Paradiddle: how to play it, from the single to the paradiddle-diddle

Kennan Wylie and Gregg Bissonette wrote the paradiddle exercises shown here for the Hal Leonard Drumset Method, Book 1. Their book introduces the paradiddle on the pad, then moves it into changing meters and around the toms in its fills.

The paradiddle is the rudiment drummers reach for when they want a pattern that changes hands on its own. It takes a few minutes to learn on a practice pad. After that it turns up in grooves and fills on the drum kit, and in marching snare parts.

This guide shows how to play the single paradiddle with its accent and how the double and triple paradiddle and the paradiddle-diddle extend it. It explains the four inversions and their confusing names, then gives a slow-to-fast practice plan with a free metronome, a groove and a fill for the drum kit, and a printable sticking sheet.

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment of two single strokes and a double stroke, played RLRR LRLL with an accent on each group’s first note, so each group starts on the other hand. The name spells out the sticking: “pa-ra” are the two single strokes and “did-dle” is the double.

What a paradiddle is

R stands for the right hand and L for the left. A single stroke is one note by one hand, and a double stroke, or diddle, is two notes in a row by the same hand. The Hal Leonard Drumset Method puts it in one line in its glossary: a paradiddle is a sticking pattern of two alternating strokes followed by a double stroke.

A plain single stroke roll always keeps the same lead hand, so the right hand lands on every beat. In a paradiddle, the double at the end of each group pushes the next group onto the other hand. When you play several paradiddles in a row, the first note alternates between right and left. Drummers use that to switch the lead hand in the middle of a phrase, or to put the two hands on different drums or cymbals.

The figure shows one bar of single paradiddles as sixteenth notes, the way the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) writes it. Look for the accent at the start of each group of four, and notice that the accented notes alternate R, L, R, L.

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The recording plays the same pattern on a snare drum, first slowly as eighth notes and then as sixteenth notes. Listen for the accents moving from hand to hand and for the double sounding as loud as the singles around it.

The paradiddle family: single, double, triple and paradiddle-diddle

The single paradiddle has three close relatives. Each one keeps the double at the end of the group and changes the number of single strokes in front of it, or adds a second double. All four are on the PAS list of 40 International Drum Rudiments, with the same accent on the first note of each group.

Lower-case letters are grace notes. The last three rows add flams and drags to the paradiddle; the guide to all 40 drum rudiments explains those grace notes and the other families.

Double paradiddle

Four single strokes and a double give six notes per group: R L R L R R, then L R L R L L. Six notes suit triplet rhythms: played as eighth notes, one group fills a bar of 3/4, and as eighth-note triplets it fills two beats of 4/4. The double paradiddle was already in the first set of 13 rudiments that the National Association of Rudimental Drummers listed in 1933.

Triple paradiddle

Six single strokes and a double make eight notes: R L R L R L R R, then L R L R L R L L. As sixteenth notes, one group lasts two beats in 4/4, so the accent and the lead hand change every half bar. The long run of singles makes the double at the end harder to place evenly; count it out the first few times.

Paradiddle-diddle

Two single strokes and two doubles: R L R R L L. The group ends on the hand it would need to start again, so the paradiddle-diddle repeats from the same hand every time, unlike the other three. That makes it a fast, smooth pattern for fills, especially in triplet feels. Some lesson pages call it a six stroke roll, which is a different PAS rudiment with the sticking R L L R R L. Both have six notes, but the hands play them in a different order.

The Drumset Method teaches all four in one technique box in Lesson 4, under the heading Paradiddles. Its definition matches the table: paradiddle rudiments mix single strokes with double strokes, two strokes played by the same hand.

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If you want the paradiddle to sit inside a full course, the same method book carries on from this box. It uses the paradiddle in changing meters a page later and moves it around the drums in its 16th-note fills, with setup, grip and reading taught before them.

Where the paradiddle accent goes, and how to play it

The accent sits on the first note of each group: R L R R L R L L. Everything else is played soft. An accent means a note played with more emphasis than the dynamic around it. In a paradiddle, the louder note at the start of each group is what the listener hears as the pattern.

