Learning Drums Lesson - Single, Double and the Paradiddle-Diddle Video

today we're going to look at another
three rudiments called the single
paradiddle the double paradiddle and the
paradiddle diddle all three stickings
are excellent for developing your hands
in terms of coordination and they also
allow us to play some interesting
phrases both in terms of grooves and
fill or solo ideas let's go back a
little bit and just remind ourselves
what a single paradiddle looks and
sounds like first we saw this rudiment
very early on in the warm-up lesson so
for now let's just recap here it is
written on the snare drum it's a
combination of two single strokes right
left followed by a double right right
then reversed two single strokes left
right followed by a double left left
many people say that when you play a
single paradiddle it sounds the way it
is played para sounding like single
strokes and did dual sounding like
double strokes
this is often a handy way to memorize
stickings
exercise one one two three four
play this single paradiddle until you've
memorized it and then we can play it
using different parts of the kit
here's a groove using just the toms
exercise - one two three four
here's the same exercise with the snare
drum substituted for the hi Tom on beat
three
this means your non lead hand will play
the hi Tom
then snare then hi Tom again
exercise three one two three four we can
even use this as a funk type groove
using hi-hat snare drum and bass drum to
really make this exercise groove I'll
also try and play beats one and three of
each bar slightly accented or louder
than all the other notes exercise four
one two three four once you've got the
hang of both the Tom type groove and the
funk type groove how about joining them
together exercise five one two three
four
here's the same groove with the
different fell idea this time the right
hand travels around the Tom's and the
left hand stays on the snare exercise
six one two three four there are many
many ways to play a single paradiddle
around the drums but once you're happy
playing the exercises here go on and try
to invent some orchestrations and
experiment with different rhythm and
fill ideas of your own
okay now it's time to have a look at our
next rudiment it's called a double
paradiddle and it's made up of two lots
of single strokes right left right left
and then a double stroke right right and
is then reversed with another two lot of
single strokes left right left right and
then a double left left if we use the
same phonetic type of phrase for the
double that we used for the single
paradiddle we now be saying para para
diddle para para diddle because the
double paradiddle has six notes in its
sequence
it's ideal for playing triplets which
will enable us to devise some new ideas
for our triplet vocabulary exercise
seven on
two three four the key to learning these
types of sticking patterns is to repeat
them over and over again so that you no
longer really think about the sticking
instead it's almost as if your hands are
playing the pattern because the
information is stored in your limbs in
order to achieve that level of
automation you may have to play
something literally thousands of times
so be patient and take your time once
you've got the double paradiddle
memorized have a go at trying similar
orchestrations that we've used for the
single paradiddle exercise eight one two
three four
exercise nine one two three four
exercise ten one two three four
finally here's the paradiddle diddle
from the phonetic type theory that we've
used before it should be clear that
we've now got two single strokes right
left followed by two double strokes
right right left left exercise eleven
one two three four
now go ahead and apply the same groove
and fell ideas we've been using so far
to orchestrate on the kit
it's also worth trying to play this
rudiment reversed as well left right
left left right right as you never know
when it may come in handy for a
particular movement on the kit when
you've got the grips with the paradiddle
diddle you may end up with something
like this exercise twelve one two three
four
you
different types of sticking or a great
way to come up with new ideas on the kit
and therefore combining groups of
singles and doubles in various
paradiddle patterns is a great way to
expand your drumming vocabulary allowing
you to say more on the instrument the
world's greatest drummers vary their
stickings often to allow them to voice
great ideas with seemingly effortless
precision follow their lead and try to
work out your favorite drummers sticking
ideas and then expand upon them with
your own new inventions good luck and
bye for now