Playing triplets and 32nd notes at high and low tempos

[drummmrguy]

Hi. I was just practicing on my pad, triplets and 32nd notes, along with some favorite music. Some are greater than 100 bpm, others between 60-90. I was just curious, do most drummers use double strokes after a certain point? Like once it starts to get over 100 bpm, would it theoretically be impossible to play those note values using single strokes?

 

[Push pull stroke]

Hi. I was just practicing on my pad, triplets and 32nd notes, along with some favorite music. Some are greater than 100 bpm, others between 60-90. I was just curious, do most drummers use double strokes after a certain point? Like once it starts to get over 100 bpm, would it theoretically be impossible to play those note values using single strokes?

The “World’s Fastest Drummer” competition has people playing 32nd notes at around 125 bpm for a full minute. Granted, they’re playing them really, really quietly. The higher/louder you play, the slower you have to go.

 

[drummmrguy]

Lmao dude 125 bpm?!?!?!?!? That's insane!!!! Can you imagine what that sounds like on double bass. probably like one note trailing haha.

I actually finally plan on learning double bass, even though I don't really listen to that style of music.

 

[beatdat]

The “World’s Fastest Drummer” competition has people playing 32nd notes at around 125 bpm for a full minute. Granted, they’re playing them really, really quietly. The higher/louder you play, the slower you have to go.

If I'm not mistaken, I think the record is just upwards of 1,200 bpm, which I calculate to be 32nd notes @ 150bpm. But you're right in that they are really quiet, and the technique they use looks awkward to me.

I was just curious, do most drummers use double strokes after a certain point? Like once it starts to get over 100 bpm, would it theoretically be impossible to play those note values using single strokes?

It depends on the music, and the player. Billy Cobham has some really fast, clean powerful single stroke rolls... and so do a lot of other drummers.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that good rudiment drummers are expected to play 32nd notes @ 120bpm, but I'm not sure for how many beats.

Perhaps some other members could chime in with the longest single stroke roll they've seen in a piece of music.

 

[MrInsanePolack]

Perhaps some other members could chime in with the longest single stroke roll they've seen in a piece of music.

I know this is metal and most don't like it, but there is a rather large single stroke fill at the beginning of this song. Probably the longest one I can think of that isn't just a blast beat. The whole fill is about 10 seconds long.

 

[GetAgrippa]

It is single stroke rolls-that what he's doing on kick to isn't it? I like the music Mr Insane but when the singing starts that where they lose me. I don't pay attention to lyrics but melodically if it doesn't blend it distracts me. No singing I'm digging it. He's ripping it on drums-I really like the fast stuff. I've been practicing fast doubles, triples, and paradiddles on kick and hi hats. Fast doubles are easy but adding that other stroke triplet my speed falls, but I'll get there. The hats really don't like more than two quick notes-seems to bog down at 3 for some reason.

 

[Push pull stroke]

If I'm not mistaken, I think the record is just upwards of 1,200 bpm, which I calculate to be 32nd notes @ 150bpm. But you're right in that they are really quiet, and the technique they use looks awkward to me.



It depends on the music, and the player. Billy Cobham has some really fast, clean powerful single stroke rolls... and so do a lot of other drummers.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that good rudiment drummers are expected to play 32nd notes @ 120bpm, but I'm not sure for how many beats.

Perhaps some other members could chime in with the longest single stroke roll they've seen in a piece of music.

You’re right, they’re over 150 bpm now, my math was wrong.

 

[beyondbetrayal]

FYI as a tech death metal drummer most of these songs are counted in 16th notes. My band does most of our stuff between 200-240BPM. I do single strokes for most of the stuff. There are stretches where I blast for 30+ seconds and it is brutally taxing by the end of those songs. I think our longest song was 11 minutes and in the 230 range with a TON of 16ths on the hands and feet. I switched to heel toe for the kick years back because of this.

I see many drummers blasting in the 270 range these days doing 16th singles. You need to use wrist, fingers, rebound, and keep the stick height pretty low.

at 200bpm, 16ths.. or 100BPM 32nd notes I can play for 5 minutes straight doing singles. I can do 10 minutes at 180-190 but I have slacked the last few months and would have to build up my endurance.

the key is to play 10 minutes at a speed you CAN do easy, just bump it up a bpm every day until its hard.. I can't even count how many days my arms felt like rubber after practicing. I use a ton of pad work to do this but it isn't difficult. Just do it watching TV>

It's all about muscle memory and repetition. You HAVE to stay relaxed to play this fast. As soon as you start muscling it out it's game over and you fall apart. That is the issue with most guys playing fast. They play TOO fast TOO quick. When you see the tech death guys playing at 250+ they look like they could be sleeping half the time.

 

[drummmrguy]

Damn what a dope thread, hell yeah.

 

[Rock Salad]

I'm working on mine at 70 bpm. But I am practicing rests too.
How the hell do you internalize the pulse and count at those tempos?
My internal tongue gets twisted up sometimes even just a little faster than this. Obviously I am just beginning.

 

[TMe]

My internal tongue gets twisted up sometimes...

That's a good way to put it. My brain is slower than my hands, so I can relate. If something is so fast I can't make any sense of it when I hear it, I can't play it.

 

[Rock Salad]

Right? I do 1/32 doubles sometimes within the 1/16ths at 70 bpm, but even that is only like half the speed these guys are talking about. I can conceive doing 1/64ths at this tempo as groups, but I can't even imagine doubling the tempo itself.

