Boodala's (Bonham Triplets)

TMe

Senior Member
My first drum teacher taught me how to play what he called "boodalas". That was his name for what a lot of people call "John Bonham triplets":
LRF LRF LRF LRF etc.

I decided that three-limb rolls (boodalas and the like) are not for me.

Lately, though, I've started practicing them at very slow tempos, not because I want to use them when I'm playing, but because they seem like great exercises for developing dynamic control.

I play them with a strong accent on the first beat of every triplet, listening to what my left hand is doing and trying to get a nice consistent series of notes with even volume. Then I try to play with all three notes at the same volume.

At the same time I'm trying to pull a nice tone from each drum instead of just scratching at the heads, and I'm trying to hit each drum dead centre.

I'm moving at a snail's pace, not trying to get any quicker, and not expecting the rolls to be anything I'd actually use in my playing.

This exercise seems to be improving the "tone" of my playing, not my chops.

Whaddayathink? Does it sound like something worth spending time on? I'm thinking it might become a standard warm up exercise for me, and it might be good for sound checks.
 
These triplets and variations on them are my every day warmup. I start very, very slowly. For a long time I did linear alternating hands and feet in groups of 4 instead of 3 as my warmup. I switched to triplets a few months ago.
 
Linear trips do not come naturally to me. I have to work at them.

One thing I did...when practicing, I made an exercise with accenting the first partial, another exercise accenting the second partial, and a 3rd exercise accenting the third partial.

Interestingly, I had a harder time with no accented partials. The accent...I would rely on the accent like it was a place to mentally grip onto...if you will...to help me through the triplet. When that hand hold (accent) is taken away, my trips were totally exposed. It helped me. But I still have to work at them.

Yes I do accent them while playing. For practicing, I do both, but I feel that the unaccented trips work me harder.
 
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