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.
Rolling Through the Triplets with Tim McIntyre
The second installment of our exclusive Musicians Institute Hollywood drum lesson series, Tim McIntyre lets the rolls fly in this great application of the five-stroke roll based in triplets.
Put this Warm-up in Your Grooves
One of my favorite go-to warm-ups, this pattern can also double as a slick technique to use within your drum beats.
Bring the Herta to Your Drum Fills
The herta patterns is a fun-to-play, versatile pattern that can be applied to create head-turning drum fills and beats.
Funkin' Five Stroke Roll Variations
The placement of the five stroke rolls creates a displaced, funky back-beat on the “ah” of beat 3. We can add a little flare to the technique by re-orchestrating the right stick to different surfaces during the five stroke rolls.
Bag o' Short Fills
This lesson focuses on a few short fill ideas. Short fills generally take up a half measure or less, hence the name.
Paradiddle Breakdown
The humble paradiddle's combination of single and double strokes lends itself to being accented on the beat. The double strokes allows a split-seconds extra time for the other stick to prepare for an accented stroke. Stick height is the most important element in playing accented sticking patterns with the right dynamics.
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.
Swiss Army Triplet Groove
This lesson focuses on expanding the Swiss Army Triplet rudiment into a cool groove & drum fill.
Groove Embellishment
Starting with a foundational groove, this lesson adds embellishments to develop the groove and create two-measure repeating patterns.
Drum Roll Please - 5-strokes & 9-strokes
This week's lesson takes the basic 5-stroke and 9-stroke roll rudiments and applies them in interesting ways around the kit. Playing these rudiments within your beats and fills can make your rudiment practice time more fun ... plus, they sound great.