 

[drummmrguy]

Sup guys. Based on what I've read, is it safe to say use whatever technique is easiest for you? For example, I transcribed this piece by some random artist I've never heard of; but take a look at how dope/complex the drums are. I never liked metal music, and so I never bothered to learn double bass. But the hi hat pattern kind of is reminiscent of what metal drummers do with the double kick. Forgot to mention it's only 75% finished, got stuck on a really crazy syncopated 16th note groove towards the end.

I believe the tempo of the actual song is roughly 100 bpm. This will be a great way to improve my hands speed. @ 100 bpm, are singles and doubles feasible? How would you all play the hi hat part with the hands, as singles or doubles?

Thank you.

 

[TMe]

Right? I do 1/32 doubles sometimes within the 1/16ths at 70 bpm, but even that is only like half the speed these guys are talking about. I can conceive doing 1/64ths at this tempo as groups, but I can't even imagine doubling the tempo itself.

My thinking is that no matter how quickly someone can play doubles, the tempo at which they can move back and forth smoothly between double 32nd's and single 16th's will be slower. If they need that sound at the upper end of their tempo range, they need to cut some corners.

Most drum scores show an eighth note after the 32nd's.

Some drummers play the last double as a single, so that a five stroke roll (rrll R) gets abbreviated to (rrl- R) and a nine stroke roll (rrll rrll R) gets abbreviated to (rrll rrl- R). The same approach can be used for quick single-stroke rolls, where the last note before the accent is dropped entirely so that (rlrl rlrl R) gets abbreviated to (rlrl rlr- R).

Either way, a note is dropped to provide a bit of wiggle room.

 

[drummmrguy]

Technical death metal...that sounds hard as shit lol.

 

[beyondbetrayal]

Lol. I never thought about the counting. I hear BEEP BOOP BOOP BOOP BEEP BOOP BOOP BOOP. 220+BPM is fast. I think I internalize the first one of the bar, and the next 3 just keep in on track. You could just as easily play 64th notes to a slower click, but I find I'm much tighter when I only go to 16th notes.

The reality is I have been doing this for YEARS. I didn't hit these speeds playing over night. And to get to 240BPM you need to get to 220, to get to 220 you gotta be tight at 190. If 190 is fast, I'm sure at one point I found 170 fast. and so on. Maybe you can do 16th notes at 100 BPM. That is more than fine. If you practice your butt off, and increase 1 BPM every 3 days which is not a ton, you would hit 200 in a year at that rate. The faster you get the longer it takes for each increase. I am at a point where it may take a month or 2 to fight for 1 BPM, or sometimes I might even drop a few if I don't practice.

As with most drummers ,when you start out you NEED to count. If I am learning something super awkward in odd time I'll count too. There comes a point where you just "feel" it and don't actualy count. I CAN count, and I know where I am, but I don't have to consciously think about it. This is when you have WAY more freedom. I can play over the bar fills, change subdivisions, and cause some wonky stuff and stay in time when I get to this point. (the band doesn't like that haah) but I'm not forced to go "ONE TWO THREE FOUR". If I was I'd have to keep it slower. I kindof consider it autopilot mode. It's the same reason you can play that beat you play all the time super fast, (pick your fav beat) but then If i was to move the kicks to different spots you get slower. It's no more difficult, it's just because the muscle memory is gone.


I'd personally suggest long practice sessions with 16th notes to the click. Heck, even just RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR. 4 hits per blip of the metronome. You get really used to the fast beeps after a while.

 

[BillBachman]

Hi. I was just practicing on my pad, triplets and 32nd notes, along with some favorite music. Some are greater than 100 bpm, others between 60-90. I was just curious, do most drummers use double strokes after a certain point? Like once it starts to get over 100 bpm, would it theoretically be impossible to play those note values using single strokes?

Single stroke 32nd notes at 100 bpm is a really good benchmark for speed. Going faster you can double, but they won't have the same beef as singles. Ultimately when you get up to that tempo range it'll also be a challenge to maintain enough sound to compete with the musicians around you since playing faster requires playing lower & lighter. This is why a lot of speed metal guys trigger their kicks and play higher tuned snare drums minus rimshots.

 

[drummmrguy]

Single stroke 32nd notes at 100 bpm is a really good benchmark for speed. Going faster you can double, but they won't have the same beef as singles. Ultimately when you get up to that tempo range it'll also be a challenge to maintain enough sound to compete with the musicians around you since playing faster requires playing lower & lighter. This is why a lot of speed metal guys trigger their kicks and play higher tuned snare drums minus rimshots.

Sup bro awesome, this is exactly what I was looking for. I'll be practicing my single stroke up to 100 bpm, although. I find it easier to play that track I posted above by teh trippy looking girl with grey eyes, using doubles on the hi hat, how would you play the straight 32nds on the hi hat in that piece? At the end of the day it's whatever's most efficient for the drummer no? THnx.

I can play cat soup by bones at song tempo. I'm practicing easter leda now, which is considerably harder. After< I wanna learn this nasty drum part by John Otto from limp bizkit, this song. Can you verify what I've written so far is correct? He ghosts the 16ths so when I play it back on muse score i can't tell if it's right.

Also, I've only been a member for a bit, would it be chill if I Just created a thread with regards to questions I have transcribing all my favorite songs? I've wanted to be able to play my favorite tracks since I was in high school, and I Never thought I'd develop the ability to do so. Clearly I can,

Thanks.

Kind regards,
drummmrguy

 

[Alex Sanguinetti]

Single stroke 32nd notes at 100 bpm is a really good benchmark for speed.

Guys, if you want to get an idea of that speed, this is ME playing 32nds at around 1/4 = 105 bpm (at 0:12 or longer at 0:30)

 

[drummmrguy]

Thanks for sharing bro! Perfect and sounds dope lol.