Grab your sticks and pad as I walk you through my latest basic stick control exercises curated with play-alongs in Beat Note. These are universal and can be applied to your hands and feet. There is much room to stretch this material, so dive in and enjoy the journey.

In This Article

• Basic Sticking Patterns
• Creative Stick Control Patterns

Basic Sticking Patterns

Once you grasp how your hands work, in terms of your fulcrum, grips, mechanics, and utilizing rebound to your advantage, the basic exercises you use to level up your playing will evolve. As this applies to stick control, we can get quite creative. Let’s take it from the beginning, though; we all are encouraged to learn the essential top 8 combinations:

Open In Beat Note!

Iconic Top 8 Basic Stick Control Exercises

There are many more foundational exercises to explore. You can get a lot of mileage from these top 8.

Open Iconic Top 8 Basic Stick Control Exercises in the Beat Note app to change the tempo

Don't have Beat Note yet?

Sign Up to be notified
of the Android release!

Here's a tip for interdependence: You can even double through these. Play all the R as right hand and right foot and all the L as left hand and left foot, or assign your own variation.

Creative Stick Control

Let’s dive into the intermediate side and explore some sticking variations to get you started on your journey. I like to create short backtrack ideas for my play-along videos to drum along with, or I’ll whip up a groove on Beat Note and shed to that.

Open In Beat Note!

Creative Stick Control Pattern #1

As we play these types of inversions of doubles with a check pattern, you will also learn to control the permutations of paradiddles.

Open Creative Stick Control Pattern #1 in the Beat Note app to change the tempo

Don't have Beat Note yet?

Sign Up to be notified
of the Android release!

"The Box": Mix hands and feet for interdependence, along with counting out loud. Play all the R as right foot, all the L as left hand, or vice versa. We have another article on ["The Box"](/blog/practice/warmup/2024/10/23/daily-drumming-warmup-exercises/) concept.

Open In Beat Note!

Creative Stick Control Pattern with Accents

Strive for consistent motion and sound as you shift from singles to doubles.

Open Creative Stick Control Pattern with Accents in the Beat Note app to change the tempo

Don't have Beat Note yet?

Sign Up to be notified
of the Android release!

Feel the different pulses. Count out loud in quarter notes as you play. Try counting on the half notes to build your internal clock even more!

Open In Beat Note!

Stick Control Pattern with Accent Motifs

Pick the type of motion or grip you want to focus on, for example, legato strokes in American grip. Play through these a few times and focus on releasing tension points or hiccups in your mechanics.

Open Stick Control Pattern with Accent Motifs in the Beat Note app to change the tempo

Don't have Beat Note yet?

Sign Up to be notified
of the Android release!

Listen to the space between the notes to maintain an even and steady rhythm. The space between should remain the same hand-to-hand.

Open In Beat Note!

Stick Control Pattern in Triplets

Moving different groupings of sticking through triplets can create some interesting tension and release points.

Open Stick Control Pattern in Triplets in the Beat Note app to change the tempo

Don't have Beat Note yet?

Sign Up to be notified
of the Android release!

Wrap-Up

As you might have noticed, there is plenty of room here to delve deeper (adding accents, exploring sticking and voicing, etc); we hope this gets you moving in the right direction. To take this thing to the next level, you might consider the following: how slow can you play these? (40BPM is a good marker.) How fast can you handle these, remain relaxed, and maintain time/rhythmic integrity? What does adding dynamics sound like? Can you move these concepts around the drums in time?

By investing 5 minutes a day in foundational warm-ups like these, you will soon reap the exponential benefits in your control, fluidity, and sound; a great teacher also helps!

Check out our other killer articles here at Beat Note for more fun ideas and educational references.

Happy drumming,

Z