Easy drum songs for beginners: the 10 best to learn first

You can hold a basic rock beat for a few bars, and now you want it to turn into an actual song. The good news for a new drummer is that a large share of famous records sit on the same simple pattern. That is why the easy drum songs below are the ones teachers hand out first.

This guide explains what makes a song genuinely easy on the drums, then ranks ten well-known tracks from easiest to most demanding. Each entry tells you the tempo feel, the one technique it asks for, and what you will be able to do once you can play it through.

The easiest drum songs for beginners stay under about 120 BPM and ride one steady backbeat for the whole track, so start with “Beast of Burden” or “Free Fallin’” and work down the list.

Top picks at a glance

• Easiest first: “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones. One relaxed groove, almost no fills, and a tempo that leaves room to think.
• Most recognizable: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Everyone in the room knows the chorus the moment it lands.
• Best for the backbeat: “All Right Now” by Free. The beat is spacious, so every kick and snare hit has to land exactly on the count.
• Best slow song: “The Thrill Is Gone” by B.B. King. A slow blues teaches you to keep time when there is nothing to hide behind.
• Best to play with others: “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele. A kick-driven verse and a full chorus that any singer or guitarist will want to join.

What makes a song easy on the drums

Four things decide whether a drum part is realistic in your first months, and every song on this list scores well on at least three of them.

The first is a steady 4/4 backbeat. In 4/4 time you count four beats per bar, and the beat drummers call the backbeat puts the snare on counts 2 and 4. The standard beginner version adds the kick drum on counts 1 and 3 and keeps eighth notes going on the hi-hat, two taps per count. That one pattern, played cleanly, carries thousands of songs, and a song built on it lets you practice the pattern you already know instead of learning a new one.

The second is tempo. Tempo is the speed of the beat, measured in beats per minute (BPM). Under about 120 BPM, each count lasts half a second or more, which gives your hands and feet time to land together. The same pattern at 170 BPM is a different physical task, which is why some famously simple punk songs are harder than they sound.

The third is few fills. A fill is the short burst of notes, usually across the snare and toms, that marks the end of a section and leads into the next one. Fills are where beginners lose the count, so a song with a handful of simple fills, or none at all, keeps you in the groove.

The fourth is one groove for the whole song. When the verse, chorus and bridge all use the same beat, you learn one pattern and ride it for three minutes. A song that switches feel in every section asks you to memorize an arrangement as well as play it.

The 10 easiest drum songs, ranked

The songs run from easiest to most demanding. Each one sits on a steady backbeat, and the ranking mostly follows the tempo and how many fills the recording asks for. Listen to the original recording once with the drums in mind before you sit down to play; hearing where the kick lands is half the work.

1. Beast of Burden — The Rolling Stones

Relaxed mid-tempo rock in 4/4. Technique: the plain backbeat with eighth notes on the hi-hat.

Charlie Watts plays one groove for the entire song, and he plays it quietly. There are no big fills to memorize, the kick and snare sit exactly where the beginner pattern puts them, and the tempo is slow enough to feel every count. What the song teaches is consistency: five minutes of the same beat with no change in volume or speed. Record yourself playing along and listen back for any bar where the hi-hat rushes. If the groove stays even from the first verse to the fade, you have the foundation every other song here builds on.

See “Beast of Burden” on MuseScore

2. Free Fallin’ — Tom Petty

About 84 BPM, steady 4/4. Technique: counting bars of rest before you come in.

The song opens on guitars and vocals, and the drums wait. That makes it a lesson in counting as much as playing: you keep the beat silently, then enter on the right bar at the right volume. Once the drums are in, the part is a straight backbeat at a slow walking pace with very little decoration. The tempo is slow enough that a loose hi-hat hand will show, so keep the eighth notes even and light. Played well, it also teaches restraint, since the drums support the song rather than drive it.

