How to learn your favorite song on the drums

So you want to learn your favorite song on drums but don't know the best way to approach it? There is a concrete method that I have developed from years of teaching and playing in cover bands. When I first started playing, learning a song was like the learning the entire number sequence of pie. I couldn't do it, but I have something to share with you... By using these three simple tips you can learn and perform any song you want confidently.

Listen to the song until you hate it. I've found that you don't know a song until you are sick of hearing it again. What this does is gets the entire tune in your head so you can remember the structure of the song. This way you won't have to worry about how many times the verse is, but rather you can just have a clear head when you play it. You will love playing it for other people though, once you have it down!

Use the listen and compare strategy to transcribe the song. Many people try to play the song back with the recording after an initial listen. The problem with this is that you can't truly hear what's going on when playing at the same time because your drumming will drown out the recording. What you should do instead is listen to the recording, then play it back by yourself to compare what you played, to what you heard. Do this a few times and you will get the beat really close or dead on.

Don't worry about covering the song verbatim. Remembering an entire drum score is really difficult and very unproductive. What works better is to learn the main drum beats and one or two fills that you like. Your main aim when covering a song is to capture the style of the drummer. This way you can make up your own fills and variations on beats. Also after covering a few more of that band's songs, you will be incorporating your favorite drummer's style into your own unique style whether you are aware of it or not.