Play your first song

The course runs in five parts, in order. Preview any bar here; open one and the screen becomes a practice room.

PART 01
Your first beat
Hi-hat, then snare, then kick, one limb at a time until they run together.
0 / 8 DONE
1
GROOVE
Right hand on the hi-hat
80 bpm
START →
2
GROOVE
Add the snare on 2 and 4
80 bpm
START →
3
GROOVE
Add the kick, and your first beat
80 bpm
START →
4
DRILL
Single strokes, 60 → 80
60 bpm
START →
5
FIX
Your stick isn't bouncing
70 bpm
START →
6
GROOVE
Four on the floor
85 bpm
START →
7
GROOVE
Kick on the "and of 3"
85 bpm
START →
8
CHALLENGE
60 to 120: where do you drop?
60 bpm
START →
PART 02
Your first song
Five steps that add up to a song, and then the whole of it against the record.
0 / 6 DONE
9
SONG
Step 1: the main groove
117 bpm
START →
10
SONG
Step 2: coming in
117 bpm
START →
11
SONG
Step 3: eight bars without drifting
117 bpm
START →
12
SONG
Step 4: ending it
117 bpm
START →
13
SONG
Step 5: sixteen bars end to end
117 bpm
START →
·
SONG
Billie Jean · Michael Jackson
117 bpm
START →
PART 03
Kick patterns
Six ways the right foot moves under the same pair of hands.
0 / 8 DONE
15
GROOVE
Kick patterns 1 and 2
85 bpm
START →
16
GROOVE
Kick patterns 3 and 4
85 bpm
START →
17
GROOVE
Kick patterns 5 and 6
85 bpm
START →
18
DRILL
Kick singles, 60 → 90
60 bpm
START →
19
FIX
Knee bouncing or ankle turning?
70 bpm
START →
20
GROOVE
Kick on the "and of 4"
85 bpm
START →
21
DRILL
Single strokes to 100
80 bpm
START →
22
CHALLENGE
Six kick patterns, no stopping
95 bpm
START →
PART 04
Around the kit
Getting the hands off the hi-hat, which is the thing a fill is made of.
0 / 6 DONE
23
GROOVE
Quarter notes on the hi-hat
85 bpm
START →
24
GROOVE
Move the right hand to the ride
90 bpm
START →
25
DRILL
Hi-hat to tom and back
75 bpm
START →
26
GROOVE
Two bars, not one
88 bpm
START →
27
FIX
You're rushing the last beat
85 bpm
START →
28
CHALLENGE
Four bars without stopping
90 bpm
START →
PART 05
Fills and crashes
Leaving the groove for a bar, and landing back on the one.
0 / 11 DONE
29
GROOVE
The four-note fill
88 bpm
START →
30
GROOVE
Crash on 1
88 bpm
START →
31
DRILL
Bar 4 into bar 1, on loop
88 bpm
START →
32
GROOVE
One-beat fills
90 bpm
START →
33
GROOVE
Two-beat fills
90 bpm
START →
34
FIX
Your fill is dragging the tempo
90 bpm
START →
35
DRILL
Double strokes, first look
70 bpm
START →
36
CHALLENGE
Three bars groove, one bar fill × 8
100 bpm
START →
37
GROOVE
Open the hi-hat on the "and of 4"
90 bpm
START →
38
DRILL
Crash and kick together
80 bpm
START →
39
FIX
Your crash is late
88 bpm
START →
WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED THESE
The pattern library
Six hundred grooves and fills, filed by style: rock, funk, blues, latin. Not a course: somewhere to go looking when you want a bar you have not played before.
OPEN GROOVES & FILLS →