What is a double-stroke roll?
A roll is music terms are notes that are played in secession, such as the single stroke roll where you alternate playing with both hands R,L,R,L (Right hand, Left hand, Right hand and Left Hand). Taken that a step further, play the roll with two beats (hits) per hand, such as R,R,L,L (Right hand, Right hand, Left hand, Left hand) and you have the double-stroke roll. In drumming terms when two beats of played with the same hand, it is referred to as a dibble.
There is nothing really hard about this technique other than having to train muscle memory in order to play two beats evenly with each hand and have it sound the same as it would with just single strokes. The Double-stroke roll is one of the fundamental building blocks for other rudiments that a drummer will use in his / her playing such as some of the more common rolls: five, seven and nine stroke rolls.
I mentioned rudiments above, let me take a minute and expand upon this : Rudiment are are the equivalent of chords that guitar players utilize. Rudiments are the building blocks for drummers and there have been 40 of the defined by the Official Percussive Arts Society. There are many resources out there that will assist you in learning the Rudiments in which I listed several in the resource section of this article.
Two of my favorite are:
Vic Firth : Vic Firth Presents: 40 Essential Snare Drum Rudiments
Freedrumlessons.com : The 40 Drum Rudiments
One of the benefits of using the double-stroke roll is it can be used to increase speed by using the natural rebound of the stroke to get more then one beat per hit without having to lift the stick again. This is sometimes called a rebound stroke and I won't go into a lot of detail here, but the gust of it that after making your first stroke with the stick, close the fingers and it will make another stroke. This is how our idols do it to get such fast speeds.
As my drum instructor informed me, unlike other subdivisions that have been introduced, 32nd notes don't have a count of there own for the individual notes, but are counted in groups of two. Therefore you would count the notes are sixteenth notes, but play two beats for each count.
What we end up with is really playing double-strokes for each of the beats of a sixteenth note. This is why double-stroke roll and 32nd notes are introduced together.
Exercise 1 - 8th Note Double-Stroke Roll
Simple 8th note measure played on the snare drum with double-strokes starting with the right hand then moving to the left and then repeated.
Exercise 2 - 16th Note Double-Stroke Roll
This is an expanded version of exercise 1 above, but we double the number of strokes. Again start with the right hand and play the 1, e with the right hand then &, a with the left hand. Repeat the same for the other three sets of sixteenth notes.
Exercise 3 - 32nd Note Double-Stroke Roll
This again expands upon the previous exercise and again we double the number of strokes to be played. With this exercise, as I mentioned in the How to Count 32nd Notes above, you double the count of the 16th note. In the image below, you start on the count of 1 by playing two strokes with the right hand, then play e with two stroke with the left hand, & with two stroke with the right hand and finally the a with two stroke with the left hand. Repeat this for the other three sets of sixteenth notes in the measure.
There you have it, an introduction to the rudiment double-stroke roll and 32nd notes and some applied examples to get you in some practice and take it to the drum kit. You can click here to download a copy of the exercises in a PDF file so that you can take it to the kit and start adding this to you technique.
PDF File: Double-Stroke Rolls and 32nd Notes
Online Rudiments Resources:
There is nothing really hard about this technique other than having to train muscle memory in order to play two beats evenly with each hand and have it sound the same as it would with just single strokes. The Double-stroke roll is one of the fundamental building blocks for other rudiments that a drummer will use in his / her playing such as some of the more common rolls: five, seven and nine stroke rolls.
I mentioned rudiments above, let me take a minute and expand upon this : Rudiment are are the equivalent of chords that guitar players utilize. Rudiments are the building blocks for drummers and there have been 40 of the defined by the Official Percussive Arts Society. There are many resources out there that will assist you in learning the Rudiments in which I listed several in the resource section of this article.
Two of my favorite are:
Vic Firth : Vic Firth Presents: 40 Essential Snare Drum Rudiments
Freedrumlessons.com : The 40 Drum Rudiments
Benefits of Double Stroke Roll
One of the benefits of using the double-stroke roll is it can be used to increase speed by using the natural rebound of the stroke to get more then one beat per hit without having to lift the stick again. This is sometimes called a rebound stroke and I won't go into a lot of detail here, but the gust of it that after making your first stroke with the stick, close the fingers and it will make another stroke. This is how our idols do it to get such fast speeds.
What are 32nd Notes?
32nd Notes are another subdivision that we can make to increase the amount of notes that are played during a measure. In a normal measure, if we divide a normal 4/4 time signature into 32nd notes, there will be 32nd notes to be played in that measure. 32nd notes are the subdivision of the 16th notes and is where they occur.How do you count 32nd notes?
As my drum instructor informed me, unlike other subdivisions that have been introduced, 32nd notes don't have a count of there own for the individual notes, but are counted in groups of two. Therefore you would count the notes are sixteenth notes, but play two beats for each count.
What we end up with is really playing double-strokes for each of the beats of a sixteenth note. This is why double-stroke roll and 32nd notes are introduced together.
