No Rhythm? Go To Drum School

At this stage of my life I have no issues with admitting my flaws. I talk too fast, I move too slow, and I may be the worst Rock Band drummer on the planet. I can shred some mean tunes while belting a rockin' chorus, but my hands have a real hard time going fast while staying in rhythm. Put the stupid foot pedal into the mix and all is lost.

So obviously there is an app for that too (this is an app site), and it is called Drum School. Before I get into the app though, I'd like to apologize for the intro that mentions Rock Band as the mecca to which all drummers aspire to. As much as I don't want to admit it, there are people in this world who actually play real drums and aspire to be more like Neil Peart and less like Bizarro Chris (the opposite of me). With that said, I can now move on to the app.

For an aspiring drummer (real or Rock Band), there is probably no better app on the planet for perfecting the craft than Drum School. The basic design of the app is rather simple, as it is really just a audio/visual guide to drumming with over 250 "grooves" and 64 different practice exercises. All in one screen (with no silly side screens), you get to see the beat in notation format, details and info on the beat, a video of a guy playing the beat, as well as the ever handy toolkit. The kit at the bottom plays the beat at any tempo you would like, but the real treat is that you can isolate any of your limbs for further practice. Can't quite get your left hand to work? Drum school is the perfect app for you.

For those of you who don't have their own drum kit or practice pedal, there are even 20 hand exercises that you can work through. It may not have the insane variety as the rest of the app (although you could just isolate the hands and use a different object for the high hat), but after a few minutes of practice, I already can do a hand drum roll better than I ever have in my life.

If you are at all interested in learning to drum, or even if you just want to get better at banging away at your steering wheel on your morning commute, I wouldn't hesitate to get Drum School. It's about as interactive and fun as a mobile learning tool can get.