7 Beginner Drum Mistakes That Are Slowing You Down (And How to Fix Them)
- Rob Bishop
- May 6
- 7 min read
Updated: May 13
Quick Answer
The most common beginner mistakes include practising without a plan, neglecting timing, ignoring dynamics, and trying to learn too many things at once. Most beginners make the same errors. Fixing them early stops bad habits forming and makes everything you practise from the point forward solid faster.
These are the 7 beginner drum mistakes I see beginner drummers make, and more importantly, exactly how to fix each one so your progress stops feeling like you’re wading through mud.
# Mistake 1: Practising Without a Plan
Most people don’t even realise they’re doing this. You sit down at the kit. You play a bit of this, a bit of that. You bash around for 20 minutes a-day and then after 6 months wonder why you’re not improving.
The truth: random practice produces random results.
After 25 years of playing, I can tell you that your practice time is only as good as the structure behind it. Even 15 focused minutes will outperform an hour of aimless noodling every single time.
The fix: Before you sit down, decide on three things:
1. What am I working on today?
2. What tempo am I starting at?
3. How will I know when it’s solid enough to move on?
It doesn’t need to be complicated. A simple focus for each session is enough to completely change your trajectory.
# Mistake 2: Playing Too Fast, Too Soon
This is probably the most damaging mistake on this list, and almost every beginner does this.
You hear a song. You want to play along to it. So you try to keep up with the tempo, even though you’re not ready for it yet.
The result? You’re playing fast, but you’re playing messy. And here’s the problem with that, your hands and feet are learning the messy version. All you're doing is practising mistakes.
Here’s what I tell every student: If you can’t play something slowly and cleanly, you don’t actually know it yet. Speed and momentum is just disguising the gaps in your control.
Here’s something that surprises most beginners when I tell them: playing fast is hard. But playing very slow is actually harder.
We all have a tempo that feels naturally aligned to our own internal clock, a speed where things just feel comfortable. Playing confidently outside of that comfort zone, in either direction, is where real the real work is and where real progress happens. In my experience, the biggest gains in timing and consistency come from practising at very slow tempos. We’re talking 30–50 BPM. That might feel almost comically slow (and boring, it's not for the faint hearted!). But at that speed, every tiny inconsistency is exposed. There’s nowhere to hide. You'd be suprised at what things you thought you were good at, played at 40bpm, to find out you can't do it.
The fix: Drop the tempo right down. Not just to 60 BPM — try 40. Try 35. Play a simple groove and really feel every beat. It will feel strange at first. And the time between the beeps will feel like forerver,and that feeling is your own urge to ''rush'' - That’s the point. Stick with it, and when you bring the tempo back up, you’ll feel the difference immediately.
The drummers who improve fastest are almost always the ones willing to go slowest.
# Mistake 3: Ignoring Timing (And Thinking It’ll Sort Itself Out)
You can learn every beat, every fill, every pattern, but if your timing is off, none of it will sound right.
Timing is the foundation. Without it, your drumming will always feel unstable to everyone listening, even if the notes are technically correct.
Most beginners skip timing work because it feels boring. Sitting with a metronome clicking isn’t as exciting as learning a new beat. But this is exactly why most beginners plateau, and become frustrated.
The fix: A metronome is non-negotiable. But don’t just turn it on and play over it, actually listen to it. Think of the click as your best mate standing beside you, smiling, having fun playing consistent time for you. Your goal is to lock in so tightly with the click that it almost disappears. When the click and your playing merge, that’s when you know you’re genuinely in time.
Start with quarter notes. Get locked in. Then 8th notes (match the hi hat rhythm) Don’t rush this process.
# Mistake 4: Never Playing With Actual Music
Practising on your own with a metronome builds your foundation. But if that’s all you do, you’re missing a massive piece of the puzzle.
Real drumming is about playing with music. It’s about feel, dynamics, and serving the song. You can’t develop that sitting alone clicking a metronome.
Playing along to songs teaches you things no exercise can, how to lock in with a bass line, how to adjust your dynamics to match the track, how to make a groove feel natural rather than mechanical.
The fix: Pick simple songs and play along to them regularly. Great starting points for beginners:
- Billie Jean – Michael Jackson (steady groove, perfect for building control)
- Another One Bites the Dust – Queen (iconic kick pattern, great for beginners)
These aren’t easy songs in terms of feel, but the patterns themselves are accessible, which means you can focus on making them groove rather than just surviving them.
