Long Form Exercises for Drummers

When practicing anything fundamental on the drums, the best thing you can do is to repeat these fundamentals for long periods of time. For some people, putting on a timer for 20 minutes and playing double strokes might be enough. Personally, I prefer to give myself some sort of mental challenge in order to keep my mind actively involved as I practice.

I’ll give you an example. We’re practicing a single stroke roll. I’m playing in 16th notes with a metronome, and I’m counting beats up to 11. During this cycle, I tap my right foot on beat 3, and my left foot on the “e” of 8. Nothing about this exercise is “difficult” to play, but it will require all of your focus. If your mind starts to slip, you’ll lose the game!

This is what Long Form Exercises for Drummers is all about. It’s a series of exercises, some for practice pad and some for drum kit, that challenge the mind in this way while working on fundamentals. These 11 exercises present an overwhelming amount of possibilities and variations, I believe it’s one of my most valuable resources yet.