The triple stroke roll is a powerful drum rudiment for playing a wide variety of musical styles. It is somewhat similar to the double stroke roll, but uses groups of three notes per hand instead of just two. This makes it more popular within Jazz, Latin, and other styles of music that are "triplet" based. Here is the basic pattern:
If you've already learned the single stroke roll and the double stroke roll, this pattern is going to be pretty straight forward. Instead of playing one or two strokes per hand, you simply play three. As with the other rudiments, you really want to focus on playing each and every stroke at an even volume. It's easy to make the mistake of adding a slight accent to the first stroke of the alternating hands, so be sure you watch your stick heights to ensure all strokes are even.
This exercises uses the triple stroke roll within a drum fill context:
Exercise three incorporates the triple stroke roll within a drum fill pattern:
Once you are finished with this lesson - you can move on to the five stroke roll and the six stroke roll.
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