DrumAce Blog - The SIx Stroke Roll
One of the most popular drum licks I teach while giving drum lessons is the six stroke roll. I have drum pupils ask me about this because they've either heard it's name before or because they have seen a drummer play it but weren't sure what it was.
Let me explain away for you now the myth that is the Six Stroke Roll. This is the basic pattern...
Six Stroke Roll Basic Pattern
As the name suggests, the drum fill consists of six notes played smoothly in a row. For a right handed player the hands would be...
RLLRRL
And for a left handed player it would be...
LRRLLR
We shall use the right handed variation for the rest of this lesson. If you are not comfortable playing double stroke rolls then you might like to practice this technique first before attempting to play this lick at any speed. During drum lessons with me we would go over all of the drum rudiments including the almighty double stroke roll.
It's easier to think of this drum lick as a triplet based pattern because of its six note construction. It could also be played through sixteenth notes but we won't be looking at that idea in this lesson.
Orchestration Ideas
Once you happy with the motion and smoothness of the six note pattern you can then try moving the first and last note of this drum lick around the drums. The following examples show how you might orchestrate the six stroke roll further.
Orchestration Idea 1
Orchestration Idea 2
Orchestration Idea 3
Orchestration Idea 4
Taking the Six Stroke Roll Further
This drum lick is a lot of fun to play on its own but if you really want to be creative then it's useful to have some other ideas to join it too. One popular idea I like to use is to include a three note group (played RLL) at the beginning or the end of the six stroke roll to extend it further. This creates a nine note pattern and so takes up a beat and a half of the bar when played through sixteenth note triplets.
Here is what the nine stroke pattern looks like...
Six Stroke Roll with Three note Addition
Now is where the creative fun can begin. You can combine a group of three with a group of six (six stroke roll) in any order you like to create all kinds of permutations. Your imagination is your only limit when it comes to combining these into cool patterns. Here are some suggestions.
Six Stroke Roll with Three note Addition Suggestion 1
Six Stroke Roll with Three note Addition Suggestion 2
Six Stroke Roll with Three note Addition Suggestion 3
Six Stroke Roll with Three note Addition Suggestion 4
Playing the Six Stroke Roll in Context as a Drum Fill
The six stroke roll is very useful and fun soloing tool but it can also be used in it's more common form as a drum fill. The following examples show the six stroke roll being used with a number of drum beats. Do try your own drum beats and your own fill variations.
Six Stroke Roll as Drum Fill Idea 1
Six Stroke Roll as Drum Fill Idea 2
Six Stroke Roll as Drum Fill Idea 3
If you want to view a more detailed drum lesson on the six stroke roll then please visit my sister site www.DrumsTheWord.com by clicking the link here http://www.drumstheword.com/blog/six-stroke-roll-inverted-paradiddle-diddle-orchestration-and-variations.
Happy drumming!