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All 1,146 grid variations
Show summary ▾ Want to improve your mastery over drum rudiments? Grid is the answer you’ve been looking for. Grid permutates an accent or rudiment across the subdivision. Too fancy sounding? It basically forces you to learn how to play a rudiment with any combination of accents and taps, both on and off the beat. If you want to march in a competitive drumline (e.g., DCI or WGI), you NEED to learn grid. I’d recommend spending 50-60% of your time on Technique exercises (see below), 30-40% of your time on grid variations (they’re like technique exercises for your rudiments), and 10-20% of the time on chop exercises (see above). Why? Watch this video. Focus on playing rudiment on one grid variations for diddles, flams, flam drags, cheeses, and flam fives. If you can mark time to those triplet and 16th note variations, you will have enough control of the fundamental rudiments you need to march in a world-class WGI or DCI line.
Sticking
Show summary ▾ The sticking grid variations are designed to improve your hand-to-hand consistency and mental agility by systematically shifting sticking patterns across different accent and tap subdivisions. Practicing these grids will help you internalize complex permutations, improve your timing, and eliminate weak hands. Speaking of hands, you can practice these sticking variations with other limbs, like your feet. Or assign your right hand to all of the Rs and your right foot to all of the Ls while you play something else with your other hands. It’s your practice routine, so you do you. Some of my favorite variations are the diddle and paradiddle variations. Use the timestamps in the description to start at a tempo where you can hyper-focus on maintaining perfectly even sound quality and matching stick heights of both your accents and taps between your left and right hands.
Diddles
Show summary ▾ These diddle grid exercises will rigorously test your roll quality by moving double strokes through every possible partial of a triplet or sixteenth-note grid. This is a crucial practice routine for smoothing out your drum rolls and ensuring your diddles don't crush or slur when playing different accent/tap patterns. Rely on the timestamps in the description to select a slow and controlled tempo that you can maintain a relaxed technique.
Flams
Show summary ▾ So you think you have control of your flams? Try flam on one with triplet grid. I’ll wait. These grid variations are hard. Like, really hard. I’d HIGHLY recommend slowing them down using the timestamps in the description and letting them gradually speed up one click at a time. I like to slow them down to 40 BPM and I’ve been drumming since 1998. If you think that’s too slow, try it once and you’ll realize it’s WAY harder than it looks and it helps you refine your technique better than playing fast ever does (especially when you’re trying to refine the consistency of your grace note spacing and height of a flam).
Flam drags
Show summary ▾ Flam drags combine the two previous sets of grid variations (diddles and flams) into a deceptively difficult hybrid rudiment. If you think you’re got flam drags down, try playing them as a triplet grid with flam drags on one. It’s SUPER difficult to keep the taps low and the accents pronounced without changing the interpretation of the diddles. The accent after the drag is especially wacky, but you can practice that with the “flam drag after an accent” variations in this playlist.
Cheeses
Show summary ▾ Cheese have a funny name for a drum rudiment and are even funnier to learn as a beginner rudimental drummer. Students I’ve worked with over the years usually slur out the diddles (i.e., slow them down), but you can fix that by practicing these grid variations slowly using the timestamps in the description. If you’re having difficulty with the accent on two, try playing the “cheese before an accent” variations to help with the upstroke accent. If you’re having difficulty keeping the cheese low when the accent is on three, try playing the “cheese after an accent” variations to focus on keeping the stick low after a downstroke. If you need more help with relaxed downstrokes, see this video.
Flam fives
Show summary ▾ Don’t play these flam five grid variations with high taps like you’re a new tenor drummer (all the love to tenor drummers, but you know what I’m talking about). Strive for low taps, distinct accents, and rhythmically correct five strokes. If you’re finding it difficult to keep the diddles in time, slow them down to 40 bpm and move up one click at a time. I do it all the time and I’ve been drumming since 1998. If you want even more help perfecting your five stroke interpretation, watch this.
