drum.town · a free town for learning the drums

The whole town practices to the same clock.

A complete curriculum you can walk: 217 lessons with real notation you can press play on, 852 exercises, 40 rudiments — free, in your browser, no sign-up.

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Chapter 1 of 19

Getting Started

6 lessons

Before you hit a drum

  1. 01 The Kit: What's What 10–15 min
  2. 02 Sticks, Pads & First Gear 10 min
  3. 03 Setup & Posture 10 min
  4. 04 Stick Grip & Strokes 15 min
  5. 05 Tuning Your Drums 20 min
  6. 06 How to Practice 10 min
Chapter 2 of 19

Reading & Counting

9 lessons

The language of rhythm on paper

  1. 01 Reading Music: Note Values 20 min
  2. 02 Time Signatures 15–20 min
  3. 03 Rests: The Sound of Silence 15–20 min
  4. 04 Counting Eighths 15 min
  5. 05 Counting Sixteenths 20 min
  6. 06 Triplet Feel 20 min
  7. 07 Mixed Subdivisions 20–25 min
  8. 08 Reading Syncopation 20–25 min
  9. 09 Dotted Rhythms 20–25 min
Chapter 3 of 19

Rudiments

14 lessons

The motor patterns underneath everything

  1. 01 The Single Stroke Roll 15 min
  2. 02 The Double Stroke Roll 20 min
  3. 03 The Single Paradiddle 15–20 min
  4. 04 The Double Paradiddle 20 min
  5. 05 The Inverted Paradiddle 20 min
  6. 06 The Paradiddle-Diddle 20 min
  7. 07 The Flam 20 min
  8. 08 The Flam Tap 20 min
  9. 09 The Flam Accent 20 min
  10. 10 The Swiss Army Triplet 20 min
  11. 11 The Drag 20 min
  12. 12 The Dragadiddle 25 min
  13. 13 Accented Single Strokes 20 min
  14. 14 The Six-Stroke Roll 20 min
Chapter 4 of 19

Time on the Kit

5 lessons

From bare backbeat to musical drumming

  1. 01 Your First Beat 15 min
  2. 02 Kick Variations 20 min
  3. 03 Backbeat Color 20 min
  4. 04 Two-Bar Phrasing 20 min
  5. 05 The Shuffle Feel 20–25 min
Chapter 5 of 19

Foot Technique

3 lessons

What your feet are actually doing

  1. 01 Bass Drum Technique 20 min
  2. 02 Hi-Hat Foot Technique 20 min
  3. 03 Bass Drum Doubles 25 min
Chapter 6 of 19

Hand Technique on the Kit

8 lessons

Sound is what your hands shape

  1. 01 Snare Voicings 20–25 min
  2. 02 Hi-Hat Articulation 20 min
  3. 03 Cymbal Voicings 20–25 min
  4. 04 Ghost Notes 25 min
  5. 05 Accent and Tap 20–25 min
  6. 06 The Moeller Stroke 20–25 min
  7. 07 Finger Control 20–25 min
  8. 08 The Dynamic Spectrum 20–25 min
Chapter 7 of 19

Coordination

4 lessons

Your four limbs, talking to each other

  1. 01 Basic Coordination 20 min
  2. 02 Three-Limb Patterns 20–25 min
  3. 03 Four-Way Independence Basics 25 min
  4. 04 Limb Substitution 20 min
Chapter 8 of 19

Independence Systems

5 lessons

The methodologies drummers actually use to get free

  1. 01 Singing as a Practice Tool 20 min
  2. 02 The Chapin Method 25 min
  3. 03 The New Breed System 25 min
  4. 04 Melodic Snare Over Stable Feet 25 min
  5. 05 The Clave-Foot System 25–30 min
Chapter 9 of 19

Fills & Transitions

3 lessons

Getting from one section to the next

  1. 01 Basic Fills 20 min
  2. 02 Pickup Fills 15–20 min
  3. 03 Fills Around the Kit 20–25 min
Chapter 10 of 19

Practicing

5 lessons

How you actually get better

  1. 01 Warm-Ups 5–10 min
  2. 02 Practicing with a Metronome 15 min
  3. 03 Slow Practice 10–15 min
  4. 04 Recording Yourself 15 min
  5. 05 Training Your Ear 20 min
Chapter 11 of 19

Putting It Together

2 lessons

From exercises to playing music

  1. 01 Playing to a Song 20 min
  2. 02 The Two-Minute Loop 10–15 min
Chapter 12 of 19

