Matt Cameron

Hands · 50–160 BPM

You alternate hands, one hit each, non-stop. You do NOT stay on the snare: every bar your hands move to a different drum so your arms learn to travel.

Goal: Even singles that stay even while your arms travel around the kit

Hands · 55–130 BPM

Every beat has 4 notes. The first one is loud (stick starts high), the other three are whispers (stick stays 2cm off the drum).

Goal: You control volume, not the stick

Independence · 50–120 BPM

Your left foot closes the hi-hat on the '&' — the space between the numbers. Most drummers' left foot is asleep; this wakes it up.

Goal: An independent left foot that keeps the pulse for you

Independence · 50–130 BPM

Half-time means the snare only lands once a bar (on beat 3) so everything feels slower and heavier. Keep your left foot ticking underneath so the pulse never disappears.

Goal: Holding an underlying pulse during quiet sections

Independence · 45–110 BPM

'Ostinato' just means a short pattern you repeat without changing. Here your right hand and both feet play a fixed loop while your left hand improvises on snare and toms.

Goal: Genuine four-way independence

Progressive & Odd Time · 50–120 BPM

The bar is still normal 4/4 — 16 notes. But you accent every 3rd note. Because 3 does not divide into 16, the accent lands somewhere new each beat and only lines up again after 3 bars. This is the 'over the barline' sound.

Goal: Comfortable playing one rhythm on top of another

Progressive & Odd Time · 50–130 BPM

7/8 means a bar has 7 eighth notes instead of 8 — so the bar finishes one 'and' earlier than normal and loops straight back to 1. Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 — then straight back to 1.

Goal: Odd time that still headbangs (Pull Me Under, Metropolis)

Double Kick · 55–140 BPM

Your feet play a constant stream of 4 notes per beat, alternating right-left. Your hands play a normal rock groove on top so it sounds like music, not a machine gun exercise.

Goal: Even 16ths with nothing dropped for a full minute

Progressive & Odd Time · 55–150 BPM

Trashy cymbals like the china are not for keeping time — they are punctuation, like a full stop at the end of a sentence. You hit it and grab it to stop the sound (a 'choke').

Goal: Phrase marking with a china

Double Kick · 70–180 BPM

The benchmark test. Dream Theater's Panic Attack sits around 150 BPM. You are working up to holding that for a full chorus.

Goal: A full chorus of 16ths at 150 BPM

Double Kick · 55–130 BPM

Same 16th note double kick, but treated like gym intervals. You play until the timer stops you, then rest completely.

Goal: Hold your tempo for 60 seconds with no tension

Progressive & Odd Time · 55–160 BPM

No grid, no tab. You play music and deliberately drop in at least three things you practised in this session.

Goal: Turn exercises into music

Double Kick · 70–190 BPM

Short bursts above your comfortable tempo. Speed is trained in tiny doses, not by grinding.

Goal: Raise your top speed for short phrases

Progressive & Odd Time · 45–110 BPM

In the same amount of time, your hands play 3 notes and your feet play 2. They only line up on note 1. The classic phrase to say out loud is 'NICE cup of TEA' — hands on every syllable, feet on NICE and of.

Goal: Internalise the polyrhythmic feel