Hand Coordination Practice Pad Exercise

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Here’s a quick exercise to help you develop your coordination and ostinatos using the P4 practice pad! It might feel a little awkward when you first dive in, but if you stick with it, you’ll be surprised at how much it helps your hands play more independently from one another. The notes below are colored so you know exactly which surface to play on.

First, let’s start by playing with our right hand on the grey surface. We’ll be playing the first three 16th notes of each quarter note. This will never change throughout the entire workout:

Once you’re comfortable with that, let’s add the left hand in and run it up and down the remaining 3 surfaces in a series of rhythmic subdivisions. We’ll start simple and play right on the quarter notes:

Next, we’ll move our left hand up to the second 16th note of each quarter note:

Then on the third 16th note:

And finally, on the last 16th note of each quarter note:

Now we’ll begin playing our left hand in a syncopated rhythm, then double 16th notes permutated throughout the bars! As always, start slow so you can get a feel for the rhythms before bumping up the tempo:

Once you’ve got each exercise down pat, put it all together! You can even use this as a warm-up before hopping behind the kit!

More Practice Pad Lessons:
►Practice Pad Workout
►Develop Amazing Double Stroke Rolls
►The Ultimate Paradiddle Workout

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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 Sam Landa, 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!