Foundations

A steady internal clock and a strike that lands where you meant it. One voice at a time — nothing ever stacks, so a note that is late can only be your timing.

Two and three voices, including the first pads that have to fire as one sound. Fingers stay where they are — every difficulty here is coordination, not travel.

The notes you do not play. A groove you already own with a beat, a half bar or a whole bar taken out of it — and coming back in exactly on time.

The three pads beyond the core three: ride, crash and open hat. The same time on a different cymbal, and the first hand travel that has a musical reason rather than a rhythmic one.

A groove with a beginning and an end. Bar 2 answers bar 1, a cymbal marks the top of the phrase, and the last two beats hand it back — all of it on the same grid Stage 2 finished on.