Should I practise on a pad or on the kit?

Both, but in a fixed order. Learn the pattern on a pad where a wrong stroke is audible, then move it to the kit the same day so the hands learn the pattern rather than the pad. Patterns learned only on a pad tend to fall apart the first time the hands have to travel between drums.

How fast should I move the metronome up?

Four BPM at a time on rudiments and eight on grooves, and never past the tempo where the pattern still sounds even. A jump of ten or twenty BPM hides the fault you were fixing, which means you pay for the speed twice.

What stick size should a beginner start with?

A 5A in the wood tip, in a matched pair. It is heavy enough for rock volume without forcing a tight grip and light enough that quiet playing stays possible. Move to 5B if your hands tire at loud volumes and to 7A if you play mostly jazz or acoustic music.

Do I need a practice pad with a stand?

A stand is worth it. A pad on a table forces the forearms into a different angle than a snare does, and every hour on the wrong angle is an hour spent learning a grip you will have to unlearn. Set the pad so your forearms sit level.

How do I practise with a metronome without it becoming a crutch?

Alternate: eight bars with the click, then eight bars without, then bring the click back in and hear where it lands. Playing only with the click teaches you to follow it; playing only without teaches drift. The alternation is what builds internal time.

Paradiddle-Diddle at 100 BPM: Six Notes, Two Hands, Never the Same

RLRRLL is six strokes that do not return to the starting hand at the point you expect — which is what makes it the most useful six-note grouping on the kit. At

R L R R L LMeter 4/4 · Subdivision 16th · 100 BPM

Derived from the meter, one pin per beat

Tempo ladderPick a rung — the pins and the grid above follow it

Published: 2026-10-05 · By The Percussion Desk
Meter: 4/4
Subdivision: 16th
Sticking: R L R R L L
Working tempo: 100 BPM
Tempo window: 100–156 BPM

RLRRLL is six strokes that do not return to the starting hand at the point you expect — which is what makes it the most useful six-note grouping on the kit. At 100 BPM sixteenths you have 150 ms per stroke, and the double-double tail (RR LL) is where the pattern either flows or falls apart. This drill treats it as a ride pattern first, a fill second, and a solo figure third.

Feel the two halves

RLRRLL is a single stroke, a double, then a double. Play it with a slight accent on the first note and a dead-flat tail: R L R R L L. The tail is the part that has to be even; if the second R comes out late, the pattern limps for the rest of the bar.

Spend the first five minutes at 100 BPM on the pad with the metronome on sixteenths, so every stroke has a click to land on. Once the pattern is grid-locked, drop the click to quarters and keep the spacing.

This is also the pattern to use when you want a six-note fill that does not sound like a roll: because it starts and ends on different hands, it can be repeated indefinitely without a hand change.

As a ride pattern

Play RLRRLL on the ride with the right hand and move the left hand's notes to the snare: the result is a broken ride pattern that alternates cymbal and snare with an unusual grouping, common in modern gospel and fusion playing. Add the kick on beats one and three for the basic version, then displace the kick to the 'and' of two for a push feel.

Because the pattern's two halves have different densities, this ride pattern naturally accents the first note of each six, which reads as a three-against-four tension in 4/4. That tension is the reason it feels modern rather than rudimental.

As a fill

Start the pattern on the snare and move the last two strokes to the floor tom: R L R R / L L where the final pair lands on the tom. Then move the tail pair to a different drum each bar. Because the pattern is six notes, it does not fit neatly into a 4/4 bar, so fills built from it end on the 'and' of four rather than on the downbeat — a useful way to avoid the clichéd downbeat crash.

Practise the fill at 100 BPM with a click on quarter notes only and count out loud; the natural instinct is to squash the six into four.

Speed limits and doubles

Above about 130 BPM the RR LL tail becomes a true double stroke rather than two separate strokes. That transition is normal, but it must not change the spacing — check by playing the pattern at 120, 130 and 140 with a sixteenth click and listening for the tail collapsing into a bounce.

If the tail collapses early, drop back 8 BPM and play the tail with exaggerated separation for one minute. The rebound will come back on its own when the tempo is genuinely there.

What to hold on to

RLRRLL — single stroke into two doubles, never returning to the starting hand mid-bar
Play it as a ride pattern (right on cymbal, left on snare) for a modern broken feel
Six notes against four beats ends on the 'and' of four — a cliché-avoiding fill
The RR LL tail becomes a real double stroke around 130 BPM; check the spacing does not change