Seven Stroke Roll

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Learn How To Play The Seven Stroke Roll

The seven stroke roll is a straight forward drum rudiment that uses both single and double strokes. It starts out with three alternating double strokes, and ends with a single stroke. Due to the simplicity of this drum pattern, it is usable in a wide range of playing situations. Here is how it is written out in drum notation:

As you can see above, this rudiment can be played with both right and left hand leads. The first half of the measure shows the seven stroke roll starting with the right hand, and the last half starts with the left. Practice it both ways for best results, and to become a more versatile drummer.

Seven Stroke Roll - Drum Set Exercises

Here is a drum beat that starts out with a seven stroke roll on the hi-hats and snare:

The third exercise incorporates the seven stroke roll within the context of a drum fill:

Once you are finished learning this rudiment, you can move on to the nine stroke roll and the ten stroke roll.

Learn how to play all 40 drum rudiments with the Drumming System by Mike Michalkow!