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Daniel Botana

What's New in Percussion.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Self-Taught Success Feat. Cobus Potgieter & Luke Holland


Drum Roll Please...What’s the difference between teaching yourself how to do something and having someone else teach you? Well, to me there is a significant difference. You see I am a self-taught drummer and I am glad I have taught myself how to play. The reason is because I believe learning on your own is what drives passion. Some people need to teach themselves how to do certain things because when it comes to that one thing they don’t want someone holding them accountable for it. They want to hold themselves accountable.  I fell in love with drums and have been further developing my skills slowly. It all comes with time! However, I have a couple of people I look up to as a reference of what I want to be able to do one day! Something that my mom always says is “no matter how old you are you will never stop learning”.  With that said, I am going to introduce to you two drummers I follow on a constant basis.


            This is a self-taught drummer all the way from South Africa. He influences me due to his outlook on learning percussion. He always wants to learn something new about percussion. He has a hunger for just wanting to dig deeper into something he loves. Aside from his hunger, you can always see the passion he has to play drums in every one of his videos. He is just so thrilled sitting on that throne! I know Cobus would directly agree with my mom’s quote because he is always learning something new everyday from either other percussionists or himself. It is that desire to learn more that has brought him so much success, such as his own instructional DVD which is all about learning how to play drums by ear and learning all of his techniques! He has his own documentary and has raised tons of money on Kickstarter from all of his supporters in order to record his own album with other artists around the world! This guy leaves me speechless with his passion and drive!

            What I love about Luke Holland is his technicality! This guy started teaching himself how to play drums at age 10 and has become a monster behind the drum set. What this guy has to offer is so much technique and complex fills that leave your mind blown! At the age of 18, Luke already accrued over 10 million views on his YouTube account. This guy’s success through YouTube opened the door to his professional percussion career.  In 2010, Luke was asked personally by Adam Grey of Texas in July to fill in for him at on of their shows. He is now touring the globe with The Word Alive and has many more opportunities ahead of him! Luke Holland shows me that dedication and love for something can drive you to wherever you want to go! Luke and Cobus are the same in that area. They both wanted something more from drums. That more was sharing their talent with others.

            These two percussionists are amazing at what they do! Their hearts for music and drumming are in the right place. They continue to inspire many percussionists through constant interaction on social media. They are a clear example of how far passion can take you. They display, through their skills, how so much love for something can take you wherever you want to go! 

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