Whether you are new to drumming or have years of experience under your belt, the truth about your capability to play drums is important to understand.  It is true that there are individuals that have a natural ability to keep rhythm and play the drums, however, these individuals don’t just pick up a set of drum sticks and start playing a complex latin rhythm. They may have an intuition that many don’t, but they still require thousands of hours behind the kit to hone their talent.  However, if you are like me, you may love the drums but struggle to play certain rhythms or songs.  And that’s ok, because the truth is, you are just as capable as any other drummer on the planet with the right amount of practice.  And by practice, I don’t mean noodling on the drum set every night playing what feels good to you.  I mean being intentional with your practice and identifying a pattern, a groove, a fill or a technique that you want to learn or improve.  Setting the metronome to 40 beats per minute so you can practice slow and engrain it in your muscle memory.  Practicing only a few things over and over again, week after week, until it begins to feel natural, because it will eventually feel natural and you will eventually play it well.  A number of years ago I wanted to branch out and learn some jazz samba.  I found a cool little jazz samba groove online and started to break it down and practice.  I almost threw in the towel after the first 5 minutes.  It seemed impossible.  I was able to get the basic pattern for the bass drum, ride cymbal and high hat, but the moment I tried to add the snare drum… my brain melted.  But determination drove me to write the pattern out on a large piece of paper, practice at what felt like 10 beats a minute for the first few weeks to build muscle memory, and then slowly increase the speed.  And voila, 3 months later I was able to play it.  The point is, when I play this rhythm now it feels natural, it feels smooth and those watching believe that I’m naturally talented.  But they are wrong, it took months of practice and months of refinement to make it look and feel natural.  So as long as you’re determined and willing to put in the practice time, there are no limits to your capabilities.