Need some drumming ideas and inspiration? Hit a plateau with your drum skills? Here are some ideas for when you need something new in your drumming life.

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Check out (and mix up) some of the smoothest funk beats around. Guaranteed to give you some drumming inspiration.

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Play along to some drumless tracks.

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Think you’ve got a good sense of timing? Test it out here .

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Work through some of these great tips to become a better drummer.

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Grab a pillow (or a drum pad) and do your rudiments on it – build up speed and strength. You can even do this while sitting in front of the TV (no excuses!).

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Set your drum kit up differently. Floor tom or ride next to the hi hat // Higher or lower cymbals // Swap your toms // Mirror the entire drum set and play open handed.

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Reduce your drum kit to the bare minimum: bass drum, snare, hi hats.

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Set different time signatures and tempos on your metronome – rework your favourite beats to fit the new time signature, and come up with new ones. This can be a wealth of drumming inspiration, to give you some great new drum beat ideas.

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No metronome? (shame on you…!). There are a bunch of free metronome apps out there for Android and Apple devices, or web-based versions.

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Record yourself playing (audio or video) and critique it – listen to your timing, dynamics, and feel. Work on the parts that don’t flow as smoothly.

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Put your music on shuffle and play whatever comes on…. You’re bound to find some new drum beat ideas. Try the same with YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, or the radio.

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Find styles you’ve never played before and learn some patterns: Jazz, Rock, Latin, Funk, Reggae, Hip Hop, R&B, Polka, Shuffle, Swing, Ska, Disco, Punk. Learning a new style can give you an endless amount of drumming inspiration.

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Do some rudiments! Not just on your snare drum or practice pad… Incorporate them around the kit, spread them across your hands and feet, and turn them into beats. You can get some amazing new drumming ideas from simple rudiments and patterns.

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Start keeping records of your rudiments – single and double strokes, paradiddles, etc. Keep track of your maximum tempo then focus on increasing it over time (while staying accurate!).

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Learn your favourite beats open handed.

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Program some electronic beats, then play along and use your acoustic kit to complement them. There are some great free web-based drum machines, or find some free drum beat apps for Android or Apple. Programming different grooves to play along to can give you some great drumming ideas. To take this even further, get yourself a really cool music gift: a mini drum sequencer.

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Tuning your drum set differently can be hugely inspirational – see what kind of sounds you can get from your kit. A super sensitive snare (tune it tight) // Super deep toms (tune low) // A slappy fat kick (very loose batter + tighter resonant head) // A deep FAT snare // Add or remove dampening // Remove the resonant heads // Find some new drumheads!

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Switch your drumstick grip. Always use matched grip? Try traditional. A new technique can open you up to drumming ideas and patterns you’ve never thought of before.

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Play your beats as slowly as possible (painfully slow!). Focus on dynamics, the perfect timing of EVERY stroke, and the overall feel.
How slow does your metronome go?

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Got some old drumheads lying around? Turn them into something useful.
Check out these 9 ideas for old drumheads.

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