For Busy drummers only - what if it was “impossible to fail” to reach your drum goals?

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Watch real students’ progress

See the progress real-life coaching students have made in their playing. In the first video, Brian came with great raw materials when it came to groove and improv. After some refinements, we’ve already unlocked a bunch of his potential. Adam wanted more fluidity, and better command of the “fusion” end of the spectrum. Soon I’ll update these with the latest progress because they’ve improved by leaps and bounds even since these videos were taken.

why do we keep failing to become the player of our dreams?

You might think it’s talent.

Or that “you missed your opportunity”/”this is a young person’s game”.

In my humble opinion, and in the opinion of my past students, you’d be wrong.

I’d always believed intermediate drummers could “break through” and change the trajectory of their playing with around six months of focussed effort.

What I didn’t realize until I actually coached students was how quickly and inevitable the changes were.

If that sounds controversial, think about it this way:

How many times have you decided "this is it", and marshaled all the will-power we could muster to go into the shed, take charge, and become the drummer of our dreams...

...only to hit a rough patch, or have "things come up", and have the dream kind of...fizzle out.

How much further could you have gone had you simply stayed consistent through the hard parts?

To say nothing of having a specific routine that targeted your exact weak points, and evolved with you as you developed…

…or a supportive community.

And here’s the other thing that shocked me: it didn’t take monumental changes to anyone’s schedule. Simply by getting consistency, specificity, and accountability, most of my students made transformations practicing just 5 hours-a-week in average weeks.

Let’s explore how…

remember when drumming used to be “easy”?

Everything you worked on seemed to produce results, and every time you sat down to play, there was no pressure.

I remember when I first put “boom chick” together. It felt like the whole world opened up.

I could now spend hours playing along with my favorite recordings in the bedroom.

Not to mention, practically everything I practiced made me better.

Paradiddles? Forget about it!

Coordination? Yes please!

If you’re like many of my students, you remember when drumming was easy. Maybe you even got pretty good, played in bands, did gigs, etc.

But then, at a certain point, it got harder

Maybe “life” intervened.

That’s a common one.

When we’re younger, we’ve got a ton of time to rehearse and gig, and zero pressure.

But then “life happens” - and I mean positive things:

Family, career, other life goals.

But those things inevitably take us away from drumming.

But even if you continue uninterrupted, you’re eventually going to encounter the other thing that stops drummers in their tracks.

the “intermediate rut” - when everything is suddenly hard

Whether you took some years off and are coming back to drumming, or you’ve been playing consistently…

…there comes a time when the “easy wins” aren’t so easy anymore.

And those days of “fun, no pressure” change into self-consciousness and “toil”.

I call it the “intermediate rut”.

Part of it is that as we get more experience our taste evolves. And with every great drummer we’ve ever heard of - and plenty we haven’t - doing daily Paganinni-level virtuosity on Instagram, it’s gotten way easier recently to compare ourselves to others and feel bad.

But the main reason is plain-and-simple diminishing returns.

That’s a fancy way of saying most of the “easy wins” are already out of the way.

That big “zero to one” from not practicing rudiments to practicing the.

Or from not knowing how to play “boom chick”, or do a basic fill, to knowing it.

the “i hate my drumming” negative feedback loop

And that sucks, because it can add up to drumming becoming a negative experience.

We’ve got all these great drummers in our heads.

We sit down to play, and we don’t sound like them.

That makes us feel negatively about practicing or playing, so we do it less.

That, of course compounds the issue, and adds guilt on top. So we’re simultaneously not playing and also feeling bad about it.

And this is what gets me so fired up about teaching. Because it doesn’t have to be that way.

People ask me all the time, “Nate, is it always going to feel like chasing a receding goal-line?”

The answer, surprisingly is “no”.

Yes, of course we’ll always compare ourselves to our heroes and find more work to do.

But in my experience, and that of many of my “peers”, there is absolutely a threshold above which drumming is fun again. And that “hate my playing” negative feedback loop turns into the “hey this is fun” virtuous cycle.

the “hey this is fun” virtuous cycle

When you enjoy playing again, you start to trust your voice, and your ideas.

You experience “flow” - the feeling of being an unconscious conduit for music. (Even if fleetingly at first.)

Because it feels good, you want to do it more.

And that makes you better. AND it sustains you through the inevitable hard stuff.

