“Why can’t drummers share beats the way guitarists share tabs?”

As a drummer and product designer, I noticed something missing: while guitarists enjoyed an abundance of platforms to share tabs, drummers had no central place to create, save, or discover grooves. It was a gap I couldn’t ignore. The solution seemed clear—build a dedicated online platform for drummers.

“I didn’t know how to code. I just knew this had to exist.”

The Genesis

I’d been playing drums for years. But over time, my growth stalled. I had stacks of old exercise books from teenage lessons which were dry, mechanical, and uninspiring.

Then came Instagram.

Watching drummers post fresh, inventive rhythms lit a fire in me. I’d download these videos, loop them, study their every beat. It was inspiring, but time consuming. There was no system, no way to collect and replicate these grooves. Just chance encounters on a crowded feed.

That’s when the idea for Beatbook crystallised:

A digital platform for drummers to create, share, and save their favourite beats.

But what it meant in practice was something far more complex—a web-based MIDI controller that translated rhythmic inputs into sheet music, with looping, playback, and social sharing.

The First Attempt

In 2019, I hired two brilliant developers from Singapore. I had vision, but not much cash. We worked hard. But soon the ambition outpaced the resources. The learning curve was too steep. They handed back the files, admitting defeat.

I understood. This wasn’t a simple app. It was a mountain.

And if it was going to be climbed, I would have to learn more about this space.

This was a pivotal time for me, I had spent the past five years in engineering, industrial design, creating amazing physical consumer products. The software space was very new, and my ignorance of the complexity here was evident.

I was excited the chance to learn something new, opening the doors to a whole new industry - A spark was ignited.

Learning Through Building

Three years passed, I had spent time diving deep into software and computer science. Joining a start-up named Resourceful as the product manager bringing their business networking product to market. Shortly after starting Semantu, the semantic web app builder—I had learned fast and felt a new sense of confidence in the field.

In July 2022, I reopened the project.

I had no formal training. No bootcamp. Just stubbornness to fulfill a dream.

Opening my MacBook, installed VS Code, and began my crash course in full-stack development.

This was pre-AI. Every obstacle required friction-filled detective work. I’d Google, “how to transcribe sheet notation online,” fall down rabbit holes on Stack Overflow, binge YouTube tutorials, and sift through Medium articles at 2am.

To the generous strangers on Stack Overflow: thank you.

Your answers were lifelines in a sea of confusion.

Backend: Bringing Beatbook to Life

Beatbook needed more than just visual flair. It needed structure, a backend.

User accounts. Saved beats. Playback libraries.

After exploring countless options, a friend recommended Firebase. It was the perfect starting point. With Firebase, I implemented:

• Authentication and login
• Database storage for user-generated beats
• Secure access to private libraries and shared posts

Backend as a service is a welcome saviour to enthusiasts with no formal training such as myself.

The Breakthrough Moment

I struck gold.

I discovered GrooveScribe, a browser-based beat visualiser built by a former Mosaic developer in collaboration with legendary drum teacher Mike Johnston.

Even better? It was open source.

I forked the GitHub repo. The code was dense, alien to my beginner eyes. But piece by piece, I unpacked it. I isolated the component that rendered beat patterns on screen, and after days of head-scratching, I integrated it into Beatbook.

It worked.

That breakthrough turned a fuzzy idea into a working prototype. The dream was no longer theoretical. It had rhythm. It had sound.

Unlocking the MVP

By 2019, I’d learned a hard truth: grand visions are easy to dream, but brutal to build.

My first attempt aimed too high, too fast—a fully comprehensive drumming platform with every bell and whistle. No wonder the developers I hired bowed out. The mountain was too steep.

This time, I played it differently.

Aware of my limitations in programming, I focused on what mattered most: solving the real pain point.

Then came the breakthrough, GrooveScribe. This open-source beat visualiser did exactly what I needed: it let drummers create, loop, and share rhythms online. Integrating it into Beatbook unlocked the core user experience.

With that puzzle piece in place, I stripped everything back to the essentials:

• Sign up
• Create a beat
• Post it, share it, save it
• Practice

The MVP wasn’t perfect. But it was real and that felt like a win.

From Zero to App in Four Months

Once I had a working prototype, I went looking for feedback.

I messaged a few Reddit drumming groups, inviting them to try it out. About ten generous drummers agreed. Their insights were honest and incredibly useful.

They liked the concept, but said it lacked stickiness. The user experience still had too much friction. Some flows were clunky. The magic wasn’t quite there yet.

And when users won’t tolerate friction, it often means one thing:

You haven’t nailed the value. Yet.

One user mentioned someone had tried a similar idea before, using Facebook groups and shared links but had struggled with copyright issues around musical content. Another drummer asked if the platform could automatically transcribe audio into beats. A brilliant idea, but miles beyond my current scope.

Still, this was gold.

The feedback revealed not failure, but focus: what to trim, what to build next, and where the true value might lie.

Where the Beat Paused

Just as I launched Beatbook, life threw me another opportunity.

A job offer in London with a real estate tech startup called DoorFeed landed in my inbox. It was a chance to work with a brilliant early team, tackle new challenges, and step into a new industry. I followed that adventure.

Beatbook never failed—it pivoted me.

It taught me how to teach myself. How to navigate chaos with curiosity. How to go from idea to interface. It was the spark that taught me full-stack development, from JavaScript to Firebase. More than a product, it became my personal bootcamp.

And that’s what this story really taught me:

That friction is feedback.

Ambition must meet reality and you must learn from it.

That building something, even unfinished, is never wasted work.

So… should I return to Beatbook?

Honestly, I think I will.

With AI development tools rising, and a stronger understanding of what drummers actually want, the path is clearer now. The rhythm’s still there, pulsing in the background. Maybe it’s time to hit play again.

Thanks for reading the Beatbook journey. If you’re a drummer, dev, or dreamer—I’d love your thoughts. Check out the prototype, and let me know what you think.