Man I cannot nail triplets

[spides666]

I have been drumming for absolutely years but I still can't nail triplets, it's more a personal thing because Iv'e never really had a need to use it in songs but that fluent L R Kick or some people R L Kick I cannot do.......

But I can do it say just a single R L Kick usually done at the end of a song by a lot of drummers but why can't I do it continuously !!!

[scarlit]

Spend a couple of days working on it and it'll come. Build the speed up and down as you go. It seems very simple, but its a coordination thing so you gotta work on it a bit. I dont use it a whole lot, but it makes for great fills every now and then when done quickly.

[LukeSnyder]

Originally Posted by spides666

I have been drumming for absolutely years but I still can't nail triplets, it's more a personal thing because Iv'e never really had a need to use it in songs but that fluent L R Kick or some people R L Kick I cannot do.......

But I can do it say just a single R L Kick usually done at the end of a song by a lot of drummers but why can't I do it continuously !!!

Set a metronome to 100 or whatever you can handle comfortably, and get started working on it! Gradually increase the speed, as you are able. Play all of these, three notes per click:
RLKRLKRLKRLK
LRKLRKLRKLRK
KLRKLRKLRKLR
KRLKRLKRLKRL
RLKLRKRLKLRK
KLRKRLKLRKRL

[Midnite Zephyr]

I don't know if this will help, but try ending your triplet fills with a double kick. You can use your right hand in unison with the second kick and you'll be right back into the beat.

[fixxxer]

I feel your pain! I have been working on these as well but just can't get it nailed. I watch youtube clips of people doing it and it looks so easy but I just can't 'em! I have set it as a goal to reach this year.
Sorry I don't have advise on this but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone!
Good luck!

[mo2vation]

Originally Posted by fixxxer

I feel your pain! I have been working on these as well but just can't get it nailed. I watch youtube clips of people doing it and it looks so easy but I just can't 'em! I have set it as a goal to reach this year.
Sorry I don't have advise on this but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone!
Good luck!

Triplets (and quads... which are basically DB triplets with a RL hand added... but many of us old farts still call them triplets) came to me in two ways:

Goodbye Elenore - when Jeffrey loaded up that tune with triplets.. THATS when I wanted to learn to play them. I worked and worked.... I remember standing in elevators, standing on the street, standing anyplace and working on patterns. LRhand LRfoot RLhand RLfoot
LRhand RLfoot RL hand LRfoot.... tens of thousands of them over the years, I'm sure.

The other was listening to Tommy Aldredge on Pat Travers live "Go for what you know"... he has this amazing way of exploding OUT of songs... the ending of a tune is like the 3rd stage just firing. FootLR, HandLRcrash. Song after song... exploding on the way OUT. Man, it fired me up.

Triplets are a great club to have in the bag.

A couple of years ago we saw Dream Theater at the Greek in LA. It was the last night of the tour, and as you know, last nights are prank nights. It was pretty silly.

Zappa plays Zappa was opening, as we Big Elf and someone else, I believe.

So Mike, huge Zappa guy, comes out. Now, the ZPZ drummer (name escapes me) was friggin bringing it... the whole band was. Seriously - I was knocked out. So Mike, sits in. And he goes all Mike... quad city... his bread and butter. The Big Elf guy jumps on... not so much with the triplets or the quads. Same with mystery band I can't remember drummer... both excellent players... just not big triplet or quad guys - and it really showed following Mike.

Then ZPZ drummer gets back on his own kit - OMG. Dude was a triplet and quad monstah... Mike was all, "woah".

Quads and Triplets - they're a great club to have in the bag. No drummer ever got fired off a gig because he couldn't nail quads and triplets. In the hierarchy of things to have dialed in, they're honestly pretty far down the list.

