Drum Faster Without popping a blood vessel. It is possible. You won’t get tendinitis either.

Rather than holding your breath and moving the stick super fast from your elbow, take a step back, relax, and read this. The ability to play anything that you have ever seen any speed demon shred is within your reach. All you have to do is practice.

First thing’s first, let’s develop your “full” stroke. The way to move those pieces of wood through the air over and over again very quickly is by only throwing them down. The part where the stick comes up needs to be the drum sticks responsibility. So get out of it’s way. A full stroke starts up and ends up. To get back up, however, you do nothing.

This concept is as old as drumming, but it truly is the secret to everything: Drumming is like bouncing a basketball. You don’t throw a ball into the ground and then pull it back up. The REBOUND does that. Physics send that ball straight up and back to you. So we must use the same laws of physics for playing drums. This is how drumming must work in order to move quickly with sound quality.

Once you start to get a hang of the “full” stroke, start building up the tempo with some simple warm-up exercises. Simple 8-8-16 exercises are always good. Also, playing 6 bars of 16th notes at slow to fast tempos will help. It is very important while working on the 16th notes to not switch to “down” strokes. Playing a “down” stroke will inhibit the motion of the stick and not allow you to move quickly.

Practicing double stops (both sticks at the same time) will also help with your speed. If you can play double stops quickly without breaking apart, you can play 16th notes. Play “full” stroke with both hands together, slowly, and bump the tempo up over time.

You are well on your way to cranking out those fast licks all you want. Just remember to keep breathing, stay relaxed, maintain a good fulcrum, and LET THE STICK BOUNCE BACK.

You throw it down, the universe gives it back.

Single Stroke Seven

My favorite single stroke rudiment. Once you build up speed in your hand-to-hand playing, Single Stroke Sevens never get boring!

Kids today don’t know all of their 40 Essential Rudiments…or rather, they DO know them. What am I talking about?! Ok…Most students today know how to play a six-tuplet. That IS a Single Stroke Seven. This happens again and again, they just aren’t teaching kids to call rudiments by their proper name anymore. But never fear! I made this video and blog post to fix that problem.

So yeah, a Single Stroke Seven is essentially a six-tuplet with a release.

See…

In my video I talk about how this was the secret to the infamous Cheesy Poofs tap off. Santa Clara Vanguard Percussion was amazing for many reasons. This is one of them. If you haven’t seen footage of the drumline or learned Cheesy Poofs, go away right now and do both of those things. I won’t be offended. You can find the music in this book…Fresh Perspectives for the Modern Drumline. Don’t go steal the PDF somewhere. Be better than that. Single Stroke Seven’s will add flare to your drumming just like in Cheesy Poofs.

A quick breakdown for Single Stroke Seven:

Measure One: Play two Single Stroke Sevens with the left hand on your leg

Measure Two: Play two Single Stroke Sevens on the drum

Measure Three: Play two “Left Hand Lead” Single Stroke Sevens with the right hand on your leg

Measure Four: Play two “Left Hand Lead” Single Stroke Sevens

How to Play Single Stroke Four

The second rudiment on the PAS Essential 40 list is the Single Stroke Four. Once you have some understanding of how the sticks should be flowing, it is time to tackle this rudiment.

Sing Stroke Fours are a lot of fun. They are the poor mans rudiment in my opinion. If you are looking for a quick way to sound like you know what your doing on a drum set, lay down some Single Stroke Fours. You will instantly fill the space of the music with tasty beats that sound way faster and more impressive than they actually are. And everyone will want your autograph. Maybe.

These work great in your snare drum playing as well. Obviously every rudiment will be good for rudimental snare drumming, but just like on the drum set, a well placed Single Stroke Four in the drum-line music can really make a moment feel exciting. Don’t get hung up on all the hybrid rudiments and the hardest “triple-diple-watchamadiddle” if you’re writing a battery book. Try to use these standard rudiments. They exist for a reason. You won’t be disappointed.

A quick breakdown of this rudiment can be found in the video above. But incase you want to keep reading….the exercise will be 4 measures.

Measure One: Right Hand 8th Notes

Measure Two: 4 Single Stroke Fours

Measure Three: Left Hand 8th Notes

Measure Four: 4 Tap Single Stroke Fours

The key thing to remember for all of the single stroke rudiments is to be relaxed and let the stick do all of the work. Play with the most smooth, fluid, full strokes you can muster.

How to Play a Single Stroke Roll

40 Drum Rudiments

First up, Single Stroke Roll. There are a lot of drum rudiments. 40 to be exact. That’s if you don’t count all the fun inversions and hybrid rudiments coming out of DCI and WGI every season. It really is a good time to be a drummer. So much innovation and so many good players!

However, with all these fun new toys….it is important to remember the essentials. Here we go than…Best free online drum lesson coming up.

Single Stroke Roll is basically the first thing anyone does when they pick up a pair of sticks. It is the ‘Grand Poobah’ of rudiments. This is where you start. So stop working on that Cheese-Chuta-Chu if you have never broken down the Single Stroke Roll. Stop. I mean it.

Alright, so now that you put aside your NEED to grid the latest Cheesy Doodle Diddle let’s work on that Single Stroke Roll. In percussion there are four types of strokes. Full, Down, Tap, and Up. Single Stroke Roll is a bunch of full strokes in a row. Alright, later.

No I’m kidding. Start with playing each individual hand at a slow tempo. The objective here is making sure the stick starts UP and ends UP in one motion. Imagine a super bouncy ball when you throw it on the ground. You don’t start at the SET position, you throw that thing on the ground from above your head with velocity and excitement. Then it magically bounces back up. You don’t follow it to the ground and lift it back up. THI IS HOW YOUR STICK SHOULD TRAVEL. Go get a bouncy ball and try it…..I’ll wait….

Cool. Now play one measure of 8th notes on one hand. Then one measure of 16th notes with the sticking RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRL. The right hand NEVER changes.

Alright, one last thing. Most students will play 8 perfect full strokes on one hand and then all of a sudden start playing down strokes on the 16th note measure. Don’t do it. DRUM! Magazine published a great article about on single stroke rolls. Check it out http://drummagazine.com/how-to-develop-a-smooth-single-stroke-roll/

Single Stroke Roll is the start of this enchanted journey of drumming. You need to play consistent and clear alternating notes if you want to play anything that your favorite drummer or drumline has ever played. That includes the latest show lick you’ve transcribed.

The people over at Vic Firth have an amazing practice tool to help students work on their rudiments. Go here http://vicfirth.com/single-stroke-roll/ and play along with their tracks. Start slow, get faster.

Get practicing!

products used in this video:

Innovative Percussion IPHB Combo Series Hybrid Drumsticks

Yamaha SS-662 Snare Stand – Lightweight, Single-Braced

Evans 2-Sided Practice Pad, 12 Inch