All we need is single stroke!

[sciomako]

Wow,

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/drumset/bellotti.html

[caddywumpus]

Wah-wa-wah-wa-waaaaaaaaah

All we need is single stroke!

Wah-wa-wah-wa-waaaaaaaaah

All we need is single stroke! Single stroke! Single stroke is all we need...

[Hummada]

Has this guy lost his mind!

[Hercraft]

Has this guy lost his mind!

Who? caddywumpus?

I think he is "singing" All we need is love from the beatles, adapted to this
new concept of the sibgle strokes.

:- )

isnt it caddywumpus?

[nhzoso]

He makes alot of great points, especially about most people being overwhelmed with instructional resources. Seems like a great instructor.

[caddywumpus]

Has this guy lost his mind!

Who? caddywumpus?

I think he is "singing" All we need is love from the beatles, adapted to this
new concept of the sibgle strokes.

:- )

isnt it caddywumpus?

Yes and yes!

Wah-wa-wah-wa-waaahhhhhhh!!!

[icemanjs4]

Well yeah, Berklee school of music is one of the finest musical institutes in the US if not the world. It's not surprising he's a good instructor.

Hmm can I add my own song..

It takes... Single Strokes, he's got single strokes... it takes single strokes to move the world yes it does....
single strokes... it takes.. single strokes.... single strokes to move the woooorld.

Whatchoo talkin bout Willis!

[bobdadruma]

Who the heck is this geek? I've seen better drummers than him in the subway! Berklee must be letting anyone with a bank account instruct at their school during these hard times!
What a Joke!
I went to Berklee and I studied single stroke drumming, My Mom and Dad didn't waste their money!
I wish that Buddy was alive so that he could kick this morons liberal single stroke and the vibe of your bodies natural rhythms butt!

[wy yung]

Who the heck is this geek? I've seen better drummers than him in the subway! Berklee must be letting anyone with a bank account instruct at their school during these hard times!
What a Joke!
I went to Berklee and I studied single stroke drumming, My Mom and Dad didn't waste their money!
I wish that Buddy was alive so that he could kick this morons liberal single stroke and the vibe of your bodies natural rhythms butt!

I can't hear those clips. :-(

Buddy is quoted as saying the single stroke was the most important stroke. It all begins with the single stroke.

[bobdadruma]

Buddy said many things, But he did something else! He never practiced either! Remember that one! Im sorry, This guy and his single stroke roll trip is a farce. I have been playing for thirty-five years! There is a great deal more to drumming than the single stroke roll!
Watch some vids of all of the great ones!
Buddy also criticized Rock drummers for their single stroke fills in an interview. Don't listen to what Buddy said, listen to what he, and all of the great ones played!

[wy yung]

Buddy said many things, But he did something else! He never practiced either! Remember that one! Im sorry, This guy and his single stroke roll trip is a farce. I have been playing for thirty-five years! There is a great deal more to drumming than the single stroke roll!
Watch some vids of all of the great ones!
Buddy also criticized Rock drummers for their single stroke fills in an interview. Don't listen to what Buddy said, listen to what he, and all of the great ones played!

I'm not disagreeing with you. I've been playing 31 years. I teach all the strokes and use them myself. However, it does all begin with the single stroke roll. ;-)

I can't hear that guy. Is he any good?

[bobdadruma]

The vids sound like a Bad Company tribute! It is like week one of drum lessons put on a kit!
I teach the same way, I teach that once you can roll, you can move on to other things! I don't dwell on the single roll. I try to get students moving so that they don't get bored!
Everyone figures out the value of the single stroke roll on their own, You don't have to lecture on it and put people to sleep!

[wy yung]

The vids sound like a Bad Company tribute! It is like week one of drum lessons put on a kit!

Ha ha ha, gotcha!


..........................................

[aydee]

Wah-wa-wah-wa-waaaaaaaaah

All we need is single stroke!

Wah-wa-wah-wa-waaaaaaaaah

All we need is single stroke! Single stroke! Single stroke is all we need...

Single stroke is the loneliest stroke that you'll ever knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[Pollyanna]

I couldn't see it because I have some plugins issues on my PC so I found him on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/sbellott

He ain't Dave, Steve or Vinnie Seems to be a decent drummer to me. Looked like all singles too.

So what was the thrust of this controversial video?

