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Rudiments Around the Drums: Lesson 3 |
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Part 1: Rolls, Rolls, Rolls
Dateline: 03/06/01
In my two previous articles on this subject (See the Related Resources sidebar), I gave you some ideas for applying the Single Stroke Roll, Double Stroke Roll, Single and Double Paradiddle, Flam and Flam Tap to the Drum Kit. This week, I'd like to play around with the remainder of the Rolls that belong to the Standard 26 Rudiments. Remember, these are simply ideas for you to use as a starting point to develop your own approach to applying Rudiments around the Drums.
Open or Closed?
There are two ways to play a roll, open or closed. To play an Open Roll, you execute each distinct tap R R L L. To play a Closed (or Buzz) Roll, you apply slight finger pressure on the stick to cause it to bounce multiple times. This creates a "buzz" sound on the Drumhead. A good Closed or Buzz Roll is developed by overlapping the buzz of one stick into the buzz of the next. This produces a smooth, continuous buzz sound that should eventually sound like you're tearing a sheet of sandpaper. While you should practice your rolls using both methods, the exercises that follow use Open Roll sticking.
The Five-Stroke Roll
This Rudiment is made up of two Double Strokes followed by an accented Single Stroke and is played with alternating sticking. You should perfect exercise number 1 and 2 below on a single Drum before you attempt to apply them to the Kit.
The Seven-Stroke Roll
This one is made up of three Double Strokes followed by an accented Single Stroke. In example 3 at the bottom of this page, you'll notice that the sticking always begins with the left. To avoid becoming one-sided, practice starting with the right stick as well. The opposite is true for example 4. Perfect these two examples on a single Drum before you apply them to the entire Kit.
The Nine-Stroke Roll
This one is made up of four Double Strokes followed by an accented Single Stroke and the sticking alternates like that of the Five-Stroke Roll (See example 5 below). When you get to the Practice Ideas section, you'll see that the accent on the Five-Stroke, Seven-Stroke, and Nine-Stroke Rolls is what produces such a great sound when these Rolls are played around the Drums.
Practice Ideas
Once you are comfortable playing each of the five examples above as written, apply them to the entire Drum Kit as follows:
1) Play all accents on Tom-Toms and unaccented notes on the Snare, while playing the Kick Drum on beats 1 2 3 4 and the Hi-Hat on 2 and 4 (with your foot).
2) Play all accents on your cymbals along with the Kick Drum, while playing the Hi-Hat on beats 1 2 3 4 (with your foot).
3) Same as #1 above, except play all unaccented sticking between two Tom-Toms (one for each hand) and accents on the Snare.
4) Make up your own.
© Copyright 2001 by Bill Meligari
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