The Secret To Realistic Finger Drumming

Finger drumming is a relatively new musical performance art. Over the past few years, it's been steadily gaining popularity as more and more people around the world discover this unique way of playing drums with the fingers.

As more audiences learn about finger drumming, they eventually discover a variety of tutorial videos on how to get started with playing the pads. These tutorials are all taught by different finger drummers, and they all have a very different set of instructions, depending on who you're listening to.

Unfortunately, most finger drumming teachers out there today don't come from a background playing acoustic drums. This leaves them at quite a disadvantage in figuring out the most optimal pad setup for finger drumming.

This is my secret: as an acoustic drummer, I learned that the best way to set up your pads is to mimic an actual acoustic drum kit.

This means choosing a pad layout that allows both hands to work in isolation from each other, so that one hand can play certain elements, like the hi-hat, while the other hand plays the kick and the snare drum.

In my opinion, this is a crucial secret to understand if you want the most versatile finger drumming setup possible.

Many finger drummers are more interested in beat-making than anything else, and all they desire is to be able to hit some pads and perform very simple rhythms.

This is totally fine, and if that's all you want to do with your pad controller, go for it! It's very easy to play that way and it doesn't require too much time or effort to learn.

But if you're like me, and you really want to push the limits of what your pad controller can do, then a proper and well-thought-out pad layout is essential.

I see finger drumming as a legitimate form of playing the drums, and from my years of experience playing acoustic drums, I've discovered that you can play with a high level of technique, skill, and complexity on a pad controller as well.

This style of finger drumming is what truly excites me, and it's why I put so much time and effort into teaching it to others; because I want to see more finger drummers shredding on the pads!

Finger drumming is an incredible and quickly growing art form, and it's important to learn as much as we can from established finger drummers to hone our skills as much as possible.

I created a free Finger Drumming Starter Course to help new finger drummers get started on their journey to pad mastery.

This free course expands on the video lesson above to help you set up your pads step-by-step, including a walkthrough of how to set up a free drum software!

It even dives into some essential finger drumming grooves so you can start playing immediately, and it includes bonuses like practice tips and more.