Equaling hands that are already equal?

D

DsDrummer

Senior Member
Yup, that title made no sense, and that's how i feel with me hands at the moment. It's funny, because with a lot of aspects of hand area of the drums, my left and right hands are equal. For example, rolls, doubles, triples, quadruples, flams, paradiddles, etc are all equal and are sounding good. But then I get to doing single stoke rolls alternating sticking and it suddenly seems that the equilibrium between my hands disappear. One exercise I tried which helped equal my hands with a lot of other rudiments was 4 on each hand, 8 on each hand, 12 on each hand, 16 on each hand, then alternating, each for 2 minutes, all which I can do perfectly fine except for the alternating one.

Why is this and what are some exercises that can help me fix this?

Thank you for your time,
DAN
 
I think it could be because it doesn't seem (to me at least) like you've practiced that one rudiment (single stroke roll) enough, compared to the rest. That's why you can't play it as well as the rest. I would recommend just practicing a lot more single stroke rolls, since that's obviously your "problem"/target of improvement. You can go hit 2 first 16ths of every quarter, short bursts, long bursts, 1min 16ths, etc (just examples of different exercises). Remember to switch leading hand (you probably already knew that from doing all those other rudiments). There's also a great exercise from the Delecluse snare drum book, right hand lead: 32nd note singles for one 4/4 bar, then one bar 16th notes with your right hand, then one bar 32nd note singles where you lead with your left hand, and lastly one bar 16th notes with your left hand. It should look something like this, in case you wonder:

rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

I used the - instead of barline, because I think the | looked to much like the lower case letter L. You can also of course do this exercise in 2/4, 3/4, 5/4 and so on :)
Another version of this exercise is to not switch leading hand:

rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
and of course
lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l - lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
 
MLdrum said:
I think it could be because it doesn't seem (to me at least) like you've practiced that one rudiment (single stroke roll) enough, compared to the rest. That's why you can't play it as well as the rest. I would recommend just practicing a lot more single stroke rolls, since that's obviously your "problem"/target of improvement. You can go hit 2 first 16ths of every quarter, short bursts, long bursts, 1min 16ths, etc (just examples of different exercises). Remember to switch leading hand (you probably already knew that from doing all those other rudiments). There's also a great exercise from the Delecluse snare drum book, right hand lead: 32nd note singles for one 4/4 bar, then one bar 16th notes with your right hand, then one bar 32nd note singles where you lead with your left hand, and lastly one bar 16th notes with your left hand. It should look something like this, in case you wonder:

rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

I used the - instead of barline, because I think the | looked to much like the lower case letter L. You can also of course do this exercise in 2/4, 3/4, 5/4 and so on :)
Another version of this exercise is to not switch leading hand:

rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - rlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
and of course
lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l - lrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlr - l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
Click to expand...

Took the words right out of my mouth. For good singles, practice singles
 
Playing alternating strokes requires more brain processing and signals to limbs than playing one hand at a time. It shouldn't be surprising that when you put your hands together you may have to back down on the tempo a bit to allow that processing to take place. With some work, it'll catch up.
 
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