A small vocabulary first
You do not need a thousand patterns. You need a handful you can play without thinking, the way you use the same few hundred words every day without noticing.
Always know what to practise.
GrooveIQ and FillIQ tell you what to work on next and move you on once it's solid, so your practice time goes into playing music, not wondering what to do. Plug in an electronic kit and you're scored as you play.
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From £5 a month, or £47 a year. Or find your level for free.
New to drums? Play your first song free, no kit needed →Sound familiar?
You practise. You just don’t get better.
You sit down at the kit and play the same things you played last month. You have watched dozens of free lessons, and each one starts somewhere different, so nothing ever joins up.
You can play bits of a lot of songs and the whole of almost none. The problem was never effort or talent — it is that nobody has ever told you what to practise, in what order, and when to move on.
The LTSD approach
Learn drums the way you learned to speak.
Nobody learns a language by studying the dictionary. They learn a few words, use them every day, and build from there. Drums work the same way.
Daily repetition beats long sessions
Fifteen focused minutes most days will take you further than two hours at the weekend. Language is learned by frequency, and so is drumming.
Fluency before complexity
A simple beat you can hold under pressure is worth more than a hard one you can only manage alone and slowly. We make it fluent, then we make it harder.
What's inside
The curriculum is the app. Find my level is free and shows you where you start on it. The Drum Debut is free with an account, and Level 1 onwards comes with FluentDrummer Pro.
GrooveIQ
The 2&4 backbeat, climbed a level at a time: bass/kick and snare patterns, hi-hat rhythms, the ride, accents and ghost notes.
FluentDrummer Pro
FillIQ
Fills built a step at a time — sticking, grouping, dynamics, moving round the kit — and moved on once each is solid.
FluentDrummer Pro
Find my level
Pick a groove or a fill, play along for five minutes, and find exactly where you are on it.
Free, no account needed
The Fluency Assessment
Scores you across six areas and names the one thing holding the rest back. Takes a few minutes.
Free, no account needed
Practice Check
Ten questions on how you practise, scored out of 50, with the one change worth making first.
Free, no account needed
Exercises
Grooves and fills written out properly, with the notation, the kit and the sticking side by side.
Free with an account
Metronome
Subdivisions, odd time signatures and gap click, for practising time rather than just hearing it.
Free with an account
Fluent Drummer Scribe
Write a groove out, hear it back, and share the link with anyone.
No account needed
FluentDrummer Pro
Know exactly what to practise, every day
GrooveIQ and FillIQ tell you what to work on next and move you on once it's solid.
Monthly
£5per month
Cancel any time
Yearly
£60£47per year
Save £13 — £3.92 a month
Both plans include
- GrooveIQ: the 2&4 backbeat built a step at a time, up to 180 BPM
- FillIQ: fills built a step at a time, moved on once each is solid
- A five-minute placement on every card that tests one skill at a time, so you start at your level
- Scored as you play on an electronic kit over USB or MIDI, or rate yourself on an acoustic
- Progress saved to your account, on every device
Paid securely through Stripe. Cancel from your account menu whenever you like. Not sure yet? Find your level for free first.
Questions
How much does it cost?
FluentDrummer Pro is £5 a month or £47 a year. Either one opens GrooveIQ and FillIQ. Find my level and the Practice Check are free and need no account.
Can I cancel?
Yes, whenever you like, from Billing in your account menu. You keep Pro until the end of the period you have paid for, and nothing renews after that.
Where should I start?
With Find my level. It is free and needs no account: pick a groove or a fill, play along for five minutes, and it finds where you are on that card one skill at a time. GrooveIQ and FillIQ then start you there.
What do I get with Pro?
GrooveIQ, which builds the 2&4 backbeat a step at a time, from bass/kick and snare patterns to hi-hat rhythms, the ride, accents and ghost notes; and FillIQ, which builds your fills the same way. With an electronic kit your playing is scored against the click; on an acoustic kit you rate each pass yourself.
What level is it for?
Anyone aged 18 or over learning at home, including people who have played for years and never got past the same few beats. If you can hold sticks and play something that resembles a groove you are in the right place, and if you have never sat at a kit that is fine too.
Do I need an electronic kit?
An electronic kit is best. Plug it in by USB or MIDI and every pass is scored as you play: five bars in a row at 80% or better. An acoustic kit works too, and you rate each pass yourself. The hearing and writing tests need no kit at all.
Spend your practice time playing music
Stop guessing what to practise. Know what to do today, why it matters, and what comes next — for as long as you want to keep playing.
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