Do you want to play a really clean, open Double Stroke Roll? Do you want to master playing all the shorter rolls – 5s, 9s, 11s, etc. – at any tempo? Then this practice guide is the perfect way to improve your double stroke roll performance.
The traditional style is defined by a clean, open, controlled Double Stroke Roll.
This is opposed to the modern buzzed or bounced rolls. Want to know more about the distinction? Check out my discussion of the historic performance of the Double Stroke Roll.
How to Practice Your Double Stroke Rolls
You’ve almost certainly been told to practice all of your rudiments from “Slow to Fast to Slow”.
This is an old practice that we find in many 19th century drum manuals – including Potter’s The Art of Beating the Drum (1815).
The idea of this model is to master the movement and sticking first. Then, slowly increase the speed until the rudiment can be performed at full (closed) speed.
At any point that a mistake is made, the drummer should stop and start again at the slower speed.
Trying to push through to higher speeds just leads to sloppy and/or incorrect playing – and sometimes injury!
Slow to Fast: What Does That Mean?
I have to confess: I don’t love the modern drum philosophy / practice method of “slow to fast”.
The majority of the time, drummers usually perform the “slow to fast” unevenly. Usually playing very slow for a while, then zooming through the medium-slow to get to a medium-fast.
Ultimately, the problems I find are these:
- This method re-enforces most people’s natural instinct to rush rudiments.
- The modern method doesn’t teach / train the progressive rhythms in a Double Stroke Roll (and other rudiments).
How do We Fix This?
Instead of playing “slow to fast”, we want to play at a fixed tempo.
Then play a progression of rhythms, from the slowest of them to the fastest of them.
Want to learn more about the natural rhythms of double stroke rolls? Check out my discussion of understanding roll rhythms.
Basic Double Stroke Roll Exercise
In this exercise, we’ll start by playing two strokes on each hand as half notes, then quarter notes, then 16th notes, and finally 32nd notes.
Even though you’ll be playing at the same tempo throughout, you will be playing progressively faster as you move down the rhythms.
The Tempo
I recommend selecting 3 tempos to work on:
- Common Time (for your impression)
- Quick Time (for your impression)
- Another common tempo: 60bpm if you want to master 18th century drumming; 90bpm is a common muster tempo; 72bpm is “recommended” for Double Drags
Exercise No. 1
Select one tempo from above.
Set your metronome to click out the 8th notes of that tempo. (This means 2 clicks per beat or double the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from Half Notes to Quarter Notes to Eighth Notes.
Technique Notes:
- Begin with the stick at eye level.
- Use the space between strokes (rests) to bring your stick back up to the original height.
Don’t rush to bring your stick back into position. For example, when playing half notes: strike on beat 1, use the full beat to raise the stick so it arrives at eye level on beat 2. When playing eighth notes: strike on beat 1; the stick returns to position on the “e”; strike on “&”; stick returns to position on the “a”.
Exercise No. 2
Stick with the same tempo.
Set your metronome to click out the 8th notes of that tempo. (This means 2 clicks per beat or double the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from Eighth Notes to Sixteenth Notes.
Technique Notes:
- Try to keep the stick near eye level. More practically, return to shoulder height.
- Do your best to stress the second stroke on each hand. Not so much an accent, but a firm second stroke and not a bounce / rebound stroke.
Having trouble keeping your 16th notes clean? Set your metronome to click on 16th notes (4 clicks per beat or 4x the tempo).
Exercise No. 3
Stick with the same tempo.
Set your metronome to click out the 8th notes of that tempo. (This means 2 clicks per beat or double the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from Sixteenth Notes to 32nd Notes.
Technique Notes:
- Try to keep the stick returning to shoulder height. Practically, the 32nd notes may only reach about mid-chest.
- Do your best to stress the second stroke on each hand. Not so much an accent, but a firm second stroke and not a bounce / rebound stroke.
Having trouble keeping your 32nd notes clean?
Do your 32nd notes sound uneven (like there’s a pause between the right strokes and left strokes)? Or, are you constantly getting behind or ahead of the beat?
Set your metronome to click on 16th notes (4 clicks per beat or 4x the tempo). The first stroke of the doubles should line up with the 16th notes.
Once you can play clean 32nd doubles, you are playing an open Double Stroke Roll. Congrats! This is a challenging accomplishment.
Now try playing the same exercises, but at different tempos.
Download a pdf of the Basic Double Stroke Roll exercises for practice purposes.
Hopefully what you’re getting a sense of is the underlying rhythm of the double stroke roll and how your performance chances slightly as you adjust the tempo.
When we play a lot of traditional drum beatings, however, we are actually playing triplet rhythms.
To learn more advanced practice techniques, continue reading.
Advanced Double Stroke Roll Exercise
In this exercise, we’ll follow the same idea as above, but now we’ll incorporate triplet movements.
The new additions: eighth notes to 8th note triplet to 16th notes to 16th note triplets (sextuplets) to 32nd notes to 32nd note triplets to 64th notes.
