Single Paradiddle Applications

The single paradiddle is one of the Percussive Arts Society’s (P.A.S.) seven essential drum rudiments, along with the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, multiple bounce roll, five stroke roll, flam, and drag ruff. It’s also one of the most used drum rudiments around the drum set. In this free drum lesson, Jared Falk teaches you a couple of great sounding drum beats and drum fills that make good use of the single paradiddle, and that you can use as inspiration for coming up with your own patterns.

Playing the single paradiddle consistently and with evenly spaced strokes should be your first priority. Before going through this free drum lesson, we encourage you to check what Lionel Duperron has to say about the single paradiddle, so you can learn how to perform it accurately. With that free drum lesson you’ll learn how to apply the single paradiddle to the drum set through a couple of drum beats and drum fills as well. Those patterns are actually easier to perform than the ones from this free drum lesson. So going through them beforehand will actually help you master the content from this video lesson a lot quicker.

The double strokes from the single paradiddles within these exercises are mostly performed on toms. At higher speeds, bouncing the second stroke off of a tom will not work that well. Tom-toms have soggy surfaces, so your second stroke will sound muddy and your double strokes uneven. To work around this issue, play your double strokes exclusively with wrist turns. You can also get even sounding double strokes by snapping the back-fingers on the drumstick, after performing the first stroke with the wrist.