Rudimental Reed: paradiddles

Another entry in our “Rudimental Reed” series, in which we outline some methods for apply rudiments to the long exercises in Ted Reed's Syncopation, this time using paradiddles. Here's that well-known opening line from the first long syncopation exercise in Reed, p. 37 in the old editions, as written:

First, play the quarter notes (or the equivalent) as 16th note paradiddles. On the longer values/rests, play a paradiddle with an unaccented ending note, as on beat three of the second and last measures:

Next, apply an appropriate paradiddle-type sticking to the longer values/spaces— double paradiddles / paradiddle-diddles, or triple paradiddles / paradiddle-diddle, diddles as I'll call them (there aren't enough commas in rudiment names for my taste) since that rudiment doesn't exist to my knowledge. I chose the latter rudiments:

With that last, we arrive at something pretty similar to an interpretation in Ramsay's Alan Dawson book; the one additional step there is to play the 8th notes as two alternating 16th notes, with an accent on the first.

Another example after the break:

Basic paradiddle funk

Man, there's just a whole lot of stuff besides blogging on my mind lately— like a Europe tour and recording project— so we may not see a lot of hugely substantive posts in the coming weeks. We'll see. But here's a pretty straightforward page of funk beats, or fragments of funk beats, based on paradiddles:

As you can see, we're adding bass drum to the familiar inversions

RLRR LRLL

RLLR LRRL

RRLR LLRL 

RLRL LRLR

played with the right hand on the hihat, and the left hand on the snare, and accenting on the beat. I play the right hand at a fairly even volume, with big dynamics in the left; playing the unaccented notes very softly, and the accented notes strongly.

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Some practice suggestions after the break:


After you get them down one measure at a time, combine measures to make a repeating four-beat pattern,  like so—here are the first two measures of the second line combined:

The sequence I use is 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, etc... 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, etc..., 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, etc— repeating each of those combinations many times before moving on to the next one.

In the course of running the combinations, I would also eliminate the bass drum on beat 1 of the second measure:

Probably it's good practice to memorize the beats as you run them; read them the first time you play them, then look away from the page and play.

Six stroke rolls around the drums

I'm just cranking them out today. I've been using the last paradiddles around the drums thing so much I decided to write up something similar using another familiar solo pattern, the six stroke roll (as it's often called) in a sixtuplet rhythm: RLLRRL. What they really are is a paradiddle-diddle inversion. I've written them in 6/8, but you can play them in 2/4 as sixtuplets, or as 16ths in 3/4, giving a 6/8 feel, or as 16ths in 4/4, for a meter-within-meter thing. Or as triplets within a fast 4/4. I'll write up an outline of the possibilities when I have the time. This rudiment is usually played with accents on the singles- I suggest playing these with and without them.

Refer to the paradiddles post for more ways of practicing these.

Oh, and go see Andrew @ the Melodic Drummer- he's put up some around-the-drums conditioners of his own.

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First-inversion paradiddles around the drums

This came up in my own practice today, and I went ahead and wrote it up. I've been doing a fair amount of this kind of thing lately- straight conditioning for getting around the drums- mostly using the very traditional Joe Cusatis books. I try not to think of this as learning licks; it's more about programming into my muscle memory some moves that I might not do on the fly. First inversion paradiddles (that's the RLLR LRRL sticking) are one of the key patterns for playing "hip", and I use them a lot, so they're a more logical starting place for me than regular paradiddles.

Notes:

• Practice measures individually, then in the following sequence:
  Ex. 1-2, 1-3, 1-4... 2-3, 2-4, 2-5... 3-4, 3-5, 3-6... etc.
  On sequences, play each measure once or twice:
  Ex. 1-2-1-2..., or 1-1-2-2-1-1-2-2... etc. 
• Notes in parenthesis are for making transitions between exercises without a crossover.  
• Practice these in the quarter note = 120-160 range. You should be able to fly around the drums with these. 
• Typo alert: Ex.8, second beat- play the right hand double on the floor tom. 

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You knew this was coming...

Here's the latest stupidly-named iteration of my basic paradiddle exercise, this time using 16th note 7s, septuplets, or whatever you want to call them. As always, play through the entire page, then play combinations of exercises in 1, 2, or 4 measure repetitions. The sequence I use for combinations is 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, etc... 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, etc... 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, etc... and so on.

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Paradiddles with 16th note triplets

Here's a companion to the other pages of paradiddles I've posted, this time using an embellishment used in Wilcoxon occasionally- a 16th note triplet in place of the double. Playing the triplet starting on an 'e' or an 'a' is a little strange, so I've presented this in RLRR and RRLR positions only.

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Have you been using the labels (at the bottom of each post) to find related items? You should be! Hit 'paradiddles' for related items.

Paradiddle shift with bass drum

This is something I've been working with, and finally had the time to write up. The paradiddle shift is a pretty common exercise involving the displacement of the paradiddle by one 16th note. Most people get it through Stone's Stick Control; I first started using it after seeing it in a Modern Drummer article featuring Fred Sanford, in the early 80's. Usually it follows the sequence from Stone (p.5, ex. 5-8), with the paradiddle starting on the beat, then the 'a', then the '&', then the 'e'.

What I've done here is make the shift by adding a 16th note on the bass drum, which makes the displacements happen in reverse order. The order is not a big deal, the means of making the shift is:

I've included two exercises, one with single accents, and one with two accents per paradiddle. Follow the road map- play the repeated measures one or more times, and the non-repeated measures only once; when you get to the double bar, go back to the top, reversing the stickings- start with the left the second time through. You can and should move these around the drums and add flams, drags, or whatever embellishments you want.

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YouTube clip with Fred Sanford's version of the paradiddle shift after the break:

Paradiddle exercise starts at 2:30:

Matt's paradiddle thing, pt. 2

As I've mentioned, I've been working a bunch with the paradiddle page I wrote up for my student Matt F, usually combining single repetitions of each exercise, as described in the post. Last night I played through it combining single beats, which is fairly easy to do on the fly, but I thought I would write it up anyway. I'm trying to keep it on one page these days, so I've just given some examples. If you want to be a nut about it, go ahead and play through all of the 16th note combinations from the original pdf.

Lately I've been all about playing through a lot of patterns- my idea of a lot being a single page- so unless you're really struggling, try not to get bogged down in repetitions (or variations, if you're applying some creativity). Playing the entire page RH and LH lead at maybe two different tempos- moderate and bright- a few repetitions per exercise is plenty.

Get the pdf.

Matt's paradiddle thing

This is a straightforward paradiddle exercise I wrote up for one of my students. It ends up a pretty robust page of stuff when you run it in the sequences.

Practice each measure individually, then play them as follows:

Two or four times each:
1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4... 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 5... 3, 4, 3, 5, 3, 6... etc

Two-pattern sequences, one measure of each, repeated 2-4 times:
1-2, 1-3, 1-4... 2-3, 2-4, 2-5... 3-4, 3-5, 3-6...

Note that the sixtuplet patterns will reverse stickings on the repeat, which will make some interesting things happen when you get to the sequences. You can of course add variations to include accents on the doubles; I just wanted to keep it to a manageable size.

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