GuideHow to play along to songs on electronic drums

Playing along to the real recording is the most fun way to practise — and with an electronic kit you can see exactly where you drift. A routine that works:

1. Pick a song at your level. Start with easy drum songs; slow songs are harder than they look, because every hit is exposed.
2. Listen to the part once. Watch the notes fall in Beatfall, or read it as drum notation.
3. Slow it down. Take the hardest section at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, until every hit lands on time.
4. Bring it up to speed a step at a time, then play the whole song with the band.
5. Look at the results. Every hit is judged on time, early or late — the sections that pulled you early are the ones to loop next time.

Tips

• Play through headphones plugged into the computer, so the song and the click are together.
• Work on one fill at a time; fills are where timing slips first.
• When a song gets easy, move to intermediate and then hard songs.