Chut cheeses
Show summary ▾ Starting from here are the wackier grid variations that aren’t as common as the ones that came before this. The chut cheese and cheese chutichuh grid variations are no exception. They’re hard. Like nearly 100 attempts on one Elden Ring boss fight kind of hard. Yes, that did happen to me. I HIGHLY recommend practicing these slow if you want to play clean diddles, with low flams, consistent grace notes, and relaxed accents. Whatever speed you want to go at, use timestamps in the description to jump to a specific bpm.
Swisses
Show summary ▾ The Swiss grid exercises take the classic Swiss Army triplet and displace it across the beat (or shift the accent across the beat), providing an incredible workout for your rudimental phrasing and hand speed. These play-alongs are perfect for breaking out of standard sticking habits and improving your rudimental flow. Jump to the timestamps in the description to lock in the timing at slower speeds before pushing your chops to higher BPMs.
Swiss drags
Show summary ▾ These variations sound like the flam drag grid variations, but they use the Swiss Army triplet sticking with flam drags. Practice these off the right and off the left to balance out the demand, as these exercises will WORK your hand endurance and speed if you play them fast.
Buzzes
Show summary ▾ The buzz grid exercises systematically move multiple-bounce strokes across subdivisions, forcing you to develop consistent pressure and release techniques when practicing. You can play these buzzes short (press strokes) or you can play them long. Either way, you’ll develop control over accents and taps while playing buzzes, which is great not only for rudimental drummers, but for orchestral percussionists playing repertoire like Cirone or Delecluse. Check the timestamps to practice at various speeds, focusing on a seamless, even buzz sound without any audible pulsations from the underlying rhythm. If you want more tips on how to play buzzes, see the Tips + Lessons section below.
Pressure
Show summary ▾ These pressure grid variations move press strokes across the subdivision while playing double strokes. Unsure what I mean? Pull one up and try playing it slowly. It requires an ABSURD amount of fulcrum control to play this without squeezing your fulcrum too hard. I HIGHLY recommend playing this slowly while focusing on staying relaxed, but good luck. Seriously. You’ll need it if you try playing these challenging grid variations.
Timing
Show summary ▾ These timing variations of grid remove either the taps or accents from a grid. Your goal is to play the timing as rhythmically precise as possible while marking time (if you’re a rudimental drummer) or while keeping some kind of an ostinato in other limbs to develop limb independence (if you play drum kit). The slower you go, the harder these are to play (but the more you’ll improve your internal timing). If you’re getting lost marking time to these exercises, watch this video.
Swung sticking
Show summary ▾ This playlist takes standard sticking grids and applies a swung interpretation, helping you develop a deeper pocket and better feel for jazz, blues, and funk applications. Practicing swung grids improves your rhythmic flexibility and limb independence. Use the timestamps in the description to lock into the swung groove at different tempos, paying close attention to the triplet subdivision that underlies the swing feel.
Chicagos
Show summary ▾ Chicagos are a hybrid rudiment with paradiddle sticking (Rlrr Lrll) and flams on everything but the 2nd partial. They’re a whole lot of notes in a row on one hand at a time. Being able to play them while permutating an accent across the rudiment is like a zero damage run of Hollow Knight. To help with this, go slow. Like even slower than you think so you can stay relaxed.
Cheese chicagos
Show summary ▾ Chicago grids aren’t hard enough for you? Add a cheese on the 1st partial and it becomes a cheese Chicago. Nice. I actually find this variation to be a little easier to play than without the cheese, but that may just be me. This is an ADVANCED grid variation that I recommend only for the jedi rudimental drummers out there. Beginners stay away!
Book reports
Show summary ▾ Book reports are a hybrid drum rudiment that’s named that way because it feels like a book report just learning to play it, let alone to grid it… Book reports are paradiddle sticking (Rlrr Lrll) with a flam on 3 and a diddle on 1 and 4. They can feel like a chore to learn, but they are a lot of fun to play fast. If you feel like you’ve mastered this hybrid rudiment, try them in one of these tricky grid variations. They’ll make you feel like a beginner drummer all over again.
Other grids
Show summary ▾ This playlist has some wackier grid variations in it. At the moment it’s got some herta grid variations that are a lot of fun to play fast, but I plan on adding more in the future (as if thousands of free resources weren’t enough lol).