16 Drum Tips I Wish I Knew as a Beginner Drummer

February 20, 2024

In this article, I will discuss drumming tips I wish I had known early on.

If you implement this drum tip into your practice routine right from the start, I promise two things will happen.

1. You will progress faster
2. You will not ignore or skip something essential, like paying attention to dynamic, groove, or timing.

These tips come from my 18 years of playing and practicing drums, making mistakes, and going back and forth. If you starting or even struggling to become a better drummer you may find some answers in this article.

16 Crucial Beginner Drum Tips

drumming basics

1. Learn proper drumming technique

The grip of the drumstick determines how well you can control it. You should find your balance between holding the drumstick to stop rebounding from the instrument and preventing the drumstick from motion after an attack.

There are many ways to grip the stick, including German, French, and American styles. In addition, all three grips have different hand positions.

My recommendation is American grip, one of three matched grips

The American grip represents a combination of the German grip’s power and the French grip’s finesse. Hold the drumsticks simultaneously with both hands as opposed to the traditional grip.

All grips require drummers to find a good fulcrum, regardless of which type they use. You can do so by following these steps.

  • Divide the stick into equal thirds.
  • Take a drumstick and pinch it between the first and second thirds toward the butt of the drumstick.
  • Grasp the drumstick with your fingers.
start drumming

2. Learn control and rebound

Drumming is mainly composed of two strokes: rebound strokes and controlled strokes

The rebound stroke causes the drumstick to bounce off the instrument before returning to its preparation stage. 

Controlled strokes control the rebound generated by the stroke while not allowing the drumstick to return to its preparation stage.

You either let the drumstick bounce or stop the bounce. Playing drums can be broken down into these two easy decisions, it is as simple as that. 

Rebound Strokes

These types of strokes are excellent for building speed on drums. Practicing rebound strokes can help you focus on relaxation, accuracy, and the economy of motion.

  • Relaxation – The muscles must be relaxed when you play. Tensen muscles will not only prevent you from developing your technique correctly, but it might also cost you a severe injury. The key to the relaxed muscle is breathing. It is safe to assume that you’re on the right track if your practice feels similar to meditation.
  • Accuracy – Upon striking, make sure your drumstick tip hits the center of the drum. As a result, your brain will train itself to play the part of the instrument that you want, making consistent sounds. 
  • The economy of motion – To begin the rebound stroke, raise the stick parallel with the playing surface. After that, accelerate the stick toward the playing surface. Strokes are played with a wrist turn, following which the wrist returns to its preparation position.

Controlled Strokes

The controlled stroke is almost identical to the rebound stroke in motion and technique. 

There is only one big difference: the rebound is stopped, so the drumstick cannot return to its initial position.

It is essential to get used to using just a wrist, let’s say while playing slow tempos to get more control.

Likewise, using fingers in fast tempos so you can stay relaxed and achieve more speed with less work, that’s what technique is all about.

how to start drumming

3. Learn basic drum rhythms in different genres

Being versatile is part of growing in music. The best drummers on the planet are highly versatile which means they can play various genres.

To achieve this you should listen to all kinds of music. Pay attention to drum kit dynamic. For instance dynamic of kick drum is different in jazz versus rock.

Learn few basic, rock, funk, jazz, latin rhythms. Even if you don’t plan to play latin music in your life it’s very useful to learn new rhythms.

4. Learn as many rudiments

If drumming is a language, then drum rudiments are the letters.

Learning drum rudiments is essential to get your “database” filled with information. 

Every new rudiment you learn is a step further into new rhythms.

To begin with drum rudiments, I suggest checking out Vic Fith’s article about 40 essential rudiments.

A while ago, I recorded an exercise on How to learn 100 new rhythms with only one exercise.

Go check it out.

Start with the basics like singles and doubles, paradiddles, and flams. However, please don’t overdo it since it can quickly become very complicated.

The single stroke roll This is the most commonly played rudiment.

