Free Drum Lessons
Exploring the "& ah" Drum Lesson
This lesson explores adding a syncopated crash on the "ah" of beat 4.
The Groove
We've all got that go-to beat that we play first every time we sit down at the kit. Here's my most recent go-to beat. For whatever reason, I've been attached to this groove lately. It's a lot of fun to play and is full of ghost strokes. What could be better than that?
Orchestrating a Syncopated Rhythm
Learn six drum fills based on the same rhythmic pattern. The re-orchestration technique allows you to create many drum fills with different flavors.
Syncopated Drum Fill Pattern
This lesson takes a syncopated drum fill pattern and moves it around the kit. There are a lot of possibilities with this pattern. Try moving this pattern around the kit in your own ways to create more grooves.
Syncopated 9/8 Grooves
In this drum lesson, learn a funky beat played in 9/8, techniques for counting 9/8, and also some cool variations of the 9/8 groove.
Ain't It Fun - Paramore - Chorus Lesson
Slapping the open hi-hat on the up-beats throughout the chorus really lights this song up. Further building that fun sounding energy, this groove uses a triplet swing feel (or sixteenth-notes to broken-sixteenth-note-triplets metric modulation, for those of us drum geeks!).
How To Play Jump - Van Halen Guitar Solo On Drums
This week's lesson goes over the drum part for the guitar solo portion of Jump by Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen claimed this was his favorite guitar solo he never wrote.
How To Play Best of You - Foo Fighters - Outro
This is a high-energy song, as many Foo Fighter's songs are. The outro repeats a refrain on beats 1 and 2 throughout the entire outro and throws quick, syncopated fills on beats 3 and 4.
How To Play Royals by Lorde
Break away from those straight eighth note or sixteenth note grooves. The groove from Royals applies some creative hi-hat techniques that you can pull from time to time.
Drum Fill from Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin
Exploring the techniques from my favorite drum fill in the song Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin, this lesson seeks to dissect the fill and teach you to apply the concepts to your own drumming.
The Pad - Exercise 5
Our 5th The Pad Exercise concentrates on syncopation. Appreciate those Es and Ahs!
The Pad - Exercise 7: Two Surfaces
This week's The Pad exercise takes the sticks to two surfaces. You can use a second practice pad to replace the rim strokes. If you don't have a second pad, setting up an old book or pillow works, too.
