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Explore drum improvisation with changing subdivisions

Choose a template, improvise on any drums, and get feedback on your rhythm and timing.

Instead of following a written groove, you choose what to play. Pick a template that sets the subdivision for each beat, such as 8ths, triplets or 16ths, then improvise on any drums you like.

You can play along without an electronic kit. With one connected, GrooveDojo checks whether your notes fit the template and how they line up with the click.

Open the Improvisation Trainer

Choose a template

Choose a template that sets the subdivision for each beat. Start from one of the 14 built-in templates, or generate one: choose the subdivisions, how often they change (every bar, every 2 beats, every beat or mixed) and how many bars. Each template has its own page, where you can listen to it and edit its subdivisions.

Practice switching subdivisions with Subdivision cycle, a built-in exercise.

The Improvisation Trainer’s page: a short description, a tutorial card, Learn to improvise over 8ths, with Start the tutorial, then Generate a template, with the subdivisions to use, how often they change and how many bars, then Your templates with New template, a line suggesting Subdivision cycle, and the 14 built-in templates, starting with 8ths and Triplets.
The Improvisation Trainer’s page: the tutorial, Generate a template and the built-in templates.

Improvise

In Practice, choose Improvise and play on any drums you like. Follow the subdivisions in the template, but choose your own rhythms. You can play every note, leave some out or rest for a beat.

If you’d rather start with a written pattern, create a composition over the template, choose Composition in Practice and play it like a regular groove. Then switch to Improvise.

Practice’s setup over the template 8ths and 16ths, every bar: its two bars on a rhythm staff, 8ths then 16ths, a Timing feedback card saying no kit is connected, and the session’s choices, with Play set to Improvise beside Composition, Hear an example, the count-in, the click pattern and the metronome.
Practice’s setup over a template, with Improvise chosen.

What you see

With an electronic kit connected, GrooveDojo marks your notes on the staff as you play.

Afterward, the session review shows which beats fit the template and where your notes most often didn’t fit.

The top of an Improvisation Trainer session’s review on a phone: 64 s of practice, 1 run at 80 BPM. Beats that fit, 88%, 70 of 80 checked beats, with 16ths at 100% of beats fit under it. Where to focus: 8ths at 75%, marked Weakest, with its two places, 1 and &, the & outlined, and 16ths at 100% with its four places, then 8ths into 16ths and 16ths into 8ths, both at 100%.
Your practice: your results and where to focus next.

Work on this highlights recurring problems, such as notes that didn’t fit the subdivision or playing behind the click. See where the notes landed, listen to a typical pass, or use Practice this to work on the bar again.

Work on this, its first finding open: Bar 1, beat 3: notes that didn’t fit landed closer to the 16ths’ e. A picture of one beat of 8ths shows where its notes landed, those that fit on the beat and those that didn’t near the e, in 10 of 10 passes. Below, Listen with its speeds and Click, Practice this, and the bar on a rhythm staff. A second finding, You played behind the click, is closed.
Work on this: see where notes landed, listen back, and practice the bar.

Loop by loop shows how each beat went across your loops, making it easier to spot recurring problems.

Loop by loop: a row for each of 10 loops and a square for each beat of the template’s two bars. Beat 3 of bar 1 doesn’t fit in any loop, and 7 of 8 checked beats fit in each. Loop 5’s beat 3 is chosen: a note landed clearly closer to another subdivision’s place. Below, Listen, Practice this and the bar on a rhythm staff.
Loop by loop: each row is one loop, and each square is one beat.

Not every note can be checked reliably. See How the Improvisation Trainer works for details and limitations.

New to improvising? Try the five-minute tutorial. It starts with hearing the places in a beat, then guides you toward playing your own rhythms.

Where the inspiration came from

My drum teacher recommended Exploring Your Creativity on the Drumset by Mark Guiliana. Its exercises on changing subdivisions inspired me to build this trainer, so drummers could explore these ideas on their own kits, with feedback as they play.

GrooveDojo isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the author or publisher.

More ways to practice

You can also try the Independence Trainer, practice the built-in exercises or add a template to a practice plan.

Open the Improvisation Trainer