Practice the same thing with your right and left hands as follows: 

  • Leading with your right: R L R L
  • Leading with your left: L R L R 

Double-stroke roll – This one is a bit more difficult compared to single strokes. For that reason, you need to master the single stroke first.

In double strokes, each hand performs two rebound strokes. This makes an open stroke roll when played hand to hand.

Furthermore, with the double-stroke, you will be playing two strokes per hand as follows:

  • Leading with your right: R R L L
  • Leading with your left: L L R R

Paradiddles – The paradiddle is a combination of single and double-strokes at once. 

Flams – It is that rudiment when the drummer strikes a grace note just before hitting the primary stroke. Using flams, drummers can thicken the notes they play and produce a longer note than could be achieved with only a single stroke.

learn drums

5. Practice systems not drum fills

Drum fills are short improvisations between parts of a song, it is a drum solo that fills in the gaps between musical phrases. 

Beginner drummers tend to practice fill by fill but that is not the way how it’s done.

Each drum fill is only part of something bigger. If you figure out how Paradiddle works, and what can you add, change, or remove, you’ll be able to make/learn dozens of Paradiddles not only one.

So learning one single rudiment is like learning a single letter from the alphabet. By learning system, you get the full scope of information.

6. Learn proper hi-hat technique

Hi-hat techniques consist of different motions that produce different sounds. This technique should complement other drumming techniques, including identifying accented and unaccented notes.

The drumming basic for hi-hat includes accented notes performed with the shoulder of a drumstick on the cymbal edge. 

The unaccepted notes are struck with the tip of the drumstick on the top of the cymbal.

7. Learn proper ride technique

The cymbal’s sound will be determined by how you play it. So even though there are numerous ways to play a ride cymbal, let’s stick with a French grip approach for drumming basics reasons.

What might be the most identifiable thing for French grip is the thumb on top of the drumstick. As you approach the ride cymbal with your arm, slightly pronating your wrist will allow more ergonomic positioning.

The wrist turn won’t occur at the joint where your hand meets your arm since your thumb is facing up. Instead, rotation of the forearm will be the action that performs the stroke. 

Let the drumstick rebound from the cymbal and use your fingers to achieve desired control over your drumstick.

8. Learn proper kick drum technique

There are two basic kick drum techniques:

  1. The heel-down technique that generates power through calf muscles and ankle movement.
  2. The heel-up technique that gains strength from the mass by using the whole leg.

Although some drummers argue which technique is better, developing both is essential, especially when learning the basics! 

The benefit of learning the heel down technique is that you gain extra power and control upon raising your heel off the pedalboard.

In a sense, it is similar to raising your arm to add to the mass of a stroke when drumming with your hands. It is part of the Moeller Technique

Using the heel down and up technique together can achieve a broader control range over your kick drum.

learn drum sheet music

9. Learn to read sheet music

Although reading music can be somewhat intimidating, it will be easy to learn the basics if you can learn the simple fractions. 

For instance, 4 beats are standard time measurements. 

Each beat can be represented by:

  • One whole note
  • Two half notes
  • Four quarter notes
  • Eight eighth notes, etc.

Reading sheet music allows you to access a wide range of drum methods.

10. Always practice with metronome

A drumming fundamental that cannot be compromised is playing in time.

The quality of your performances will not matter if you are not on time, and the metronome is the most straightforward tool for achieving this goal.

They are an essential tool for drumming practice of any kind. 

For example, you can use a metronome when playing a pad to improve your stroke technique or when playing drum beats to improve your groove. 

Using a metronome will fine-tune your internal clock.

11. Listen to other musicians in the band

You should listen to music with a critical ear. This doesn’t mean that everything you hear should be analyzed and critiqued. 

But instead asks questions about how the musicians are playing, their technique, why their groove sounds so good, etc. 

It is trying to understand the music to become just as critical of the music you play. Developing this skill is one of the best ways to become a successful player.

12. Change the style according to genre

The drummer is one of the most critical factors in establishing the band’s feel and style. 

The feel can range from more straight-laced to more swung, varying in degree from one extreme to another. For beginner drummers, the ability to control the feeling of various styles is essential.

