The world’s greatest drummers have often laid the foundation of their grooves and fills with the five-stroke roll. It can act as a connective tissue that binds musical ideas together. Think about Steve Gadd’s hypnotic marching rhythms, Carter Beauford’s slick linear drumming, and the grooves of any session drummer since the Motown era—the five-stroke roll was omnipresent.

This lesson starts off with the five-stroke roll on the hi-hat as it dances around these “money-beat” feels. The rudimental cornerstone also sounds great on the snare after a strong backbeat. As the exercises progress, we’ll voice the five-stroke roll between the hi-hat and snare drum, experiment with hi-hat openings, and apply bass drum variations. The five-stroke roll is the super glue of the drum world, so make it stick!

Rich Redmond
 
For the complete lesson with transcriptions, check out the May 2016 issue, which is available here.