Drumeo platform goes into a lot more detail, and that extra insight makes it worth it.

Who Drumeo is for

Drumeo is truly for anybody either interested in or already passionate about, drums.

Especially the drum kit. 

With that in mind, there are a couple of more specific groups of people who I think would really appreciate a Drumeo account:

• Complete beginners looking for a methodical and well-structured way to learn
• Intermediate and advanced drummers who struggle to commit to regular lessons 
• Musicians from other instruments looking to improve their rhythm knowledge 
• Any drummer looking for a bank of songs to increase their repertoire 
• Self-taught drummers who are now struggling with technique and musicality
• Rock drummers looking for instructors from outside their comfort zone

How much does Drumeo cost?

Drumeo subscription cost

By signing up to Drumeo, you get access to all of their premium content. 

You can either go for the monthly subscription, which will cost you $29 per month. 

Alternatively, you have the option to pay for your Drumeo subscription annually. This will cost you $20 per month (billed annually at $240).

Note that although the yearly plan may seem like more of a commitment, it is $10 cheaper per month than the monthly plan itself. 

Drumeo will often have special offers, deals and sales for special occasions, so check their site for updates. 

Free trial & Refund 

There is a one-week free trial on offer with Drumeo. But with our link below you can access a Drumeo 30 day free trial.

To access this, you need to create an account, and it gives you everything a standard subscription gets you for 7 days. 

There is also a 90-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like what you pay for. 

Tips to finding great courses on Drumeo

As I say, Drumeo has an incredible range of courses. So navigating where to start with your classes can seem a little daunting. 

However, the site is also very well-structured, so knowing where to begin is quite an intuitive task. 

Here are a few tips for finding great courses on Drumeo:

• Diving straight in with the method gives beginners an already curated selection of lessons 
• Browsing by instructor using the coaches tab is also useful as you have access to information on each teacher's focus and credentials
• The courses tab is also helpful as it recommends different classes based on your level of skill and what technique you want to develop
• Rudiments is a great place to start if you just want practical advice and sheet music to help with sticking

Alternatives

The internet has also revolutionized how we learn new skills, meaning that you can begin your drumming journey at any time and any place. 

With all of this available, it's difficult to know where to start. 

If you're spoiled for choice and aren’t quite sure where to begin your drumming journey, here are some other sites to check out. 

MasterClass has become one of the most recognizable learning sites on the internet, offering high-quality video courses from celebrities known for excelling in a particular field. 

Music is just one of the many disciplines they cover, and they have two courses dedicated to drums: 

Ringo Starr teaches drumming and creative collaboration, aimed more at beginners, and Sheila E. teaches drums and percussion, which goes into drumming outside the standard kit.  

Other musical courses on MasterClass include:

• St Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting 
• Itzhak Perlman Teaches Violin
• Danny Elfman Teaches Music For Film 
• Herbie Hancock Teaches Jazz
• Tom Morello Teaches Electric Guitar

Other major sights in the e-learning game include SkillShare and Udemy, both also offer a wide range of courses in various disciplines. 

One of Udemy’s most popular music courses is Drums For Beginners, which includes 3 hours of on-demand video to start your playing. 

Alternatively, you might want to try SkillShare’s Ultimate Beginners Drum Course, with Matt Crute. 

As you can see, although the options are out there, nothing is quite like Drumeo in terms of the depth of content offered. 

What others have said

Drumeo has been around for a while, and since that time has become very well-established within drumming circles. 

So there are lots of opinions about the site floating around the internet. To keep this review fair and balanced, I’ve visited various drum forums to get a sense of what the consensus is around Drumeo. 

Given its popularity and recognizability, Drumeo has withstood criticism fairly well, with many praising what the site offers. But, as with anything, there are a few detractors. 

One of the great things about the site is its forums and comment section, which meant I could gauge opinions on the site directly from the source. 

Opinion here tends to be fairly positive:

“Beginner drummer, just got my set and was looking at photos and things to figure this out. It is nice to hear it explained and see it put together. The thing with the throne height and tip about feet placement I hadn't heard before so that was a great!” - Drumeo user

The comment above is about Jared’s beginner course reviewed earlier in the article. I think it quite nicely sums up how Drumeo covers things quite early on that many new learners wont get taught. 

The height of your stool makes a massive difference to your playing, so including this for a beginner is very important. 

“I just bought a drum set for my family. My two kids and I will be learning to play. I really like Drumeo and the lessons. We are getting this lesson down until moving on to the next one. So far it is easy for both the kids and I to follow. Love the practice option after watching the video. Love the drum pad to practice on, too!” - Drumeo user

This comment is more generally about the site but gets at the same idea. Drumeo breaks things down nicely, and is easy to follow, but also emphasizes the power of practice. 

Elsewhere on the internet, comments weren’t quite so full of praise, but still generally positive:

“Drumeo is a good choice. Yes, a live instructor is better. Yes, you still have to be motivated to use it. It’s cheaper than an instructor and an instructor can’t give you guidance or an idea to practice at 2am. Given my schedule these are the two reasons I used Drumeo more than once over the years.” - Reddit commenter

I like this comment. I think it nicely sums up the power and opportunities of learning with the internet. 

I’ve only ever had a live instructor, and fostering that relationship has certainly helped my playing. But I’ll be the first to admit that this is a massive luxury to have, especially as the pandemic overshadows a lot of what we do. 

Given all the technology we have today, why not use it to our advantage and learn the coolest instrument of all time!

Is Drumeo worth it?

Pros, cons, content, alternatives, other people's opinions aside, you’re only here to find out one thing…

Is Drumeo worth it? 

In most cases, I’d say Drumeo is worth the investment.

If you're more advanced, Drumeo probably has enough social media content to keep you interested without making the full investment into the site. But with the free trial offer, if you like what you see I still say check it out. 

However, if you're a beginner, I’d say Drumeo is a great place to start. 

Not only is there a massive variety of content, taught by leading instructors, but it's all perfectly put together and easy to navigate. You have the option to follow the main method or pick and choose your courses based on your priorities. 

Another massive benefit is Drumeo’s general ethos. Rather than just getting you to hit the skins in time, all the lessons I had on the site, beginner to advanced, had a strong focus on the musicality of the instrument. 

There is also a strong emphasis on personal practice and the resources to help you out with this, which is so important. 

So, if you're looking to get behind the kit for the first time, I say do it using Drumeo. 

And as I said, you have a 7-day free trial to see if it's a good fit for you. 

Frequently asked questions