Single strokes (how to develop them)

[S.P]

Ensure that your focusing not only on the speed of the roll but how clean and in time it is. I.E. the spacing between the notes.

Off the top of my head I can recall Dave Weckl's Back to Basics and Thomas Lang's Creative Control dvds having sections on how to work on your single stroke rolls. There's a rad Vinnie solo on a track called Against The Clock by Allan Holdsworth where he switches from Doubles to Singles and you can hardly notice it! That's what I'd aim for if I was working on mine!

Edit: Here's the bit I was talking about from "Back to Basics"

[Henry II]

I'd like to hear your insights about how to develop the single strokes into a very effective level (like Dennis Chambers or Gergo Borlai). I guess many of you are accomplished players so I am at the right place to benefit of your knowledge.

I don't know about Dennis Chambers, but, I would recommend that you, first, look in to the Gladstone and Moeller methods. You should master both of them. Second, practicing 16 on a hand (with Gladstone and Moeller) worked wonders for my SSR.

[john lamb]

You may never reach those speeds, no matter how hard you work. Maybe you will. We all come pre-loaded with a certain ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers. Slow twitch fibers (aka aerobic) are like the hand gun in 1st person shooters - not particularly powerful but it never runs out. Fast twitch (aka anaroebic) are like the rocket launchers. They are very powerful, but a limited amount of ammo. Those good @ marathon have high proportions of slow twitch, good sprinters have lotsa fast twitch. You can change what ratio you through targeted use, (this is why lifting weights makes you slower!) but only up to a point. Just food for thought. I think that anyone can make it up to 900 strokes/minute, but only a few can get over 1100.

All the exercises mentioned so far are great. I would add a few things, though. Traditional thinking holds that you do it, do it, do it and you'll figure out all the tricks on your way. While it is true that you must learn the tricks yourself through experience, you can use a map / guide(aka teacher) to get to those experiences faster. Here's a couple more tips I found the long way. This is stuff people told me that I never listened to.

*Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Take your time and don't be in a hurry. If you were my student, if you didn't have a strong understanding of technique I'd bust you down to 20 on the 'nome, not 80. Its hard to go this slow, but taking a few days @ this tempo, making everything smooth and the movements accurate, will allow you to reach your full potential far sooner than racing through it and pushing through with bad technique. You may *eventually* refine your technique by going top speed right out of the gate, but you may well never get there. Its a dead end at best.

*I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned a loose grip/ holding tension in your body. f you are holding tension in your body, that means you are committing your energy and power to hold yourself rigid. Meanwhile you are committing more energy to move the rigid parts. Its horribly inefficient and leads to unfortunate business such as tendonitis. It doesn't help your tone one bit either.

*Speed has more to do with the ears than the hands. If you can hear notes that fast, you are likely to be able to play it, if you have a strong understanding of movements that go into making it. If you can't hear the notes you have almost zero chance of being able to play them, no matter how quick you are.

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

1) Leading with the weak hand is always good.

2) Practice both low and high, loud and soft.

3) Break things up rhytmically for more control. Alan Dawson had an exercise where did a line from Stick Control followed by five beats of doubled up singles and one beat rest, then go to the next line. If the exercise ends on the left you start your singles with your right.

4) Try the two for one up and down technique, whatever it's called. Two down-strokes follew by two up-strokes .

Actually, the complete Dawson routine I was taught was far more extreme. I had it passed to me by my teacher, who studied with him. It was based on pages 5, 6 and 7 of SC.
- First round you went through all 72 combinations playing RRRR LLLL RRRR LLLL after eachline.
- Second round you played RRRR RRRR LLLL LLLL.
- Third was RRRR RRRR RRRR RRRR LLLL LLLL LLLL LLLL
- Fourth round was doubled up singles (sixteenth notes, as the exercises were eights), starting with the opposite hand to the last one in the line, then one beat rest and next line.