-K

[fixxxer]

Great story, mo2vation! Yes, I agree, the mastering of triplets won't make me or the OP the drummer of all times, but it is something that I feel I need to get in my "toolbox". I feel that getting these down will open other doors in my playing. A stepping stone, if you will.....
To be honest, I complain about not being able to do them but I haven't truly invested the time as you mentioned (in elevators, on the steet, at work, etc.) to get the coordination down. I need to quit griping and just get to doing it! :)
It really isn't a hard concept, it's just taking the time.

[Kg_lee]

It might be a timing thing? also feel. Just play along to a straight forward cover tune and try putting them in. I've acquired a feel for them over the years and can place them anywhere. So keep at it you'll get it.

[mo2vation]

Originally Posted by Kg_lee

It might be a timing thing? also feel. Just play along to a straight forward cover tune and try putting them in. I've acquired a feel for them over the years and can place them anywhere. So keep at it you'll get it.

Triplets and Quads are all about timing. You can accelerate them, accent them, stall them, etc, etc. Substitute tom for snare for cowbell for ride bell for splash for stack for tambourine and back again.

Bonham (and I'm not a Bonhamista by any means) used to execute his by moving the accents all over the place. Snare on 1 of 3, then snare on 2 of 3, etc, etc. Great feel.

Think of Roger Taylor at the end of "Its Late" ....classic Triplets just blasting while Brian May is hitting the downbeat with a choked power chord. One of the best endings to any rock tune ever (especially following Rogers ridiculously over the top single stroke 4 count leading into that unforgettable tag mashup... 8 sets of 3x3 triplets with a snare lead off and Brian May crushing it... Fug, I love the way that tune ends!! I gotta go put it on right now)

A great tool to have in the bag.

Timing is the key - otherwise you start stacking one of your hands on your foot and you get this blap-a blap-a blap-a thing... like foot-assisted Flams instead of triplets (which, when actually, you know, INTENDED can be pretty cool, too.)


-K

[Toolate]

Easiest way for me to start understanding them and working the body into playing them is to just lead with your HH hand. If you are playing eigths, then keep the same tempo on the snare drum for 4 triplets (RLK assuming you're righty) with that hand. At least one thing gets to be consistent throughout the beat/fill..

[drumkat]

For me, I like to set the metronome at a cruisy 80bpm. I start off with straight 8ths between snare and kick, then go into 8th triplts between snare and kick, then vice versa and repeat over and over again.

[inneedofgrace]

I also have problems replicating those triplets for longer duration because I don't utilize them much when I play at gigs.

[Pollyanna]

Originally Posted by mo2vation

Timing is the key - otherwise you start stacking one of your hands on your foot and you get this blap-a blap-a blap-a thing... like foot-assisted Flams instead of triplets

Describes my triplets to a T. Well described!

I never got the hang of them either because, as you say, they are so far down the list. Still, I imagine that working on them would have some spin off benefit with linear grooves.

[Bruce M. Thomson]

Originally Posted by Midnite Zephyr

I don't know if this will help, but try ending your triplet fills with a double kick. You can use your right hand in unison with the second kick and you'll be right back into the beat.

Cool idea. I have a similar problem and this works in with the idea of playing the snare hit along with the bass hit on a backbeat (from Todd Suchermans video on Bass Drum Placements) Thanks.

[Anduin]

Originally Posted by mo2vation

Triplets ... In the hierarchy of things to have dialed in, they're honestly pretty far down the list.

I come from the opposite point of view.

The basic RLK triplet is possibly the most useful lick of all time. It's conceptually easy, has no doubles to trip you up or slow you down, and works in fills in pretty much every genre.

I would highly recommend to any drummer to work on it 'til you have it down cold. After that, you can expand into other triplet variations as noted above.

[Masheanhed]

Oh my brothers and sisters I feel your pain...

I too want to master them, one because it would be another item to have learned and to have as another weapon in the drum ammo crate. I just started working on them recently and haven't got them down enough yet to peel one off in public!

[Stickson]

Originally Posted by mo2vation

Timing is the key - otherwise you start stacking one of your hands on your foot and you get this blap-a blap-a blap-a thing...