See “Free Fallin’” on MuseScore

3. All Right Now — Free

About 120 BPM, 4/4. Technique: a spacious backbeat where every hit is exposed.

Simon Kirke’s verse beat is famous for how much air it leaves. The kick, snare and hi-hat each have room, and nothing is masked by a wall of guitar, so a late snare or an early kick is audible to everyone. That exposure is the lesson: the song forces you to place each hit precisely rather than hide inside a busy pattern. The tempo sits right at the upper edge of comfortable for a beginner, so practice the verse at 100 BPM first and move up in steps. The chorus opens up but keeps the same pulse.

See “All Right Now” on MuseScore

4. The Thrill Is Gone — B.B. King

Slow blues in B minor, about 88–90 BPM. Technique: holding a slow tempo without dragging or rushing.

A slow blues looks easy on paper and is surprisingly hard to keep steady, because the long gaps between hits give your internal clock room to drift. This recording asks for a quiet, even backbeat under the guitar and vocal for its whole length. Learning it builds the skill drummers call playing in the pocket: landing each hit slightly behind the click rather than ahead of it. Play along with the record first, then with a metronome, and compare where your snare falls. It is also the slowest song on the list, so it is a natural second song after one of the mid-tempo picks.

See “The Thrill Is Gone” on MuseScore

5. Interstate Love Song — Stone Temple Pilots

Slow-to-mid rock pulse in 4/4. Technique: a solid rock backbeat with short fills at the section changes.

Eric Kretz plays a heavy, straightforward rock beat that stays put through the verses and choruses. The step up from the first four songs is the fills: short, simple figures that announce each new section. Learn the groove first and play through the fills as plain backbeat until the form of the song is in your head. Then add one fill at a time, counting out loud through each one so the next bar starts on count 1. The song rewards a strong, confident snare, so this is a good place to work on hitting the center of the drum every time.

See “Interstate Love Song” on MuseScore

6. Rolling in the Deep — Adele

About 104–105 BPM, 4/4. Technique: building from a kick-only verse to a full-kit chorus.

The verse rides on the kick drum, with the rest of the kit held back, and the chorus brings in the full backbeat. That arrangement teaches two things at once: how a steady kick alone can carry a band, and how to raise the energy at the chorus without raising the tempo. Beginners tend to speed up when the chorus hits, so the metronome matters here more than on the slower songs. The song is also the one on this list most likely to get a singer and a guitarist playing with you, and keeping a steady floor for a vocalist is a skill of its own.

See “Rolling in the Deep” on MuseScore

7. Should I Stay or Should I Go — The Clash

About 112–113 BPM, 4/4. Technique: stops, and a chorus that moves to a double-time feel.

Topper Headon’s verse beat is a basic rock pattern anyone can learn in a session. What earns the song its place in the middle of the list is the arrangement: the band stops dead on cue, and the chorus doubles the feel so the snare lands twice as often. Neither is hard in isolation, and both are useful to practice early, because real bands stop and change feel all the time. Count the stops out loud, keep the hi-hat hand moving during the silence so you re-enter on time, and treat the double-time chorus as the same beat played with a quicker hand.

See “Should I Stay or Should I Go” on MuseScore

8. The Weight — The Band

Low 70s BPM, 4/4. Technique: a laid-back feel at a very slow tempo.

Levon Helm sang this while drumming it, which tells you how settled the part is. The beat is simple and sparse, with fills that are more like small gestures than runs across the toms. The challenge is the tempo. At this speed, the gaps between hits are long, and any tension in your hands shows up as rushing. Learning it teaches you to relax into a slow groove and let the snare sit back in the beat. Once you can keep it steady through the last chorus, slow songs in general stop feeling like a trap.

See “The Weight” on MuseScore

9. Walk This Way — Run-D.M.C.

Roughly 106–108 BPM, 4/4. Technique: a kick pattern with more than one kick per bar, played alone at the top of the track.