[keep it simple]

I think you got the wrong link Polly. I watched his little series of instructional video's. I don't think they're that great, mainly because of his presentation skills. It's more of a show & tell than a step by step deal. That said, I don't see anything wrong in his playing or his message. Non of it's really my kind of playing and nor is it impressive but I've seen much worse. Do I sense a slight degree of instructor snobbery here? I appologise if I've missed the point completely.

[Pollyanna]

I think you got the wrong link Polly. I watched his little series of instructional video's. I don't think they're that great, mainly because of his presentation skills. It's more of a show & tell than a step by step deal. That said, I don't see anything wrong in his playing or his message. Non of it's really my kind of playing and nor is it impressive but I've seen much worse. Do I sense a slight degree of instructor snobbery here? I appologise if I've missed the point completely.

No, it wasn't the missing link (unlike my ex), just a missing plugin. No wonder I like singles ...

Surely it's the same guy, KIS. I mean, how many drumming Sergio Bellottis are there who play all single strokes?

Single stroke
Single stroke
Single stroke, Single stroke
Drumming pearls of wisdom
Single stroke-oooooooooooo!

[SonOfChaos]

Perhaps a single stroke roll is all you *need*, at minimum. What you *want* should be more! Perhaps that is the lesson?

[bobdadruma]

The first rudiment that one learns is the SSR. The first thing that one does behind the kit is to play a single stroke roll around the drums in every way imaginable. It doesn't take a novice drummer long to realize all of the potential in the single stroke roll. It also doesn't take a novice long to realize the limitations of using the SSR all of the time. There is no need to dwell on this with students. They should work other rudiments into their playing as soon as possible. They should learn how to use a combination of these rudiments to their advantage.
The purpose of mixing rudiments around the kit is to both make drumming more interesting, and also to allow the drummer time to get to where they have to go faster and easier.
The single stroke roll paints you into a corner when moving around the kit.
I have seen to many demonstrations on the application of the SSR in instructional vids.
I can't take it any more! That is why I react to it with a degree of contempt when I see this kind of instructional vid presented in a non impressive manor!

[wy yung]

The purpose of mixing rudiments around the kit is to both make drumming more interesting, and also to allow the drummer time to get to where they have to go faster and easier.


Agreed. I begin my students with the SSR but am then quick to show doubles followed by paradiddles. I show them the benefits right away with a basic fill, 2 notes on snare -RL- followed by 2 notes on the floor tom -RR- and finish by crashing the crash with a left hand stroke. I then show how I'd have to move using only singles with a right hand crash on the same cymbal. It doesn't take long for the student to see the benefit of only half a paradiddle.

[MadJazz]

Buddy said many things, But he did something else! He never practiced either! Remember that one! Im sorry, This guy and his single stroke roll trip is a farce. I have been playing for thirty-five years! There is a great deal more to drumming than the single stroke roll!
Watch some vids of all of the great ones!
Buddy also criticized Rock drummers for their single stroke fills in an interview. Don't listen to what Buddy said, listen to what he, and all of the great ones played!

Is this guy frustrated or what. Listen to what Bellotti plays. It swings, it grooves, it's musical. That's so much more than practising rudiments and not knowing how to apply them.

There's a lot that can be done with single strokes and it takes much more than a novice to realise its limitations. Heck, most popular music is played with single strokes only. Sorry to say it but you come across like an arrogant know-it-all.

[JT1]

There are so many drummers out there who only use single strokes. I don't always just use single strokes though as they become very tedious and boring but for many drummers this statement is very true.

I believe a lot of drummers could get by on single strokes. Saying there is much more to drumming than single strokes in one sense is very true in terms of patterns and technical ability etc but i put it this way which would you rather listen to, a drummer who is a technical god and can play more than just mere singles but shows no musicality and has no feeling? or a drummer who has barely any technical ability but has much feel and musicality?

I know which one i would chose.

To each there own and it's all good. Me personally just single stokes is a bit boring but man i'd still be lost if i didn't have the ability to play them and i'm sure that is something we can all agree on.

[2bsticks]

I have been playing for GULP 40 plus years. I think to this day I play mostly single strokes. I never really knew how to incorporate diddles and flam's and ratamacues into my playing. I never thought about it. I listened to a tune and learned it my way. It has not been until recently with YouTube, this forum, all the DVD 's that are being put out by drummers that got me to really look at incorporating these rudiments into my playing. (Todd Sucherman Methods and Mechanics is great by the way)

When I listen to older tapes from my youth I do hear some flam's and some doubles that I don't even think I was aware I was playing them at that time.

