Fifteen Stroke Roll

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Learn How To Play The Fifteen Stroke Roll

The fifteen stroke roll is a longer rudiment that combines double strokes with one single stroke at the end. In this way, it follows the structure of the five stroke roll, seven stroke roll, nine stroke roll, eleven stroke roll, and thirteen stroke roll. However, it is still a unique and necessary rudiment to practice, as it can be used in a variety of different ways. Here is how it is written out in drum notation:

As you can see above, the fifteen stroke roll includes seven alternating double strokes leading into one single stroke to finish things off. It can be played with right or left hand lead, but it is written out with just right hand lead here. You can reverse the sticking to play all left lead, or just reverse it every second time through to create an alternating two-bar phrase.

Fifteen Stroke Roll - Drum Set Exercises

Here is how you might incorporate the fifteen stroke roll into a drum beat:

This final exercise shows how you could incorporate the fifteen stroke roll into a fill:

Once you are finished with this lesson, you can move on to the seventeen stroke roll. It is similar in structure, but has an extra double stroke to extend it to seventeen strokes. It's the last drum rudiment with this format.

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