One of the first questions that will come up for everyone who sets out to learn how to play the drums, is whether or not they should learn to read music. There was a time when this was not even a question because everybody learned to read music.

It could be that this question started with the Beatles, because the most talented songwriters of the last century never learned to read or write music. Yet they created some of the best and most enduring music of that century. And of course as we move forward in time many of the Gods of the succeeding generations have never learned to read music.

There’s no question that one can learn how to play the drums without ever learning how to read music. And there are video courses available that will help with this approach, showing video of someone demonstrating various beats and so on. And of course one can just listen to CDs and imitate the drummers that you want to emulate.

But I recommend that you DO learn how to read music. Why? Well, having learned with this approach myself, having attended Berklee College of Music and having taught many students over the years myself, I have seen that there are many benefits to reading.
First of all, learning to read music is not very difficult. You should work with a competent drum teacher in your community, and use one of the basic books for this purpose, such as the Haskell Harr Drum Method #1. Just make sure that your teacher explains what all the symbols mean, because if you have misunderstood symbols in the music it will tend to stop you.

Secondly, if you can read music, it will open the door to many great drum books that you can use and study. You will then be exposed to and can take advantage of many new ideas and approaches that you wouldn’t get otherwise.

Third, if you can read music it will help with your understanding of some of the more complicated types of beats out there. I remember some students bringing in recordings of some unusual beats by Led Zeppelin or other groups and asking me to help them figure it out. Because I had been trained and understood various time signatures, I was able to figure it out and teach them how to do it.

Finally, there are certain parts of the music business where if you want to break in, you will need to read music and read music well, such as the studio musician scene or playing in jazz groups.

In summary, reading music is not hard, and in my opinion it will help to expand your horizons.