This week I wanted to cover another common rudiment: the paradiddle. Sticking-wise, paradiddles are played Right, Left, Right, Right- then off the left (LRLL). You can play these as quarter notes, eighth notes, or even triplets, but they’re most commonly seen as sixteenth notes.
It’s important to know that when you’re playing 16th note paradiddles, it should sound like you’re playing a roll. Keep your strokes consistent.
A good way to start building your paradiddles is to play quarter notes for a measure (4 counts) with alternating sticking (RLRL). Next play 4 counts of eighth notes, sticking RRLLRRLL. Then play an eighth note with two sixteenth notes, sticking R-RR, L-LL, and so on for 4 more counts. This builds the “diddle” part of the paradiddle. Finally, make the last measure complete paradiddles.
Now you’ve got yourself a snazzy paradiddle-builder, if I may say so myself.
Once you master the paradiddle, you can spread the notes across your toms. Paradiddles between the hihat and snare sound pretty rad, too.