The Complete Drum Teacher’s Guide
A sequenced map of drum set teaching, from a student’s first lesson to a capstone project five years later, so your time goes to teaching instead of planning. Now online, with student checklists built in.
5 volumes · 225 lessons
One volume per year, 45 chapters each, sized for one-hour weekly lessons. Hands, feet, coordination, reading, time, styles and musicianship deepen year to year.
Linked from start to finish
Every topic points back to what it builds on and ahead to where it returns. Tap a reference to jump there, search everything, and see where each skill is introduced, developed, applied and mastered.
Student progress checklists
Keep a list of your students, check off chapters with dates and notes, and save any student’s checklist as a PDF to share with families. Student records stay on your own computer.
Your methods, your materials
The guide doesn’t tell you how to teach. There are no prescribed exercises or method books. It says what comes next; how you teach it is up to you. It brings a logical sequence, less planning, consistency across your studio, built-in checkpoints, and continuity when a student changes teachers.
Written by Chris Mattoon: drum teacher, owner of Mattoon Drums & Percussion, student of Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, and writer for Drum! and Drumhead.
- The complete five-volume guide, online
- Cross-references, search and index
- Unlimited students and PDF checklists
- All Drum Tools, including the Chart Builder
- Every future update and new tool included
- Cancel anytime from your account
Drum Tools for your studio
The Guide tells you what comes next. The Drum Tools help you teach it. They're built for the lesson room, open right beside the Guide, and work on a laptop, tablet or phone.
Any song, charted for your student in minutes
Load a song and the Chart Builder isolates the drums, then lays out a clean road-map chart: sections, bar counts, grooves and fills, the way working drummers write them by hand. Hand it to a student who wants to play along with their favorite tune, prep a recital piece, or teach song form without spending your evening transcribing.
- Drum track separated from the mix automatically
- Simple road-map layout students can actually read
- Print it or save it for the next lesson
Drum Tuner
Uses your device's microphone to show the pitch of each drum, so students learn to tune by ear and you can check their kit in seconds.
Fill Builder
Build fills to fit any groove and print them. Endless fresh material for coordination and phrasing.
Divisor Grooves
Generate grooves across subdivisions for reading and independence work at exactly the level a student is on.
Divisor Etudes
New snare etudes by subdivision whenever you need them, so reading practice never runs out of pages.
How it works
- Create your account. Choose a username and password and tell us a little about where and what you teach.
- Confirm your email. We’ll send a link to make sure we can reach you.
- Subscribe. Pay securely by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through Stripe. Billing renews monthly until you cancel.
- Teach. Use the Teacher’s Entrance any time to open the guide.