Best Apps for Drummers: Improve Your Drumming Skills Fast
Practice better, play more with these Tools!
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Best Apps for Drummers: Improve Your Drumming Skills Fast · Source: Dinodia Photos / Alamy Stock Foto
Best Apps for Drummers: Practice better, play more with these Tools! · Source: Hleb Usovich / Alamy Stock Foto
If you’re looking for the best apps for drummers, you’ve come to the right place. Because today’s drummers use their smartphones for many things: from practicing to a metronome, listening for grooves and fills, and finding inspiration. So, we have selected the best, most helpful apps – some of them are even free!
Best Apps for Drummers – Our Selection
Introduction to the best apps for drummers
Most of us these days carry a smartphone with them everywhere we go. So, it’s already there when we’re sitting down to drum. While some might argue that this time to play and practice might also be an opportunity for some much needed digital detoxing, the opposite can also be true.
If you already have an iOS or Android device, why not use it to improve drum practice, create drumless tracks, or tune your drums? That’s why we have selected the best apps for drummers. In the world of mobile applications, prices are mostly in the single digits or even free.
We tried to make sure that all the apps on this list are still regularly updated because it happens more often than not that a developer stops updating an app. But if you’re in doubt and you’re using an older smartphone with an older mobile OS version, make sure to check out the app’s system requirements! Also, we’ve excluded apps that only exist either for Android or for iOS and not for both mobile platforms.
Best apps for drum tuning – iDrumTune Pro and DrumTune Pro
For many drummers, drum tuning is the bane of there existence. When exactly a drum is in tune and all the lugs sound at least roughly the same pitch can be a frustrating matter. There are specialized utilities like Tune-Bot or Drum Dial, but these can be a bit pricy if you’re just starting out. So, there are two apps for drum tuning we can recommend that are among the best apps for drummer!
iDrumTune Pro – drum tuning with your smartphone
iDrumTune Pro is the OG of drum tuning apps. This paid app is available for both Android and iOS devices. Its last update is from September 2023, which is still pretty recent. The app offers a variety of tuning modes and helpful assistants to help you get the sound you’re looking for in each drum.
There is also a dedicated resonant head tuner mode, which is nice since these drum heads are notoriously difficult to tune. The app goes for $9.99.
Drumtune PRO : Ready-made tuning sets for drum kits
Drumtune Pro is a bit newer and more polished than iDrumTune Pro. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and it’s been pretty helpful. One thing I really appreciated was the fact that the developer offers a huge database of existing drum kits from all the big drum manufacturers.
Select one and then the shell sizes of your kit. Then Drumtune Pro will load the perfect tunings for each and will guide you through the tuning process. The app goes for $12.99 in the app store.
Best apps for drummers: Transcription and drumless tracks
If you compare what is possible today for learning songs to what was possible maybe ten, fifteen years ago, drummers have it so much better today. From transcribing songs to dedicated apps that all for slowing down and looping song sections to AI-powered apps that remove or isolate drums from tracks, it’s never been better.
Anytune Pro – Slow down and loop song parts
Learning a new song on drums can be difficult, especially when a certain part, like a drum fill or a transition, requires hours of practice. One of the best ways to really get into learning a part is to play it slowly, over and over again.
Anytune Pro helps you with that. It detects the tempo of a song, and lets you add a metronome, but most importantly, you can loop song sections and slow them down. But the pitch does not change! I whole-heartedly recommend the app to any musician serious about learning songs, not just drummers. It costs $14.99 with additional in-app purchases available. There is also a free Anytune version available for both Android and iOS.
Moises – easily create drumless tracks
One of the best apps for drummers is an AI-powered one. And no, it doesn’t do the drumming for you or replace anyone. But once you’ve learned all the parts of a song, you’d probably want to play all the way through it – without the original drums! Stem separation is here to help.
I’ve heard from so many drum teachers how valuable tools like Moises have been to their lessons. Like all these other tools out there, it’s not perfect in terms of sound quality, but it’s more than good enough for practice purposes. There is also a basic free version that allows removing or isolating drums for five tracks a month. If you need more drumless tracks, there is a subscription model in place.
