10 kit voices · 40 rudiments · 20 patterns
Learn drums: notation, rudiments and patterns
Start by hitting something. Tap any drum below to hear it, then follow the notation guide, the rudiment chart and the pattern library — all interactive, all free.
Tap a drum, Tab between surfaces, or use your keyboard:zKickxSnarecClosed hatvOpen hatbHat pedalaHigh tomsMid tomdFloor tomqCrashwRide
Start here
Drum notation guide
What every drum note and symbol means, with the full drum key drawn out on the staff — one figure per drum, plus accents, ghost notes, flams, drags and rolls. Hear any example on the kit.
Hands
Drum rudiments
All 40 PAS rudiments in one chart, with 12 of them built out as full lessons: notation, sticking, and slow-to-full-speed playback you can loop.
Grooves
Drum patterns
20 original beginner patterns across rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop, house and more — every one in standard notation with an editable one-bar loop from 40 to 200 BPM.
Try the sequencer
This is the basic rock pattern, the first groove most drummers learn. Press play, then toggle cells on and off to rebuild it your way — the count row underneath shows you where each note falls.
How this fits together
Drumming splits neatly into three skills, and this site has one route for each. Notation is the reading skill: five lines, a percussion clef, and a key that tells you which line or space belongs to which drum. Rudiments are the hand skills — the sticking patterns that make your hands even, fast and independent. Patterns are what you actually play: coordinated kick, snare and cymbal parts that hold a song together.
Everything is driven by the same data, so a pattern you see in notation is the pattern you hear on the kit, and the printable PDFs come off the same source as the screen.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a drum kit to use this?
No. Every kit surface, rudiment and pattern on this site plays through your browser, so you can learn to read drum notation and hear what it sounds like with nothing but a laptop or phone. When you do get to a real kit, the notation and the sticking are the same.
What should I learn first on drums?
Learn the drum key so you can read which note means which drum, then play the basic rock pattern — kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, hi-hat on eighth notes. After that the single paradiddle and the single stroke roll will do more for your hands than any other exercise.
Is everything here free?
Yes. The interactive kit, the sequencer, all 20 patterns, all 40 rudiments and the printable PDFs are free with no account and no email address.