never have, doesn't hurt though, lessons just make you learn stuff faster than on your own. i use cds for my lessons. studyin drummers like danny carey

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same here, never taken lessons. do the same with listening to songs first, not only to remember where each instrument/vocals kick in, but to also see exactly how the drumming goes. since metal can be harder to play than conventional rock songs, i tend to listen to it more as it helps to improve my playing  faster.

ive played for about 9 months, and people say i've really picked up well. so i guess lessons arent TOO improtant. nevertheless, they would help, but in my opinion, a strong will to learn and play is far more important....lessons or no lessons

I started taking lessons when I was 16 and learned more in the first lesson than I had learned in the prior 8 years I was playing drums.  The thing lessons do for you is to force you to do/learn things you would not do on your own.  On your own you would probabally not work on 4 way independence which is critical to good drumming.  The other benefit to lessons, is that it tend to make you practice specific things and practice more often. 

As to metal being harder to play than other types of music... I completely disagree with that statement.  Just because something is fast and loud, does not make that more difficult.  If you want difficult listen to Return to Forever, or any assortment of fusion bands.

"Let the battle begin"