Playing one note loud and the rest soft with a relaxed hand takes three kinds of stroke. The Drumset Method defines them in Lesson 7:

• Down stroke. A controlled stroke for the accent. After the stick strikes the head, you freeze it about two to three inches above the head, so it does not bounce back up by itself.
• Tap stroke. A soft stroke from two to three inches above the head, with a very small amount of wrist.
• Up stroke. The soft note just before an accent. You play it by dropping the stick as you turn the wrist up for the next accent, lifting with the back of the stick first.

Apply those definitions to one cycle and each hand gets its own order. The right hand plays notes 1, 3, 4 and 6: down, tap, tap, up. The left hand plays notes 2, 5, 7 and 8: up, down, tap, tap. The paradiddle lesson on The Snare Spot labels each group of four the same way, calling the accent a down stroke, the next note an up stroke and the double two taps. The note before each accent lifts the stick, so it is already up when the accent comes.

On the kit, the soft notes often drop even lower and become ghost notes, played barely above the head. That is the version you hear in the groove further down: loud accents on the snare and ghost notes between them.

Paradiddle inversions

An inversion is the same eight strokes started from a later note. Start the single paradiddle on its second note and swap the hands, and you get R L L R L R R L. Start on the third note and you get R R L R L L R L. Start on the fourth and you get R L R L L R L R. The accent moves with the note it was on, so each inversion keeps one accent per group in a new place.

The inversions have no official names, and the names in use clash. “Inverted paradiddle” usually means R L L R L R R L, but some sources use it for R R L R. In the table, capital letters mark the accents and lower-case letters the soft notes.

The figure stacks the four so you can see the double move one place to the left in each line.

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The recording plays each line twice in a row, so you can hear the accent land in a new place while the hands keep the same eight strokes.

How to practice the paradiddle, slow to fast

A quick tip in the Drumset Method sums up how to practice: go slowly, use a metronome, count aloud and stay relaxed. A practice pad is enough for all of the steps below.

1. Play it without accents. Set the free online metronome to 60 BPM and play eighth notes, two strokes per click. Say “R L R R L R L L” aloud for the first minute.
2. Add the accent. Accent the first note of each group with a down stroke and keep the others as taps, still at 60 BPM.
3. Move to sixteenth notes. Keep the tempo and play four strokes per click. Count “1 e & ah” and put the accent on every number.
4. Raise the tempo in small steps. Add about 5 BPM at a time, and only after a minute without a mistake. Drop back when the double starts to sound weak.
5. Go slow to fast to slow. PAS asks for every rudiment to be practiced from open (slow) to closed (fast) and back to open. Speed up over a minute, then slow down over the next.
6. Lead with the left. Start the pattern as L R L L as often as R L R R. In a run of paradiddles each hand leads half the groups anyway, but starting on the left trains it to begin a phrase.

Listen for two faults. One is a second stroke of the double that comes out softer than the first. Isolate the doubles, one hand at a time, and let the stick bounce for the second note without squeezing. The other is rushing the double, which squeezes the four notes unevenly. Count every syllable until the paradiddle sounds as even as a single stroke roll.

Once the pattern is even in 4/4, take it into other meters. The Drumset Method has an exercise for that, a page after its paradiddle box. Line A adds a fifth stroke to each paradiddle in 3/4, and line B plays paradiddle-diddles as six eighth notes in 3/4. Both lines drop into a bar of 2/4 and come back from the left hand.

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Watch the bars of 2/4 in both lines: the paradiddle there is four notes long, so the next bar starts on the left hand.

Paradiddles on the drum kit

On the kit, the sticking stays the same and the hands go to different drums. Two simple moves are a good start: split the hands between a cymbal and the snare for a groove, or send some notes to the toms for a fill.

A paradiddle groove

Play single paradiddles as sixteenth notes, with every R on the hi-hat, kept closed with the foot, and every L on the snare. Count where the accents fall: the accented L notes land on beats 2 and 4, so the sticking itself puts the backbeat on the snare. Play those two notes loud and every other snare note as a ghost note, then add the bass drum on beats 1 and 3.

