Ah, Paradiddles!

When I think about what really made the difference in my playing over the last 6 or 7 years, I have to point to paradiddles. Paradiddles are a combination stroke, singles and doubles. The sticking, if you are not familiar is R L R R L R L L. It’s a 16th note subdivision, so it can easily be counted in the usual “1 e an a” method. Now, not wanting to take credit where it is not due, I learned a very basic exercise from the Dave Weckl video “Back To Basics.” After you learn the stroke, break it up over your snare and hi-hat. The kick will be on the 1 and the 3.

What is real important is that you differentiate, radically at first, the accented stroke and the unaccented stroke. This will make a huge difference physically in how you approach the accented and unaccented notes. You will be thankful for it later.

Now, what will you will hear will shock you at first. Things will sort of come in and out and it will sound really unbalanced at first. Of course, start slow and you will begin to feel the way that it is supposed to sound.

Doing this exercise accomplished three things for me: 1) It gave me a better sense of time, 2) It radically helped my ghost notes and 3) It made my groove solid and “feel” complete. Over time, I started to learn the rest of the paradiddle family, ie. double paradiddles, paradiddle diddles and flamadiddles. Adding these to my “bag of tricks” really helped to stimulate my playing.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
Frank