There is no way to be totally original. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying or in marketing. To be 'original' it has to do with feel, and what you play when—i.e. where something is usually played, you play something else. And mix with something else. An artist takes other stuff and mixes it up to make it his/her own. So never be worried about stealing beats. Just make them your own! No one comes up with a totally original beat. We use parts of beats & fills we have heard before. You can change them & play them in an original way, but hitting the snare to keep a beat is not new....

All drummers have to reuse what they have heard or read. You have to. Come on—like I invented hitting a snare on 2 & 4...., oooh, I'll hit the snare on 2 then the '&' of 4 instead. Hey I just invented a new beat ! ! ! ! Maybe I'll patent it. Some just don't know it or admit it....! Once you realize this, it opens up a new world of your own creativity. Poets don't usually invent words or sentence structure. But it is how & when they use words & twist structure that make it their style. Same with drums and all music. What you put together & how you do it is what makes something original...

If you're just starting out on drums, check out fills section & playing a basic beat