Intuitively, speed with drums is simply playing the drums faster. But it's not as simple as that. Here are a few things that are actually happening when you begin to play faster on the drums: Patterns or phrases sound differently. The timbre of the sound changes. The dynamics will change. Your technique changes. These are just some of the many things that must change as the speed increases.

The reason these things happen is because of some physical things that start to happen when you increase the speed. First, the sticks begin to strike the head of the drum differently. The sticks will be spending less time on the head and as a result produce a different sound or timbre. Second, the ability to play at really fast tempos comes from utilizing a different technique which involves the use of the fingers. Playing from the fingers produces a different sound than playing with the hands or wrists. Lastly, in order to play at top speed, you have to lower the sticks. Lowering the sticks means that the dynamics will suffer and the volume will go down. As you can see speed involves much more than just playing something faster.

Although speed is only one aspect of drumming it is a tool like any other. Once you have mastered playing at a certain tempo, it will be yours to pull out anytime you wish as long as you maintain it through practice. All of the tempos around your maximum speed ability will be easier to play. The easier something is to play, the more confident you are. This confidence allows you to take more risks and be more creative when playing. It helps you focus more on dynamics and musicality, and especially groove. It's very similar to weightlifting. If you workout frequently using a 25 pound weight then it would feel like nothing if you switched to a 10 pound weight. The strength and endurance you have gained from working with the 25 pound weight gives you an even greater advantage for the 10 pound weight.

Below is a graph that shows a dotted line where a trained drummers maximum tempo may be. The graph assumes playing four 16th notes for each beat. To get strokes per minute you just multiply the tempo by four. This drummers range of tempo possiblities includes everything under the line. The effort required to play at any tempo below this line diminishes as you go down. For this drummer, 200 BPM will be easier to play than 220 BPM. Although any tempos above 240 BPM are not possible for this drummer yet, if this drummer practiced and pushed his maximum up to 250 BPM then 220 BPM would become even easier to play. If you increase your current maximum, you will also increase your range of possibilities. Don't get too caught up in wondering about the usefulness of playing 16th notes at tempos around 250 BPM. Although drummers may seldom perform at this tempo, if they are able to raise their maximum speed through training then they will always have this tool available to them whenever they choose. They will have a greater command over those tempos that fall beneath their maximum.

A different technique is used to accomodate each particular tempo range (slow, medium, and fast). In order to gain facility with each range, each technique must be practiced and utilized frequently without sacrificing evenness. This means that practicing at 250 BPM (fast tempo range) will not make you better at 60 BPM (slow tempo range). Practicing at 250 BPM will make it easier for you to perform at 200 BPM, and playing at 70 BPM will help you play better at 60 BPM. Ultimately, however, if you wish to master playing at every tempo than every tempo must be practiced separately.