5 Best Drum Books To Give You The Edge

Stick Control For The Snare Drummer Review

In first place for the best drum book for beginners is the legendary Stick Control For The Snare Drummer. This drum book is widely regarded as the all time greatest instructional drumming book created – also known as the ‘bible of drumming’.

When I first learned to play the drums, this was the book that my drum teacher swore by. I didn’t agree with him at the time, as the book didn’t involve playing any fun grooves. However, I quickly realized how useful all the hand exercises were, and they definitely made me a better drummer. 

This is one of the best drum books, and it’s entirely focused on building and developing hand technique and drumstick control. Let me just say, it does exactly that!

As the name suggests, this book was originally intended for snare drummers. But it has become an institution within the drumming world. Every great drummer has completed the exercises within this book.

With consistent and dedicated practice, you can expect to build precision, speed, control and coordination by working through the hundreds of sticking patterns found within the book.

The drumming book contains an enormous list of rhythmic exercises with different combinations of sticking patterns that are suitable for all levels of drummers.

Working through stick control for the snare drummer with a metronome and a practice pad is the best way to improve your timing and feel as well as hand dexterity and precision.

It’s without a doubt one of the best drum books and at a very affordable price; it’s an indispensable tool for any progressing drummer.

Groove Essentials: The Groove Encyclopedia For The 21st Drummer Review

Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials is a legendary drum book that includes over 6 hours of music and sheet music to play along to. This really is one of the best drum books for building a strong musical identity and sense of groove.

This book was more up my alley when I was first learning to play. It’s highly practical, teaching you how to play grooves in dozens of styles. It still remains one of my favorite drum books to this day. 

Groove Essentials includes 47 grooves with over 100 variations to practice to and 88 play along tracks that can be streamed or downloaded. This book really is an interactive groove experience for beginners right through to experienced drummers.

This drum method book is an exceptional system for teaching you how to be not only a great drummer, but also a tasteful musician!

Groove Essentials will help to instill a strong sense of feel, timekeeping and musicality that will allow you to be a dependable and rock-solid drummer within a band setting.

From simple rock beats to jazz shuffles, this drum book will show you how to play it all, accompanied with professional charts and great sounding backing tracks.

It will help to build your musical skills, creativity, improvisation and understanding of phrasing.

If you’re looking for one of the best drum books that is an absolute must-have then Groove Essentials has got to be on your list.

Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer: Coordinated Independence Review

Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin was written in 1948, and it is still the number 1 best-selling drum set book in the world.

As a matter of fact, this drum method book has been loved by many greats including the legendary John Bonham – who used this book to enhance his independence.

This is a fantastic drum book that will help to improve all areas of your playing, from stick control, power, and speed to independence and coordination. Included with the book are 2 CDs so you can hear how the patterns are intended to be played.

This drum book is designed with jazz drum set players in mind, but the exercises will help all types of players. The exercises can be quite challenging as the book progresses, so it is ideal for experienced players too.

When I first wanted to learn how to play jazz, this was the book that was recommended to me. I remember struggling with the exercises on the very first page, but I was eventually able to play them, and my jazz comping abilities got a lot better thanks to the book!

This may not be the best drum book for the complete beginner, but it is a classic that still proves itself as the best-selling drum book in the world. It’s definitely worth the investment!

Progressive Steps To Syncopation For The Modern Drummer Review

Progressive Steps To Syncopation For The Modern Drummer contains a huge variety of rhythmic patterns that will challenge you to improve your ability to read music significantly.

This is the one book that opened up new ways of playing the drums for me, and it allowed me to expand my musical ideas.

Syncopation For The Modern Drummer includes an enormous array of exercises featuring all different subdivisions and dotted notes to strengthen your understanding of syncopation and timing.

For beginners and experienced drummers alike, this drumming book is really practical and it’s super rewarding to learn from. It will build and develop control, limb independence, and feel when practiced to a metronome.

Syncopation For The Modern Drummer is another must-have and one of the best drum books to open up a whole new world of rhythmic possibilities.

4-Way Coordination Review

4-Way Coordination is another one of the best drum books designed to provide a drummer with the tools to develop a high level of control between both the hands and feet.

The book guides you from simple patterns all the way to advanced polyrhythm exercises, which will be difficult even for experienced players!

This really is an amazing drumming book that contains the best drum exercises to strengthen coordination and limb independence.

The most skilled drummers display incredible precision with both hands and feet, and this book will challenge you to play a variety of independent exercises with greater accuracy.

This was another book that really challenged me when I worked through it. It made me realize how I struggled to keep my left foot going while playing with all my other limbs, and it helped dramatically to improve that skill. 

Demonstrating independent control of your separate limbs whilst playing the drums is a coveted skill that will put you in the highest bracket of drummers. If you want to expand your repertoire and improve your coordination tremendously then 4-Way Coordination is just the ticket.

The exercises within 4-Way Coordination are indeed challenging, but dedicated practice will provide you with immediate and lasting results – significantly improving your ability behind the drum set.