All full strokes with wide motions, as much power as possible and steady sound. It was a nightmare at first but it really paid off.
After that I got into Gary Chaffee's "endurance for singles" exercise, found on his Technique Patterns book. Great exercise for a fast daily speed workout. I do that and single stroke sequences around the whole kit, Virgil Donati style.

You just inspired me to add a more thorough singles workout into my routine. I'll probably add even more to it. I just can't help myself.

[Matus]

To be honest, I don't play at those speeds, nor do I aim to do so. I practice at moderate tempos, focusing on wide, relaxed, clean, open sounding and even strokes. First of all I need the big sound and the stamina, the ammount of speed I need will come by itself because of my focusing on control. And most importantly, I don't like fast singles in that fashion, it's not part of my language, never been, never will. I keep myself just at a speed level I consider acceptable and work on wider dinamics and more precise movements from one element to another, I spend so much more time working on compound stickings I don't really need "Chambers chops" to express myself...
I just can't put enough stress on going for an open sound and working on rebound within your single stroke technique. You have to go with the head bounce so you don't choke it if your toms are sounding open wide. That's why I think working on a pillow will give you no benefits at all, practice pads and real heads are the way to go.

[YamahaPlayer]

Well said Matus! It's all about the control and feel.

It's more a stylistic thing (Chambers for instance), then a speed thing. He's not actually that fast. It's more the style and feel of what he's doing that is creating the overall sound. It's the difference of like Weckl, who has very obviously focused intently on being smooth as can be. I love how Danny Carey's singles sound, they are so open and huge.
Then if compare marching to drum set, you'll find a whole different set of feel and articulations and scary tempos (for singles and mixed stickings).

Speaking to the sheer speed itself, it is very possible for most any healthy person to train there hands to be gloriously fast on a single surface (moving the hands at speed around the kit is a different beast all together). 32nds at 120bpm is prob about all you need, and a quite achievable tempo.

Here's a cool exercise that I've found to be very potent:
All 16th notes, with the interlaced notes being 32nds, lead hand continues on to flip the pattern.

RRRR RRRR LLLL LLLL RRRR LLLL LRLRLRLR LRLRLRLR LLLL LLLL RRRR RRRR LLLL RRRR RLRLRLRL RLRLRLRL

Isolates each hand, reverses the sticking every time as well. You can double everything as well, so 16th on a hand, 8 on a hand, then 4 beats of 32nds lead hand continues on...

[sejuba]

I also find that despite of whatever hand routine, technique or speed you´re trying to achieve, FLAM PARADIDDLES will help you a lot.
Practice it at slow tempos with a lot of control ( = don´t hold the sticks too loose) using only hands/wrists, then switch to moeller
and really focus on the upstroke (the 2nd 16th note in each hand sequence)....

whenever i play this stuff it makes my hands feel powerful, in the sense that it gives me the impression i´ve acquired awesome speed
and control after just 2-5 minutes of playing.


its just a lot of fun for me playing the flam paradiddle pattern... i constantly switch from german to french grip, while using fingers, then i switch to 100% rebound bla bla
anyway, try it. it somehow may help you with singles.

[YamahaPlayer]

sejuba -

Have you tried gridding flams through paradiddles (and their various versions)?

Two way parradiddle grid (moves the flam and accent): http://rudimentaldrumming.com/dblgrid.htm

[sejuba]

sejuba -

Have you tried gridding flams through paradiddles (and their various versions)?

Two way parradiddle grid (moves the flam and accent): http://rudimentaldrumming.com/dblgrid.htm

Awesome ! No i hadn´t. Gonna give it a go... looks like a hell of a workout for your hands. thanx bud

[gretsch-o-rama]

sejuba -

Have you tried gridding flams through paradiddles (and their various versions)?

Two way parradiddle grid (moves the flam and accent): http://rudimentaldrumming.com/dblgrid.htm

That was just two clicks away from a jeff Indyke video! WHEW!