Free Drum Lessons

Three Levels of Dynamics with Castle on the Hill

Learn the main tom groove used in the chorus of Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran.

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.

Cross-Over Believer Groove

This lesson walks through the creative cross-over grooves used in the 2nd verse and pre-chorus of the song Believer by Imagine Dragons.

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.

"AH"nother Take on Drum Fills

Drummers are often locked into the technique of playing a crash cymbal on beat 1 when coming out of a drum fill. There's a good reason for that: it works well in a lot of situations.

Building A Triplet Tom Groove

Building from a simple tom-groove in four, turn this pattern into a slick six-eight feel just by adding hi hat variations and snare. Fun groove! Watch the knuckles on the crossover!

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.

Breaking Out of the 4/4 Rut

This lesson explores a slick alternative to playing in 4/4. The grooves are designed to be very similar to 4/4, but because they're actually in 7/8, the last would-be 8th note is missing. Stepping outside of your comfort zone is a great exercise to keep your drumming mind fresh.