Single stroke roll is the most important of all the rudiments and a great tool to help you learn to play the drums
. It is most common rudiment played by all percussionists and drummers all around the world. It is so much common and so easy that non drummers also play it unknowingly.
A single stroke roll is basically left, right, left, right and so on. In other words, alternating your sticking with a single stroke at a time is known as a single stroke roll. You might use your left hand at the tom and right hand at the snare. It is essential for every drummer to practice this regularly. It helps you to gain control over your stick and fasten its speed. You will notice an improvement in your overall performance in drumming once you get your hands on this.
A few practice tips might help you to learn to play drums with single stroke roll quicker. You should practice with a practice pad. There are many reasons for practicing on it. It will force you to stick to your rudiment concepts. You will end up playing more on a full drum set. You can practice on a practice pad anytime without even disturbing people around you. It is portable you can take it anywhere you want.
Another tip is to practice it with a metronome. It will improve your timing once you record your clicks. You will get to know as soon as you slow down. It also tracks your progress by noticing how fast you are playing your drums. Yet another tip is to practice with thick sticks. Practicing with thicker sticks will help you develop your single stroke roll. It will create more strength in your muscles to hit the stick on the pad. Practice your rudiments on even a pillow or a blanket. This takes away the bounce and causes you to work harder for each and every stroke. These tips can be utilized while trying to learn to play drums with other rudiments like the double stroke roll.
Double stroke roll is also an important rudiment to be learned by a drummer. It improves your skill level around your drum set in a dramatic way. It helps your creativity and craftsmanship. Double Stroke Roll is among the four rudiments necessary for every professional drummer. You need to practice this rudiment a lot.
There are two main ways in which one can play the double stroke roll. The first one is to play double bounce roll. You have to strike the drum twice with the help of the bouncing back of the first strike. This is called bounce roll. This is used to improve your roll speed. It may bounce more than once at first but you have to reduce it to one bounce. Now, doing the same for both hands the double bounce roll. Another method is by hitting the stick twice on the drum set. Hit the drum with same power and pressure. In order to learn to play the drums with the right motion, make sure that both your hands are even and both sticks make the same sound with same tempo.