Ask any musician what's the number one thing they look for in a drummer. The answer is invariably groove and feel. So why do most of us (me included) spend more time working on the quadruple paradiddle? 🙂

To permutate simply means shifting a phrase and assigning to it a new downbeat, starting in different spots every time, in given increments that are related to the subdivision used. This is an exceptionally useful tool for us drummers, if we want to fully comprehend what we are practicing.

Just in the same way that perfectly learning a language, its words and its grammar, doesn’t automatically make us poets, the same goes for music. That’s where active listening comes into play.

Would you like to do a quick reality check? Then this is for you. The idea is really simple: record yourself playing 100 bars of the most basic drum beat. In less than 5 minutes you are going to find out exactly what you need to work on.

We typically focus on learning new beats, and, generally speaking, we assume that if we can play something at 100 bpm we are also automatically able to play it at 60 or 140 beats per minute. The question is: do we actually have the control and technique to do it? And most importantly, can we make it groove even at those tempos?

Some drummers have a lot of them and some have none, but signature licks are fascinating. And they are one of the ways we can use to define our style. So why don’t we learn a bunch of them from the absolute best?