Double Stroke Roll

In this drum lessin, I will introduce the double stroke roll. So far, we’ve learned everything in a straightforward sticking pattern. Either right handed or left handed (both pictured below).



As a beginner drum player, this is a great way to develop Limb Independence. You are using each hand as much as the other and not relying on either your left or right to play the drum.

But as you progress through each lesson, you will need to learn how to play the double stroke. You will still be using the limbs equally, but this technique will help you to play faster and move you out of the monotony of R L R L patterns.

The double stroke lesson becomes even more crucial as you get into the more advanced rudiments.

Double Stroke Roll Method

There is really not much to the double stroke method. The pictures below demonstrate the sticking patterns used. You simply double up your hits with each hand.

So where we have been playing R-L-R-L, we will now use R-R-L-L. This may seem ridiculously easy now (because it is), and a minor point, but as we cover more drumming concepts such as moving around the drumset, you’ll begin to see how necessary this lesson is and how stick patterns can be used to make drum fills flow naturally and easier to play.





The double stroke roll builds upon the single stroke roll drum rudiment that you learned earlier. It might be hard to hear the difference at first, but the more you play the two rudiments, the more you will be able to hear a slight difference between the two rolls.

Instead of the RLRL pattern that you used for the single stroke roll, you will be playing two notes (strokes) with each hand in a RRLLRRLL pattern.

This short video demonstrates how to play the double stroke. Don’t forget to check out my youtube channel for more drumming videos or see the links below to learn more drum rudiments.







Drum Lessons: