Single strokes (how to develop them)

[Noise Picker]

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.

[S.P]

I've read that Dennis Chambers used to practice his singles on pillows in order to build his speed and stamina!

[Gaddabout]

There's really no secret. Your singles are only limited by your weakest hand. If you want to play 32nd notes at 144bpm, you have to play sixteenth notes with each hand at the same rate. If you want to play sextuplets at 144bpm, you have to play eighth-note triplets on each hand at the same rate. When you do the math, you realize getting from Point A to Point B is about as straight a line as you'll find in music, you just not may be able to SEE Point B from where you're currently standing.

If you were my student, this was your first day, and this is what we set out to accomplish, I'd bust out the metronome at 80 bpm and ask you to play 8 bars eighth-note triplets on your weak hand. I'd move it forward 4bpm each time until we found at what point you were losing control. Whatever that mark is, I'd move it back 4bpm and say practice at that tempo both hands until it felt comfortable and then move forward.

It doesn't take that long for an earnest worker to develop reasonable singles. Three months of serious work and you'd be amazed what you could do.

[YamahaPlayer]

Well said!

The only thing I will add is is because it's such a physical activity, you MUST train daily. 15 minutes a day is eons more effective then 2 hours twice a week.

You are effectively training your fast twitch muscle fibers to do a repeated motion at exhaustive levels to an ultra refined degree. The difference in note timing at those tempos (Say 32nds at 120), is lighting fast literally. Each note is .0625 seconds long at that tempo. That's a touch more then 6 hundredths of a second.

Daily, regimented, practice. If you aren't sweating after 10 or 15 minutes, it's not practice. You should be sore from it. That's how you get to that level, ever notice how big those drummers forearms are?

Lot's of triplets and 6's!! Triplets reverse the sticking and 6's love to go fast.

[deseipel]

I would add that you shouldn't overdo it. don't injure yourself.

[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 .

[Matus]

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.

[YamahaPlayer]

Matus that is a rad routine! Thanks for sharing!

"I do that and single stroke sequences around the whole kit, Virgil Donati style."

From his old DCI vid? Where he does the 3,4,8, etc on a hand on all the drums?

[Matus]

I still have that VHS tape But actually it's a more reduced version he showed on his online lessons, based on groups of 2, 3 and 4. For 2s, he created a "track" from his left tom to his far right tom (say toms 1 to 5), starts on the 1st leading with the right hand and played 3 strokes on the 5th tom, so he could lead with his left back to the 1st. Same thing with 4s and used random left to right moves with groups of 3. You can see him do that stuff on any of his solos
I use those three combinations and also the individual hand workout from the VHS tape, which was playing 2 and 4 notes per element with one hand with increasing tempo every 8 bars. Used to do the whole routine, it was a killer, no doubt about it.

[Morgenthaler]

...for good measure: