One hit at a time.
No two voices overlap.
Linear drumming means only one limb plays at any moment. DrumShed's beat builder and pattern editor make it easy to build and practice linear grooves and fills.
Build linear patterns
Pattern editor
The grid editor makes linear patterns visual. Place one hit per subdivision across any voice — kick, snare, hi-hat, toms.
Linear voice strategy
Linear is one of the fill builder's 11 voice strategies: no two hits land on the same drum, so runs walk snare → high → mid → floor on their own. Exercise mode loops the run back-to-back for pure reps.
One tap across the kit
Tap a voice and paint a whole sticking across the bar, then apply it to every voice at once — a run walks the kit as a single linear line. Undo if it's not what you wanted.
Beat builder
Build linear grooves with the guided wizard. The grid view makes it easy to spot and avoid overlapping voices.
AI generation (beta)
Ask the AI for 'linear 16th-note groove' and it builds linear grooves for you. Check the grid, nudge what you'd play differently.
Notation view
See linear patterns in notation where the single-voice-per-beat structure is visually clear.
Share patterns
Export linear grooves as videos to show off the independence. Linear patterns look and sound impressive.
Three starter linear patterns
R on the hi-hat, L on the snare, K on the kick. One limb at a time — if two ever land together, you've left linear territory.
The three-note cell
RLKHat, snare, kick, repeat. Played as 16ths it crosses the barline every three beats, which is what makes it sound like more than it is. Start at 65 BPM and count out loud until the cell stops needing the count — around 90 it starts to groove.
The workhorse
RLKKHat, snare, double kick. Four notes, so it sits square in 16ths — no barline drift, just pocket. The double kick is the weak point: keep both notes even at 70 BPM before pushing to 100. This cell is half of every linear funk groove you've heard.
The full bar
RLRK LRLKEight notes with the hands alternating and the kick capping each half. Accent the first note of each four and it turns into a phrase. 60 BPM to learn it, 85 to play it, then move the accented hand to a tom and it's a fill.
Practice this in DrumShed
Free on the App Store & Google Play
Every drummer needs
a home base.
One limb at a time. Pure independence.