Hi everyone and welcome back to Hackney Wick Drum Studio for another free Drum Lesson.
As part of my series looking at Rudiments, today we'll be taking a look at the 7 Stroke Roll.
As the theme continues over the next few weeks, we'll be developing these roll based Rudiments and going onto the 9, 10,11, 13, 15 and 17 stroke rolls, so please subscribe and you'll get each weekly lesson sent straight to your inbox!
As with last weeks lesson, I'll be showing you a couple of different ways of using this Rudiment. Check out the notation below for example number one.
As you can see we've got double strokes played on the '1','e','&' and a single stroke on the 'a'. You get a quarter note pause on beat 2 and then it's repeated for beats 3 and 4. The one thing to note here, is that in the first example, this particular one does swap from a right hand lead to a left hand lead, so make sure you practice slowly at first to get your weaker side up to the same standard. The second example is an easier one where we're just leading with the right hand each time. Check it out in the video below.
7 STROKE ROLL V1
Now let's take a look at the 7 stroke roll played in a slightly different way. All we're doing here is instead of rests on beats 2 and 4, we're now filling those gaps with 7 stroke rolls.
Now there's a lot going on in here, so it's particularly important to start slowly and make sure every stroke is falling in the correct place. Unlike the first example we looked at, this one doesn't switch leading hands. However, as an extra little exercise, once you've got it mastered one way, try the exercise again but leading with your weaker hand.
One important thing to pay close attention to here is your stick 'bounce'. By this I mean, when striking the Snare Drum or practice pad on your double strokes, hopefully you're starting to notice the stick rebounding from the surface. You should essentially be able to utilise this to your advantage because you should hopefully be getting that second double stroke for free!
Check out the video below to see it played at a few different tempos and see if you can spot the bounce!!
7 STROKE ROLL V2
And that's it for another Drum Lesson from me here at Hackney Wick Drum Studio. I hope you've found it useful learning another rudiment - the very versatile 7 Stroke Roll. There are countless ways of applying this rudiment to the Drums, so if you'd like some help with that, why not get in touch. I offer 1-2-1 Drum Lessons online, or I also teach private Drum Lessons in London at my Drum Studio in Hackney. To find out more, head over to the website or book a lesson online.
Don't forget to subscribe to have next weeks lesson sent straight to your inbox, and also feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I look forward to welcoming you back next we when we'll be checking out the 9 Stroke Roll!
Until then, Happy Drumming!!
Jack x