Lessons

Drum lessons for electronic kits: short grooves, step by step

33 short grooves in 4 levels, from quarter notes on the hi-hat to the shuffle and ghost notes. Each one is a pattern you can read on this page and play in WebEDrums on a USB electronic kit, built up in steps, slowed down, looped, and judged hit by hit. Free, no account. Updated October 20, 2026.

Start lesson 1.1 in your browser See the lessons

How it works

What is a lesson here?

A lesson is one groove, written as a bar of hits per voice and played by the app as a short song: the pattern repeats for twelve to twenty-four bars over a quiet backing track, at the tempo on its card. It comes in steps, each adding a voice or a density (hi-hat only, then hi-hat and snare, then the whole groove), so three limbs never arrive at once. Practice mode loops it, slows it down to any tempo without changing the pitch, and raises the tempo five beats a minute after each pass you play cleanly. A lesson is done when you play the whole groove at its tempo with 90 % accuracy, in Practice or on Stage; slower clean passes count as "steady at that tempo".

The app judges every hit over USB MIDI, so the feedback is about your playing, not a video. You can also tap the lanes on a phone or play on a computer keyboard to see how a lesson works before the kit is plugged in. Lessons count as plays on the free plan, three a day, like songs.

Level 1

First beats

Quarter notes: time on the hi-hat, the backbeat, the kick, and hands and feet taking turns.

1.1 · 66 BPM · 3 steps

Hi-hat and snare

Time on one surface, then the backbeat on 2 and 4.
1.2 · 66 BPM · 2 steps

Kick and snare

Feet and hands take turns: kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4.
1.3 · 70 BPM · 3 steps

The quarter-note beat

Three limbs at once, all on the beat.
1.4 · 72 BPM · 3 steps

Four on the floor

The kick on every beat, the pulse of disco and dance music.
1.5 · 66 BPM · 3 steps

Hands and feet take turns

Hand-to-foot alternation with no hi-hat to lean on.
1.6 · 72 BPM · 2 steps

Eighth notes on the hi-hat

Two hi-hat strokes per beat: one-and-two-and.

Level 2

Eighth-note grooves

The money beat and its kick variations, four on the floor with busy hands, the crash on 1, your first fill.

2.1 · 80 BPM · 3 steps

The money beat

Eighths on the hi-hat, snare on 2 and 4, kick on 1 and 3: the beat under most pop and rock.
2.2 · 80 BPM · 2 steps

Kick on the "and" of 3

The first off-beat kick, between two hi-hat strokes.
2.3 · 80 BPM · 2 steps

Two kicks on 1

Two kicks in a row, on 1 and the "and" of 1.
2.4 · 82 BPM · 2 steps

Kick on the "and" of 2

A kick that leads into 3, right after the backbeat.
2.5 · 82 BPM · 2 steps

Doubles on 1 and 3

Two kicks on 1 and two on 3, the hard-rock pulse.
2.6 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

The pickup on the "and" of 4

A kick that anticipates the next bar.
2.7 · 92 BPM · 2 steps

Disco: four on the floor with eighths

Four on the floor while the hands play eighths.
2.8 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Crash on 1, four-bar phrases

The crash cymbal replaces the hi-hat on the first beat of every four bars.
2.9 · 80 BPM · 3 steps

Your first fill

Leaving the groove in bar 4 and landing back on 1.
2.10 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Hands and feet in eighths

The kick on every "and", the hands on the beats.

Level 3

Sixteenths and the busy kick

Sixteenths on the hi-hat, the kick between the beats, half-time, the ride, faster fills.

3.1 · 84 BPM · 3 steps

Sixteenths on the hi-hat

Four hi-hat strokes per beat, alternating hands.
3.2 · 88 BPM · 2 steps

The sixteenth before 3

A kick on the "a" of 2 that pushes into 3.
3.3 · 88 BPM · 2 steps

Kick, then the "a"

A kick on the "a" of 1, the sixteenth before the backbeat.
3.4 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

A quick double on the kick

Two sixteenths on one pedal, on 1 and on 3.
3.5 · 90 BPM · 2 steps

Half-time

The backbeat on 3 only: the same tempo, half the feel.
3.6 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Half-time with sixteenth hats

Busy hands over a slow backbeat.
3.7 · 88 BPM · 2 steps

Move to the ride

The money beat on the ride cymbal, with a crash on the first beat of each phrase.
3.8 · 84 BPM · 3 steps

Sixteenth-note fills

Faster fills that still land on 1.
3.9 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Beats and fills: the eight-bar phrase

Holding a form: crash, groove, a variation, a fill, and back to 1.

Level 4

Feels

Triplets and the shuffle, ghost notes, hand-to-foot groupings, a funk kick, and switching subdivisions on cue.

4.1 · 80 BPM · 3 steps

Eighth-note triplets

Three hi-hat strokes per beat: the 12/8 feel.
4.2 · 88 BPM · 2 steps

The shuffle

Swing: the first and the third of each triplet, the middle one left out.
4.3 · 88 BPM · 2 steps

Shuffle with the kick on the skip

The kick on the skip note before 2 and before 4.
4.4 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Half-time shuffle

Shuffled hi-hat, snare on 3, then the ghost notes that give it its roll.
4.5 · 84 BPM · 2 steps

Ghost notes

Loud and quiet on one drum: two soft snare strokes between the backbeats.
4.6 · 80 BPM · 2 steps

R L K

Hand-to-foot groupings: two hands then the kick, in triplets and then in sixteenths.
4.7 · 92 BPM · 2 steps

Sixteenth syncopation on the kick

A funk kick: 1, the "a" of 2, 3 and the "and" of 3.
4.8 · 80 BPM · 2 steps

Change-up

Switching subdivisions on cue: eighths, sixteenths, triplets, eighths.

The order

Where does this order come from?

The beginner methods agree far more than they differ: time on one surface, then the backbeat, then the kick; the eighth-note rock beat and a fixed family of kick variations; short fills early; sixteenths, half-time, triplets and the shuffle; then ghost notes and styles. The levels here follow that spine and sit at the tempos the exam boards use for beginners, 66 to 92 beats a minute. The sources, checked on October 20, 2026:

If you already play, the lessons are still a quick way to check a kit and a browser: pick one from level 4. If you are starting out, our guide on learning drums on an electronic kit says what an e-kit can and cannot teach.

Open the lessons in WebEDrums Read the guides Find a song Compare the apps