The 'Show Yer Licks/Practice Tips' Thread

[toolskid]

I'll kick this off:

BIG APOLOGIES for the lack of proper scoring!!!

1. "Rudiment Your Rudiments!!"

for example:

'paradiddle' your:

paradiddles

RLRR LRLL RLRR RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL LRLL

3 stroke ruffs

RLR LRL RLR RLR LRL RLR LRL LRL

6 stroke rolls

RLLRRL LRRLLR RLLRRL RLLRRL LRRLLR RLLRRL LRRLLR LRRLLR



'Swiss Army Triplet' your: (where F=flam: play the flams hand to hand if you like!)[

reverse paradiddles

RRLR FFFF LLRL etc..

four stroke ruffs

RLRL FFFF LRLR RLRL FFFF LRLR

Ok... hope thats clear enough!

So you can apply this with any of the main rudiments, just working through the inversions of paradiddles is a good place to start!

hope you like!

[toolskid]

2. "Hidden Shuffles"


Heres a nice little 'time within time' lick! Its a little hard to explain in text but here goes.

Its a transposition of a group of fives into 4/4 sixteenths which when orchestrated around the drums in a specific fashion reveals a slow shuffle groove!

the sticking is RLLRL with R=ride/backbeat and L=snare or hat ghosting


i'll try and score it for ya! forgive the uneven matching of the top and bottom lines! The K indicates Kick and S indicates snare accent or backbeat! If theres any confusion with my dodgy diagram below: the kick and snare accent always land on a 'R'.

Enjoy, its cool when its swung too!! I like ghosting and accenting the toms in fills with the left hand + I sometimes use this in solos and am much more free with the orchestration and often substitute doubles and flams for the single stickings...

Its also freaky to go to these subdivisons when playing an actual shuffle part - sometimes in a solo context its fun to break out these flowing ghost notes on snare hat and toms around the main shuffle groove!

you can apply this to groups of seven and nine sixteenth notes with the same formula!!

[C_F_H_13]

Here's a great one I stole/borrowed from a video I saw.

1. Play alternating 16th notes with both hands and feet in unison. Do 16 bars
2. Switch hands to parrididdles while keeping feet alternating L/R. Do 16 bars
3. Switch Feet to parrididdles and hands back to alternating L/R. Do 16 bars

[toolskid]

Ok, again apologies for the lack of scoring!


This is a fast and slow shuffle played at the same time one in each hand over constant 16ths:

left on hats and right on a bell is cool.

you can put in a samba bass drum pattern with open hats too for extra spice!!

[ArnieInTheSky]

Here's one you may already know. 5's. It's good to use the metronome. Kick on quarters, right and left alternating sixteenths, (then twentieths!)

RLRL RLRL|| Repeat x 4 RLRLR LRLRL||

Kind of a falling down the stairs triplety feel. Now apply a Paraddile and put your Right hand on the ride and the Left hand on the snare.

RLRRL RLRRL ||or XSXXS XSXXS ||

Sorry about the novice notation.

jl

[pan60]

cool!!! thread toolskid!!!!!

[pan60]

i only wish i was a drummer so i truly have nothing to add.:(

[Bounce]

One of my favorite fills I've been using lately is 16th note triplets (sextuplets) played using regular paradiddles (groups of 4 notes WITH the accent on the first single of each hand as in a normal paradiddle) for a one measure fill. Try an inverted paradiddle as well with the doubles in the middle for variation :-)

It's cool to practice with 8th notes on kick and hatfoot.

RLRRLRLLRLRRLRLLRLRRLRLL


Sounds CRAZY around the kit. Try alternating between floor tom with right hand (if right handed) and hi tom with left hand on snare. Then try moving both hands having the accents fall on different drums and/or closed hat.
Crazy!!

[toolskid]

this is a cool idea to extrapolate to paraddidles in quintuplets in the same vein!

also

accent the first two hits of each paradiddle on a different cymbal with the kick!! and the double beats on either a tom or snare!!!! Very Akira Jimbo!

Originally Posted by Bounce

One of my favorite fills I've been using lately is 16th note triplets played using regular paradiddles (groups of 4 notes WITH the accent on the first single of each hand as in a normal paradiddle) for a one measure fill. Try an inverted paradiddle as well with the doubles in the middle for variation :-)

It's cool to practice with 8th notes on kick and hatfoot.

RLRRLRLLRLRRLRLLRLRRLRLL


Sounds CRAZY around the kit. Try alternating between floor tom with right hand (if right handed) and hi tom with left hand on snare. Then try moving both hands having the accents fall on different drums and/or closed hat.
Crazy!!

[Jax]

A habit I've fallen into, sounds cool and lets my singles sound faster than they really are:

RLRLRLL RLRLRLL RLRLRLL

switch hands or flip it while continuing to play:

LRLRLRR LRLRLRR LRLRLRR

Pretty simple but it sounds great between tom and snare, and like a really disjointed salsa beat if the kick is holding down quarters. Also, mess with accents that approach a clave and it sounds extra broken (and cool).

[ImJohn]

Back to back paraddidles (with the second one reversed) makes a great ride pattern. I think this is a Billy Cobham thing but I don't know for sure.

RLRRLLRL

Put your right hand on the hihat or crown of the ride and your left on the snare. Play the bass drum on the accented (bolded) notes. Play it really fast for a bit then do an explosive roll around the toms . . . .hhhmmmm Mahavishnu Orchestra . . One Word???? ;-)


My other fun thing to try is what I call "single stroke paraddidels". To get the idea, start out with your right hand on the snare and your left on a tom, then play normal paradiddles (RLRR LRLL etc) See how that sounds? Now, play only single strokes (RLRL RLRL etc) but make it SOUND like paradiddles by moving your hands back and forth between the two drums. You wont be able to obtain the insane speeds that you can doing regular paraddidles (because no double bounce advantage) BUT you'll be able to do things you wouldn't be able to do . . . like a "paraddidle" using your highest tom + floor tom + main snare + aux snare! ;-)

Have fun!