Rock & Pop

20 lessons

Backbeats that built modern music

  1. 01 Eighth-Note Grooves 20 min
  2. 02 Quarter-Note Hi-Hat 15 min
  3. 03 Cross-Stick & Ballad Feel 20 min
  4. 04 Basic Fills 25 min
  5. 05 Four-on-the-Floor 15 min
  6. 06 Sixteenth-Note Hi-Hat 25 min
  7. 07 Open Hats & Syncopation 20 min
  8. 08 Shuffle Rock 25 min
  9. 09 Power Ballad Grooves 25 min
  10. 10 Tom-Driven Grooves 25 min
  11. 11 Half-Time Feel 20–25 min
  12. 12 Train Beat 20 min
  13. 13 Linear Fills 25 min
  14. 14 Double-Time Grooves 20–25 min
  15. 15 Stadium Anthem 20 min
  16. 16 Prog Rock Vocabulary 30 min
  17. 17 Odd Meters in Rock 30 min
  18. 18 Hybrid Grooves 25–30 min
  19. 19 Studio Polish & Production 30 min
  20. 20 Dynamic Mastery 30 min
Chapter 13 of 19

Jazz

21 lessons

The language of improvisation

  1. 01 The Jazz Ride Pattern 20 min
  2. 02 Hi-Hat Foot on 2 and 4 20 min
  3. 03 Brushes — First Steps 25 min
  4. 04 Slow Ballad Brushwork 20 min
  5. 05 Medium Swing Comping 25 min
  6. 06 Comping Basics 30 min
  7. 07 The Jazz Waltz 25 min
  8. 08 Trading Fours 25 min
  9. 09 Bossa-Influenced Jazz 25 min
  10. 10 Intro to Up-Tempo Time 25 min
  11. 11 Intro to Broken Time 25 min
  12. 12 Bop Vocabulary 25–30 min
  13. 13 Up-Tempo Time 25–30 min
  14. 14 Broken Time 25–30 min
  15. 15 Modal Comping (Coltrane) 25 min
  16. 16 Comping Vocabulary 25–30 min
  17. 17 Free Jazz Concepts 25–30 min
  18. 18 Post-Bop Independence 30 min
  19. 19 Elvin Jones Triplet Vocabulary 30 min
  20. 20 Tony Williams Concepts 30 min
  21. 21 Modern Jazz Independence 35 min
Chapter 14 of 19

Funk

20 lessons

The pocket is everything

  1. 01 Ghost Notes & The Pocket 20 min
  2. 02 Sixteenth-Note Feel 20 min
  3. 03 Pocket Drumming 20 min
  4. 04 Clyde Stubblefield (JB) 25 min
  5. 05 The Meters — First Steps 20 min
  6. 06 James Brown Vocabulary 30 min
  7. 07 Linear Funk 30 min
  8. 08 Zigaboo & The Meters 30 min
  9. 09 Bernard Purdie — Intro 30 min
  10. 10 Moving Ghost Notes 25 min
  11. 11 New Orleans Second-Line 25 min
  12. 12 Beat Displacement 25 min
  13. 13 The Purdie Shuffle 30 min
  14. 14 David Garibaldi (Tower) 25 min
  15. 15 Sparse Quarter-Note Funk 20 min
  16. 16 D'Angelo Time-Feel 30 min
  17. 17 Modern Neo-Soul 30 min
  18. 18 Questlove Time-Feel 30 min
  19. 19 Vinnie's Funk Drumming 30 min
  20. 20 Modern R&B Production 30 min
Chapter 15 of 19

Latin & Afro-Cuban

20 lessons

Clave is the law

  1. 01 Understanding Clave 25 min
  2. 02 Bossa Nova 20 min
  3. 03 Samba on the Kit 25 min
  4. 04 Cha-Cha-Cha 20 min
  5. 05 Mambo — First Steps 25 min
  6. 06 Songo 25 min
  7. 07 Mozambique 20 min
  8. 08 Merengue 20 min
  9. 09 Cumbia 20 min
  10. 10 Cáscara on the Kit 25 min
  11. 11 Rumba 30 min
  12. 12 6/8 Afro-Cuban 30 min
  13. 13 Bembé Bell Pattern 25 min
  14. 14 Guaguancó 30 min
  15. 15 Comparsa 25 min
  16. 16 Folkloric Integration 30 min
  17. 17 Modern Hybrid Approaches 30 min
  18. 18 Batá Rhythms on the Kit 25 min
  19. 19 Iyesá 20 min
  20. 20 Yoruba Ceremonial Rhythms 25 min
Chapter 16 of 19

