The one handed drum roll is a pretty fancy technique. It’s not something a beginner tends to try out, but if you’ve been playing the drums for sometime you might enjoy these tips.

I’m going to explain the basics of playing the one handed drum roll, but for more detailed instruction you may want to consider a drum lesson dvd.

In the grip

The technique to make the one handed roll happen is all in the grip. Y ou want to hold the drum stick loosely and keep your middle, ring and pinky fingers loose on the underside of the stick. Your fingers should be loose enough that with a squeeze and light movement of the wrist the drum stick will hit the snare drum.

Fast Movement

Hit the snare as you normally would first. Just as the head of the stick leaves the snare squeeze your fingers and make a slight movement of the wrist to help propel the stick and loosen your fingers again. This will cause the drum stick to hit the snare again.

The secret to this movement is the fingers. You can move your fingers much faster then your entire arm and wrist making the one handed roll possible.

Timing is Everything

Without timing you won’t get this one handed technique down, so practice will make perfect. Timing is everything with this one handed technique. As soon as the stick leaves the snare on first strike you must make the motion to complete it.

Not Just for Drum Rolls

This is good to learn as a beginner because it can be used for more then just drum rolls. This is a great technique to use on the ride cymbal or high hat as well when you want to play quickly with just one hand. After you master this technique you’ll be incorporating it into all your drumming.

As mentioned above video instruction or DVDs can be helpful with this skill. Two courses to consider arethe drumming system or learn and master drums.

Filed under: Piano by Markley
Comments Off