Bo Eder
Platinum Member
Hello again!
A friend of mine was asking about my roll technique and if I had any easy drill-type exercises to work on them. Putting my time in with drum corps when I was a wee lad has probably filled my head with more drills than I need, so I had to remember a couple of good ones that I still sorta' work on today. And both are designed so you can start playing them and never stop. Once it's kinda' ingrained and you know you're doing it right, you could literally sit in front of your tv and just drill these for several hours.
For the 16th note example, you do get a 3-count break between running it, or you could just go right back into the 16th note check pattern and start again. The 12/8 triplet one is written so you never stop. Every where you see a slash through a note, is where you're going to diddle that note. Both exercises are pretty straightforward, and I'll bet there are a few of you here who've probably already played these if you ever played in a drum line. But they're great chop builder exercises if you want to try them to help get your hands in shape and build up your rolls, and they're easy - it ain't brain-surgery which makes them cool for just drilling on (I like simple).
Of course, if you've never done this before, start slow, and work on even-ness of stroke. If you're having a hard time with the diddles, then just accent everywhere you see one first. Get into the rhythm first, then go for the diddles later. No shame in walking before running (or crawling before walking) so start where you're at and just build it up. If you experience pain, stop and go have a drink and then come back to it after you feel better. I hope you guys try it. Let me know how it goes!
A friend of mine was asking about my roll technique and if I had any easy drill-type exercises to work on them. Putting my time in with drum corps when I was a wee lad has probably filled my head with more drills than I need, so I had to remember a couple of good ones that I still sorta' work on today. And both are designed so you can start playing them and never stop. Once it's kinda' ingrained and you know you're doing it right, you could literally sit in front of your tv and just drill these for several hours.
For the 16th note example, you do get a 3-count break between running it, or you could just go right back into the 16th note check pattern and start again. The 12/8 triplet one is written so you never stop. Every where you see a slash through a note, is where you're going to diddle that note. Both exercises are pretty straightforward, and I'll bet there are a few of you here who've probably already played these if you ever played in a drum line. But they're great chop builder exercises if you want to try them to help get your hands in shape and build up your rolls, and they're easy - it ain't brain-surgery which makes them cool for just drilling on (I like simple).
Of course, if you've never done this before, start slow, and work on even-ness of stroke. If you're having a hard time with the diddles, then just accent everywhere you see one first. Get into the rhythm first, then go for the diddles later. No shame in walking before running (or crawling before walking) so start where you're at and just build it up. If you experience pain, stop and go have a drink and then come back to it after you feel better. I hope you guys try it. Let me know how it goes!