Beginner Curriculum · The Finish Line

Intermediate Gate

A “Beginner → Intermediate Passport.” These tempos and skills are grounded in Rockschool Grade 2 and Trinity Rock & Pop Grade 2. You've reached intermediate when you can check every box.

Timekeeping

Hold a groove at 100+ BPM with zero drift against a metronome.
Play song grooves across the 80–140 BPM range without stopping.

Rudiments

Single stroke roll — clean & even at 110+ BPM for 60 sec.
Double stroke roll — controlled rebound at 110+ BPM for 60 sec.
Single paradiddle — clean sticking at 80+ BPM, both leads even.
Flam — clear grace/main separation at 100 BPM.

Reading

Read and groove fluently in 4/4 and 6/8 (and recognize 3/4).
Read sixteenth notes and eighth-note triplets in notation.
Sight-read a simple one-bar groove (mixed 8th/16th, one accent or rest) at 80+ BPM, first attempt.

Independence

Four-way independence: kick, hi-hat foot, snare hand, hi-hat hand on separate rhythms for 60+ sec.
Dynamic control: loud accents vs medium vs soft ghost notes in the same groove, clearly separated.

Groove & Fills

At least three distinct styles played fluently (e.g. rock, funk/ghost-note, reggae, blues shuffle, jazz, or bossa).
Play a groove → one-bar fill → return four-bar phrase without stopping, clean re-entry on the “1”.

Musicality

Learn a new song groove by ear in 3–5 attempts (no notation).
Improvise a simple fill over a backing track in real time.

You are not yet intermediate if you drift at 100 BPM, your sixteenths sound choppy, your ghost notes are inaudible or muddy, you only know one groove template, your paradiddles are uneven, or 6/8 still feels like six separate beats.