5 Minute Drum Warm Up for Beginners (That Trains Four Things at Once)

By Rob Bishop | robbishopdrums.com

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# Quick Answer

This is a five minute drum warm up you play on a snare or practice pad at 100 BPM, reading through 28 one bar rhythms and playing each one four times. The base is quiet 8th note ghost notes split between both hands, and you apply the written rhythm as accents on top as you read. It builds hand strength, sharpens your sight reading, and trains your dynamics and click track timing all at the same time. You can follow along with my hands in the video, and there is a free notation PDF if you want to keep it.

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Most beginners treat a warm up like an Olympic event. Sticks flying, top speed, trying to prove something before they have even started playing. And I get it. It feels like that is what warming up is supposed to look like.

That is not how it works. A warm up is not a performance. It is the bit that gets the blood flowing and gets your head into the zone for the session ahead. Moderate tempo, nice and relaxed with nothing to prove.

I will be honest with you, I'm a really lazy drummer. It's like exercise, if someone hands me a warm up to do before I get to the good stuff, I will usually skip it, or fast forward if I'm watching a video. I just want to get into it. So instead I do a slower version of the thing I am actually trying to practise, and I make it earn its place by training more than one thing at once. **This warm up is exactly that.**

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# What This Warm Up Actually Is

28 one bar rhythms. Quarter notes and 8th notes, nothing fancy, just basic rhythms. You play each bar four times before you move on to the next one.

The base rate is 8th note ghost notes, split between both hands. Keep these quiet, low and even. Think of those ghost notes as the trunk of a tree, and the written rhythm is then played as accents on top, the branches coming off that trunk. Same hands, you are just lifting a little higher on the notes that matter and staying low and quiet on the rest.

It runs at 100 BPM, with a click sitting low in the mix and a repeated funky bass line underneath to hopefully make it interesting (I hate boring loops), so it is not just you and a metronome. This makes a big difference, I like to lock into something musical whenever possible.

That is the whole exercise. Quiet 8th notes underneath, accents applied on top as you read, both hands, four times through each bar.

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# Why I Play It With No Rebound

I play this with a closed grip and no rebound at all. And before anyone jumps in: I am not saying rebound is bad. Rebound is one of the most important tools you have as a drummer.

But it is a tool.

The drumming world loves a technique debate, and it can swallow you whole if you let it. Techniques that teach you to accept rebound, like the Moeller, matter, of course, but they are one part of hand technique, not the whole of it.

Here is the thing nobody tells beginners. If you only ever play with the stick bouncing for you, the moment you sit at a surface with no bounce, a dead pad, a tired backline snare, a practice pad balanced on your leg in a dressing room, you may struggle. Build hands that can play the rhythm without relying on the bounce, or integrate both and you can play on any surface, any kit, anywhere.

You can absolutely do this warm up with rebound if you prefer. But I would encourage you to try it without, at least some of the time. It is the harder, more honest version, and it pays off.

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# The Real Secret: It Is Not Really a Warm Up

This is the part I actually care about. On paper it is a hand warm up. In practice it is hitting four things at once: hand strength, sight reading, dynamics, and click track timing.

That is why I do it nearly every day. If this were strictly a hand warm up, I probably would not bother that often. But because I know it is sharpening my reading, my dynamic control and my timing all in one go, it keeps me interested and it keeps me coming back. The same approach works for any 8th note rhythm too, so it never goes stale.

Now, the reading. Why should you care about reading a rhythm when you just want to play a few songs? Let me put it like this.

Reading a rhythm and applying dynamics to it at the same time is a bit like driving a car. When you first learn, every single thing is a conscious effort. The gears, your feet, the mirrors, the road, all at once, and it is overwhelming. But as you get better, the mechanical stuff goes onto autopilot. Changing gear happens without a thought, which frees up your brain to focus on the road and everything going on around you.

Drumming is the same. If reading a rhythm is a fight, you have no spare capacity left to be musical with it. But once reading becomes second nature, your hands are free to do the interesting bit. You hear a rhythm and your hands already have ideas to complement it.

And it means that when someone hands you a chart, you treat it as music, not as a frightening bit of paper.

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# Can't Read Music Yet? Just Follow My Hands

You do not need to read a note to start. When I was learning to read, I would get the charts for the songs I was working on and follow along while the music played. Awkward at first, but you get better at it far quicker than you expect, because you are matching what you see to what you hear.

