Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston is without doubt one of the most skillful and infectious teachers in the drum game today. From his high-tech studio in Sacramento, CA he inspires drummers throughout the world with video lessons that have attracted millions of views.

While developing the new curriculum for his advanced drum camps he took a minute to share his story and give us some top tips on achieving our own drumming goals:

How did you get into drumming in the first place Mike?
I started in the school band when I was 5 years old. I was playing the clarinet and I kept passing out every time we’d work on our whole notes – I would blow and blow and I would just fall down until finally the teacher was like ‘Mike, just go in the back and stand with the drums. This is terrible, your gonna kill yourself!’

I was 5 and I didn’t know any better so I just went back there and played bass drum for about a year. I was so jealous of the girl who played suspended cymbal and snare. Her name was Candice Alpert, and I was thinking, ‘I hate this girl, I want to play that cymbal and snare.’

From there my parents got me a drumset and I started taking private lessons when I was 6 – I was horrible for many years but I didn’t mind because I just loved playing.

So, It was a kind of school band accident that got me started.