The figure writes the groove on a five-line staff with the drum key from our guide to reading drum sheet music. The hi-hat sits above the staff, the snare on the third space and the bass drum in the bottom space.

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In the recording, listen for the snare. The two accents should carry the beat, and the ghost notes should stay quiet underneath them.

Once it feels settled, move the right hand from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal. The ride rings longer than the closed hi-hat, and the left hand can now switch between the hi-hat and the snare.

Paradiddle fills around the toms

For a fill, keep the hands on the snare and move only some of the notes. The Drumset Method starts this in its lesson on the toms, at eighth notes. Exercise 7 plays single paradiddles with each group’s first note on a tom, from loud to soft. Exercise 8 starts on the left hand and sends the first two notes of each group to the toms, soft and then loud.

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The book’s demo of this lesson plays all eight toms exercises in order; 7 and 8 are the last two. Listen for the toms getting softer through exercise 7 while the sticking stays the same.

The same idea comes back at sixteenth notes in the book’s first exercises for 16th notes around the drums. In exercise 2, the first note of each paradiddle moves off the snare. The right-hand leads go to the floor tom and the left-hand leads to the high tom, while the other three notes stay on the snare. Exercise 3 plays two paradiddle-diddles and four single strokes across the snare and toms.

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The book’s demo plays the four exercises in order, each four times. Listen to the second one: the accent of each paradiddle becomes a tom note while the soft notes stay on the snare.

Once these are even, accent the tom notes and play the snare notes soft, so the paradiddle accents ring out on the floor tom and the high tom. Start with one beat of fill at the end of a four-bar phrase. Lengthen it once you land cleanly on beat 1.

Two songs come up in drum lessons as paradiddle examples. Drumeo’s paradiddle lesson lists Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, with the pattern split between the hands and the feet. MusicRadar’s list of the 100 greatest drum beats hears paradiddles in Bernard Purdie’s entrance on the live “Memphis Soul Stew” from King Curtis’s Live at Fillmore West. To try the groove and fills in other music first, pick one of our easy drum songs and play a short paradiddle fill at the end of each section.

A printable paradiddle sheet

The family, the inversions and the tempo steps fit on one page. Print it and keep it beside the pad.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a paradiddle in drumming?

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment made of two single strokes and a double stroke: R L R R L R L L. The accent falls on the first note of each group of four, and because of the double, each group starts on the other hand. It is number 16 of the 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments.

What is a paradiddle-diddle?

A paradiddle-diddle is two single strokes followed by two double strokes: R L R R L L, with an accent on the first note. Unlike the single paradiddle, it starts on the same hand every time. Its six notes suit triplet rhythms, and it is common in fast fills.

What is an inverted paradiddle?

Usually R L L R L R R L, the single paradiddle started from its second note, with the double in the middle of the group. Some books also call R R L R L L R L an inversion; others call that one the reverse paradiddle or the mill. Check the sticking, since the names vary.

How fast should I play paradiddles?

Start at 60 BPM with two strokes per click and move to four strokes per click when the accents are even. Then add about 5 BPM at a time. Speed is only useful once the double sounds as loud as the single strokes, so slow down whenever it does not.

Is a paradiddle the same as a double stroke roll?

No. A double stroke roll is only doubles, R R L L, and keeps the same lead hand. A paradiddle mixes two singles with one double, R L R R, so the lead hand changes every group. Both use the same double stroke, so time spent on the double stroke roll also helps the paradiddle.

Start with four strokes and a click

For your next session, put R L R R L R L L on the pad at 60 BPM as eighth notes, with the accent on the first note of each group, then lead the same pattern with L R L L. Sixteenths, the inversions and the rest of the family come one at a time after that. Save the kit groove for when the double sounds as strong as the singles: right hand on the hi-hat, left hand on the snare, accents on beats 2 and 4.

For the next steps, with the paradiddle inside real beats and fills, continue with the Hal Leonard Drumset Method, Book 1.