In this free drum lesson, we’ll be taking a look at another pattern from the drum roll family of drum rudiments, the five stroke roll. In the video, Lionel Duperron shows you exactly how to play and practice the five stroke roll, so that later on you can take it to your drum set and apply it to a couple of creative drum beats and drum fills he wrote especially for you.
As you can see on the sheet music below, the five stroke roll has five strokes – two doubles and a single – and naturally alternates within itself. If you haven’t already, check the free drum lessons on the single stroke roll and the double stroke roll drum rudiments before taking a stab at the five stroke roll – you’ll be better off in the long run.
At slower speeds, the strokes from the five stroke roll are played using full wrist turns. As you get to higher speeds, you’ll start bouncing the doubles off of the drumhead or practice pad. The five stroke roll has very cool applications for the drum set, but it’s most used with funk, and Latin styles like the tango.
Exercise #1 is a 16th note drum beat incorporating two five stroke rolls. Lionel uses the right hand to lead each of the five stroke rolls in the video. You can lead the second five stroke roll with the left hand instead. Doing so will actually make this an easier drum beat to play, since you won’t have to cross your arms to reach the floor tom.
Exercise #2 in this free drum lesson is a variation on the previous one. The two five stroke rolls are led with the right hand once again. But in this case Lionel does so, because each five stroke roll starts with a double stroke on the ride cymbal to his right.
Exercise #3 is a 16th note drum fill that incorporates two five stroke rolls led with the right hand. The doubles on the first five stroke roll are played between the snare drum and the hi-tom, and the single stroke lands on the floor tom on count 2. The doubles on the second five stroke roll are played between the floor tom and the hi-tom, and the single lands on the snare drum on count 4.
The last exercise in this free drum lesson incorporates two five stroke rolls and another one of the 40 drum rudiments, the six stroke roll. By adding 8th notes to the “ands” of counts 2 and 4, Lionel morphed the five stroke rolls into six stroke rolls. Like the five stroke roll, the six stroke roll was created to be played by the hands. However, on the “and” of count 4, you can see that there’s a bass drum stroke instead of a hand stroke. This is another cool thing you can do with any of the 40 drum rudiments: spread them between hands and feet.
Once you’re able to play the five stroke roll and the exercises herein accurately, you can expand your repertoire of patterns based on the five stroke roll with the free drum lesson “Five Stroke Roll Insanity. If you’re more interested in learning more about the 40 drum rudiments, we encourage you to check the free drum lessons on the six stroke roll and seven stroke roll next.