Learn Drums Lesson - Four Stroke Ruff Video Lecture - Learn how to Play

this lesson is all about learning to
play another great rudiment called the
full stroke ruff sometimes called the
single stroke 4 it's a similar type of
rudiment to the drag so hopefully you'll
remember that from our previous studies
if we look at the notation for a moment
you'll notice that the full stroke ruff
has three grace notes followed by a main
note and that it's made of single
strokes left right left right right left
right left left right left right right
left right left here's what it sounds
like at a reasonable temple exercise 1 1
2 3 4 now that's pretty tricky at first
so let's slow it down and analyze what's
happening I'm aiming to get the louder
4th note perfectly lined up with the
quarter note click so I'm trying to play
the three quieter grace notes slightly
before each click the best way to start
these off is to think of the exercise in
triplets and gradually speed things up
here's an example of some 4 stroke
roughs played on the snare all starting
with the non-lead hand the count for
this exercise should be on triplet 2 3
triplet 4 triplet 2 3 triplet 4 but
sometimes I like to count Radio 1 Radio
2 radio 3 radio 4 and find that this
works just as well exercise 2 1 2 3
it's worth pointing out here that in
order to play the fourth stroke louder I
actually prepare that stroke by lifting
immediately after playing a quiet second
stroke so in terms of stroke technique
the motions are top up top down
that's a quiet stroke another quiet
stroke that comes up another quite
stroke an allowed stroke which I'll
finish close to the drumhead I'll do
that a couple more times
a quiet stroke another quiet stroke that
comes up another quiet stroke and a loud
stroke and once more a quiet stroke
another quite stroke that comes up
another quite stroke and a loud stroke
using stroke technique is a great way to
obtain control over your quiet and loud
strokes but takes time so be prepared to
play everything very slowly and repeat
hundreds of times now let's give that
same exercise a go but this time we'll
start the exercise with the lead hand
exercise three one two three four
once you've spent a long time repeating
these two different ways of playing fort
roughs try alternating them that means
you must now start with the hand that
you finish with exercise four one two
three four okay
now let's play a groove and try to
incorporate our four straw roofs around
the drums in the first exercise I'll aim
to start the drug before beat one of the
second bar otherwise my roof will finish
late some people find it easier to start
on the and of four so I'll start with
that kind of feel it's worth noting that
many people play the four stroke rough
in a more orchestral manner whereby the
three grace notes are crushed up very
close to the main note but as this is
harder to do we'll try and start easy
and you can crush up the four stroke
rough later if you wish exercise five
one two three four
let's try the same exercise again but
this time we'll start with the other
hand exercise 6 1 2 3 4 here's a good
way to start playing for stroke roughs
on the kit
why not split the number of notes on two
different drums exercise 7 1 2 3 4 now
let's have a go at that exercise again
starting with the other hand exercise 8
1 2 3 4
another classic way of playing for
stroke roughs is to substitute a bass
drum for one of the hands here's an
example where the 3 grace notes are all
played with hands but the last main note
is a bass drum try to keep all the notes
nice and smooth at first it's quite
difficult to time your hands and foot so
they all play evenly exercise 9 1 2 3 4
here's a similar example where the fill
starts with the first grace note as a
bass drum and then the other two grace
notes and the main note are all hands
moved around the kilt
exercise ten one two three four the four
stroke
ruff is another great rudiment for
expanding your ability on the drum kit
it's a real challenge to try and get
both lead and non lead hands sounding
even and then there are some really
useful movements we can incorporate
around the drum kit as usual practice
your four straw routes for long periods
on a snare pad or even on your leg
when you don't have your sticks then get
on the kit and start experimenting good
luck and bye for now