[Jax]

Originally Posted by toolskid

left on hats and right on a bell is cool.

The curse of being a lefty! It always slows me down having to reverse all the exercises. I tried holding my Stick Control book in front of a mirror, but then it looks like it was written in Russian...

I end up practicing them righty first. That could work out to be an advantage someday.

[ImJohn]

Originally Posted by Jax

The curse of being a lefty! It always slows me down having to reverse all the exercises. I tried holding my Stick Control book in front of a mirror, but then it looks like it was written in Russian...

I end up practicing them righty first. That could work out to be an advantage someday.

OK, hows about we change standard notation to be "politically correct/sensitive" for everyone?

Something generic that takes no convertion for either right or left handed people?

Main hand and Alt (alternative) hand?

MAMM AMAA

Main Alt Main Main Alt Main Alt Alt

hhhmmm . . .

MAMM AMAA MAMM AMMA MAMM AMAA MAMM AMMA WHOA Black Betty BAM THE LAMB!

ee

[toolskid]

nah!

sod 'em

Originally Posted by ImJohn

OK, hows about we change standard notation to be "politically correct/sensitive" for everyone?

Something generic that takes no convertion for either right or left handed people?

Main hand and Alt (alternative) hand?

MAMM AMAA

Main Alt Main Main Alt Main Alt Alt

hhhmmm . . .

MAMM AMAA MAMM AMMA MAMM AMAA MAMM AMMA WHOA Black Betty BAM THE LAMB!

ee

[Jax]

Originally Posted by toolskid

nah!

sod 'em

The cool thing is it forces me to learn everything for both hands (or feet and hands, or foot/hand/tentacle/appendage 5, etc). Raz!

[Curtis Franklin]

i went through stick control ambidextrously (is that even a word?!?!). it has helped my playing immensely.

stewart copeland believes that everyone should just practice really fast singles and different paradidle combination, because that is most of what is used on a drumset.

i tend to agree.

[ImJohn]

Originally Posted by pumadrum

stewart copeland believes that everyone should just practice really fast singles and different paradidle combination, because that is most of what is used on a drumset.

i tend to agree.

I whole heartedly agree about the single strokes! I think paradidles are over rated though. (and that's probably just because I'm not all that good at them! )

[rmproduction]

Blimey where do i start!

Depends on if your looking at flashy or appropriate i suppose!

If your into co-ordination -

RLRLL RLRLL RLRLL RLRLL

Between say ride and snare with 3 over two between your bass and hats - then once you've got it try a) reading a newspaper on a music stand and b) singing the notes your playing.

Not and i REPEAT NOT to be used in the middle of your next ballard or such - great for building up 4 way independance!

Paras are great - if you play with them - try accenting different beats in them:

rLrr lRll rLrr lRll - rlRr lrLl - rlrR lrlL

play the accents on the toms, cymbals etc - if your into linear stuff play it between snare and bass or tom and hats

Same as ruffs - work very slow to start but play the ruff between your bass drum and floor tom - if you can get a quick ruff between them its a wicked little thing to through in!

try crossing the beats with fills using 3's 5's and 7's :

1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a1
R l r Lr l R l rLr l R l r LR......

Not sure if that'll make sense!

Linear stuff is cool:

RLRLFF RLRLFF RLRLFF RLRLFF

Then turn that into a groove accenting say the 2+4

The list goes on and on - take the rudiments then split them between all the drums, dont forget your bass and hats can be used for fills as well and so forth

[pan60]

Originally Posted by rmproduction

Blimey where do i start!

Depends on if your looking at flashy or appropriate i suppose!

If your into co-ordination -

RLRLL RLRLL RLRLL RLRLL

Between say ride and snare with 3 over two between your bass and hats - then once you've got it try a) reading a newspaper on a music stand and b) singing the notes your playing.

Originally Posted by rmproduction

Blimey where do i start!
Not sure if that'll make sense!

nope lost here:(

[quote=rmproduction;1146269]
Paras are great - if you play with them - try accenting different beats in them:

rLrr lRll rLrr lRll - rlRr lrLl - rlrR lrlL

play the accents on the toms, cymbals etc - if your into linear stuff play it between snare and bass or tom and hats

Originally Posted by rmproduction

Same as ruffs - work very slow to start but play the ruff between your bass drum and floor tom - if you can get a quick ruff between them its a wicked little thing to through in!

whats ruff?

Originally Posted by rmproduction

try crossing the beats with fills using 3's 5's and 7's :

1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a1
R l r Lr l R l rLr l R l r LR......

Not sure if that'll make sense!

Linear stuff is cool:

RLRLFF RLRLFF RLRLFF RLRLFF

Then turn that into a groove accenting say the 2+4

The list goes on and on - take the rudiments then split them between all the drums, dont forget your bass and hats can be used for fills as well and so forth

Originally Posted by rmproduction

Blimey where do i start!
Not sure if that'll make sense!

[Goliath|Audio]

Originally Posted by pan60

whats ruff?

lllR

three gracenotes preceeding an accent.

-------

it all comes down to the building blocks. Practice technique in front of the mirror. Start slow, ramp up to top speed and then back down without breaking technique.

[pan60]

thanks!!!