Explanation of Drum Rudiments Single Stroke Rudiments Double Stroke Rudiments Diddle Rudiments 1. Single Stroke Roll 4. Double Stroke Roll 11. Single Paradiddle 2. Single Stroke Four 5. Five Stroke Roll 12. Double Paradiddle 3. Single Stroke Seven 6. Six Stroke Roll Flam Rudiments 7. Seven Stroke Roll 13. Flam Stroke 8. Nine Stroke Roll Other Rudiments 9. Thirteen Stroke Roll 14. Buzz Roll 10. Fifteen Stroke Roll 15. Triple Roll 1. The Single Stroke Roll The single stroke roll is very easy to learn. You simply alternate your sticking: Right, Left, Right, Left… Try to get the same sound out of both your sticks, so they sound uniform. Here’s how a single stroke roll looks like: For some more advanced practice, try adding accents in. Practicing the single stroke roll with accents will help develop stick independence. In these next examples, you will use accents on your right, and left hand! 2. The Single Stroke Four The Single Stroke Four is a very basic rudiment. Like the single stroke roll, you alternate your sticking right, left, right, left. What you want to do is play four strokes at a time. Short bursts of four stroke hits on the drum are what make this rudiment. This would look like this: Try to change your starting hand up! If you always start with your right hand, change to your left. This will stop you from becoming complacent with your right hand, and open up more doors towards creativity! Also, as you improve, start playing this pattern a lot faster, tighter, and closer together. 3. The Single Stroke Seven The single stroke seven rudiment is a popular rudiment designed for quick shots and fast rolls. It is very similar to the single stroke four; however you are adding 3 more notes to create a 7 stroke pattern. The single stroke seven is meant to be played at faster tempos to create quick sound. You should practice this drum rudiment to work on your stick speed and control. Because there are only seven notes in this roll, you will not work your endurance that much; however it is good to work on your stick speed. You can play this with a triplet feel, or with just regular 8th or 16th notes. Try these few examples to get further acquainted with this rudiment. 4. The Double Stroke Roll There are two ways to do the double stroke roll: Bounce Back – where you hit the drum once and allow your stick to bounce back. Wrists – where you physically hit the drum twice with each hand. Both are good techniques with plusses for each, and should be practiced equally. The trick to mastering the double stroke roll is to try and make both strokes and both hands, sound the same. Close your eyes and listen, do they sound the same? To figure out the double stroke roll, start out slow and with always play with a metronome. Really try and get a feel for the stick. Simply hit your Practice Pad, and allow your drum stick to bounce a few times. This will get you used to the feel of your stick bouncing back. For using your wrists, again, start out slow. Simply double the single stroke roll, alternate each hand hitting the pad twice. This would look like this: Practicing the double stroke roll with accents is a great way to develop independence. Try these few examples with Accents. 5. The Five Stroke Roll The five stroke roll is a very powerful rudiment at fast speeds. Playing this at higher tempos requires a lot of stick control and speed. It consists of five strokes, two double strokes and one single stroke. Right Right Left Left Right. The five stroke roll is popular in the tango, and other Latin styles of music. You can incorporate this in fills, solos and beats very easily, as it is such a nice sounding rudiment. Make sure you practice this drum rudiment with a metronome so you do not create a mess. If you are not tight with your doubles, you may get 6 or more strokes out of a poor bounce on your stick, so be sure you are playing it properly with 5 strokes. 6. The Six Stroke Roll The six stroke roll is a rudiment that is not as popular as its’ brothers; however developing this pattern is a must. The six stroke roll is a distinct pattern that can be incorporated in many different fills beats and solos. It obviously consists of 6 strokes, 2 singles and 2 doubles. It is played – Right Left Left Right Right Left Make sure you are practicing this leading with both hands. When you practice this rudiment, practice it slow to make sure you are playing it correctly. When you play it fast, it can sometimes sound muddy, so make sure you are playing six strokes. Mastering this rudiment will help develop your stick control, and broaden your variety around the drum set! This is what the six stroke roll looks like: 7. The Seven Stroke Roll The seven stroke roll is yet another rudiment incorporating single and double strokes. Like the 5 stroke roll, you want to make sure you are playing this rudiment correctly. This rudiment contains seven strokes, three double strokes followed by a single stroke. It is played – Right Right Left Left Right Right Left Again, make sure you are practicing this rudiment leading with both hands. A lot of drummers stop practicing their rolls past the five stroke roll, this is a mistake since they are all different and have their own place in music. Being able to control your sticks to play 7 strokes at fast tempos will increase your skills around the drum set big time. The seven stroke roll can be written in a few different ways. Check out both ways below! 8. The Nine Stroke Roll The nine stroke roll is another exercise involving doubles and singles on the sticks. This rudiment contains nine strokes, four doubles followed by a single: Right Right Left Left Right Right Left Left Right. Practicing the nine stroke roll will build control on the sticks. As soon as you start working on higher stroke rolls, you are training yourself to count and control the amount of strokes you are playing, giving you a strong control of your hands. The nine stroke roll is great for solos, snare drum play, and fills. Practice your nine stroke roll on a practice pad with a metronome to make sure you are playing this rudiment correctly. There are many different ways to write this drum set rudiment, so make sure you can recognize this on paper. Here are two examples: 9. The Thirteen Stroke Roll The thirteen stroke roll is another rudiment that involved doubles and singles on the sticks. This rudiment contains 13 strokes, and should be practiced in both directions; left and right hand dominant. The thirteen stroke roll is played with six doubles followed by a single stroke: Right Right Left Left Right Right Left Left Right Right Left Left Right When you start playing higher stroke rolls, you train yourself to control the amount of strokes you are playing, which develops your drum stick control. Practice this rudiment on a practice pad with a metronome so you make sure you are staying on time. There are a few ways to write this rudiment out on paper, so make sure you are familiar with all the options so you can recognize this rudiment everywhere. Here are a few examples: 10. The Fifteen Stroke Roll The fifteen stroke roll is a less popular rudiment; however it is still important to practice. This rudiment contains 15 strokes, 7 doubles followed by a single. Practicing this rudiment will help to develop stick control and endurance, as you have to make sure you are playing 15 strokes. Since this is longer rudiment to play, you will develop endurance when you practice this at faster tempos. Most drummers fail to practice this rudiment, thinking if they can play a 5 or 7 stroke roll, they can play this. Do not fall under that category of drummers. Practice this rudiment regularly to master your drum roll on the snare drum and the toms. Like other rudiments, the fifteen stroke roll can be written a number of ways. Here are a few examples: 11. The Single Paradiddle So how do you do the single paradiddle? It’s very simple if you start out slow and with a metronome. I mentioned before that it is a combination of the single and double stroke roll. RLRL and RRLL. It is done like this, Right Left Right Right or Left Right Left Left When played together, you will get a continuous sound on the drum, almost like a roll. This would look like this: Lets try the single paradiddle with some accents. 12. The Double Paradiddle One of the most important rudiments to learn is the paradiddle, but what about the double paradiddle? As a drummer, the double paradiddle should be one of the top 5 drum rudiments you practice regularly! But what makes the double paradiddle so important? A lot of things actually. This rudiment is used in Jazz music, Latin music, as well as drum solos and drum fills too! So let me teach you how to play the double paradiddle drum rudiment. The double paradiddle is very similar to the single paradiddle. However, it does not follow the same rule as the double stroke roll. The single paradiddle is: Left Right Left Left Right Left Right Right So for the double paradiddle, you will want to double the single strokes on there, not the double strokes.In fact, practice the single stroke four rudiment, you are using that and the double stroke roll to create the double paradiddle.