Updated: December 20th, 2020
(This is a guest post by the folks over at DealsLands. Thanks for contributing!)
Beginner drummers must practice a lot. Every spare time should be used for playing the drums. Following that it is only natural if you’ve just started to play the drums, you will look for some easy drum songs and for this purpose exactly we created this list of 7 easy songs to play on drums. They are great songs, they fit every one’s musical taste, and at the same time they are the best songs to stretch your skills as a drummer.
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Also Read: Best Online Drum Lessons
On that note, here are 9 easy songs to play on drums.
#1: Teenage Dream – Katy Perry
Teenage Dream is an easy drum song that needs a few bass drum strokes and snare hit. The song’s beat is very catchy for its easy rhythm and the sound by moving between the bass and snare. It makes a great song to play the drum for beginners, and if you increase the tempo, you will get a completely different feel when playing.
This song and the quick movement it entails will require you to learn consistency and play with strength. Remember that the trick is more about moving your arms than the sticks, as they will be wherever the arms are. This technique also helps in creating powerful sounds and improves your mastery of drumming skills.
#2: Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
Billie Jean is one of Michael Jackson’s most iconic tunes of all time. The drums were played in the song by award winner, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler. The song’s drum beat, also referred to as the “Money Beat”, is the beat of many hit songs through the years. It is also a really easy drum song with groove that can hold you while jogging or working out.
The time you spend working on learning this beat will be worth it because this is the basis of many other beats that you will encounter in your future as a drummer.
#3: Heart Shaped Box – Nirvana
The drummer who performed in this track is one of my personal favorites, Dave Grohl. Heart Shaped Box is one of Grohl’s performances that is very close to my heart, and also, the simplest to play. This is a perfect song that you can learn for the little yet important technical details.
The technical details includes “tricks” like rim clicks and hitting the cymbals in sync with the guitar. Try to pay attention to the heavy choruses in the track.
#4: Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
The drum track on this song is basic and simple, but yet fun to follow. It is an exciting song to play the drum to and teaches the beginner drummer how to phrase and support a rock band. To play this song, you need to learn the drumming sections involved. Black Sabbath also combines the beat with an underlying riff to make the song perfect for both beginners and professional drummers to practice with. This song beat will keep you eager to play daily and help you better develop your drumming skills.
#5: Live Forever – Oasis
This song is known for its drum into.
Like the first five songs on this list, it can be easily played by beginners. As the song moves forward, the drummer starts to move from backbeat to the floor tom and then to the snare. The reason being that the volume increases as the guitar starts to come in.
#6: You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
You Shook Me All Night Long is an excellent beginner drum song and a rock classic. AC/DC’s drummer, Phil Rudd, is the mastermind behind the drum track in this song. The song has a straightforward and trendy groove loved by all drummers. However, you get to practice and develop your timing, as any foul play can be immediately obvious to the listener.
To better enjoy the music, ensure you properly tune your drums. If this is still a challenge to you, there are online videos where you can learn how to become an expert at tuning the drums to near perfection. Take note of the alternation between the snare and the kick + hats. For greater fun, you could decide to open up the hi-hats.
#7: Run to the Hills – Iron Maiden
Okay, to be fair, you shouldn’t tackle this track until you become more advanced – but we thought why not spice things up a bit towards the end…
That said, you can make this song much easier if you just disregard the 16th action that is going on in the verses and chorus. Just make it into any HiHat groove in quarter notes and hit the snare drum like it was the last thing you were doing. Or even take the snare drum on all 4 notes…
If you want to downgrade even more, you can also opt to play eighth or even quarter notes on the HiHat during the intro – but actually I think you can learn and bring up to speed that intro HiHat pattern pretty quickly (perhaps leaving out the open HiHat on count 4).
Through this song, you will learn the tricks and tactics for performing and other minute details of playing the drums.
#8: Come as You Are – Nirvana
It should not come strange that this is another song by Nirvana. Just as always, Dave Grohl kept the drumming (especially the verses) simple, uncomplicated, and very clear. Come as You Are is one of the best easy songs to play the drum to. There are two sections to the song, the verse, and the chorus. The verses depend on a combination of the bass, snare, and ride cymbal. Ensure the bass drum strokes are even, clean, and in time with the music.