I recently played a show and opened up for a couple of legends from the early 60's. The drummer who backed them was a real good player and I taped the show. When I listened back I could hear some of his fills where he played some great flam rolls on the snare that really opened my ears and gave me something to work on.

There is nothing wrong with doing the singles. If people like what your doing and your happy with the results and are enjoying yourself great. If you have the drive to make it better and the time and dedication to put the time into it that's great too. As long as it's still fun and creative keep challenging yourself. I wish all of this technology was available back when I started. Or maybe not, perhaps it would have intimidated me that I'm not good enough? I don't know.

[jivadayadasa]

I remember seeing Billy Cobham talk about choice of stickings and saying that [single/double combos] can put you on the "right" side of the set - wherever you need to be. I heard that when someone asked him why play open handed - "because the hat is closest to my left hand". Even if he didn't say that exactly - it makes perfect sense.

I also remember a friend's drum teacher telling me, play paradiddles, singles, doubles, triples... smooth enough so when you close your eyes you can't hear a difference between them. Being the wise-ass kid I was back then I replied, why not just play singles...

I think it sounds cool when things DO sound different with different limbs, not out of time or stiff, just a little different flavor to them. Just back to drums this year, I have been playing a lot more fills starting with my left hand only because my left is closer to the drum/cymbal I start on. I'm not thinking "I have to work on my weak side", instead just saying, hey it's right there, next to that hand, hit it. It's a decision based on what is practical with the added benefit of strengthening my non-dominant side. Kinda makes my brain squirm too ;-)

Jiva

[bobdadruma]

Agreed. I begin my students with the SSR but am then quick to show doubles followed by paradiddles. I show them the benefits right away with a basic fill, 2 notes on snare -RL- followed by 2 notes on the floor tom -RR- and finish by crashing the crash with a left hand stroke. I then show how I'd have to move using only singles with a right hand crash on the same cymbal. It doesn't take long for the student to see the benefit of only half a paradiddle.Exactly! That's a drummer that I want to both be, and see! I love the affect of watching a drummer that mixes all possible combinations of rudiments into his/her playing! It appears as magic when, (To The Eye), it looks like the drummer isn't doing much, but you are hearing a lot while he/she plays.
You can't get this affect while playing singles! The simplest things can appear complicated when a drummer is applying technique to his/her playing.
I almost never do a single stroke roll around the kit! I will do one with one hand sometimes, never with two!

[wolfie]

forget all your 26 standard and all your hybrid rudiment stuff. There is only 2 rudiment!!!!!

Right hand, Left hand. All that change is which order they are and the space between them.


So great, develope your single stokes.

But please develope them, before you show them to the world and make a fool out of your self.

Is this guy retarded, or is he taking the piss????

[bobdadruma]

Thanks wolfie! You saw, what I saw!
I don't like the way that you expressed it though! I never got used to people picking on people with disabilities! Please don't do that around here!

[Boomka]

Just watched the videos, and I'm fairly certain there is a whole lot of missing the point going on in this thread...

[brittc89]

Man, lot of bashing. Cool. I guess. Lot of arguments that remind why I dont like drummers. I dont really see the point. I think its an interesting sound he gets, I think it grooves, and I personally like it. And I could care less what Buddy said. He was a great player, but crotchety as hell, just always complaining. I love when hes making fun of matched grip, haha. Be all and end of all of stuck up musicians.

[Pollyanna]

Without single strokes I would be just sitting behind my friends watching them play music, occasionally going tick-tick, tap-tap and dop-dop here and there. Guess I'm just a single gal who likes singles :)

I can't see the original video. Firefox refuses to play it and IE crashes (shock horror). Is his playing much different to what (I presume) he does on the YouTube I posted after the OP?

