26 Great Drum Songs for Beginners to Practice With

music, headphones, earphones

This list is different to the classic drum songs you might imagine. It doesn’t include songs like ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins, where the drum part is very iconic. This list is designed to get you playing along with great songs that don’t have too many variations. They are perfect to practice maintaining a steady groove at a steady tempo and to practice adding fills into your playing.

The best way to get better is simply to play. Anything that encourages you to play the drums and build competency is a good resource. 

This list of beginner drum songs is especially curated to provide a gentle learning curve for new drummers. 

The best way to improve is to play songs that you love. Once you start to recognise the patterns in the songs on this list, you will be apply to identify them in the music you listen to and play your favourite songs with confidence. 

The titles ‘Basic Rock’ refer to the foundation drum grooves that fuel thousands of classic rock and pop anthems.
Click on the Play button to start and stop the groove playing.

Basic Rock 1

[The above groove plays by default at 70 BPM. Click the two diagonal arrows next to play button to adjust the tempo]

Song TitleArtistTempo
Traffic in the SkyJack Johnson64 BPM
Do I Wanna Know? Arctic Monkeys85 BPM
Could You Be Loved?Bob Marley102 BPM
Snow (Hey Oh)Red Hot Chili Peppers 108 BPM
Can’t Feel My FaceThe Weeknd108 BPM
Another One Bites The DustQueen110 BPM
I Won’t Back DownTom Petty114 BPM
Billie JeanMichael Jackson116 BPM
Learning to Fly Tom Petty118 BPM
Where Did All The Love Go?Kasabian134 BPM
She Sells SanctuaryThe Cult139 BPM

Basic Rock 2

Song TitleArtistTempo
Can’t Get You Off Of My MindLenny Kravitz62 BPM
Hotel CaliforniaThe Eagles72 BPM
Clint EastwoodThe Gorillaz84 BPM
Midnight Train to GeorgiaGladys Knight89 BPM
Supersonic Oasis100 BPM
(Sittin’ On) The Dock of The BayOtis Redding104 BPM

Basic Rock 3

Song TitleArtistTempo
Don’t Dream It’s OverCrowded House80 BPM
Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?Arctic Monkeys92 BPM
If You Ever Want To Be In LoveJames Bay116 BPM
Every Breath You TakeThe Police118 BPM
Take It EasyThe Eagles139 BPM

Basic Rock 4

Song TitleArtistTempo
UnstoppableThe Score78 BPM
Free Fallin’ Tom Petty84 BPM
Fast CarTracy Chapman104 BPM
Stand By MeBen E. King120 BPM

Download the above song lists in a handy, one-page PDF document:

The grooves listed are summaries and approximations of what is actually played on the recordings. The above information is designed to give the player a rough idea of the pattern to play with the music and serves as valuable practice for drummers looking to develop their skills.

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