Single Paradiddle

The word “paradiddle” in the name of a rudiment, means that particular pattern has two single strokes (para) followed by one set of doubles (diddle). The word “single” in this particular case means you have one set of singles for each set of doubles. Thus, you can count the single paradiddle as such: R (par) L (a) R (did) R (dle) L (par) R (r) L (did) L (dle).

The single paradiddle is one of the finest drum rudiments for coming up with cool sounding drum beats and drum fills. This rudiment opens a lot of possibilities when applied to the drum set, since it enables you to alternate easily between hands. The single paradiddle is mostly played as 16th notes. You can however play this drum rudiment in whatever note value you feel like using. Once you feel competent playing the single paradiddle on a practice pad or a snare drum, you can put it to great use by learning how to apply it drum beats and drum fills.

For exercise #1, with the bass drum playing on counts 1 and 3, the single paradiddle is playes between the snare drum and hi-hat. The left hand is left on the snare drum playing ghosted notes. The right hand plays snare shots on counts 2 and 4, playing normal volume strokes on the hi-hat for most of the time.

The next drum beat incorporating a single paradiddle has the bass drum played on all quarter notes. The single paradiddle is spread between the right hand, which plays the bow of the ride cymbal, and the left hand, which plays the hi-hat and snare shots on counts 2 and 4.

After mastering these drum beats, take some of your favorite bass drum patterns and add them to the mix, while keeping the same hand pattern going. This will give you an added challenge to work on. As you can see, due to its sticking, the single paradiddle is actually a very cool drum beat for coming up with very funky drum beats.

The pattern on exercise #3 is pretty straight forward. On counts 1 and 3 the floor tom plays, while on counts 2 and 4 the hi-tom. All the remaining notes are left on the snare drum. This is a very typical single paradiddle type of pattern. When using a single paradiddle as a drum fill, drummers tend to play the first note around the toms or cymbals, while leaving the remaining ones on the snare drum.

The last exercise is a different way of applying the single paradiddle to a drum fill. Each single stroke moves around the drums – snare and hi-tom on counts 1 and 3, snare and floor tom on counts 2 and 4 - while always playing the diddle on the same surface for each count – floor tom on counts 1 and 3, hi-tom on counts 2 and 4.