Weekly Drum Lesson: Leader / Follower

Hello drummers! Today's lesson is all about listening, timing, and precision. I'm going to show you an exercise called "Leader Follower."

Ideally, you'd have a partner to play this exercise with, but it's still very effective just doing it by yourself and waiting for an imaginary partner to play their half. We're going to turn on the metronome. And the leader is going to play a 2 count rhythm, which is half a bar of 4/4. You can use any drum you want, but I'm just going to play it down the drums for this demo. You can also use this same format to play just about any rhythm or beat that you want. I’ve just chosen these basic rhythms played with the hands only, for the purpose of this lesson.

I'd strongly recommend playing along to this lesson. If you don't have drums nearby, just grab your sticks and drum on a pillow or a magazine. Even if you don't have sticks, you can drum on your knee with your hands.

As we get started, remember:

LISTEN to the click.

LISTEN to your partner.

And, last but not least, LISTEN to your own playing, to make sure you are playing the rhythms accurately, and in sync with the metronome. I hope this exercise helps you with your own timing and that it helps you build a better overall awareness as a musician. If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below, and of course, like and subscribe. That's all for now, thanks for watching!