# Mistake 5: Rushing and Dragging Without Realising It
This one is sneaky because you often can’t hear it yourself when you’re the one playing. (Record yourself!!)
Rushing means you’re speeding up, usually when a fill comes, or when you get excited (chorus coming up), or when you’re nervous. Dragging means you’re slowing down, usually when a pattern feels uncertain or awkward.
Both feel normal from the inside. That’s what makes them so hard to self-diagnose.
The fix: Recording yourself is vital on improving your playing, not just as a beginner, but as you get more advanced. I know it feels uncomfortable, but there is no better tool for spotting your own timing and/or playing issues. Even a phone recording on the floor next to the kit will expose rushing and dragging immediately. You'll also hear YOUR own sound and how this improves over-time.
The other fix: breathe. I see this all the time and my drum teacher years ago noticed it with me. Holding your breath or doing anything weird will almost certainly change your groove. Most rushing comes from physical tension. If you catch yourself speeding up, the answer is almost never to try harder, it’s to relax your grip, take a breath, and feel the pulse rather than chase it.
# Mistake 6: Skipping the Basics to Get to the “Fun Stuff”
I get it. Fills are fun. Fast beats look impressive. Complex patterns feel like progress. And your mum thinks you're great.
But if your basic groove isn’t solid, everything built on top of it will wobble, and that's not good to listen to and nobody wants to play to that.
Think of it like this, you wouldn’t try to build a house on a shaky foundation. The basics aren’t the boring part of drumming. They are drumming. The best drummers in the world have spent more time on the fundamentals than you can imagine. ''Simple things done well''.
The fix: Spend the majority of your practice time on:
- Basic groove (kick on 1 & 3, snare on 2 & 4, steady hi-hat)
- Timing and consistency
- Dynamic control (playing quietly as well as loudly)
Get those solid, and everything else will come faster and feel better.
# Mistake 7: Expecting Progress to Be Linear (And Giving Up When It Isn’t)
This last one isn’t really a technique mistake, it’s a mindset mistake. But it holds more people back than any of the others.
Progress on drums isn’t a straight line upward. Some weeks you’ll feel like everything is clicking. Others you’ll feel like you’ve forgotten how to hold sticks. That’s completely normal. It happens to everyone, beginners and professionals alike.
The mistake is interpreting a plateau as failure. It’s just part of the process.
The fix: Stop measuring progress in giant leaps. Start noticing small wins:
- Your hi-hat was more even today than last week
- You stayed in time for a full minute without drifting
- That fill finally felt relaxed instead of forced
Those small improvements are the real signs of progress, and to not lose track of them - RECORD YOURSELF. Stack enough of them and one day you’ll sit down and realise how far you’ve come.
Looking at all 7 of these mistakes, there’s a common thread:
Most beginner drummers don’t have a clear structure to follow.
They’re not improving because of lack of talent or effort. They’re not improving because nobody gave them a proper map.
That’s exactly why I put together the Free Drum Starter Pack.
# Grab the Free Drum Starter Pack
This is what’s inside:
- Full Grade 1 song breakdown — Another One Bites the Dust, broken down step by step so you can actually learn it properly
- 5 Essential Grooves every drummer needs to know (PDF)
- 5 Mistakes Beginners Make — and how to fix them (sound familiar?)
- Full Billie Jean video breakdown — one of the best beginner grooves ever written
It’s free. It’s clear and structured, and it gives you something most beginners never have — a clear path forward.
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Got a question about any of these mistakes? Drop it in the comments, I actually read every one.
FAQ Section
What is the most common mistake beginner drummers make?
Practising without a plan. Most beginners sit down and play randomly, which produces random results. Even 15 focused minutes with a clear goal will outperform an hour of aimless playing.
How do I stop rushing when I play drums?
Slow down and relax your grip. Most rushing comes from physical tension rather than poor timing. Drop the tempo right down, breathe, and feel the pulse rather than chasing it.
Should beginners use a metronome?
Yes, from day one. The goal isn’t just to play over the click but to lock in with it so precisely that it almost disappears. Start with quarter notes at a comfortable tempo and build from there.
How long should a beginner drummer practise each day?
15 to 20 focused minutes is enough, especially in the early stages. Consistency matters more than duration. Short daily sessions will produce better results than one long session per week.
Why am I not improving at drums?
Usually it comes down to lack of structure rather than lack of effort or talent. Random practice produces random results. Having a clear focus for each session — what you’re working on, at what tempo, and how you’ll know when it’s solid — changes everything.
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