Fundamentals

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 · 50–140 BPM

Each hand plays twice before you swap. First hit is powered by your wrist, second hit is the stick bouncing.

Goal: Clean doubles you can move onto any drum

Hands · 55–150 BPM

A paradiddle is the 4-note sticking R L R R, then mirrored: L R L L. The trick is that the accented (loud) note swaps hands each time, which is how drummers get fills to flow around the kit.

Goal: Paradiddles that automatically 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

Hands · 50–140 BPM

A flam is two hits, one grace (quiet, low stick) and one main (loud, high stick), that land a split second apart so they sound like one thick note instead of two. Practise both a right-hand flam and a left-hand flam.

Goal: Clean, fat flams you can drop into any groove or fill

Hands · 55–130 BPM

Ghost notes are snare hits played so quietly the stick barely leaves the head. They fill in the funk groove between the loud backbeats without stealing attention from them.

Goal: Funky pocket built from dynamic contrast, not extra notes

Hands · 50–140 BPM

You play the exact same sticking the whole time — only the volume changes, climbing one step every bar from a whisper up to as loud as you can play cleanly, then back down.

Goal: Full conscious control over dynamics at any speed

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

Groove · 55–150 BPM

The snare and kick stay the same the whole time. Only your right hand changes what it is doing on the ride. This teaches your limbs to stop copying each other.

Goal: A right hand you can change without losing the pocket

Groove · 55–140 BPM

Your hands play the exact same thing every bar. Only the kick moves. This builds the 'my foot goes where I want' skill that everything else depends on.

Goal: Tight, creative kick phrasing under a static groove

Fills · 55–150 BPM

You trade: one bar of normal groove, one bar of fill. The fill walks down the kit in order so you always know where your hands are going next.

Goal: Confident fills with a clean re-entry

Fills · 55–150 BPM

Composed fills are written once and played the same way every night. This is the opposite of improvising: you decide the notes once and then repeat them exactly.

Goal: Repeatable, song-worthy fills