Show summary ▾ Technique creates relaxed, healthy hands and consistent sound quality. Technique is important for all percussionists to master, but it is SUPER important for rudimental drummers. Why? Watch this video. That’s why I recommend practicing 50-60% of your time on technique exercises in this section, 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. If you’re not sure what to focus on when practicing these exercises, see the Tips + Lessons section for hundreds of free drumming tips.

Show summary ▾ The accent tap exercises form the bedrock of dynamic control and stick height management, training your hands to differentiate immediately between loud primary strokes and quiet inner beats known as “taps” on drumline and “ghost notes” on drum kit/set. Consistent practice with these play-alongs will eliminate tension in your downstrokes and prevent your taps from creeping up in height. Use the timestamps in the description to focus on your playing zones and ensure your taps/ghost notes stay at a strict, but relaxed and low height. If you’re unsure how to play relaxed accent taps, see the lessons at the top of this playlist and more in the Tips + Lessons section below.

Show summary ▾ Boston is a classic accent and tap exercise that presents some tricky upbeat syncopated accents. This playlist has many variations of the accent/tap pattern that incorporates different rudiments like flams, diddles, and other sticking patterns. Think of it like an alternative grid variation that uses a different accent/tap pattern.

Show summary ▾ This playlist focuses on cold attack rolls, forcing you to initiate double strokes instantly without the safety net of a check pattern. These exercises are super difficult on their own, but are essential for improving your roll entrances, timing, and initial sound quality. Take advantage of the timestamps to practice at various tempos, paying careful attention to your hand speed and ensuring the first diddle doesn't crush or slur out. See the video at the top of the playlist for more explanation of why rolls without check are so difficult to clean as a drumline.

Triplet - 16th

Show summary ▾ The playlists above have classic drumline exercises like triplet diddle and 16th note diddle exercises like Gallop (or the extended version called “Rodeo”). These exercises are often easy to learn, but very difficult to master. See the videos at the top of the playlists for tips like how to fix the second note of the diddle from sounding weak or a special technique to play really fast drum rolls. There are tons of exercises in these playlists, so pick one that looks interesting and play slow and controlled using the timestamps in the description to jump to a specific bpm.

Diddle timing - Five stroke roll timing

Show summary ▾ The diddle timing and five stroke roll timing exercises are meticulously designed to fix rhythmic tearing and uneven double strokes by isolating the exact placement of each note of the diddle. These play-alongs will train your hands to produce open, relaxed diddles that perfectly match the underlying subdivision by intentionally going back and forth between slurred (slow), normal, rushed (fast), and normal diddles. See this video for a quick introduction to why these play-alongs will help you clean your drum rolls.

Show summary ▾ This double beat playlist focuses on developing the timing and strength of the second note of a diddle using a variety of double beat exercises. My favorite exercises for this are the diddle strength and three stroke strength exercises, which I talk about in this video. However, the Short Short Long double beats are a great way to work on your hand endurance/stamina. Use the timestamps in the description to push your tempo limits or to practice slow and controlled, focusing on letting the stick rebound naturally rather than muscling the second note out of the drum.

Show summary ▾ These double stop exercises are designed to perfect your hand-to-hand synchronization, ensuring your left and right sticks strike the drum head at the exact same millisecond and with the same velocity. This is a crucial workout for cleaning up diddles, three strokes, four strokes, and more. Utilize the timestamps to practice at different speeds, listening closely for any "flamming" sounds (indicating one hand is early/late or loud/soft compared to the other) and adjusting your stick heights and velocity to achieve a unified popping sound.

Show summary ▾ So you’ve mastered roll exercises and want to take it to the next level? This playlist can help. The dynamic rolls playlist challenges you to maintain perfect roll quality and diddle consistency while smoothly crescendoing and decrescendoing. These play-alongs are essential for concert percussionists and rudimental drummers looking to add musicality to their technique. Use the video timestamps to isolate the dynamic shifts, ensuring your stick heights change gradually and evenly while your rhythmic subdivision remains rock-solid.

Show summary ▾ I expect this playlist to be a popular playlist. It’s full of exercises that, you know, work on your endurance and speed. Hence the original name. This collection of exercises is designed strictly to push your physical limits, building the fast-twitch muscle fibers required for blazing hand speed (or foot speed) and long-term endurance. Whatever limbs you use to play these exercises, focus on playing as relaxed as possible. Tension slows down your drumming. Like. A lot. I talk about that in many of my videos in the Tips + Lessons section.

