This free drum lesson is the best place to start learning your first patterns in 5/4 odd-time signature. The three 5/4 drum beats taught by Dave “The Canuck” Atkinson in the video are quarter note and 8th note based. They are demoed at two different tempos so you can have an idea of how they sound when played at slow and fast tempos.
If you’re delving into the world of 5/4 odd-time signature for the first time, check the free drum lesson “How To Count 5/4 Odd-Time” before you give this one a go. That free drum lesson is crucial for developing your ability to play and feel 5/4 as naturally as 4/4. Hence, watching that video will actually help you learn these drum beats a lot faster.
Once you’ve mastered these beginner 5/4 drum beats, you can use 4/4 drum beats for coming up with some fresh ideas in 5/4 odd-time signature. To do so, you just have to add one extra quarter note to any 4/4 drum beat you come across with, or take quarter notes from up to five different drum beats and weave them into a single 5/4 drum beat. If you permutate those quarter notes you can get up to 120 new 5/4 drum beats. If you’d like to start working on this concept right away, use the drum beats from the free drum lesson “Beginner Cross Sticking” to get started.
If you’d rather keep working on 5/4 drum beats, check the free drum lesson “Intermediate 5/4 Drum Beats“. If you’d like to learn 5/4 drum fills to go along with these 5/4 drum beats, move on to the free drum lesson “Beginner 5/4 Drum Fills“.