How to Play a Paradiddle: Sticking, Sound and Guided Practice

A single paradiddle combines alternating strokes with two strokes from the same hand. Its repeating sticking is:

R L R R   L R L L

R means right hand and L means left hand. Learn the order slowly, then give every stroke an equal amount of time. The Free Drummer paradiddle trainer provides a count-in and an audible pattern to follow.

Learn the two halves

Start with R L R R. Play each stroke deliberately. After the double right, begin the next group with your left: L R L L.

Join the groups into one cycle:

First group:   R L R R
Second group:  L R L L
Whole cycle:   R L R R L R L L

The repeated hand at the end of each group sets up the other hand to lead the next group. Keep that change of lead clear when you repeat the cycle.

You can start with your left hand too: L R L L R L R R. Both versions contain the same two groups in a different starting order.

Count the paradiddle as eighth notes

Use one stroke on each eighth-note position:

Count:  1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Hands:  R L R R L R L L

One complete cycle fills a bar of 4/4. At 60 BPM, the numbered beats remain one second apart; the & falls halfway between them.

Say the count while tapping the pattern. If the sticking disappears when you speak, practice one half at a time until both fit together.

Play it as sixteenth notes

Keep the metronome at the same BPM and fit four strokes inside each beat:

Count:  1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
Hands:  R L R R L R L L R L R R L R L L

Now two full cycles fit in the bar. Your hands play twice as often as they did in the eighth-note version.

The trainer’s round contains two bars of eighth notes followed by two bars of sixteenths. Choose one round first. If the faster subdivision feels crowded, lower the BPM before restarting the exercise.

Listen to the doubled strokes

Give the second stroke of each double enough space. A common mistake is to squeeze R R or L L together, creating a short gap followed by a long one.

Another is to make the second stroke much quieter by letting the stick drop without control. At your starting tempo, aim for two clear, deliberate strokes.

For this first exercise, keep the volume even. Accents can be a later variation. The trainer’s basic sequence is useful for hearing whether all the stroke positions have equal spacing.

How rhythm letters relate to a paradiddle

In Free Drummer, letter E has a hit at each of the four sixteenth-note positions in a beat. That is the timing grid used for a beat of sixteenth-note paradiddle strokes.

The hand order is separate. E’s standard letter exercise shows R L R L; a paradiddle may use R L R R on that same timing grid. Follow the paradiddle’s displayed sticking rather than replacing it with the letter exercise’s hands.

This distinction lets you recognize a rhythm while learning a new way to distribute it between your hands.

A short practice plan

Begin by saying and tapping two complete cycles without a metronome. Then play the eighth-note version with a slow pulse for four bars. Rest for one counted bar and repeat.

When the order and spacing remain clear, try one guided round with its change to sixteenths. Listen back to a short recording of yourself if you can. Check whether the doubled strokes have the same spacing as the alternating strokes.

Raise the tempo only after you can repeat the pattern comfortably. Finishing the player’s audio is the end of playback; use your own listening to judge the strokes.

Take the pattern to the kit

Once the sticking is comfortable on one surface, move the first stroke of each four-note group to a tom. Leave the other strokes on the snare and keep the timing unchanged.

Try one bar of that pattern between two bars of a simple groove. Begin slowly enough that moving to the tom does not delay the following stroke.

Practice one paradiddle round. For the patterns it builds on, continue with three beginner drum rudiments.

The Percussive Arts Society rudiment chart includes the single paradiddle alongside the wider rudiment vocabulary.