Great Paradiddle exercise

PeniScott

Silver Member
My new teacher has come up with a competition for the others in my group (because i go to a music college there are 5 kits in one room :D) to see how fast we can do a certain paradiddle exercise.

The record so far from a few years ago is 220 BPM set by a simply incredible drummer and good friend of mine. I envy him. Our teacher then BLLLLLITZED that with 265 BPM.

I'm just curious to see what others get :) so far i'm on about 160-170.

all the accents are on the cymbals, starting with the ride or crash on the right, and crash or hi hats on the left. All NON-accented beats are on the snare.

I hope this makes sense :S

RLRR LRLL X2 Accents on the first stroke of each part. E.G. Rlrr Lrll

RLRLRR LRLRLL X2 Accents on the first two strokes of leading hand. E.G. RlRlrr LrLrll etc

RLRR LRLL X1 Same as first section.

RLRLRLRR LRLRLRLL X2 Accents on the first three strokes of leading hand. E.G. RlRlRlrr LrLrLrll


It's also a great way to build up equal strength in both hands.

happy 'diddling
xoxo
 
Sounds like fun! Do all five sets go at once in unison through that a couple of rounds? THAT would be cool to see...

Chester Thompson showed us that one at a clinic here a while back. I've been doing that exercise at moderate tempo with all accents on open hihat to hone my o - + o - + hihat sound and precision. It's fun and it seems to be helping my hh pedal work which is a big theme for me right now. I'm not at your level for sure but what you doing sounds like an inspiring challenge he's given you!
 
it seems to be helping my hh pedal work which is a big theme for me right now.


Yeah it's a fun an useful thing to do!

About your hi hat work, the only thing i've been taught to help me with left foot work is to just keep the hat going to keep the tempo while you play a painfully simple groove on the ride. When and only when that comes naturally start to add in slightly more elaborate bass drum patterns and synchopation on the snare but all the while keep that hi hat foot doing what it's doing. Then keep on doing that while adding in more bass drums and so on until it's just second nature.

Another thing that i find useful is to play salsa, latin american, jazz and other sorts of styles while playing the hi hat pedal with heel and toe to get that sort of ostinato feel.

The heel does the open hat, the toe closes it again. Try that with some side-sticking and slightly synchopated snare shizzle and the hi hat should be moving on it's own!

I hope i helped :)
xoxo
 
Yeah it's a fun an useful thing to do!

Another thing that i find useful is to play salsa, latin american, jazz and other sorts of styles while playing the hi hat pedal with heel and toe to get that sort of ostinato feel.

The heel does the open hat, the toe closes it again. Try that with some side-sticking and slightly synchopated snare shizzle and the hi hat should be moving on it's own!

xoxo

Very helpful! Yeah, I have also begun to work on that heel/toe hh with samba pattern very slowly and trying to make it smooth and second nature. As usual for me, slow and solid much harder than more spritely tempos.

Thanks for the input!
 
As usual for me, slow and solid much harder than more spritely tempos.

Yeah i know what you mean. I've been nagged at so many times by previous teachers to start off slow. So slow it's feels awkward then GRADUALLY build up speed by about 5 or 10 BPM at a time. Slow playing ensures you get every detail correct. When these things are played at speed, the details merge together and make it seem like such a difficult groove/fill/thing to listen to, but to you it's just another thing that you've practiced.

As i saw someone say on this forum, 'Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent'

If you're gunna get into habits, make sure they're the right ones :)
xoxo
 
'Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent'


which is why its important that what you practice, you practice perfectly...
 
Gave this a try this morning - could hold it down @ 192 for 4 sets. Managed to get through 1 set @ 204, but that's not good enough of course. Gonna keep working on this - it's nice to have another goal (265, whoa, ain't gonna happen overnight).
 
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