Whether or not you have a drum set or not you can begin to do drills that will increase your speed and technique in the long run.

Utilizing different exercises, you can even more improve your strengths while also working on your weak points to enhance your overall method.

So, sit back and relax as we stroll you through a lot of novice drum exercises that will improve your playing dramatically. Just like anything, you’re most likely aware that you require to practice; drum practice is no exception.

Prior to we dive into a deeper discussion of productive workouts that you can make use of along the entire drum set, we’ll focus just on snare drum exercises to separate a single drum.

There are certainly plenty of other exercises you can utilize, but we wanted to supply you a more comprehensive, thorough understanding of how to approach practice and use you a couple of concepts on different drum workouts you can use.

Become a 'Drummer 4/4 Life' with our exclusive JA t-shirt!

Show your dedication to rhythm with our unique 'Drummer 4/4 Life' t-shirt. Proudly display a music staff with the 4/4 time signature, the heart of most popular music beats. This piece of Jam Addict attire not only makes a bold statement about your passion for drumming, but it also lets you be a part of the JA community, a team dedicated to fostering musicians for years.

Drills for the beginner drummer—speed, technique, coordination

Starting without a drum kit!

Let’s first assume you don’t even have a drum. Grab a metronome for this workout.

Start tapping with your pinky finger initially. After a couple of beats, continue with only your ring finger, then duplicate the process up to your thumb.

This will train the fingers to work independently of each other. You will then get a much better grip and pivot control of the drumsticks.

It’s a good concept to at least offer those wrists a nice exercise. Here are some things you might do in the house: Individuals typically utilize their dominant wrists in everyday activity. One way to reinforce the weaker wrist is to use it for regular activity. This can range from brushing the teeth to stirring a hot drink

Starting with a drum

Today I’m going to show you some workouts for increasing your speed around the drum-set. Initially a little background on the topic.

For several years I invested the large bulk of my practice time dealing with hand technique. This has enormous benefits since nearly everything you play on the drum-set involves your hands.

So let’s start with double strokes.

Double strokes are two strokes with the right hand and two strokes with the left hand: RRLL

And then vice versa: LLRR

Just practice these on a pillow. Hook up a free metronome (type in metronome on google) and see if you can play four of these within one click. Start slow and then work your way up to faster.

Always strive for control and accuracy more than speed.

Paradiddle

Next let’s get a little more complicated. We are going to learn the paradiddle with is a combination of RL strokes.

They are: RLRR LRLL

You can probably get it and it doesn’t seem extraordinarily hard at first. But try playing it in time with a metronome. Maintaining this rhythm may seem very counter-intuitive at first.

Five stroke roll

This exercise is very simple but extremely effective. It can be heard in almost every jazz record.

It is a combination of two doubles and a stop.

The strokes are: RRLLR LLRRL

The last stroke on each phrase is twice as long as the other strokes.

Constructing a ‘beat’

What is a beat? A beat is a rhythmic loop that grooves. It is the basis for most music, and to learn a simple one is not terribly hard!

Learning a beat is as simple as knowing where the two and four are in each beat.

This is called the backbeat. If we have four beats: 1, 2, 3, 4, we want to play on the 2 and 4 with our snare drum.

So let’s count: 1, 2, 3, 4

Now we will place the bass drum on the 1 and 3. So we have

Bass, Snare, Bass, Snare.

Adding the hi-hat

Let’s start by adding the hi-hat on all the notes we have just played.

So it will be:

HH/Bass, HH/Snare, HH/Bass, HH/Snare

Practice that until it feels comfortable. At a slower tempo, then a faster tempo.

Now we will speed up the hi-hat a bit. We will add an additional hi-hat in between the 1, 2, 3, 4 that we were playing.

So it will look like this (the top count are hi-hats and the bottom count are the bass and snare pattern):

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

1,   2,   3,    4

Take your time with this one as it can be a little challenging to hear the very first time you play it. These grooves are simply an introduction to playing cool syncopated beats.

If you want to take the beats even more complicated try some of these.

From The Funky Primer

Some Known Incorrect Statements About Beginners Guide To Buying Drums & Percussion – The Hub

How to design an effective practice plan

Playing drums requires a strict practice routine. It doesn’t have to be a routine that is hours long, but it does need to be consistent, especially in the beginning.

You definitely notice when you haven’t been playing drums—your technique begins to go away, you aren’t as coordinated as when you are practicing a lot, etc.

So as an effective routine you can divide into three categories: learning music (which we haven’t covered but are in our articles such as How to Learn Songs on Drums By Ear ?), technique, and coordination.

For now, let’s limit technique to our hands. You improve every element of your playing by increasing your hand method. This includes your speed around the drums.

You can practice technique on one drum or split up the patterns between drums. For example try playing the first note of the paradiddle on the different toms (you have to alternate between right and left).

If you really desire to fly around the kit, you need to practice moving the drum-set quickly and effectively and these hand exercises are excellent for that.

For coordination, stick with the beats we have been learning or learn some others here: Songs to Learn for Drums (If You’re a Beginner)