Basic Warm-Up

These warm-up exercises are designed to carried out, when you first sit behind the drum kit, especially before a practice session.

Begin by playing four, evenly-spaced, consecutive beats, of the same note value on the snare drum, using single strokes, and therefore, alternating between your right and left hands, for each beat you play. Then, copy this four note pattern again, but play it on Tom 1. Then, do the same on Tom 2, and finally, do the same on Tom 3. Try to make each four note pattern follow the last as evenly and consecutively as possible, carrying on using same note value. Repeat this round and round, continuing on from the end of the pattern, where it finishes on Tom 3, back to the beginning of the pattern, on the snare drum.

So the overall pattern goes:

Snare drum - R L R L

Tom 1 - R L R L

Tom 2 - R L R L

Tom 3 - R L R L

And back to the beginning.



Then, for the next exercise, play three, evenly-spaced, consecutive beats, of the same note value on the snare drum, using single strokes, and therefore, alternating between your right and left hands, for each beat you play. Then, copy this three note pattern again, but play it on Tom 1. Then, do the same on Tom 2, and finally, do the same on Tom 3. Try to make each three note pattern follow the last as evenly and consecutively as possible, carrying on using same note value. Repeat this round and round, continuing on from the end of the pattern, where it finishes on Tom 3, back to the beginning of the pattern, on the snare drum. This exercise is more difficult than the first, because as your playing, using alternating single strokes, each time you move to the next drum, you will have to start playing that individual three note pattern on the opposite hand, to the one you started the previous three note pattern on.

So it goes:

Snare drum - R L R

Tom 1 - L R L

Tom 2 - R L R

Tom 3 - L R L

And back to the beginning.



For the next exercise, play two, evenly-spaced, consecutive beats, of the same note value on the snare drum, using single strokes, and therefore, alternating between your right and left hands, for each beat you play. Then, copy this two note pattern again, but play it on Tom 1. Then, do the same on Tom 2, and finally, do the same on Tom 3. Try to make each two note pattern follow the last as evenly and consecutively as possible, carrying on using same note value. Repeat this round and round, continuing on from the end of the pattern, where it finishes on Tom 3, back to the beginning of the pattern, on the snare drum.

Here it is:

Snare drum - R L

Tom 1 - R L

Tom 2 - R L

Tom 3 - R L

And back to the beginning.



For the final exercise, play just one beat on the snare drum, and then one beat on Tom 1, then one beat on Tom 2, then one beat on Tom 3. Again, play this using alternating single strokes, so that your hands alternate each beat you play, and play all the notes as evenly spaced and consecutively as possible, each beat following the same note value as the last.  Repeat this round and round, continuing on from the end of the pattern, where it finishes on Tom 3, back to the beginning of the pattern, on the snare drum.

This is the pattern:

Snare drum - R

Tom 1 - L

Tom 2 - R

Tom 3 - L

And back to the beginning.