And full stop. THAT’S the entirety of what I’m promising to a drummer who’s at the right stage, with the right “raw materials”.

I will take you by the hand and pull you across the threshold, “into the future”. And, for the right drummer, I’ll make it “impossible to fail”.

Introducing: the impossible to fail coaching program

The only 1:1 coaching program for drummers that combines a well-targeted curriculum with accountability and community to make that breakthrough inevitable.

Like it was for Chris, or my jazz student.

So - how do we do it.

By leveraging something that will sound unsexy compared to the profoundness of the breakthrough and the seeming-audaciousness of the promise that you “can’t fail”.

It’s also the reason that for certain busy drummers, you can have all the greatest instructional material at your fingertips - and I’ve made many of those courses, and so have my friends - but still find it difficult to break through.

Ready? Consistency.

That’s it.

the unsexy cult of consistency

If you asked me to bet on which of two drummers would break-through, between two drummers with infinite will-power and discipline and ample free-time…

…but one had “conventional” instructional materials, and the other had targeted, specific materials like mine (if I flatter myself), or those of people like JP Bouvet, of course I’d bet on the latter.

But if we made this more “real world”, and it was between a drummer with all the “next gen” material, who kept being interrupted by “life happening”, and didn’t know where to go next…

…and one with mediocre material who managed to put in an hour-a-day over several years…

…the unsexy truth is I’m betting on consistency.

But with the Impossible to Fail program, you don’t have to choose.

Because we combine those ultra-specific “next gen” instructional materials…

…with a program that insures consistency.

Here’s how:

A custom curriculum from Yours Truly - tailored to your specific goals, and updated (mostly) weekly

Weekly live 1:1 “check ins” with me - where you can get all your questions answered and we can decide where to go next with your program. But most importantly, for most students, having that call in the calendar can be a huge difference-maker when you’re deciding whether to shed for 40 minutes at the end of the hard day…

…or just Netflix and chill.

Unlimited personalized feedback - which means that you’ll timely reviews from me of any video you submit - both those that are “homework” for your curriculum, and so-called “midweek check-ins”, when you just want to make sure you’re on the right track with material.

look Inside a real student curriculum

Here’s what it looks like to work with me.

It’s been amazing to see my students succeed, and a big part of that success is the accountability that a coach can provide.

Let’s hear from 2 more of them.

But of course, in the Impossible to Fail program, you get way more than just accountability.

Here are all the ways I’ll help you succeed.

why the impossible to fail program is so powerful

In working with my students, there are 3 key levers we use to get results:

Curriculum: over the past decade, I’ve made a science out of finding the few inputs that create the greatest outputs, and in so-doing, I’ve arrived at 3 key principles of what make great drummers great.

Timing, “Cleanliness” (or playing exactly what you mean to play), and Flow.

In the Coaching Intensive, we’ll be drawing from these principles and material that’s been proven to work for over 1,000 students. But, unlike any other program, it will be customized to you.

That means I’ll make an assessment of your abilities, compare it against your goals, and architect a path to get you from A to B in six months.

Feedback: part of changing course and making a step-change in your playing will involve venturing outside your comfort zone. And in so-doing, you’ll lose a lot of your reference points for “how it’s supposed to feel”, and “is this good progress”. That’s where the recorded feedback comes in.

Every week, you’ll submit video homework to me based on the material we’re working through, and I’ll send you direct feedback using a software called Loom, which lets me play the video and audio at the same time as commenting on it. So you can listen to your own video, with my feedback interspersed.

I’ll let you know what’s improved, any adjustments to make, and give you a “sounding board” for any questions you have as a result of venturing beyond your comfort zone.

Live Interactions: we’ll also hop on live one-on-one four-times-a-month. These sessions are useful for specific questions about the material, and setting and adjusting our direction. But as you saw with Erik’s example, these sessions are also where we give support, remind each other what we love about the drums, and get just a bit of gentle accountability, so you can power through the “resistance” when you need 10% more discipline to sit down at the drums after a long day.

But that’s not all…

Because in the group coaching program, one of the most rewarding and cathartic parts of the program is the group interaction.

Students share about their challenges with drumming, struggles and successes gigging, their favorite drummers, shows they’ve been do, videos they’ve discovered, and more.

That’s why I’ve decided to retain the key features of the group program in addition to all the 1:1 interaction. You’ll get:

• A private slack group, where you can interact with your fellow students.

