Search - Tommy Igoe: Getting Started on Drums/Groove Essentials on DVD

Essentials for beginners

Tyler Pritchard | Tucson, AZ USA | 10/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Getting Started on Drums is basically "how to set up your drum kit", with a couple simple beats at the end. I would recommend this DVD if you're an absolute beginner, but otherwise it's only good for picking up a few tips regarding setup. I watched it once and it's now shelved, probably forever. Good Netflix rental, bad purchase.

However Groove Essentials is a DVD I will probably be referring to for the next couple of years and is absolutely worth buying. I've rented a few drum DVDs on Netflix, and most of them include a lot of filler, like around 80-90% filler, and the material included in them should be covered in about 10 minutes. Tommy's DVDs get to point after about a 10min introduction, so it amounts to 210 minutes of purely relevant instructional material that gets progressively more difficult. Tommy's instruction is clear and focused, and the film production doesn't interfere with his teaching (which doesn't seem like a lot to ask for unless you've seen some of the other drum DVDs out there). I wish that he would break the beats down to the extent that he does with the rock section(the first section) on the later sections, but I guess that's what the included chart is for... Overall this is a good DVD for beginners getting started, or for later intermediate/early advanced players looking to expand their sound and broaden their range of styles. This DVD is probably below the ability of professional level players. I have it uploaded to my Ipod and practice along with it about once a day. Because of this DVD, Jojo Mayer's Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer, and some quality daily practice time, my friends have expressed amazement at how quickly I've progessed at drums in only 10 months."