Drum Rolls: 7-Stroke Rule & 4-Stroke Ruff

Video Transcript

"So the seven stroke rule we can see how similar it is to the four stroke ruff. Looking at the four stroke ruff counted in sixes, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six. If we just double up those first three nonaccented notes we have got the seven stroke rule so I'll play two ruffs and then two rolls. One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six. So as you can see the four stroke ruff is directly related to the seven stroke roll. The four stroke ruff also sometimes uses this triplet timing one, two, three, so keep this in mind. As I mentioned the seven stroke ruff or roll rather can present some problems for some drummers in terms of the timing. It is in six eight and sometimes it is phrased in triplets. So practice it these ways and know in your mind how related it is to that four stroke ruff with that triplet figure in the middle."