Free Drum Lessons
Accented Six-Stroke Roll Techniques with Stewart Jean
We've teamed up with Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood, CA to bring you lessons from the staff. In this lesson, Stewart Jean (Drum Program Chair at MI), demonstrates unique accent exercises applied to the six-stroke-roll.
The Power of Dynamics
The term dynamics refers to how loudly or softly the music is played. Without changes in dynamics, music can sound dry or even robotic. This lesson is designed to show how greatly dynamics effect the feel of a drum beat.
Every Third Sixteenth
Each of the fills above share a basic accented sixteenth-note pattern. Accents are played every third sixteenth note. In fills 1 through 3, the accents begin on beat 1. Fills 4 through 6 begin the accent pattern on the "&" of beat 1.
Stressed Out Drum Beat
Learn a cool funk rock groove from the song Stressed Out and how to apply the hi-hat technique to your own grooves.
Finding Your Hi-Hat Pulse
Learning to play new drum beats is a lot of fun and very rewarding. Many beginner to intermediate level drummers tend to play new drum beats at face value without further exploring ways to add their own personal touch to make the beat feel the way it needs to in order to meet their given situations.
Galloping Combos - Practice Pad Exercise
This drill features six sticking variations for the above galloping rhythm. It is designed to improve your coordination and stick control through playing combinations of alternating, double, and accented strokes.
Marching The Drum Set
Steve Gadd immortalized the marching drum set with his solo titled "Crazy Army." The following march uses similar rudiments and concepts, starting with a base march and then embellishing with rolls and flams.
Snarin' The Boom Shalock Lock Boom - Drum Lesson
A great technique to groove up a groove is to play sixteenth notes on the snare drum instead of the traditional eighth notes on the hi hat. While this technique won't fit every situation, it really is a cool way to change the feel of the groove.
How You Measure Up
This lesson explores gaining full control over your dynamics. Stick control is important to express the feel of the groove appropriately.
Expression With Accents
This lesson explores the technique of accenting to create more expressive grooves. Snare Drum Workbook Chart-Topping Drum Fills
Accented Sixteenth-Note Development
This week's Monday lesson explores accented sixteenth-note patterns that can be expanded around the kit to create a lot of groove ideas.
How To Play Pompeii by Bastille
This lesson accompanies Nate Brown's video drum lesson teaching an excerpt from Steve Ley's full drum sheet music for Pompeii – Bastille. Learn the second pre chorus's very recognizable drum part, including some great Bo Diddley snare grooves.
