Triplets

[Z-Bone6]

I know this is sorta stupid,because im sure its hard to explain this on the internet,but im trying to get better at my triplets and i just cant seem to do them right.Does anyone have any tips for me,or anything that would make them easier to learn?

[joeysnare]

triplets with you hands or feet,or both ?

[Z-Bone6]

with single bass,and my hands.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

The standard answer will probably be work with a metronome at a slow tempo, and gradually work up to faster tempos. If you can get the strokes even and equal at slower tempos, it will be much easier to do it at faster ones.

Change the order of the sticking as well which toms (or snare) you hit. You could write up a sheet of all the possibilities on your kit and work it into your practice routine.

R = right hand
L = left hand
F = foot on kick

RLF LRF FRL FLR LFR RFL RLR LRL RFR LFL FRF FLF / Am I missing any? Of course you could use double strokes too, so you'd have patterns like RRF, etc

So take those patterns, and apply it with your snare and all of the toms. You could even split the hands between two toms or the snare and a tom, etc. It should give you a lot of patterns to practice.

[Z-Bone6]

alright thanx..the thing is.iv been playing for like 4 years and i have never had a lesson so i dont really know what double strokes and all that stuff is.iv been wanting to learn all of this stuff to improve but i just simply cant do it..i really dont understand it.

[fourstringdrums]

There are a lot of instructional material on the net. www.vicfirth.com tends to have quite a bit of stuff, but really if you want to improve and are confused about these things, you have to get a teacher. That is your best bet to understand everything and improve until you have a solid foundation and can work on other things on your own.

[intooder]

I don't use triplets all that much but, for a standard righty set-up (single pedal), the triplets I've found useful are:
- LFR, and
- FRL
Of course you can use the other permutations as well - but those 2 seem to fit my style of playing. The first one, especially, helps you lead with the left, thereby improving its dexterity which might be part of your problem (a weak left).

[Bossa Nova]

I'd say start off by getting comfortable with the feel of triplets. Do you listen to drummers that use triplets alot? Can you count triplets?

A pretty standard way to count eighth note triplets is:

1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let

So if you are playing standard 4/4 time, there will be 12 triplets in one measure, as opposed to 8 eighth notes. I would suggest playing three bars of back beat style 4/4 time and then on the fourth measure play a line of twelve triplets on your snare. Once you are comfortable with this, keep up the same exercise, but move the triplets around the toms in groups of three and four, i.e.:

Groups of 3:
snare: 1-trip-let-
rack tom: 2-trip-let-
floor tom: 3-trip-let-
snare: 4-trip-let

OR:

Groups of 4:
snare: 1-trip-let-2-
rack tom: trip-let-3-trip-
snare: let-4-trip-let

After you've gotten this down, start subbing in your bass drum, crash, or anything else into the groupings. Try playing just half bar fills, or full four bar trades!

Write back if this doesn't make sense the way I explained it and I'll be happy to explain a different way, b/c I LOVE triplets.

[Deathmetalconga]

There are a lot of instructional material on the net. www.vicfirth.com tends to have quite a bit of stuff, but really if you want to improve and are confused about these things, you have to get a teacher. That is your best bet to understand everything and improve until you have a solid foundation and can work on other things on your own.

Agreed, that is a good resource.