Exercises
Exercise 1 - 8th Note Double-Stroke Roll
Simple 8th note measure played on the snare drum with double-strokes starting with the right hand then moving to the left and then repeated.
 |
| 8th Note Double-Stroke Roll |
Exercise 2 - 16th Note Double-Stroke Roll
This is an expanded version of exercise 1 above, but we double the number of strokes. Again start with the right hand and play the 1, e with the right hand then &, a with the left hand. Repeat the same for the other three sets of sixteenth notes.
 |
| 16th Note Double-Stroke Roll |
Exercise 3 - 32nd Note Double-Stroke Roll
This again expands upon the previous exercise and again we double the number of strokes to be played. With this exercise, as I mentioned in the How to Count 32nd Notes above, you double the count of the 16th note. In the image below, you start on the count of 1 by playing two strokes with the right hand, then play e with two stroke with the left hand, & with two stroke with the right hand and finally the a with two stroke with the left hand. Repeat this for the other three sets of sixteenth notes in the measure.
 |
| 32nd Note Double-Stroke Roll |
Exercise 4 - Five Stroke Double-Stroke Roll
Now that you have double-stroke roll under you belt, it's time to turn it up a bit and introduce an exercise that you can utilize to add a five stroke roll to you list of techniques. The five strokes start on the count of & of 1 with two strokes with the right hand, a is played with two strokes with the left hand and the fifth note is played with the count of 2. The pattern repeats itself with the & of 3 to the count of 4.
Now that you have double-stroke roll under you belt, it's time to turn it up a bit and introduce an exercise that you can utilize to add a five stroke roll to you list of techniques. The five strokes start on the count of & of 1 with two strokes with the right hand, a is played with two strokes with the left hand and the fifth note is played with the count of 2. The pattern repeats itself with the & of 3 to the count of 4.
 |
| Five Stroke Double-Stroke Roll |
Exercise 5 - Seven Stroke Double-Stroke Roll
This exercise builds upon exercise 6, but we add another double to the count of two. It starts like the other and we have a snare on the count of 1 and e then doubles on the &, a of 1 and 2 ending with the seventh beat on the e of 2.
This exercise builds upon exercise 6, but we add another double to the count of two. It starts like the other and we have a snare on the count of 1 and e then doubles on the &, a of 1 and 2 ending with the seventh beat on the e of 2.
 |
| Seven Stroke Double-Stroke Roll |
Exercise 6 - Nine Stroke Double-Stroke Roll
This is a bit different than the first two, starting with doubles on the count of 1, e, & and a and the ninth note ending on the count of 2; repeat for the count of 3
This is a bit different than the first two, starting with doubles on the count of 1, e, & and a and the ninth note ending on the count of 2; repeat for the count of 3
 |
| Nine Stroke Double-Stroke Roll |
There you have it, an introduction to the rudiment double-stroke roll and 32nd notes and some applied examples to get you in some practice and take it to the drum kit. You can click here to download a copy of the exercises in a PDF file so that you can take it to the kit and start adding this to you technique.
PDF File: Double-Stroke Rolls and 32nd Notes
Resources
Online Rudiments Resources:
Vic Firth : Vic Firth Presents: 40 Essential Snare Drum Rudiments
Freedrumlessons.com : The 40 Drum Rudiments
Freedumlesson.com : Learn To Count Thirty Second Notes
Double-Stroke Roll Books:
Stick Control for the Snare Drum by George Lawrence Stone : Amazon
George Lawrence Stone's Stick Control is the original classic, often called the bible of drumming. In 1993, Modern Drummer magazine named the book one of the top 25 books of all-time. In the words of the author, it is the ideal book for improving ""control, speed, flexibility, touch, rhythm, lightness, delicacy, power, endurance, preciseness of execution and muscular coordination,"" with extra attention given to the development of the weak hand. This indispensable book for drummers of all types includes hundreds of basic to advanced-level rhythms, moving through categories of single-beat combinations, triplets, short roll combinations, flam beats, flam triplets and dotted notes, and short roll progressions.
Basic Drumming by Joel Rothman : Amazon
Used worldwide, this one book contains all the fundamentals needed for playing drums. It is exceptional value for the money!
Mini-Monsters of Rock by Joel Rothman : Amazon
This study has almost everything you always wanted to know about rock drumming. It contains disco beats, coordination exercises, rock breaks, and much more.
Freedrumlessons.com : The 40 Drum Rudiments
Freedumlesson.com : Learn To Count Thirty Second Notes
Double-Stroke Roll Books:
George Lawrence Stone's Stick Control is the original classic, often called the bible of drumming. In 1993, Modern Drummer magazine named the book one of the top 25 books of all-time. In the words of the author, it is the ideal book for improving ""control, speed, flexibility, touch, rhythm, lightness, delicacy, power, endurance, preciseness of execution and muscular coordination,"" with extra attention given to the development of the weak hand. This indispensable book for drummers of all types includes hundreds of basic to advanced-level rhythms, moving through categories of single-beat combinations, triplets, short roll combinations, flam beats, flam triplets and dotted notes, and short roll progressions.
Used worldwide, this one book contains all the fundamentals needed for playing drums. It is exceptional value for the money!
This study has almost everything you always wanted to know about rock drumming. It contains disco beats, coordination exercises, rock breaks, and much more.
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