Developing hand and foot independence is a crucial skill that drummers of all skill levels need to continually challenge themselves to improve.
It can be a blast watching a highly skilled drummer doing their thing on the kit, but it’s far too easy to forget just how much practice and how much time they have devoted to mastering their instrument.
In other words, they make it look easy. And isn’t that what we as drummers strive for?
So I urge you to consider devoting a certain percentage of time during your practice sessions to dig down and work on your hand and foot independence.
If you are brand new to learning the drums, please don’t make the mistake of assuming this is something that only new players should be working on.
Believe me, that is not the case. I’ve been playing drums for fifteen years and I will always push myself to improve my limb independence every time I sit down to play.
And as you improve your skills on the drumset, you can be proud of just how much you’ve accomplished. Think about how much coordination is demanded of drummers!
I realize that as a new drummer, you might not have much direction, or know what kinds of exercises will help you develop the independence you are looking for.
First off, the exercises don’t need to be complicated (granted they might feel like it at first!), but they can help set you in the right direction from the start. Something as simple as learning to play eighth notes with your right leg if you’ve only played quarter notes is a very valuable skill to learn.
When it comes to limb independence, chances are good you will be much more comfortable with your hands than with your feet. That’s okay and totally normal.
Don’t worry about whether or not you play heel up or heel down, that won’t matter for the following exercises. What does matter is that you get comfortable playing with all four limbs!
A typical drumset will consist of a hi-hat pedal for your left foot, and a bass drum pedal for your right foot. As you progress on the drums, and depending on what type of music you want to play, you might at some point purchase a double bass pedal.
I personally love double bass, so I utilize it pretty heavily in my playing. Regardless of whether you have a double bass pedal or not, as long as you have a pedal for your left foot and a pedal for your right foot, you’re all set to go.
When I started learning the drums, my teacher would have me play a simple rock beat while alternating quarter notes with my feet. Basically, I would play the bass drum with my right foot for beat one, and then play the hi-hat with my left foot for beat two, and then rinse and repeat for beats three and four.
After I got that down, I moved on to playing that same simple rock beat, but now I was able to alternate eighth notes on those two pedals with my feet. At the time, I was so proud of myself for learning to do that!
Simple things such as that can bring significant improvements in your playing. So with all that being said, I’ll add some simple practice techniques below that you can begin working on during your practice routines.
Oh, and it bears repeating, it doesn’t matter if you have a hi-hat pedal and a bass pedal, or a double bass pedal. You can work on these exercises either way. The only thing you’ll need to consider as you progress is whether you prefer working with the hi-hat or double bass pedal more.
If you prefer a lot of hi-hat work, you will be working on different things than if you are double bass heavy. But don’t worry about that for now, that’s something to think about later.
Before I actually add the practice exercises, and to give you an example of the difference between playing with the hi-hat versus the double bass pedal, check out the following video from Drumeo.
Regardless of what genre of music you like, I think you’ll agree it’s just great drumming. It features Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.
Pay particular attention to his left foot and how he has it positioned. Also, pay attention to what he’s doing with his left foot compared to his right. There is a lot going on!
Developing Hand and Foot Independence for Beginner Drummers
The first four exercises require your hands to play a simple rock beat. That is either eighth or quarter notes on the hi-hat, which will change according to the exercise. Eventually, however, you should be able to switch between the two on the fly comfortably.
As an example, exercise one would be played like this:
Beat 1: right stick hits hi-hat cymbal + right foot plays bass pedal
And: nothing
Beat 2: right stick hits hi-hat cymbal + left foot plays hi-hat pedal + left stick hits snare drum
And: nothing
Beat 3: right stick hits hi-hat cymbal + right foot plays bass pedal
And: nothing
Beat 4: right stick hits hi-hat cymbal + left foot plays hi-hat pedal + left stick hits snare drum
*For reference, the x note under the bottom line of the staff represents the hi-hat pedal. If you have a double bass pedal, feel free to play that instead. I simply wrote it out this way because I feel most beginning drummers will not have a double bass pedal.
Below you will also find a drum notation legend so you can follow along with the exercises contained in this post. It isn’t by any means a comprehensive list, and you’ll see variations to this depending on who put the notation together, but it will have everything you’ll need for the following exercises.
1.
The next exercise is exactly the same as the first, but this time we will be switching to eighth notes on the hi-hat. Other than that, just like the previous exercise, the bass pedal will play on beats one and three and the hi-hat will play on beats two and four.
2.
Once you feel comfortable with the previous exercises, let’s move on to exercise three. This might be tricky at first, but keep at it and you’ll get it.
Again, we’ll be playing the same simple rock beat with our hands. Quarter notes on the hi-hat, snare on beats two and four. But here’s the tricky part: we’re going to switch to eighth notes with our feet. Check it out.
3.
Now, let’s take it a step further. We’ll play the same thing as above, but this time let’s play eighth notes on the hi-hat instead of quarter notes. Think you can master this one?
4.
If you’ve managed to tackle all four of the previous exercises, you’re definitely ready to move on to some different challenges. This next exercise will challenge you to lead off the second half with your left hand and left foot!
Make sure you run through each one multiple times.
5.
You might recognize the right-left pattern in this next exercise and that’s because it’s a paradiddle, but split up between your hands and feet. Again, it alternates between right and left-hand lead and is a great exercise for developing your limb independence.
6.
Let’s wrap up this Developing Hand and Foot Independence for Beginner Drummers post with this final exercise. Hopefully, it won’t trip you up too much and you’ll be able to easily play this after a little practice.
7.
I hope these exercises will help you as much as they helped me improve my limb independence. As you can see the ideas are virtually limitless as to what kind of exercises you can come up with.
In the next installment of this developing limb independence series, I’ll be adding slightly more advanced exercises, but don’t worry they’ll still be aimed at beginners.
Let me know what you think in the comments below. Love them? Hate them? Have any good exercises of your own you would like to add?
I’d love to hear all your thoughts!
What to do next?
If you are brand new to music, music production, or are interested in learning to play the drums, you can check out my article: What is a DAW? – What Does DAW stand for?
You might also want to check out this article: Acoustic Vs. Electronic Drums – Which One is Right for You?
If you are looking at buying your first drum set or any other musical instrument for that matter, take a look at Zzounds. They have a variety of acoustic drum sets and electronic drum sets for purchase.
