I’m obsessed with El Estepario Siberiano.
I’m not alone, either. At the time of writing, this guy has over 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube and 3.4 million followers on TikTok.
Siberiano makes videos about drumming and his approach is super simple: pick a section of a song, film yourself playing along and publish it. It’s a form of content creation within a niche that suits shot-form platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok perfectly. There are millions of people doing this kinda thing.
The difference with this guy is that he is, quite simply, the most incredible drummer I’ve ever seen or heard. The stuff he does, while sitting on that drum stool, is utterly mind-blowing. And he’s given me a big idea.
Music has played a huge role throughout my life. My dad has been a musician for most of his own life, which, as you’d guess, influenced me considerably. As a result, I’ve long had a ‘bedroom’ studio of sorts for producing my own music, and I’ve played live with my dad on keys. I therefore understand what it takes to become proficient with a musical instrument and the time required to learn the craft of playing and making music. The challenge in recent years is that the time to do either of those things has been in short supply.
I’m gradually satisfying my urge to create music by integrating the tech element of that pastime into a music studio series on the Mark Ellis Reviews YouTube channel, but my thirst for learning and playing has been difficult to quench. I still dabble with the piano, but nowhere near enough to scratch that particular itch.
However, I’ve always harboured a secret desire to learn the drums. I say secret, although it’s not exactly something I actively keep to myself - I’m just one of those people who is always quietly tapping away on an imaginary drum kit while listening to music. The extensive time I’ve poured into music production and playing live has provided what I believe to be a great sense of timing and rhythm, too. Put simply, I think I’d be pretty decent at the drums - if I gave it the time it deserves.
This is where El Estepario Siberiano comes in. He’s inspired me to give this a go. Only, I have to be realistic. And this is where content creation comes in.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my YouTube journey, it’s that consistency really is the key to becoming successful. It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in, or your approach to video making; if you turn up every week and do the same thing each time, you’ll get somewhere. Learning a musical instrument is exactly the same - it’s how I developed the skills and confidence to play those live gigs with my dad nearly ten years ago, despite being unable to read a single note of sheet music.
Back to being realistic, and as much as I’d love to pour hours of practice time into learning the drums each week, that simply isn’t possible with my schedule. But there are pockets of time here and there, and I do have studio space that can easily accommodate a small electronic kit. So, I’m going to do it - I’m going to finally buy myself a set of drums and dedicated a specific amount of time every single week to learning the craft.
I don’t have any desire to join a band or transfer my playing from the studio to anywhere else. This is entirely for me, and it’s designed to satisfy an urge I’ve had for many years while applying everything I’ve learned about consistency to something that doesn’t involve switching on a camera. I’m excited by the prospect and eager to get going - it’s important to stretch yourself and do things that remain creative but entirely removed from your day-to-day creations.
I’ll let you know how it goes.