10 Levels Of Linear Drumming

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When you see drummers showing off their ‘chops’, those incredible skills often consist of linear patterns, which means no two limbs are playing at the same time. They can give the illusion of speed while adding cool textures and dynamics. Many linear fills and grooves break up patterns between your hands and feet, rather than the right hand/left hand or right foot/left foot combinations that you might be used to.

There are infinite ways to orchestrate the same thing around the kit. You can place the ‘voices’ anywhere, playing the patterns on whatever surfaces you want (stack, ride, hi-hats, toms) and get a completely different sound. Linear drumming can help you improve your independence too, where you get to the point where each limb has a mind of its own.

In this video, Jared goes through 10 levels – from easiest to most challenging – and grooves to teach you techniques while you move up. Each level builds on the previous one, and you should start at Level 1 if linear concepts are new to you. These are the levels we use at Drumeo, but you might categorize these skills differently.

Level 1: Basic groove
Level 2: Adding ghost notes
Level 3: More bass drum
Level 4: Bass drum double strokes
Level 5: Basic triplets
Level 6: 16th note triplets
Level 7: 32nd notes
Level 8: Switching up note values
Level 9: Adding the hi-hat foot
Level 10: Combining techniques

Now take the grooves you’ve learned and move them around the drums – the sky is seriously the limit!

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Jared Falk is a lifelong drummer, drum teacher, and the co-founder of Drumeo. For over 18 years, Jared has been a leader in the online music education industry, publishing his first online video lessons in 2003 and founding Musora in 2005.