Here, with Nasty Lick #60, are some great sounding applications of the six stroke roll on the drum set.
If you’re not familiar with this pattern, the six stroke roll, in it’s most useful forms, is as follows:
1) Right Hand Lead
2) Left Hand Lead (“Backward”)
As shown in both 1 and 2 above, a common way to play the six stroke roll is as triplets and with accents on the first and last notes of each group of six. Many players, (myself included) find this to be the most useful version of the rudiment.
If you haven’t spent time with the six stroke roll, here is a PDF so you can shed it in the practice room: The Six Stroke Roll.
I’ve discovered that the “backward” or left hand leading version of the six stroke roll is very useful. The reason? It allows the playing of the upbeat (“let”) accents with the right hand. When playing the six stroke roll this way, those accents, which are arguably more interesting sounding because of their placement rhythmically, are easily played almost anywhere on the drum kit (left handed accents limit you to the left side of the kit).
I’ve found that idea extremely appealing because of the way it sounds. The “5 Variations” that follow will show you what I mean.
The illustration above will give you a taste of what I’m talking about. Nasty Lick #60 involves mixing the backward six stroke roll with a version that substitutes two bass drum notes and moves the accented right hand stroke to the toms.
The “5 Variations” include different phrasings and metrics: sixteenth notes, sixteenth note triplets and thirty second notes.
You’ll find the PDF here: Nasty Lick 60.
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
- Beginner Drummers Discussion Forum - February 14, 2022
- The Gift - December 30, 2021
- The Rock Drumming Six: A Simple and Solid Drum Fill Idea - December 25, 2021
That is not a 6 stroke roll. It’s an inverted paradiddle-diddle as triplets. 6 stroke roll is not 6 notes of even value!!!
Jesper –
The six stroke roll, as played by most drummers is, in fact, phrased as triplets. Yes, it IS a six stroke roll. The literal rudimental version is what you are talking about.
MF