Help Help Help! I’ve displaced my paradiddle-diddles!

Displaced paradiddle-diddles. Yep. That’s a thing! For this drum fill we’re using a displaced paradiddle-diddle sticking. Instead of starting the paradiddle-diddle with 2 single strokes – the “para” – we’re starting it with the double strokes on the last diddle; The paradiddle-diddle is now a diddle-paradiddle. Some may call that an inward or inverted paradiddle-diddle. You could even make a case for it being an inward 6 stroke roll. It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you can play it!

For more paradiddle-diddle fun check out fill of the week #27

Learn The Fill

The first step in learning this drum fill is to get the sticking pattern down. Let’s check it out.

The sticking pattern starts with a double Right (RR) and then moves into left paradiddle-diddle sticking (LRLLRR) from the “&” of 1 onwards until it gets cut off at the end of the bar. Practice this sticking pattern on the snare or a practice pad until it feels easy.

The next step is to orchestrate the pattern around the kit. I put all of the double strokes on the hi-hat, the left hand single strokes on the snare and the right hand single strokes around the tom-toms. Here’s my orchestration:

You might like that pattern as it is, I did. However, I added one more finishing touch which is a bass drum with the first Right in each Right hand double. Here’s the full pattern:

Taking It Further

You are welcome to re-orchestrate this drum fill around the kit in any way you see fit. I encourage you to play with it. While you’re doing that, here’s two more versions of the drum fill to play with.

The first version of the drum fill just shifts it all two sixteenth notes to the left so we start with the paradiddle-diddle.

The second version shifts the first version another two sixteenth notes to the left so we get diddle-diddle-para.

Explore both versions & find out which works best for you.

Another thing I like to do with six note stickings is take them over the bar line. Here’s two more versions of this drum fill going over the bar line:

The first drum fill starts before the barline on the “&” of 4 and gives us three complete “RRLRLL” cycles. You’ll note that the second bar is the same as the first drum fill from the earlier variations.

The second drum fill starts on beat one, but carries on over the barline to give us 3 complete “RRLRLL” cycles. We can conclude this drum fill with a bass drum and crash on the “&” of 1.

I hope you’ve enjoyed fill of the week #61. If you’re in Singapore and would like a free trial drum lesson, send us a message on the contact us page.