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How To Practice Drum Coordination

Brandon Toews  /  UPDATED Mar 5, 2023

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Ready to improve your coordination, independence, and linear drumming? The goal with this lesson is to have each of your limbs work together effectively, which will ultimately give you more freedom to express yourself around the drum set.

Before we get started, let’s go over the three different kinds of motions we’ll be applying to these exercises:

Parallel Motion: Both hands move around the drum set symmetrically.

Oblique Motion: Only one hand is moving around the drum set while the other is stationary.

Contrary Motion: Both hands move around the drum set in no particular order.


*The lowercase letters are your feet, while the uppercase are your hands.

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You’ll notice how all of the hand strokes are placed on the snare drum, but we encourage you to break away and place them around your kit by utilizing the three different motion types listed above. Watch the video to get some ideas of where to start!

More drum lessons by Brandon Toews:
How To Incorporate Your Feet Into Your Drum Fills
Make Your Boring Drum Beats Sound Awesome
Rudimentary Song Enders


Drumeo Team - We're professional, award-winning drummers and drum teachers, coaches, recording artists, and content specialists who are passionate about drums and helping drummers around the world. This post was written and/or edited by Brandon Toews, Jared Falk, Dave Atkinson, or another pro on our team (which has a combined 1000+ years of drumming experience). Are you looking for inspiration, education, and support to take your playing to the next level? Join the Drumeo community today!

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