The Swiss army triplet – alongside 13 other drum rudiments – was added to the standard 26 American drum rudiments in 1984 by the Percussive Arts Society. This new set of drum rudiments would later be known as the 40 international drum rudiments. In the video, Lionel Duperron teaches you how to play and practice the Swiss army triplet and how to incorporate it into drum beats and drum fills.
The Swiss army triplet and the flam accent sound exactly the same but have different sticking patterns. The Swiss army triplet is an offset double stroke roll and the flam accent is a flammed three-note single stroke roll. Since the Swiss army triplet doesn’t alternate naturally within itself, you’ll have to learn how to play it with both right hand and left hand lead.
Knowing how to play the flam and the double stroke roll will help you master the Swiss army triplet quicker. Having the single flammed mill under your belt is of great use as well, since – much like the Swiss army triplet – it features a single stroke just after a flammed double stroke.
Exercise #1 is an 8th note triplet drum beat. The Swiss army triplets are mostly performed on the hi-hat. The flammed snare shots on counts 2 and 4 are the only exceptions to that. Going from those shots to the tap strokes on the hi-hat is the greatest challenge you’ll find within this drum beat. You’ll be playing double strokes between two different surfaces.
Exercise #2 is an 8th note triplet tom-tom drum beat. The single strokes and the grace notes are played on the hi-tom. The doubles are broken up between the snare and the floor tom on counts 2 and 4, and are performed exclusively on the floor tom on counts 1 and 3.
It’s possible to scatter the double strokes between the snare and the floor tom, because of the momentum gained from the rebound of the first stroke of the double on the snare drum. This way, you can strike the floor tom by using a sweeping motion with your arm – just like Lionel does in the video. Once you have the hand pattern under your belt add the bass drum on all quarter notes.
Exercise #3 is a 12/8 time signature drum fill. The flams are played on the snare drum and the singles are played on the hi-tom and mid-tom. Just like with the previous exercise, the double strokes are scattered between the snare drum and the floor tom.
Exercise #4 is another drum fill in 12/8 time signature. Learning how to play the pattern on count 1 is enough to master this drum fill, since it repeats for the subsequent counts. The double strokes are broken up between the hi-tom and the floor tom. This is harder to play than what we saw on the last two Swiss army triplet patterns. Start slow and make sure everything feels comfortable and sounds good, before you start bumping up the tempo on your metronome.
Most drum fills on this website are one bar long. You can morph them into any other sized drum fills by removing parts from the patterns. You can put together new drum fills by mixing different sections of any drum fill on this website as well. Once you’re done studying the Swiss army triplet, move on to learn how to play the inverted flam tap and the flam drag next.