I'd kill for blap-a-blap-a-blap-a.

[Anduin]

Originally Posted by Stickson

I'd kill for blap-a-blap-a-blap-a.

I think Sabian is working on a prototype.

[opentune]

Originally Posted by mo2vation

Think of Roger Taylor at the end of "Its Late" ....classic Triplets just blasting while Brian May is hitting the downbeat with a choked power chord. One of the best endings to any rock tune ever (especially following Rogers ridiculously over the top single stroke 4 count leading into that unforgettable tag mashup... 8 sets of 3x3 triplets with a snare lead off and Brian May crushing it... Fug, I love the way that tune ends!! I gotta go put it on right now)


-K

Had to go listen to this after your suggestion. Absolutely rocking tune, and the end is just a thunder of drums!
There is no sound like the triplet. A similar tasteful placement of this is at about 6:20 in Stairway to Heaven, like so many other Bonhamisms in many Zep tunes

I agree the RLK triplet is a great staple to work with. Start slow, learn it, speed it up.

[8Mile]

These were one of the first fills I ever learned on the drums. I was obsessed with them when I was a youngin', so I spent more time on them then anything else. I played them so much that I almost never play them anymore, although I do play variations around the kit using them, just not often the crazy fast ones on tom and snare, more like something on snare, bass drum and hi-hat, maybe orchestrated around the drums in some variations.

The funny part is I wanted to learn them because I had to emulate the sound Neil Peart got when he played them. I didn't figure out until years later that Peart was actually playing the quads with double-bass.

[kettles]

I learned it by slugging away at the ending of Queens of the Stone Age - Song for the Dead. I originally thought it lead with the left hand - LRK so your right stays on the floor tom, but now I do the opposite.

Try playing each stroke (R or L or K) individually in the right spot, while counting. It'll be tricky at first. I also got better at it by placing a towel on my floor tom and hitting that, it was easier to hear where my timing was off because it just sounded like I was playing two kick drums. If you have an electronic kit you can set every pad to the same sound. Another way to practice is do two beats of singles RLRLRL then two beats of RLKRLK. Or a bar of each, up to you.

[longgun]

Originally Posted by mo2vation

No drummer ever got fired off a gig because he couldn't nail quads and triplets. -K

...unless your covering alot of Zeppelin tunes

[Kr1sh]

Well,

I'd say just work on it slowly and gradually build up tempo...

What really is a challenge is playing something like this (kick in the middle):

RKLRKLRKLRKL or LKRLKRLKRLKR, or even RKLLKRRKLLKR

This needs a lot of work done to really be used in playing.

Anyways, keep practicing

[kauaiplayer]

I agree with the previous posts. Time is the only way to get these down. I had an easier time learning KRLKRL, so when I pull out a triplet fill it's LKRLKRLKRL. Occasionally I'll throw in a double stroke on a short triplet fill, usually with the right hand - LKRRLKRRL. I'm still not blindingly fast on them, but there are only so many hours in a day.

[Midnite Zephyr]

I remembered this thread while I was playing drums tonight and I purposefully tried to add some triplet fills into my playing. At first they were a little sloppy and it took a few tries to hitt them nice and clean, but it came back to me after a few tries. I have to be warmed up to do good triplet fills.

[Otto]

The limits of our ability helps us see the best music we can play.

Once you master hand/foot triplet work(which you will if you want to), you will find another thing that feels like you can’t master it.

Don’t allow that illusion of stymied progress wear on you…many do and lose energy to pursue what they see as beautiful.

I try to stay focused on the need of a song…and my own limits give me a frame in which to see that beauty. Without limits, I cannot select the ‘language’ I want to express within the time it takes to decide and enact.

This perspective gives me some shielding from my own scathing criticism…which is far more piercing than anyone else’s when directed at myself…as your appears to be as well….and I bet, most drummers are the same.

