This lesson looks at how to apply your paradiddle as fills on the drums using accents.
The concept itself is simple in theory but does require some practice to get right and more importantly – comfortable, but in essence you take a single paradiddle (RLRR LRLL), add accents wherever you feel you like (usually on a single stroke rather than a double) and move the accents to the toms and then to the cymbals.
The formula is then as follows:
1. Everything on snare drum – all accents and ghost notes
2. RH accents on Floor Tom | LH accents on Rack Tom | Non-accents (ghost notes) on snare drum
3. RH accents on Ride Cymbal with bass drum | LH accents on Crash Cymbal with bass drum | Non-accents (ghost notes) on snare drum
This is a very strong concept to practice. You aren’t just practicing a fill. There’s a solid amount of technique here – ghost notes, accents, full strokes, down strokes, taps, up strokes, dynamics, movement, preparation and musicality.
Once you have the idea happening, you’ll find that these types of fills can become an integral part of your playing – useful for fills in all situations/styles as well as drum solos. In an ideal world, you want to be able to improvise paradiddle fills using accents.
Download the FREE PDF below the video and make sure you follow along as I play through the examples in the lesson.
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If you want to take things a step further, be sure to check out my lesson on ‘Inward Paradiddle Fills‘ where we apply this concept to a different paradiddle sticking. I also discuss ‘Perspectives‘ – a way of learning a new paradiddle by looking at the individual hands. This also ties in perfectly with a lesson I did a while back on ‘Filling The Gaps‘, where you have an accent in one hand and the other is used to play ghost notes and ‘fill in’ the spaces around the accents. This takes the concept but applies it to ANY sticking. All these things are well worth a look!
Click here for the lesson on the INWARD PARADIDDLE and PERSPECTIVES
Click here for the lesson on FILLING THE GAPS
Wow! Thank u for this. I’m a new drummer and ur lessons are a great help. I’m able to do the paradiddle with no accents but now i’m able to appreciate its application. Thank u for sharing ur expertise.
WOAW!!!! your ludwig snare have fat fat sound!!!! really really good!!!!
Please, can you say me how you tune your resonant and head snare?
It is an ambassador skin?
Thanx for yours lessons adrian.
Thanks for the comment!
I’m actually trying to remember what head I had on the top of this Ludwig Acrolite. It may have been an ambassador in fact. I do like double ply heads usually though. I have the resonant head pretty tight on all my snares though. Really tight. Tighter that bottom head, the more sensitivity I get. Then I just play around the tension of the top one. If I have it looser though, I use dampening – moongel, gaffa tape etc.