Do the same here. Print out the free notation PDF, put it next to you, and follow along as I play in the video. You will start spotting shapes you recognise, and before long you are reading without realising you are reading. If you want to go deeper on this, I have written a whole piece on whether you can learn drums without reading music. It might be worth a look.

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# How to Do the 5 Minute Warm Up

1. Get your gear. A snare or a practice pad and a pair of sticks. That is all you need.

2. Set 100 BPM and put a click on. Better still, play it over the backing track in the video, it makes the timing far more enjoyable to lock into.

3. Lay down the base. Quiet, even 8th note ghost notes, alternating between your hands. Low and relaxed. This is your trunk.

4. Read the first bar and apply the accents. Lift a little higher on the written notes, stay low on the ghosts. Watch the video for guidance.

5. Four times, then move on. Play each bar four times before you go to the next. If you trip over yourself, try and keep it going and move but make a note of the rhythm that tripped. Go back and practice it.

6. Keep the ghost notes honest. The quiet notes matter as much as the loud ones. The gap between them is your dynamic range, and that gap is the whole point.

7. Work through all 28 bars. No rebound if you can manage it, closed grip, let your hands do the work. By half way through your arms should be on fire!

Do not rush it. 100 BPM is deliberately moderate. This is about getting the blood flowing and your head switched on, not setting a record. If you are still working out how to structure your sessions, my beginner drum practice plan is a good companion to this.

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# Stop Treating Your Warm Up Like a Sport

The single most common mistake I see is beginners going at a warm up like it is the main event. Flat out, tense, chasing speed.

A warm up is the opposite of that. Moderate tempo, relaxed hands, getting into the zone. Speed is a by product, not the goal. Funnily enough, play this slowly and cleanly every day and the speed turns up on its own. Take this exact warm up to 200 BPM once your hands know it, and you have got yourself some proper chops.

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# Where to Take It Next

Once the beginner version feels comfortable, there are two obvious ways to level it up.

First, double up each ghost note. That quietly turns your single strokes into a double stroke roll underneath the accents, and it is a real step up in control. If you would find a full video on that useful, tell me in the comments and I will make it.

Second, take it to the kit. Move the accents onto your toms while you keep the ghost notes on the snare, and suddenly your reading exercise has become a musical idea. Experiment. See how it sounds. That is the moment this stuff stops being practice and starts being playing. For more on using quiet notes musically, my piece on improving your groove goes deeper on ghost notes and dynamics in a real playing context.

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# Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a drum warm up be?

Around five minutes is plenty for most players. This one runs to a tight four to five minutes. The point of a warm up is to get the blood flowing and your focus switched on, not to exhaust yourself before you have started. A short warm up done every day beats a long one done occasionally.

Do I need a drum kit to do this warm up?

No. You only need a snare drum or a practice pad and a pair of sticks. The whole thing is designed to work on a single surface, which is exactly why it is useful when you are short on time or away from your kit. If you need a pad, I have written an honest guide to choosing a [practice pad](/best-drum-practice-pad).

Should I warm up with or without rebound?

Both have their place. Rebound is an essential tool and you should develop it. But it is worth working on rhythms with no rebound too, so you are not dependent on the stick bouncing for you. Play without rebound and you can play on any surface. I play this particular warm up with a closed grip and no rebound for that reason, but you can do it either way.

Can beginners who cannot read music still do this?

Yes. You can simply follow my hands in the video. If you want to start learning to read at the same time, print the free notation PDF and follow along as I play. Matching what you see to what you hear is one of the fastest ways to get comfortable with notation.

What tempo should I do a drum warm up at?

A moderate tempo. This warm up sits at 100 BPM, which is fast enough to get your hands moving and slow enough to stay clean and relaxed. Warming up flat out is a common mistake. Build the control first and the speed follows.

How often should I do this warm up?

You can do it every day. Because it trains your reading, dynamics and timing as well as your hands, it is worth far more than five minutes of mindless stick movement. The same method works for any 8th note rhythm, so you can keep it fresh.

Why are ghost notes important in a warm up?

Ghost notes are the quiet notes that sit underneath the accents. Training them teaches control and dynamic range, which is what makes your playing sound musical rather than flat. In this warm up the ghost notes are your base and the accents are applied on top, so you are practising the contrast between loud and quiet in every single bar.

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# Ready to Build From Here?

Do this warm up regularly, keep your ghost notes honest and your accents clean, and you will feel the difference the next time you sit at the kit.

If you want a proper starting point for the rest of your playing, my FREE Beginner Drum Course is a good place to be

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