Master groupings with Anika Nilles
24 Lessons | 6 Hours of Videos | 42 Exercises | +700 Audio Tracks | 63 PDF Pages
Create free account and get a test drive!
starting at €19 / month (billed annually)
The only complete and exclusive online course designed by Anika Nilles!
Are you ready to take your drumming skills to the next level and unlock the potential to create incredible grooves? Look no further!
We present to you a unique opportunity to access the course with the essential rhythms every drummer must master, led by renowned drummer Anika Nilles.
Unlock these drumming skills:
- Dive deep into the process of Anika Nilles practice strategies.
- Build a Strong Foundation – Develop solid pad workouts to transfer simple concepts into practical and musical phrases.
- Master Groups of 4 Like a Pro – Learn everything you need to confidently play any song in 4/4 with creative phrasing and musical fills.
- Polish Your Dynamics – Master your accent placement within stickings made up of singles, doubles, and paradiddles.
- Create Modern & Groovy Drum Parts – Move stickings to the drum set to build hip, groovy beats that sound fresh and unique.
- Master Subdivision Transitions – Apply stickings seamlessly across 16th-note and 16th-note triplet grids.
- Develop a versatile set of fills that will serve you in any musical situation.
- Master 3-over-4 and 4-over-3 polyrhythms to craft catchy rhythmic illusions.
What you will get?
- Carefully crafted video lessons to help you master groupings, grooves, and dynamic feels with a clear, step-by-step approach.
- Dedicated Exercises with Live Audio Tracks recorded by Anika herself!
- Expert Guidance. Benefit from the knowledge of top experts in the field.
- Downloadable PDFs with Sheet Music.
- Community and regular online meetings with the teachers.
- Take the course at your own pace and revisit lessons and exercises as needed.
starting at €19 / month (billed annually)
Course Content
CHAPTER 1: GROUP OF 4 | THE BASICS
CHAPTER 2: 4 NOTE GROUPING MEETS THE TRIPLET GRID - COMING SOON...
CHAPTER 3: GROUP OF 4 - GROOVE APPLICATIONS
CHAPTER 4: GROUP OF 4 - FILL APPLICATIONS BASED ON 16TH NOTES
CHAPTER 5: GROUP OF 4 - FILL IN APPLICATIONS BASED ON 16TH NOTE TRIPLETS
CHAPTER 6: GROUP OF 4 - POLYRHYTHM GROOVES
With this course I would like to introduce you to a system I like to call “The Power of Groupings” and give you insight into my approach to building musical vocabulary around the drums. Groupings are a great tool for building interesting melodic grooves, fills and phrasing and can be helpful when playing over bar lines. With so many options of groupings to work with, the intention of this course is to focus on just one: The Group of Four, and show you the wide range of possibilities that it offers.
Entry level: Beginner
24 Lessons
6 hours of videos
42 exercises
+700 audio tracks
Try this course for free with these lessons:
A group of four is a very common rhythmic structure in many styles of music, and is a great place to start in the world of groupings as you are likely already familiar with it on many levels. The process of applying different combinations of stickings, accents and ghost notes to this grouping will create an array of rhythmic melodies that you can easily use for tasteful fill-ins and groove-based material.
Course booklet to each lesson
In addition to all the video materials, exercises and support you’ll get a downloadable, printable booklets to each lesson with exercises so you can study wherever you want, even if you don’t have your phone or internet connection.
Meet your instructor!
Anika Nilles
German drummer, composer, solo musician, and educator
Drummer for Nevell with whom she released two studio albums
Drummer for Jeff Beck in 2022
Department Chief at Germany’s “POPAKADEMIE”
Testimonials
What our students say
“The Open Minded Drumming website has been one of the most comfortable sites I have ever used. It is simple to reach all the courses. The nicest thing is to be able to access zoom meeting content on the website whenever we want after those meetings. Training and the courses on the site definitely affect my work in a positive manner. A site like this works great and it’s great that you did it. I’m looking forward to good ideas that may come up in the future. Thank you!.”
Seren DurkanDrummer and drum teacher from Turkey 
“I am loving Open Minded Drumming! The courses are full of knowledge, excellent production and amazing didactic. I am also digging into the Online Meetings, which have a lot of good exercises. I sure recommend it for any level of drumming”
Nina ParáDrummer and drum teacher from Brazil 
“The next best thing to having 1:1 lessons with Claus is to be part of Open Minded Drumming. The great thing about this drumming school is that in addition to courses which you can work through in your own time, you’ll have the opportunity to learn in live sessions (“Practice with..”) directly from Claus or Anika. OMD is well organised, offers valuable content & gives you direct learning opportunities - what more would you neeed? I can highly recommend.”
Benno SchlachterDrummer and drum teacher from Germany 
“Open Minded Drumming is very cool and informative format. The different topics are very well explained and you can even practice along Claus or Anika! The online meetings are a place where you can watch the masters in real time and ask them questions. Well done!”
Thomas FroschauerMusician and drum teacher from Austria 
“Starting with the Swiss rudimental drumming which I found fascinating using a lot of quintuplets to the New Orleans Second Line, Brushes course, and Songo course and then the regular play along sessions with Claus there is endless material here for any student of drumming to learn new ideas and grow their knowledge. The approach on everything I have seen is friendly and encouraging. The material supplied is seemingly endless and forever useful.
Highly recommend.
Thanks a lot to the OMD team.”
Chris JoyceFormer drummer of Simply Red and drum teacher from United Kingdom 
“I became a member of the Open Minded Drumming platform in September 2021, the material is excellent, the content is easy to understand and the videos are superb… There is a wonderful network of people who know their way around the drums and answer any questions you may have… nothing seems too much trouble, very friendly, helpful people/team.”
Barry TrickettDrummer from United Kingdom 
“It’s been a year since I signed up and I can recommend it to every drummer.”
Christoph MartinMusician, Composer, Producer & Piano teacher from Germany 
“I have used other on line platforms and they do not have the same insight and detail for learning. Open Minded Drumming has multiple practice exercises with video for each technique being utilized and adapted in addition to live classes that you can take and participate in.”
Mark MagnarellaDrummer from North Carolina, United States 
Previous
Next
Get All Access to this course and more:
+105 comprehensive lessons based on consistent, legitimate and usable information
+21 hours of high quality video content with all the explanations and exercises with sheet music on the screen
+430 exercises with practice pointers, explanations, audio tracks, and many functionalities to help you organise your daily routines
+3250 audio tracks to each exercise that you can easily loop and play in different tempos
249 pages of booklets with exercises that you can download and print to study wherever you want
Online live meetings every month! Ask your questions and meet other Open Minded Drummers.
Access to all the previous online meetings and practice sessions +54h
"Become the best drummer you can possibly be.”
Save 30%