How bout this one?

http://sergiobellotti.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/doublestrokedevelopment1.318102911.mov (http://sergiobellotti.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/doublestrokedevelopment1.318102911.mov)

I thought this was a good lesson from him. How to start approaching doubles ... hmmm

[austin412]

kind lame cause i cant see any of the vids posted ill try to find it on youtube i really wantd to see it too bc im a metal drummer and single strokes are a bit more important to this style of music than any other not much but still more important and from what i have heard it sounds like some notes of the roll are accents and others are ghosted to do this is easy but to do it and it tell a story is extremely difficult and somthn im still workn on and very far from mastering but yea i pretty much only use singles and the occasional flam and i dont c anything wrong with trying to "master" the single stroke its still a rudiment and just as important and musical as a flam tap or triple ratamacue or double paradiddle-diddle or crazy hybrids

[keep it simple]

kind lame cause i cant see any of the vids posted ill try to find it on youtube i really wantd to see it too bc im a metal drummer and single strokes are a bit more important to this style of music than any other not much but still more important and from what i have heard it sounds like some notes of the roll are accents and others are ghosted to do this is easy but to do it and it tell a story is extremely difficult and somthn im still workn on and very far from mastering but yea i pretty much only use singles and the occasional flam and i dont c anything wrong with trying to "master" the single stroke its still a rudiment and just as important and musical as a flam tap or triple ratamacue or double paradiddle-diddle or crazy hybrids

Wow, longest ever sentence on DW award! I agree with boomka & brittc89. As I said in my original post, I see very little wrong with the video. It's not great, but it's not that bad either. I've seen worse, much worse. I don't judge others by my own playing standards. I judge people on whether they're the best they can be. I'm sure this video will be useful to some. I liked the guy's playing and the grooves he's constructing. I don't see the issue. Perhaps those who feel his video is close to blasphemous can enlighten me on their reasons why. Am I just very dull and completely missing something here?

[wolfie]

Thanks wolfie! You saw, what I saw!
I don't like the way that you expressed it though! I never got used to people picking on people with disabilities! Please don't do that around here!

Your quite right Bobdadruma.
I didn't express it very well. What I have trouble believing is that this guy is an instructor at berklee college of music.

Ye I believe in developing single strokes, Hand to hand though out the rythmical scale. And use it to the full potential. But this guy's not even got close.

[Ian Williams]

.....and doubles, and triplets and so on.

[bobdadruma]

.....and doubles, and triplets and so on.Thats right Ian my man! We need it all to do it right!
I love your way of putting things in proper perspective with so few words!

[con struct]

I've been thinking about this one. I mean really thinking about, because my singles have always been my "get over" chop, the thing I can do that sort of marks my style.
I love singles, but you need to have pretty damn fast hands and a vivid imagination to parlay that simplest of all rudiments into a full palette of colors to choose from.
A long time ago I was sitting around with another drummer, a guy a lot of you would know, and we were watching TV and messing around with a pair of sticks and he was playing all these rolls. I asked him to stop it because it was getting annoying and he handed me the sticks and said "Okay, then, show me your roll." So I played the fastest single stroke roll I had. That shut him up! And this guy could play rings around me.
There isn't any such thing as all you need is this, there really isn't any such thing as everybody needs this or that. It's what you do with what you've got that makes you stand out, that makes you who you are.

[yesdog]

People who play melodic instruments start off by playing scales and chords. Drummers have rudiments the basic vocabulary for drums. Some of them are boring and fustrating and take a lot of time and effort to devolop.
But when they are applied to the drum set there are endless ideas you can come up with. Watch Todd Suchermans DVD its amazing what he does with rudiments. By the way to develop an effortless single stroke roll is learning stick control, paradiddles and double stroke rolls played very open are a good example. I agree everything is based off of the single stroke roll , ie alternating strokes. There is alot of technique involed in playing singles fast .

[theindian]

I would say most drumming is comprised of single stroke rolls. Rudiments are important and can add variety to the music. I really don't see what the big deal is though. Why are so many people hating on this guy? He can play and he is at Berklee.

What school do you teach at? Where are your instructional vids? No, not really j/k, but their is no reason to get bent out of shape about one guys approach to music. Different strokes for different folks! Get it?

[JT1]

I would say most drumming is comprised of single stroke rolls. Rudiments are important and can add variety to the music. I really don't see what the big deal is though. Why are so many people hating on this guy? He can play and he is at Berklee.

What school do you teach at? Where are your instructional vids? No, not really j/k, but their is no reason to get bent out of shape about one guys approach to music. Different strokes for different folks! Get it?

You hit the nail on the head there mate. Many drummers go touring around the world using single strokes, it doesn't make them bad. The majority of my fills and stuff are made up of single strokes.