Fast-Slow-Fast - Slow-Fast-Slow

Show summary ▾ This drumming practice tool is designed to work on both your chops and technique. Simply pick what you want to improve (e.g., a rudiment), select a subdivision in one of the playlists that matches your rudiment, then pick a tempo range in the description of the video. The play-along will either gradually speed up (Slow-Fast-Slow) or slow down (Fast-Slow-Fast) one click at a time. The play-along will reach your final tempo, hold it for four measures, then gradually return to the starting tempo, moving one click at a time. This allows you to not only refine your technique while drumming, but to slowly push yourself to play a rudiment faster. Add this into your daily drum practice routine and you’ll notice huge improvements in a couple of weeks.

Diddle timing - Five stroke roll timing

Show summary ▾ The diddle timing and five stroke roll timing exercises are meticulously designed to fix rhythmic tearing and uneven double strokes by isolating the exact placement of each note of the diddle. These play-alongs will train your hands to produce open, relaxed diddles that perfectly match the underlying subdivision by intentionally going back and forth between slurred (slow), normal, rushed (fast), and normal diddles. See this video for a quick introduction to why these play-alongs will help you clean your drum rolls.

Show summary ▾ Flams are a very common rudiment that every drummer knows, but many misunderstand. There are not only a lot of exercises that can help you work on your flams (hence, this playlist), but there are actually many ways to play flams. For example, did you know that you can not only change the spacing of the grace note, but also the height to be at half the height of the primary note? If that sounds like blasphemy, watch this video.

Show summary ▾ This playlist could also be called “hand spacing,” but I don’t think people would know what I’m talking about if you haven’t seen my videos that talk about (here’s an example for playing fast three and four strokes). The fulcrum control exercises are hyper-focused on the subtle changes you make to control the timing and rebound when playing downstrokes and upstrokes. Working on these play-alongs will improve your finesse and unlock faster, more effortless control over not only accent/taps, but also your timing. These exercises can be played on one hand, alternating, or as double stops (both hands together). However you play them, use an efficient technique for the upstrokes and downstrokes that I talk about in this video. Another fulcrum control exercise at the bottom of this playlist called “Chug with flam accents and single-doubles” is similar to the exercise called “Fulcrum Freddy,” which switches from flam accents into quick single-doubles. All of these exercise look simple, but are difficult to master. Try them if you don’t believe me ,)

Show summary ▾ This playlist has a bunch of resources to help you improve your hybrid rudiments, combining standard rudiments into complex, brain-teasing sticking patterns that will test your mental and physical dexterity. The 100 Hybrid Rudiments in a Row play-along is one of the trickiest play-alongs on my website. Seriously. If you’re not an advanced rudimental drummer who can already play a bunch of grid variations and shopping sprees, I’d avoid this one unless you start at 40 BPM and have a lot of patience. Whatever play-along you choose in this playlist, it will help you refine your hybrid rudiments.

Show summary ▾ Jeepers is a classic accent and tap exercise based on the lyrics for “Jeepers Creepers” by Louis Armstrong. This playlist has many variations of the accent/tap pattern that incorporates different rudiments like flams, diddles, and even some shopping sprees with hybrid rudiments. Think of it as an alternative grid variation that utilizes a different accent/tap pattern.

Show summary ▾ The exercises in this playlist are from the Kannapolis Independent Percussion (KIP) snare packet for the 2026 season. These exercises allow you to practice as if you were playing with the rest of the drumline, which will help you prepare for drumline auditions. Even if you’re not auditioning for KIP, the fundamentals in these packets are rock solid. Everyone could benefit from using them to improve their playing, no matter how long you’ve been drumming. Use timestamps in the description to jump to a specific bpm and see the Tips + Lessons section for hundreds of free tips on how to prepare for an audition, how to play relaxed, how to improve timing, etc.

Show summary ▾ The exercises in this playlist are from the Kannapolis Independent Percussion (KIP) snare packet for the 2027 season. These exercises allow you to practice as if you were playing with the rest of the drumline, which will help you prepare for drumline auditions. Speaking of, the rest of the ensemble packets are in the Scores + Ensembles section. Even if you’re not auditioning for KIP, the fundamentals in these packets are rock solid. Everyone could benefit from using them to improve their playing, no matter how long you’ve been drumming. Use timestamps in the description to jump to a specific bpm and see the Tips + Lessons section for hundreds of free tips on how to prepare for an audition, how to play relaxed, how to improve timing, etc.

Show summary ▾ Paradiddles (Rlrr Lrll) have some kind of spell cast upon them to make them one of the most popular sticking patterns known to all drummers across the planet. Paradiddles are fun to play, but there are many exercises that you can play to work on them. This playlist highlights some of them. One of my favorites is Paradiddle Zoom Zoom, which breaks down and speeds up the different mechanics used to play paradiddles. Another one of my favorites are the Chug variations like “Chug with RLRRLLs and RLRRLLLLs.” That one really pushes your hands to the limit. Speaking of, watch this video if you want to learn how to speed up rudiments like paradiddles.