Jazz Fusion

20 lessons

Where complexity meets groove

  1. 01 Jazz Coordination Foundation 20–25 min
  2. 02 The Six-Stroke Roll 20–25 min
  3. 03 Half-Time Shuffle 25 min
  4. 04 Linear Playing — First Steps 25 min
  5. 05 Jazz-Rock Crossover 25 min
  6. 06 Odd Meters: 5/4 and 7/8 25 min
  7. 07 Linear Vocabulary 30 min
  8. 08 Displaced Grooves 25 min
  9. 09 Sixteenth-Based Fusion 30 min
  10. 10 Broken-Time Fusion 30 min
  11. 11 Polyrhythmic Grooves 25 min
  12. 12 Fusion Soloing Vocabulary 30 min
  13. 13 Metric Superimposition 30 min
  14. 14 Clave-Influenced Fusion 30 min
  15. 15 Tony Williams Lifetime Style 30 min
  16. 16 Metric Modulation 30 min
  17. 17 Modern Fusion (Guiliana, Nilles) 30 min
  18. 18 Prog Fusion (Liquid Tension) 30 min
  19. 19 Electronic Fusion 25 min
  20. 20 Mahavishnu Orchestra Style 30 min
Chapter 17 of 19

Metal

20 lessons

Speed, power, and architecture

  1. 01 Double Bass Basics 25 min
  2. 02 Power Grooves 20 min
  3. 03 Headbanger Grooves 20 min
  4. 04 Quarter-Note Double Bass 20 min
  5. 05 Eighth-Note Double Bass 20 min
  6. 06 Blast Beats 25 min
  7. 07 Prog Metal Time Feels 30 min
  8. 08 D-Beat 20 min
  9. 09 Thrash Patterns 30 min
  10. 10 Groove Metal (Pantera-style) 25 min
  11. 11 Extreme Metal Vocabulary 30 min
  12. 12 Gravity Rolls 25 min
  13. 13 Bomb Blasts 25 min
  14. 14 Hyper-Blast Beats 30 min
  15. 15 Djent & Polyrhythmic Grooves 30 min
  16. 16 Tech-Death Concepts 30–35 min
  17. 17 Complex Polymeters 35 min
  18. 18 Metric Modulation in Metal 30 min
  19. 19 Mathcore Concepts 35 min
  20. 20 Gospel Chops in Metal 30–35 min
Chapter 18 of 19

Hip-Hop & R&B

20 lessons

Programmed feel, played live

  1. 01 Boom-Bap 20 min
  2. 02 Pocket Time-Feel 25 min
  3. 03 Classic Hip-Hop Drumming 25 min
  4. 04 R&B Basics 25 min
  5. 05 Quiet Storm Style 20 min
  6. 06 Trap on the Kit 25 min
  7. 07 Neo-Soul Feel 30 min
  8. 08 Modern R&B 25 min
  9. 09 Southern Rap Drumming 25 min
  10. 10 Questlove Time-Feel 30 min
  11. 11 Studio Drums to Live Kit 25 min
  12. 12 Programmed Displacement 25 min
  13. 13 808 Patterns on the Kit 25 min
  14. 14 Chris Dave Concepts 30 min
  15. 15 Anderson .Paak Style 25 min
  16. 16 J Dilla Time-Feel 30 min
  17. 17 Modern Production Feel 30 min
  18. 18 Drumming Around Samples 30 min
  19. 19 Louis Cole Drumming 30 min
  20. 20 Future R&B 35 min
Chapter 19 of 19

Other Topics

12 lessons

Skills that don't fit any single track

  1. 01 Polyrhythms: 3 over 2 30 min
  2. 02 Polyrhythms: 5 over 4 30 min
  3. 03 Odd Meters Beyond 7 30 min
  4. 04 Soloing & Improvisation 30 min
  5. 05 Brushes Mastery 30 min
  6. 06 Four-Way Independence 35 min
  7. 07 Reading Complex Charts 30 min
  8. 08 Solo Drumming as Composition 40 min
  9. 09 Transcribing from Recordings 30 min
  10. 10 Designing Your Practice 30 min
  11. 11 The Art of Accompaniment 30 min
  12. 12 Clave as Feel (Beyond Latin) 30 min