Carlos Hercules - The Black Page Online Drum Magazine

eally allows us to lock into the pulse of the metronome.
This exercise is not about playing fast; it is about consistency
and paying attention to our tendencies in the
transitions. Here is the beat:
Stickings 1, 2 and 3 should be relatively easy but going
from 1/8 to 1/16 in 4, 5 and 6 might take some getting
used to. The idea is to memorize these sticking as
they will make up a lot of our drumming vocabulary.
Sticking 3 is a paradiddle and 4, 5, 6 are the three variations
of this sticking.
Once you can work each line separately, you can play
the whole thing as an exercise. Two measures of beat
1, two measures of beat 2, etc. You notice that each
line we are now playing is a four measure pattern. I will
always phrase in two, four and eight measure patterns
as most of the music we play works like this.