Show summary ▾ This playlist is dedicated to maximizing your rebound technique, teaching you how to let the stick do the work for you on every single stroke. These exercises are foundational for playing fast singles, doubles, and rudiments with minimal physical effort. You could use this exercise on the tenors to work on crossovers by doing double stop crossovers every other note or use it for drum kit by playing a repeated ostinato pattern with one limb and rebound on another limb. Another way you can use this is to work on your overall sound quality by having all strokes start and end up, with the upstroke being a direct result of the rebound and not lifting the stick. Practice this exercise with each hand/limb separately and together to try to match technique and sound quality. Also try practicing this exercise with different sticking patterns like singles, doubles, threes, fours, rlrrs, rll, rlrrll, etc. to have the sticking pattern move across the different rhythms (it gets wacky). Use the timestamps in the description to lock in a comfortable tempo, focusing on a relaxed grip and returning the stick instantly to the starting position after each hit. This exercise is also sometimes called "subdivision ladder."

Show summary ▾ The roll timing and interpretation exercises bridge the gap between technical diddle quality and musical phrasing, challenging you to adapt your roll speed to different subdivisions. These play-alongs will drastically improve your drumline and orchestral roll control. In fact, I argue in this video that metronomes are useless for improving the timing of your drum rolls, which is why I created exercises like these to help clean your rolls.

Show summary ▾ I wasn’t sure what to call these exercises, so my wife named them “zoom zooms” and it stuck. These exercises isolate the mechanics of complex rudiments by breaking them down into their component strokes and gradually layering complexity to build up the rudiment from a strong foundation. This is an incredibly effective way to build muscle memory and chop speed simultaneously. I talk about why this approach works in the videos at the top of this playlist.

Fast-Slow-Fast - Slow-Fast-Slow

Show summary ▾ This drumming practice tool is designed to work on both your chops and technique. Simply pick what you want to improve (e.g., a rudiment), select a subdivision in one of the playlists that matches your rudiment, then pick a tempo range in the description of the video. The play-along will either gradually speed up (Slow-Fast-Slow) or slow down (Fast-Slow-Fast) one click at a time. The play-along will reach your final tempo, hold it for four measures, then gradually return to the starting tempo, moving one click at a time. This allows you to not only refine your technique while drumming, but to slowly push yourself to play a rudiment faster. Add this into your daily drum practice routine and you’ll notice huge improvements in a couple of weeks.

Show summary ▾ Many world-class WGI and DCI drumlines like the Blue Devils are constantly switching back and forth between slow and fast rolls, often using two distinct heights (e.g., the fast roll is low and the slow roll is high). This playlist helps you practice that. It has many variations for both rolls and tap rolls so you can practice switching back and forth between difficult passages.

Show summary ▾ If George Lawrence Stone were alive today, he’d probably be a billionaire from his book Stick Control. Seriously, everyone recommends it and there’s a reason for it. Inspired by this legendary method book, these stick control exercises feature relentless sticking variations designed to build perfectly balanced hands (or feet if you play them with your other limbs). Practicing these permutations will improve your coordination, sound quality, rhythmic accuracy, and make you look like a really cool person that people will want to give free high fives to. The variations “with filler” are the exact same sticking patterns, but you fill in any repeating hands with the other hand. This creates interesting rhythms, but the main purpose is to ensure the hand that’s “filling in” doesn’t change the hand that’s playing the normal legato sticking pattern. You’ll see what I’m talking about if you try one of those variations.

Show summary ▾ Back when I used to march, three stroke rolls were super rare and four stroke rolls required a Master Poké Ball to catch. Nowadays it seems like every world-class drumline is playing not only fast three strokes, but four strokes that look impossible to play. The exercises in this playlist are designed to help you make the impossible possible and this video explains the technique I use to play them.

All - 8th - Triplet - 16th

Show summary ▾ It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been drumming or what your primary percussion instrument is, you need to spend time practicing these timing exercises. These timing exercises are essential for percussionist looking to lock in their internal clock while marking time (or simply playing with others). Use the timestamps in the description to practice at different tempos, but slow these play-alongs way down if you really want to work on your timing. If you need extra help marking time to these exercises, watch this video.

All - Basics

Show summary ▾ If you’re having difficulty switching from one rhythm to another while playing or marking time, these playlists are designed to help. The “basics” playlist has fundamental (e.g., quarter, 8th, triplet, and 16th note) rhythms that help you develop a solid foundation for transitioning in and out of various rhythms. And the “all” playlist has some wackier rhythms like septuplets (sevenlets), 5:3 8th notes, and other goofy rhythms that modern bass drummers like to play. If you want to practice them, I’ve got you covered with this playlist.