Can you learn how to play the bodhrán online?

Learning how to play the bodhrán online. Actually, learning how to do anything online! It seems to be all the rage these days. But is it actually doable? Can you really learn how to play the bodhrán online?

I love getting emails from people who have come across my site online or seen my videos pop up on their social media. People are passionate about music, and bodhrán players are no different about their instruments, learning and quest to better themselves. That becomes quickly apparent in the emails I often get from people. 

When you’re learning something and you feel like you’re getting somewhere with it, it’s easy to invest lots of time and effort into learning everything you can about it. And when you’re thinking of investing in something like a new instrument, teacher or online course, it’s normal to want to do some research and find out as much as possible first.

I had an email a couple weeks ago from someone considering buying some of my courses, and he had a few interesting questions.

Is it possible to learn to play the bodhrán online?

The long and short of it is, yes, you can. Which is the main reason I decided to take my years of teaching and create an easy to follow course like this! I think there are a few things that can make it much easier to learn online which often aren’t done right, which is why so much thought and planning went into how my lessons were filmed and created.

I think learning the bodhrán online should be 100% possible, but one of the main things that can make it more difficult is the quality of videos people put out. I don’t think it’s going to be easy or enjoyable to learn the bodhrán if it’s not filmed and recorded in a way that lets you see all angles of the playing or properly hear all the tones. This is why amazing video and audio quality is of really high important within my courses.

Group lessons vs private lessons

I would look at an online course more as a group teaching setting rather than a 1:1 lesson. You have all the material and techniques in a way that makes sense and builds on the last lesson, and they are grouped together by level of difficulty. 

In a 1:1 lesson, you would cover all of the same techniques and teaching points, but these would be tailored to your playing and level exactly. So you may do things in a different order, or spend longer on one technique than another.

Online courses are much more akin to the experience you would have in a group class setting. I really enjoy having our closed student Facebook group as well, where we can interact with each other and ask questions/discuss points that will help everyone with their playing.

Learn from anywhere

And last but not least, this is the biggest reason I wanted to put my lessons online. I grew up on the West Coast of Canada and moved to Scotland to study traditional music when I was 17. Before I moved, I played a lot all over the place and was always checking musicians websites and blogs to see their updates and teachings and there wasn’t very much online in the way of learning that long ago. I know what it feels like to live very far away from where it feels like all the action is happening and to want to be a part of it!

Putting my lessons online enables anyone, from anywhere in the world, to have access to high quality lessons that I’ve spent years teaching already. I know most of the problems you’ll run into before you’ll have them, and most of the questions you’ll have before you ask them, because people generally struggle with similar things. I try my best to address these through all of my lessons.

Take action to become a better bodhrán player!

At the end of the day, you could spend hours of time researching but not implementing. In my eyes, this is the biggest mistake!

Which drum to buy?

Which teacher to learn from?

Learn from YouTube?

Try an online course?

Learn the basics on your own?

The biggest reason your playing won’t improve as much as you would like is because you spend too much time researching and worrying about the best route to take, and then you never end up choosing anything at all. Whether you buy an online course, take some 1:1 lessons, or learn from YouTube videos ultimately doesn’t matter the most in the end; pick something, get started, learn and adjust as you go. And that will make the biggest difference to your playing.

I hope this helps you realise that it doesn’t actually matter as much how you get started or continue to improve your bodhrán playing, just that you actually go out there and do it, learn as much as you can, and continue to practice.

I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts on what I’ve written about here; leave me a comment below or send me an email! I always love hearing from you guys.