Things to do · Arts and crafts
Learn to play the drums
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
A first drum course starts with stick control, counting and a few rudiments, then puts them together into grooves on the full kit. Group classes provide the kit and practice pads, so you need little more than a pair of sticks to begin.
Moderate£100 to £500 / $130 to $650MonthsIndoorsAlone or with othersUK and US
Someone who has done it
These are real people who did this, as reported by the outlets named. We opened each one before linking it. None of them is connected with this site.
What a first course covers
Hands come before feet. City Lit's Drumming 1A, an 11-week Saturday course in London, starts with stick control, warm-ups and rudiments, reading quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes, triplets and rests, and basic hand-to-hand and hand-to-foot coordination. Students play together every week, and the course is designed to bring you to a standard where you could play in a band.
You do not need a kit at home to start. City Lit provides practice pads and drum kits in class and asks students to bring their own sticks and a notepad.
Grades give the practice a shape. Rockschool, run by RSL Awards, calls its Premiere certificate the starting point if you have just picked up the sticks. A Debut exam takes about 15 minutes, with three short pieces, technical exercises such as single strokes, double strokes and paradiddles, a short sight-reading test, two ear tests and five questions on general musicianship. Exams can be taken face to face, as a recorded digital exam or by live stream.
What beginners pay
| Where | Course | Cost (as last listed) |
|---|---|---|
| City Lit, London | Drumming 1A: 11 Saturday afternoon sessions of 90 minutes from 19 September 2026; kit and practice pads provided; bring your own sticks | £279 |
| Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago | Drum Kit 1: eight weekly classes of 80 minutes | $264, or $244 for members |
| Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, Chicago | Adult Drums Beginner: Saturdays from 9 January to 18 March 2027; drum set basics, percussion technique and theory through Latin American repertoire; no experience necessary | $180 (listed as rising to $200) |
Old Town School also runs eight-week beginners' classes in conga and djembe at the same price as Drum Kit 1, and one-off djembe and handpan introductions for $35 or less.
How to start
- Book a beginners' drum kit class at an adult education college or community music school; City Lit's Drumming 1A needs no previous experience.
- Buy your own sticks and a notepad, and ask whether a study book is needed before the first session.
- If you like a goal, work towards a graded exam; Rockschool's drum grades start with a Premiere certificate and Debut, then run from Grade 1 to Grade 8.
Where to go
- City Lit: Drumming 1A, for complete beginners (London) UK
- RSL Awards: Rockschool drum grades, Debut to Grade 8 UK
- Old Town School of Folk Music: adult drumming classes (Chicago) US
- Puerto Rican Arts Alliance: Adult Drums Beginner (Chicago) US
We opened these links on 8 November 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Courses and classes have start dates and can fill up, so the plan begins with finding and booking one. Kit comes after the first session, once you know what you need.
Questions people ask
Do I need my own drum kit to take lessons?
Not for a group class. City Lit provides practice pads and kits in class; you bring your own sticks and a notepad.
Do I need to read music to learn the drums?
No. City Lit's Drumming 1A is for complete beginners and teaches drum notation, from quarter notes to triplets and rests, as part of the course.
What are Rockschool drum grades?
Graded exams run by RSL Awards. They begin with a Premiere certificate and Debut, then go from Grade 1 to Grade 8; a Debut exam includes three pieces, technical exercises, sight reading, ear tests and musicianship questions.
Can I take a drum exam online?
RSL Awards lists recorded digital exams and live-stream exams alongside face-to-face exams for its drum grades.
Where this comes from: City Lit, Drumming 1A (ME630A); RSL Awards, Rockschool Drum Grades: from Debut to Grade 8; Old Town School of Folk Music, Adult drumming classes; Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, Adult Drums Beginner (ACTIVE listing); The Herald (Everett), Woman, 55, finds her new drumming skills rock (7 April 2005). Opened 8 November 2026.
Read next
From the Latest Music Bar to the hospital lab: Angi Mariani's first in biomedical science
How a Brighton music-bar owner and TV presenter took a part-time science degree alongside a hospital lab job, what national figures say about who keeps learning, and how to find a course or a way into laboratory work.
“Education has no expiration”: Virginia Ordaz and her mother finished their degrees in the same class
How a retired fire dispatcher from Stockton, California, finished the degree she started in 1989, and how her mother finished hers more than 40 years after her last class. How to find out what your own old credits are worth, in the US and the UK.