This is a pretty tricky and demanding exercise. You may find it helpful to work on it as single strokes until the rhythm shifts make sense.
In fact, this is an awesome exercise for mastering shifting from duple to triplet rhythms.
It will help with adding fills to 2/4 (like ratamacues and sextuplets mixed in with paradiddles and flamacues).
Or shifting from a 2/4 marching cadence to a 6/8 beating.
Exercise No. 4
Select one tempo from above.
Set your metronome to click out the quarter notes of that tempo. (This means 1 clicks per beat or the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from Eighth Notes to Eighth-Note Triplets and then back.
Pro-Tip: Before you start, listen to the metronome and out-loud count:
“1-& 2-& | 1-na-nee 2-na-nee | 1-& 2-& | 1-na-nee 2-na-nee”
Do this until you line up with the metronome comfortably. Keep counting out-loud as you practice the exercise.
Problems and Solutions
- Rushing when you start your Triplets? You’re probably playing the 2nd stroke in the triplet too early. Set a metronome to 3x the tempo and get the internal rhythm in your head.
- Dragging when you get to your Triplets? You’re probably too slow to the 2nd stroke in the triplets. Your hands want them to be at the same rate as the 8th notes. Try the same as above.
- Rushing when you return to 8th Notes? You’re probably playing the “&” or 2nd stroke too early. Relax as you come out of the Triplets and let your hands slow down.
Tip: This 8th-note triplet exercise with the double strokes is very helpful for The Singlings of the Troop.
Exercise No. 5
Keep the same tempo.
Set your metronome to click out the quarter notes of that tempo. (This means 1 clicks per beat or the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from Eighth-Note Triplets to 16th Notes and then back.
Pro-Tip: Before you start, listen to the metronome and out-loud count:
“1-na-nee 2-na-nee | 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a | 1-na-nee 2-na-nee | 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a”
Do this until you line up with the metronome comfortably. Keep counting out-loud as you practice the exercise.
Problems and Solutions
- Dragging when you start the 16th Notes? You’re probably playing the “e” or 2nd stroke too late. Your hands want them to be at the same rate as the triplets. Set a metronome to 4x the tempo and get the internal rhythm in your head.
- Rushing when you start your 16th Notes? You’re probably playing the “e” or 2nd stroke too early. In this case, you’re probably anticipating the speed of the 16th notes too much. Try the same as above.
- Rushing when you return to your Triplets? You’re probably playing the 2nd stroke in the triplet too early. Your hands want them to be at the same rate as the 16th notes. Set a metronome to 3x the tempo and get the internal rhythm in your head.
- Dragging when you get to your Triplets? You’re probably too slow to the 2nd stroke in the triplets. Try the same as above.
Exercise No. 6
Keep the same tempo.
Set your metronome to click out the quarter notes of that tempo. (This means 1 clicks per beat or the tempo.)
In this exercise, practice moving from 16th Notes to 16th-Note Triplets and then back.
Pro-Tip: Before you start, listen to the metronome and out-loud count:
“1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a | 1-na-nee 2-na-nee | 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a | 1-na-nee 2-na-nee”
For this exercise, the first stroke on each hand will line up with the “1-na-nee” count, with another stroke between each.
Problems and Solutions
- Dragging behind the tempo? Usually this means the second stroke in the rhythm is coming too late.
- Rushing through the rhythm? Usually this means the second stroke comes too early. Try to relax as you shift from one rhythm to the other.
- Sextuplets uneven? You might be rushing into them and then slowing down to find the beat. Set the metronome to 2x the beat (so it clicks on the beat and “&”). The middle of the sextuplet (4th stroke) will line up with the “&” click. Use this to open up the beginning of the sextuplet and keeping the rhythm even throughout.
Tip: This 16th-note triplet exercise develop your fills. It’s great for single paradiddles into double paradiddles. It also helps with flamacues or paradiddles into ratamacue or sextuplet phrases.
If you can shift from 16th notes to 16th-note triplets with ease, you’re ready to try the entire exercise.
Download a pdf of the Advanced Double Stroke Roll exercises for practice purposes.
Work through the entire transition from slow to fast to slow at one tempo.
Once you’ve mastered that tempo, try at the other tempos you selected.
This more advanced exercise allows you to see the relationship between 32nd note rolls, triplet-based rolls, and 64th note rolls. As you adjust the tempo, you’ll see that the rhythms remain the same, but your approach or speed must change to adapt.
Have you mastered this advanced Double Stroke Roll Practice Guide? Try applying the principles to various double stroke rolls, like 5s, 7s, 9s, etc.
Interested in learning more about Double Stroke Rolls and their History? Check out:
- Roll Rudiments and learn about types of rolls, like 4s, 5, 7, etc.
- Historic Performance the Double Stroke Roll
- Understanding Roll Rhythms
- When Did Drummers Start Rolling?
- The Ruffle
Want more practice guides?