Never allow anyone to say your art is not beautiful…if it is to you…than it is! If you don’t find it beautiful, change it.

Watch that double edged sword of self analysis. It becomes no less sharp as your skills grow...more so in fact...and can become more influential to your playing than the skills themselves.

[Arky]

What's a typical tempo range to apply those triplet patterns? I've been practicing those triplets just a few times. Do you have some bpm values?

[Toolate]

Slow is easy but it begs the question of 8th note or 16th note trips.

[Arky]

I completely see the logic there ;-)

Bpm / triplets 8th notes = ?
Bpm / triplets 16th notes = ?

[Stickson]

Originally Posted by Toolate

Slow is easy but it begs the question of 8th note or 16th note trips.

Or mastering the tables of time... where's MoontheLoon when you need him.

[mo2vation]

Originally Posted by Arky

I completely see the logic there ;-)

Bpm / triplets 8th notes = ?
Bpm / triplets 16th notes = ?

heehee...

Presume the snare is one... then move it around. I mean, one is absolute. But if you move the one (the snare) into the second slot, is it still the one?

If a Maple tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, but it bounces off of John Good's ample melon, and rings out with a perfect timbre (get it...falling tree..timbre? Me so funny) of Dork-flat.... will anybody hear it?

Better yet - can I sell tickets to this?


-K

[Fuo]

the tempo of the song you're playing.

[Swiss Matthias]

Easiest way to start to feel triplets: Play to a song in 12/8, 6/8 or a shuffle/swing feel.
It's all in triplets there.

The hard part is switching to triplets in a straight binary context, but that will come.

Be sure to stay away from quarter note triplets in the beginning, they're the hardest IMO.

[mxo721]

man, I'm with you, the L-R-K Bonham type triplets have been my obbsession a few months now, and it still feels awkward. I always start my setting the metronome to 3/4 at about 80, just to get the eveness down, then I put it on 4/4 and try to add one set each time around

[larryace]

One thing that helps me ALOT when doing these is to not do the hits all at the same volume. One hit has to be the loudest, the 2nd hit has to be medium volume and the 3rd hit has to be a tap more or less. Where you start the loud note is up to you. Those linear triplets just don't sound right to my ear unless there is an inner dynamic. It's the only way I can get them to flow. Flat triplets don't flow.

[Pollyanna]

Originally Posted by larryace

One thing that helps me ALOT when doing these is to not do the hits all at the same volume. One hit has to be the loudest, the 2nd hit has to be medium volume and the 3rd hit has to be a tap more or less. Where you start the loud note is up to you. Those linear triplets just don't sound right to my ear unless there is an inner dynamic. It's the only way I can get them to flow. Flat triplets don't flow.

Basically, you're trying to ensure that the triplets have a clear pulse on the 1, which makes sense.

But this guy seems to be playing them evenly ... and he's scary good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-p1gHyqhnw

[Arky]

Originally Posted by Pollyanna

Basically, you're trying to ensure that the triplets have a clear pulse on the 1, which makes sense.

But this guy seems to be playing them evenly ... and he's scary good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-p1gHyqhnw

+1. Anything else is confusing my ears when I'm practicing this. There has to be a pulse.

Wow, Polly, that's an impressive demonstration. Thanks for the link.
Although those triplets aren't really challenging per se when sped up they sound terrific.

I also came up with the hihat accenting the '1' being a good idea although this is even harder for newbies.

[kettles]

I accent the 1 and the kick/third note and play the hats on the 1 too. Even trying it without the second note might make things feel a bit more comfortable, so R-KR-KR-KR etc

[HoM3R]

Fresh Pots!

RLKRLKRLKRLKRLK
LRKLRKLRKLRKLRK

[Swiss Matthias]

Guys, try to accent RLF, sounds really cool!

I always play around with these kind of lick varying accented and ghosted notes.

I also switch between RLF and LRF for some changes. It's a lot (alot) more interesting
than the usual RLF bursts.