Mike Portnoy

A driving 7/8 groove felt as 4+3, hi-hat on every 8th, snare and kick accenting the split

Practise: Loop slowly at 70 bpm counting '1-2-3-4, 1-2-3', then remove the counting once it locks

Comes out of: Stage 2 — Core grooves — 7/8 and 5/8 backbones

Heard in: Pull Me Under · Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper · Under a Glass Moon

A linear pattern where hands and kick never land together, giving a rolling, non-doubled feel

Practise: Play hand-hand-kick-hand groupings around the toms with a metronome click on 2 and 4

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — double kick vocabulary

Heard in: Pull Me Under · Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper · Under a Glass Moon

A short, explosive burst of 32nd notes on the double pedal used to punctuate a phrase

Practise: Start as isolated bursts at a slow tempo, then insert one into a groove every four bars

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — double kick vocabulary

A fill that treats five or six drums as a melodic run rather than a rhythmic burst

Practise: Sing the shape of the fill first, then map it onto the kit high to low and back

Comes out of: Stage 4 — Fills & transitions — orchestrated tom runs

Heard in: Pull Me Under · Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper · Under a Glass Moon

Using the china as a hard accent on unexpected beats to punch up a riff hit

Practise: Play a straight groove and drop a single china hit on different off-beats each pass

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — sticking and the kick pedal

Reinterpreting a subdivision as a new pulse to change tempo feel without stopping

Practise: Play 4 in the time of 3, accent the new pulse until it feels like the true tempo

Comes out of: Stage 2 — Core grooves — 7/8 and 5/8 backbones

Heard in: Pull Me Under · Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper · Under a Glass Moon

A sustained 16th-note double-kick pattern held under a full song section

Practise: Play the pattern for the full length of a song track, resisting the urge to speed up

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — double kick vocabulary

Heard in: Pull Me Under · Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper · Under a Glass Moon

Precisely landing hits with the band on unison stabs inside otherwise busy arrangements

Practise: Practise with a recording, freezing exactly on each stab with no extra ghost notes

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — sticking and the kick pedal

A steady limb ostinato with another limb overlaying a 3-against-4 or 5-against-4 pattern

Practise: Isolate each limb slowly, then combine only once each is automatic on its own

Comes out of: Stage 2 — Core grooves — 7/8 and 5/8 backbones