• Four group “office hours” calls per month, where you can bring questions, or just come and hang and talk drums, and get motivation.

(express) virtual music college?

That’s why I like to think of the Coaching Intensive much more like a “virtual semester of music school” than either a course or private lessons. To borrow a phrase from a colleague, I want it to feel like a graduate level program…

…but instead of 15-20 hours per week, this is designed to work in only 5-7.

Because I'll be doing all the grunt work making sure you're pointed in the right direction, making course corrections, and providing morale boosts, you can do this program as long as you have 5-7 hours per week to practice.

If you're wondering what we'll cover…

...a lot of that is going to depend on YOU.

If you're a fit, and you join the program, first you'll submit some videos of yourself playing, then we'll talk about your goals.

Where my value as a coach comes in, is I'll look at your playing, see the gap between that and your goals, and put it through the old brain computer.

...and architect a program to get you from here to there.

Imagine a custom curriculum mapping the path from where you are to your goals in just 6 months.

Imagine hopping on live with me 4 times-a-month, and getting personalized feedback on your playing, all based on the 80/20 principles.

Imagine having a small group of your fellow students in a private group, to support each other, and 4 live group calls every month to troubleshoot, spill about our struggles and triumphs, and keep each other in the game.

Do you feel like that could change the trajectory of your playing and put you on a path to be the player you dream about in a much shorter time?

If you answered “yes” in your head, there’s probably something you’re still wondering about.

What’s the investment?

The answer is, that will depend on your situation, and our admissions reps will help you assess what's the best option, after learning whether your situation and goals are a fit.

But I want to set expectations.

Since last year, 3 enrollments worth of drummers have invested over $2000 to join the group coaching, which is structured to be 12 weeks long, has a set curriculum (which I think is excellent), and has, well - group workshops.

The 1:1 Coaching Intensive is more valuable in at least 3 facets:

• It has 1:1 workshops in addition to the group ones, which will customize your coaching, and is a much larger time commitment from me

• It has a customized curriculum that's individual to each drummer, which will get you the fastest results, and adapts and changes with you, and, you guessed it, takes much more of my time to create and manage

• And it's 6 months of curriculum

Tuition for just a semester at my old music college costs $25,000, not including room and board.

One of my excellent drum colleagues charges $13,000 for the top tier of coaching with him.

This program is more affordable than either of those.

And hey - it’s not a fit for every drummer.

But I’ve spent months shopping around, talking to drummers, and comparing options, in order to be confident that, for the right drummer, this is the best deal out there for what it includes, and what it helps you to accomplish.

how do I apply?

Because we only have 1-2 slots available for this program every few months…

…and it’s for such a specific drummer, we have an application process.

We want to make sure your goals fit what we do in the program, you’re at the optimal level to get the most out of it, and quite frankly that you’re somebody we’re going to enjoy spending potentially 2 hours with every week.

You probably want to “vet” us and sound us out as well.

That’s why we have a “mutual application process”: we evaluate each other, and there’s zero pressure or commitment on either side to move forward until we’ve made a mutual decision.

That process starts by booking a 20-30-minute call at a time that works for you, and answering a few questions.

You’ll automatically be assigned to one of our admissions reps - Seth and Sal - depending on who’s available when you want to speak.

There is zero commitment to join, and we will NOT hard-sell you at any point in this process, for the very simple reason that we only want to give our limited slots to people who really want to be there.

• Seth or Sal will ask you a few questions, tell you more about the program, and let you know about the investment options

• You’ll make a mutual no-pressure decision about whether it’s a good fit to move forward

• If it’s a “go” on both sides, your admissions rep will schedule a short call with me, and we’ll make the final admissions decision.

  
  
  

imagine yourself in this program

Your very own, custom curriculum, based on the 8020 principles that have helped me and thousands of students succeed in the past decade, and continuous "case management" for six months.

Six months of mostly-week 1:1 coaching sessions with me (a total of 24), where we'll check in about your progress, give you coaching cues, work through mental and physical barriers, and adjust course if needed.

An entire YEAR of weekly group live calls, where you can get even more face time with me, and compare notes with your fellow students.

And individual feedback on your playing.

Do you feel like you could succeed in blasting past your blockers with a program like this?

If you're ready to find out more detail and see if you're a fit, just click the button below to start your application by booking a call with Sal or Seth.

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Tuition increasing in July of 2025. To beat the price increase, click below to start your no-commitment application.