5 Easy Drum Songs: Learn the Beat Before Playing Along

An easy drum song gives you a part you can work on without learning every detail at once. Start with a short groove, an entrance or a repeating section. Then add the rest of the arrangement.

These five songs are available in Free Drummer’s public library. Each one comes with a first practice task below. The preparation exercises are simplified drills; follow the selected chart when learning the actual song part.

Choose a first task, not a whole performance

Pick a song you enjoy listening to. Find a short passage in its chart and listen to the corresponding section of the recording. Ask what the drums repeat and where that repetition changes.

Practice a small part at a comfortable speed before attempting the full section. The library includes different arrangements, so check the difficulty and the particular chart you opened.

1. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Begin by listening to the relationship between hi-hat, snare and bass drum. A useful simplified starting point is eighth-note hi-hat, bass drum on 1 and 3, and snare on 2 and 4.

That shape is also the foundation in Rob Bishop’s Billie Jean lesson. Learning the positions is one task; matching the recording’s feel and dynamics takes further listening.

For your first session, play the basic pattern for four bars at 60 BPM. On the next pass, listen specifically to the two hi-hat strokes around each snare hit. Give them the same spacing as the others.

Open the Billie Jean chart. Work on one repeating section before studying fills or variations elsewhere in the song.

2. Another One Bites the Dust by Queen

Use this song to practice staying with a repeated part. Listen to the recording first and identify where the drums support the repeating bass line.

As preparation, play the same basic rock grid from the first example. Keep it for eight bars, count one silent bar, then restart on 1. That silent bar is a separate counting exercise, not a claim about the song’s arrangement.

When you open the chart, compare its bass-drum placements with your preparation pattern. Mark one difference to learn, rather than trying to copy every variation immediately. Rob Bishop’s song lesson is an additional reference for a beginner arrangement.

Open the Another One Bites the Dust chart.

3. Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

Start by counting along with the recording before playing. Locate a passage where you can clearly follow the pulse, then note where the next section begins.

For your preparation task, tap quarter notes while counting four-beat bars. Stop tapping for one bar and continue counting, then return on the next 1. This gives you a simple way to rehearse an entrance.

Open the arrangement and identify the drums used in your chosen passage. Play those sounds from the chart; avoid assuming that every section uses the same rock-beat shape.

Open the Seven Nation Army chart. The song also appears in Hal Leonard’s Simple Songs drum collection, although arrangements can differ.

4. Back in Black by AC/DC

Listen for the backbeat and keep your count running while following the musical phrase. Drumeo’s rock-drumming guide uses this song as an example of snare backbeats on 2 and 4.

Prepare by playing a simple rock groove for four bars. Keep the snare in the same counted positions throughout. Then open a short passage of the chart and identify what changes around that framework.

Choose one fill or transition only after the groove is repeatable. Practice the transition and the return together so the fill has a clear destination.

Open the Back in Black chart.

5. Yellow by Coldplay

Use this selection to practice learning from a small piece of a chart. Open the arrangement, choose one short passage and identify its cymbal, snare and bass-drum parts.

Read the cymbal part alone first. Then add whichever drum part appears easiest to coordinate with it. Finish by assembling the full passage at a reduced practice speed.

Listen to the recording again after practicing. Compare where the passage starts, how long it lasts and what leads into the next section. The task is to recognize your part in musical context.

Open the Yellow chart.

Practice before you try the recording

For a separate coordination drill, use this groove-and-fill exercise. It practices a basic groove, a short snare fill and a return to beat 1. It is an original preparation exercise, not an exact transcription of any song above.

Then return to one chart. Practice a short passage, listen to the matching recording section and gradually connect it to the next passage. Check whether a selected arrangement includes accompaniment; a playable drum part does not necessarily include the full song recording.

If you lose your place

Pause your playing and find the count again by listening. Locate a clear entrance and try that short section once more. Reduce the passage length if you repeatedly get lost at the same point.

Keep a note of the passage and setting you used. Your next session can start there instead of at the beginning of the song.

Browse the public song library, or learn the five starting drum beats before working on a full arrangement.