A pre-chorus to the song features the 16-note snare drum fill, which is enjoyed by all drummers. You might find the chorus quite challenging, seeing that it includes the tom-toms, but even that only equips you and helps you learn endurance early enough. All in all, the song is great to drum to and is loved by both beginners and professional drummers as they can use it to warm up during rehearsals.
#9: Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz
As a beginner drummer, this song does an excellent job keeping the drum track interesting and easy. Since only one beat is used, it makes your drum lesson to go by faster and easier. Please pay attention to the half-open hi-hat hits at the ends of some phrases and notice how they are supported by the snare drum but do not distract from the lyrics.
Learning to play the song is one thing, and mastering it is another. This difficulty in mastery is due to the numerous variations and the high speed associated with it. You may control this by reducing the beat per minute and focus on mastering the beat. Then when you feel good about yourself, you can increase the tempo and practice your speed. Feel Good Inc. will make you respect the power of leaving out a kick drum and stopping the beat at a key point in the phrase.
Final Thoughts
Are you ready to pick up your drum sticks? It’s not as tough as you think. Just visualize yourself on the stage, and go for it!
The more you play the drums, the easier you’ll learn songs to play. Once you start getting the rhythm, you will get into the habit of playing and improving your skills!
Want more songs? Here are 7 healthy play-alongs that could even replace your next workout.
Do you have any favorite song to play on the drums? Let us know in the comment section below!
I’m not sure I’d describe all these as easy. Billie Jean’s pretty straightforward, but the Iron Maiden tune is far from easy, especially the 16th notes on the hi-hat at the beginning. If I was picking up sticks for the first time and attempting to play that after being told it was easy, I’d probably just burn my sticks and sell the kit right there and then!
Thanks for your input, Ray! And I think you’re right, that the song isn’t the easiest one around. Thanks for pointing that out!
I changed up the order of the songs, so it appears at the end as most the difficult one of the songs presented here. I don’t think that the HiHat part is all that hard to learn – but I’ve given people some ways to work around this and other parts of the song.
Best regards,
Yannick.
acho que seria bem interessante ter um áudio com a bateria tocando e outro sem o som da bateria, assim seria possível ouvir como se faz e praticar num segundo momento.
Hey Anderson,
Você está se referindo a faixas sem bateria, eu acho. Isso existe, por exemplo, aqui.
(Eu não falo português, então isso é feito usando o Google Translate. Espero que seja compreensível.)
Cumprimentos,
Yannick.
I like to play Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Hey Dylan,
That’s a good one. There you go.
Thanks for this list! And Dylan, thanks for suggestion of green day song – have been playing for only a few months and this is now my fav!!
Great, thanks for sharing Marie!
Just stumbled across this post by accident looking for slower songs than Arctic Monkeys’ Brianstorm to learn to keep a 16th beat. I must say I do love your list, and the website in its entirety. I picked up the sticks just this year, at the age of 32, and websites like these help tremendously in furthering my drumming. Thanks for that, Yannick!
My own suggestions for easy to learn songs to begin with:
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (keeping quarter notes with 3 or 4 limbs almost the entire song)
Blur – Song 2 (a staple for any rock drummer really, any drummer who knows the song with recognise it before the second bar has even ended)
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. (subtle variation on the Money Beat for most of the song, great one to just zone out to while playing and enjoy it)
Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams (it was already suggested by Dylan, but just to reiterate, just all round great song to kick off with)
System of a Down – Lonely Day (slightly more advanced due to it being in 6/8, but a surprisingly easy song by my favourite band of all time)
Also, not entirely sure if I’m allowed to but if so: Please check out the free Aula de Bateria video series on Youtube by Cifra Club. The series is entirely in Portuguese, which I do not speak at all (being Dutch myself), but the videos are so crystal clear, it doesn’t even matter. There are over 200 songs on there, broken down completely into segments and with easy to understand tablature. Without Joao de Paula, I would not have been as far as I am now.
Hey Roger,
Thanks for your kind words and thanks for your detailled contribution here. I’m sure other readers will highly appreciate it! And I will check ou Aula de Bateria for sure.
Best,
Yannick
Thanks for the list of easy songs to play on drums. I have greatly enjoyed playing Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. It is a great warm-up song and quite easy to play. However, I wonder if there are drummer lessons that will help me better play all the songs listed here. I am learning on my own and would appreciate any aid.