Best metronome apps for drummers
The metronome – one of the most passionately debated topics among drummers. Some say the groove should all come from within you. Some say they always practice to a metronome but rarely use one on stage. And even others swear by it for both practice and performance.
I would argue that the majority of today’s drummers practice to a metronome, at least sometimes, like all other musicians. The more you use it, the more stable your grooves become. Since it is a pretty easy feat to create, there are a gazillion metronome apps on the market. We’ve selected two.
Pro Metronome – metronome app with extensive options
Pro Metronome is one of the most popular metronome apps on the market. It’s basic free version already loads of options that go way beyond a simple metronome. Tap tempo, different metronome sounds, dynamics, a landscape mode, and even a background mode that allow Pro Metronome to run in the background while you use other apps!
Then, there are plenty of in-app purchases that further enhance it. For instance, you can unlock a visual, flashlight, and even vibration modes. That way, your smartphone vibrations light up its camera flash in time. There are also in-app purchases to create playlists for polymeters, a dedicated practice mode, and a dedicated performance mode.
Tempo – Metronome App with setlists, practice mode, and more
Tempo, the app, offers a lot of what Pro Metronome has. There are also free lite versions of the app for both Android and iOS. Tap tempo, visualization modes, different sounds, and a very in-depth playlist feature make this app a perfect companion for both practicing drums and performing.
For the practice mode, Tempo offers an advanced feature to gradually slow down or speed up the click in order to improve a certain technique or beat. There are also ways to track the number of repetitions for a certain rudiment or beat to better track your practice routine.
Best apps for drummers: Practice better, learn more
Similar to guitar, there are loads of apps for drum practice. And just like any other instrument, drum practice apps can help improve your instrument only to a certain extent. A dedicated, experienced teacher who zones in on your weak spots and knows how to get around things you have trouble understanding cannot be replaced by any virtual teacher (yet).
But still, some of these apps and the websites behind them have grown into gigantic drum communities because they offer a vast range of exercises and drumming videos. Or they help uniquely practice one thing. Let’s take a look at some of the best apps for drummers when practicing.
Drumeo – Classes, drumless tracks, and so much more
You can’t talk about drum apps for practicing and not mention Drumeo: their online community, their giant catalog of drum classes for all levels and genres, and their entertaining videos are all among the best. If you want to get into drumming or are looking for specific ways to improve your drumming, few other companies offer such a variety.
The apps for Android and iOS offer free 7-day trial versions of their subscription-based model where you get access to thousands of videos and exercises. At $30 per month or $20 per month if you get their annual package, it isn’t cheap. But the quality speaks for itself.
PercussionTutor – Drum encyclopedia
There are so many rhythms in Africa and Latin America that even experienced percussionists find it challenging to keep track of them all. The folks behind the app PercussionTutor had the same idea, so they put together an extensive groove library.
The app offers about 60 well-known rhythms as sheet music, audio loops, and videos, which are great for practicing or just exploring new grooves. Percussion teachers can also print the sheet music as an accompanying book and legally share it with their students.
GapClick – Benny Greb’s improves your timing
Benny Greb’s history of innovative drumming and teaching goes back a long way. So it’s only logical that an app by Greb and collaborators includes some of his methods. While it might look a bit like a simple metronome app on the surface, this isn’t a click track.
GapClick helps you improve your sense of timing by muting the click at set intervals. In the beginning it can be quite daunting just how much you get off track once the click comes back. But this exercise is one of the best to improve your inner “counter”, so to speak. The app costs $2.99.
Conclusion on the best apps for drummers
There is a growing number of apps and websites that will help you get better at drumming. I’d argue that our selection barely scratches the surface of what is out there.
So let us know in the comments which app you have been using hand how it helped you! Mind you that, again, we only included apps that are available for both platforms at the time of writing this list. So great apps like LiveBPM or BeatBalance did not make the cut!
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