Drum styles are typically adaptations of traditional rhythms. This is why mastering the essential parts of a drum set requires knowing and understanding the traditional rhythms.

13. Practice improvising

Drum solos are your time to shine and show off your skills while creating something musical on your instrument.

Here are some tips for developing a drum solo.

  • Have patience – Not every minute of your solo needs to be memorable. Snip away at beats in each measure until you put together some ideas you’d like to develop.
  • Use themes – After you have an idea, make it into a theme that can be played on different instruments. Continue the solo development with more variations on the theme.
  • Use rudiments – For instance, use rolls to make your notes last longer or paradiddles to access different instruments.
  • Leave space – This goes hand in hand with patience. Empty space can create an impression of excitement when used strategically.
  • Create energy – One way to create energy is by the contrast between busy and conservative playing. Tempo and dynamics are also effective ways to do this.
  • Dynamic – Increasing and decreasing the dynamics at key phrases in your solo can add energy and excitement.
  • Include grooves – Many of the best drum solos begin with a groove, followed by fills that create new grooves or fills that become increasingly complex. 

14. Balance your sound

One of the most crucial drumming basics is how loud you play the cymbals in relation to the drums. However, not a lot of beginner drummers pay attention to this.

When playing the basic drum beat, make sure that the cymbals are quieter than the drums. When changing the volume of instruments, make sure you do not lose tempo or intensity. You can repeat this exercise with the snare and kick drum. 

When you focus on the different instruments and volumes, your hands and feet will be trained to respond to musical situations more appropriately. 

After we have thoroughly covered all things you need to be aware of when start drumming, we can move on to the practical part. 

I prepared special tips and tricks that made me a better drummer, as well as videos that will help you learn essential drumming basics in less than 1 hour!

15. Play with dynamic

Dynamic is the space between loudest and the quietest note. The whole point is to lower done the volume of the quiet one and make a larger range between those two notes..

This is one of the main characteristics of professional drummers, they all have mastered dynamic.

This will make a difference in studio recording, where you can hear every detail

I found this video of one of my favorite drummers Vinnie Colaiuta explaining this, check it out…

16. Pay attention to metric

My last but still highly important drum tip, pay attention to your drum metric.

Metric is the distance between two notes. So, metric is the space distance while dynamic is the volume distance. 

Our bad metric will make the groove bad because some notes are not where they need to be. They are played faster or slower than to so in rhythm context they are off. Here is the example.

metric on drums

I hope you realize how this things are important in drumming. Become a true pro means having a perfect metric.

There are plenty of drum exercises designed to improve your metric but here is the best one by my modest opinion. It is called 10 by 10 and it’s the best exercise for drummers I was able to learn in 15 years.

Free drum lesson - 4 Basic Drum Strokes

1. DOWN stroke

You start in an up position and you finish all the way down after you hit the drum.

2. TAP stroke

Your stick is in the down position so you hit one gentle, quiet tap.

3. UP stroke

You are starting in a down position going up. On your way up you need to hit tap as quiet as you can.

4. FULL stroke

You are starting it an up position, hitting the drum and ending in the same position

5. Combine

Now you need to combine all these strokes. So, down,tap,up,full. Practice this at 50 bpm and increase the tempo slowly..

 
Denis Loncaric
Denis Loncaric

My name is Denis. I am a drummer, percussionist, music enthusiast, and blogger. Drums have been my passion for 15 years now. My idea is to write about the things I like and I am interested in. I want to share my drum passion with fellow musicians who walk, talk, and breathe drums.

4 Comments
Show all Most Helpful Highest Rating Lowest Rating Add your review
  1. Hi,

    I can’t seem to find the 10 by 10 exercises.

    Regards

    Simon

  2. Thanks for the reminder that stamina is also important to develop when planning to play drums. I’d like to take drum lessons soon because I have a medical condition that prevents me from doing a lot of strenuous workouts. Perhaps playing the drums could be a suitable substitute.

Leave a reply

Drum That
Logo