The 1986 version with Aerosmith opens on the drum beat by itself, so the first thing anyone hears is you. The beat is a backbeat with extra kick drum notes tucked between the snare hits, and that busier right foot is the step up from the songs above. Work the kick pattern slowly with the hi-hat alone, then add the snare on 2 and 4, then bring the tempo up. The exposed intro is also a confidence test: if you can start a song clean in front of people, you can play one.

See “Walk This Way” on MuseScore

10. Smells Like Teen Spirit — Nirvana

About 117 BPM, 4/4. Technique: dynamics, moving between a quiet verse and a loud chorus, plus the intro fill.

Dave Grohl’s verse beat is a simple pattern played softly, and the chorus is the same pulse played as hard as you can while staying in time. That contrast is the whole lesson: the song teaches you to change volume without changing speed, which is harder than either skill alone. The famous intro fill is the one part that is not beginner territory, so play it as a plain snare lead-in at first and add the real figure when the groove is secure. It ranks last here only because the fills and the volume swings ask more of you; the beat itself is as simple as anything above.

See “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on MuseScore

The ten songs side by side

How to choose your first song

Pick by the skill you want next, and work on two songs at a time: one you can nearly play through, and one that stretches you. If your backbeat is still shaky, start with the first two songs on the list. If the beat is solid and fills are the problem, pair “Interstate Love Song” with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. If slow tempos make you tense, put “The Thrill Is Gone” and “The Weight” together and learn them side by side.

Whatever you choose, learn it with a click. The free online metronome lets you set the song’s tempo, then drop it by 15 or 20 BPM until the pattern is clean and bring it back up in small steps. A song is learned at the speed where you make no mistakes, and speed arrives on its own once the pattern is automatic.

If you are reading drum charts for the first time, two short guides cover the ground. The guide to note values, rests and time signatures explains the counts and the 4/4 bar every song here uses. The guide to how to read sheet music walks through the staff and the symbols you will meet on a drum part.

When these ten feel comfortable, the collection they came from, First 50 Songs You Should Play on Drums, has forty more at a similar level, from James Brown to Taylor Swift.

Play another instrument too? See the best bass songs, harmonica songs and ukulele songs for beginners.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest song to play on drums?

For a complete beginner, “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones is the easiest song on this list: one steady backbeat, a relaxed tempo and almost no fills. “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty is just as simple once the drums enter, and it adds the useful habit of counting bars of rest.

Do I need to read music to learn these songs?

No. Every song here can be learned by ear from the recording, because the drum part is one repeating pattern. Reading a drum chart helps once you want fills and section changes written down, and the basics take an afternoon: the staff shows which drum to hit, and the note values show when.

How long does it take to learn a song on drums?

Most beginners who practice 20 to 30 minutes most days can play a simple song like the first three on this list within one to three months of starting. The main variable is whether the basic backbeat is already steady; once it is, each new song at this level takes days rather than weeks.

What BPM should a beginner practice at?

Start 15 to 20 BPM below the recording’s tempo and raise the metronome in steps of about 5 BPM only when a full pass is clean. For the songs above, that means practice tempos between roughly 60 and 100 BPM, which is slow enough to place every hit and fast enough that the pattern still feels like music.

Can I learn these songs on an electronic drum kit?

Yes. All ten songs use the standard kick, snare, hi-hat and toms, and every electronic kit has those pads. The feel of the pads differs from acoustic heads, so if you move to an acoustic kit later, expect to spend a week adjusting your stick height and kick pressure.

Where to go after your first ten

Every song on this list earns its place the same way: one steady backbeat, a tempo under about 120 BPM, and a part that repeats long enough for your hands and feet to settle. Work through them in order, keep the metronome on, and let each song add one skill, from counting rests to playing quietly to placing a busier kick. By the time “Walk This Way” starts clean, the simple backbeat will be automatic, and the next fifty songs will feel like variations on something you already own.