10 Essential Drumming Tips for Beginners

1. Start practicing at slow tempos: 40–60 BPM

Many good drummers will tell you: practicing slowly is fundamental to developing clean, accurate playing. It might feel counterintuitive or even boring when you want to play along to your favorite songs, but slow practice forces you to internalize rhythm and master the physical movements of a pattern before increasing speed.

Beginners often rush. You might learn a basic beat, and as it starts to feel familiar, you speed up. True rhythmic command is built by practicing at slow speeds. This allows your brain and body to connect precisely. A drummer with a strong foundation can maintain clarity and intention at any tempo. 

2. Learn your rudiments

Rudiments are often called the "alphabet of drumming," and for good reason. They are the fundamental rhythmic and sticking patterns, the building blocks of drumming.

Playing rudiments provides you with essential skills:

• Stick Control: How to make the sticks do exactly what you intend.

• Technique: Efficient and ergonomic ways to strike the drum.

• Phrasing: How to group notes to create musical statements.

• Coordination: Independence and interdependence of your limbs.

As you develop a vocabulary of rudiments, you'll find they are not just exercises but musical tools. You'll begin to recognize them in the music you listen to and be able to combine or adapt them, significantly expanding your ability to express ideas on the drums. While they require dedicated practice, their importance as the bedrock of versatile drumming cannot be overstated.

Practicing rudiments can be boring for beginners. That’s why we developed the Drum Rudiments App, which allows you to play along with each rudiment and track your progress. You can try out the app here.

3. Keep your body relaxed

Coordinating all four limbs and trying to keep time can naturally lead to tension. You might find yourself gripping the sticks too tightly, hunching your shoulders, or even holding your breath.

One of the most crucial long-term skills for a drummer is maintaining physical relaxation while playing. Tension results in stiff movements, a harsh sound, inaccurate timing, increased fatigue, and can even contribute to injuries. Cultivate a light, controlled grip on the sticks, primarily using your fingers, and make a conscious effort to keep your shoulders, arms, and wrists loose.

To encourage relaxation:

• Practice at manageable tempos: When you're not struggling to keep up, your body is less likely to tense in response.

• Warm up physically: Before sitting at the kit, perform some light stretches. Shoulder rolls, arm circles, and wrist rotations can help. Treating drumming as a physical activity prepares your body for movement.

4. Use a metronome or practice app

Even if you believe you have a good natural sense of time, a metronome is an indispensable tool for developing your timing. A metronome helps you:

• Develop consistent timing: It reveals whether you are unintentionally speeding up or slowing down.

• Internalize subdivisions: Playing along to a click makes you aware of where beats and their subdivisions lie.

• Measure progress: It provides a concrete way to track your ability to play patterns accurately at different tempos.

Many beginners resist playing to a metronome, feeling that it’s unnatural or that they can "feel the beat" sufficiently. However, almost every great drummer has spent time practicing with one.

5. Find a good teacher (if possible)

While there are lots of self-learning resources, like videos and apps, the guidance of an experienced drum teacher can be invaluable, especially in the early stages. A good teacher provides:

• Structured lessons: Tailored to your individual goals and learning pace.

• Immediate feedback: Correcting technique and helping you avoid ingrained bad habits.

• Accelerated learning: Clarifying concepts related to rhythm, coordination, and musicality.

If your budget allows, even a short series of lessons to establish a solid foundation in grip, posture, and basic beats can make a significant difference to your progress and long-term development.

6. Play with other musicians often

Drumming is fundamentally a collaborative and creative art form. While solo practice builds technique, playing with other musicians is where you truly learn to make music. This experience teaches us:

• Active listening: Paying close attention to what others are playing and how your drumming supports the overall sound.

• Dynamic response: Adjusting your volume and intensity to suit the musical context.

• Groove and feel: Developing a shared sense of rhythm and cohesion with other players.

This is also where much of the joy of drumming comes alive, through jamming. Beyond playing structured songs, use time with others to experiment. Try different sounds on your kit, explore how rudiments can be applied in musical phrases, and don't be afraid to improvise. 

Playing with other people exposes you to new ideas and helps you start the journey of discovering your own musical voice. If you can’t find musicians to play with, seek out local jam nights in your city or use play-along tracks.

7. Record yourself regularly

One of the best learning tools available to you is a simple recording device (even your phone will do). Regularly record your practice sessions and any attempts at playing songs.

Listening back provides another perspective on your playing. You'll hear inconsistencies in your timing, dynamics, the clarity of your strokes, and the overall feel much more clearly. It helps you identify specific areas for improvement, track your progress over time, and essentially, become your own critic.

Some drummers even set up a camera to film themselves playing. Slowing the video playback down can be a great way to zone in on your grip and technique. 

8. Protect your hearing

This point is critical and often overlooked by beginners: hearing damage from prolonged exposure to loud sound is cumulative and irreversible. Drums and cymbals can produce high sound pressure levels.

Start protecting your hearing from day one. Invest in a good pair of musician's earplugs. These are designed to reduce overall volume while aiming to attenuate frequencies more evenly than standard foam earplugs, allowing you to hear the music still. Years from now, you will be grateful you took this simple preventative measure.

9. Consistency wins

It can be tempting to dedicate a long, multi-hour practice session on a free day and then neglect practicing for the rest of the week. However, shorter, regular practice sessions are generally far more effective for skill development and long-term retention.

Even 20-30 minutes of focused practice daily will yield more significant and sustainable progress than infrequent, lengthy sessions. Consistency helps reinforce muscle memory and new concepts more effectively. Try to integrate drumming into your regular routine.

10. You’re supposed to sound "bad" at first

Every drummer you admire was once a beginner. Struggling with new techniques, making mistakes, and sounding unpolished is a completely normal and necessary part of the learning process.

Be patient with yourself. Record your playing, listen back critically but kindly, identify areas for improvement, and don't be afraid to laugh at the occasional mishap. Progress in drumming, as with any complex skill, is a journey of incremental improvements. What you are building is a skill that can provide enjoyment and creative expression for a lifetime.