When you play the paradiddle--RLRRLRLL--do you find it difficult to play the 2 & 4 on the hi hat? Is this something you have to work at? No problems in playing the paradiddle on it's own--at all tempos. Any advice welcome.
I have no problems playing 4 beats on the snare and 2 & 4 on the hi hat.
Thanks.
Yes, you've gotta get your brain working on your 4-way independence. Years ago a teacher gave me this exercise that took me a couple months to get working but made a major, major difference in my playing in ways I couldn't have predicted. It goes like this:
Learn paradiddles and the 3 inversions of paradiddles. Inversion in this case meaning move the sticking over one beat each time:
RLRRLRLL
RLLRLRRL
RRLRLLRL
RLRLLRLR
Each one teaches you a different thing, especially when you apply accents. Play them non-stop all day, on your steering wheel, on the pad, on the drums, on your desk, on the kitchen table with your hands between bites. Drive those around you crazy for about two weeks, play them until all four are grooved and natural and interchangeable.
Then sit down at the kit and play them as 16th notes (one RLRR per beat) with L on snare and R on ride cymbal.
When that is smooth, bring in the feet. Play them over a rock beat: hi hat close or "chick" on 123&4, bass drum on 1 & 3. Accent the snare hit on 2 and 4.
After that is smooth with all four inversions, add a samba bass drum feel. So that's bass on the "and" of 4 and on 1, and the "and" of 2 and on 3.
After that is smooth with all four inversions, same thing syncopated.
Here is the key, the secret: Play them as slow as you need to play it right. Once your brain hears it correct at the extremely slow tempo, it will sort things out and do a little better the next day. Don't rush, correct repetitions, lots of them, are all that matters. If you plug it into your daily practice routine, in a couple months you'll be flying at 160 BPM, hands working any way you want against any hat and bass pattern you want. You find a ton of vocabulary just spring out of you. It's a real game changer.