(A4) The Single Bass Drum Exercises Book

THE SINGLE BASS DRUM
EXERCISES BOOK
by Wojtek Deregowski
1
THE SINGLE BASS DRUM
EXERCISES BOOK
by Wojtek Deregowski
THE COMPLETE GUIDE FOR THE SINGLE

FOOT TECHNIQUE DEVELOPMENT
© Copyright 2018, by Wojtek Deregowski
Any unauthorised duplication of this book or its contents is a

violation of copyright laws.
Wojtek Deregowski is a Polish drummer, musician and

educator. He studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Wojtek currently works as a studio and live drummer that
specialises mostly in hip hop, pop, R&B and electronic music.
He stays active on social media channels (gathering over 150k
followers), where he uploads drum videos and lessons.
In his drumming and education he focuses on the unique

style, creativity and sound as well as musicality and
expressing emotions on the drum set.
www.wdrumlessons.com
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 4
The purpose of the book ............................................................................................. 4
Practicing method ....................................................................................................... 4
NOTATION EXPLANATION .................................................................................................... 6

(MY) FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 12
Bass drum pedal setup ......................................................................................................... 12
Single strokes ........................................................................................................................ 14
Double strokes ...................................................................................................................... 15
Multiple strokes ..................................................................................................................... 17
Sum-up .................................................................................................................................. 17
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES ......................................................................................... 19
Single strokes ........................................................................................................................ 20
Double strokes ...................................................................................................................... 23
Triple strokes ......................................................................................................................... 35
Quadruple strokes ................................................................................................................. 38
COMBINED GROOVE EXAMPLES .................................................................................... 42
The best bass drum exercise ever ........................................................................................ 46
HAND/FOOT RUDIMENTS ................................................................................................. 47
Singles ................................................................................................................................... 47
Doubles / inverted doubles ................................................................................................... 55
Paradiddle ............................................................................................................................. 61
Rudiment mix ........................................................................................................................ 65
Other rudiments .................................................................................................................... 67
HAND / FOOT PATTERNS and ORCHESTRATIONS for fills ........................................ 74
16th note patterns ................................................................................................................. 74
Triplet patterns ...................................................................................................................... 79
TRIPLE HITS ...........................................................................................................................

82
8th note triplets ..................................................................................................................... 82
16th notes ............................................................................................................................. 83
Subdivision mix ..................................................................................................................... 84
Patterns orchestrations ......................................................................................................... 85
BASS DRUM STROKES IN JAZZ ....................................................................................... 87
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS .................................................................................... 89
Three strokes in a row ........................................................................................................... 89
Four strokes in a row ............................................................................................................. 91
Continuous hi hat motion grooves ........................................................................................ 93
Full set with polyrhythmic toms ............................................................................................ 96
Hands and foot together ....................................................................................................... 96
Continuous bass drum in grooves ........................................................................................ 98
The bass drum copying the hands part ................................................................................ 99
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 102 
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INTRODUCTION
This book is a complete guide for developing your foot technique. Read the whole Introduction
chapter before using it, since here I explain ways to practice and give you valuable tips that are
crucial for the quick and efficient progress.
THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK
The main purpose of all the exercises and generally the whole book is to gain confidence and
control in playing the bass drum and make it consistent and repetitive in sound, dynamics and
feeling. When practiced correctly it also helps improve a lot of general skills like time and
subdivision awareness.
Many exercises include using both your hands and feet. This improves the balance on the throne
and coordination between the the bass drum and other elements. It’s not always about
complicated patterns, but often rather relatively simple ones where the main goal is to be able to
perform everything very precisely and smoothly.
You will gain a great dynamic control over the strokes and be able to confidently perform single,
double and other multiple strokes with a well levelled volume of certain notes regardless of their
placement and situation.
Once you thoroughly go through all the exercises in this book and you feel comfortable with
playing them in different combinations and tempos, there’s no chance that something may
surprise you in terms of the single bass drum appearing in grooves, fills, improvisation or generally
in music.
PRACTICING METHOD
In this section I shortly present you how to properly practice the exercises from the book. I give
you some valuable tips that you may follow while working on the topics.
Listen and react. Diagnose problems. These are very important aspects of practicing in general.
Stay constantly focused and don’t ignore any imperfections that appear in your playing, even the
smallest ones. What may greatly help you is recording yourself with microphones. They show
every detail and make your mistakes hearable thousand times more. This way you may become
your own teacher and look at your playing from a different perspective from which you hear more.
Practice with a metronome. Don’t set it up too densely. Make it natural, so clicking along with
the pulse. If you are looking for your inner time development at the same time you may make it
less frequent. Regardless of the click setup always remember to treat it as a tempo guide, but not
totally rely on it. Let it show you tempo, but then try to focus on your own time. And once you fall
out of it let the metronome just correct you. Only this way you may improve your inner time. 
INTRODUCTION 4 The Purpose of the Book

Start with a slow tempo and then gradually increase it. However you may have already noticed
that such an approach may not work the best every time. Sometimes it’s better to look for a
natural and convenient tempo where everything feels right from the beginning. Try to start with
that one. Then gradually go slower and once you get it in this tempo range, go faster up to a
certain point. Playing slowly allows you to work on the precision that later positively affects the
faster tempo. Make sure you don’t play just in the tempo you feel comfortable with but a lot more
in the uncomfortable ones since then you develop better.
Adjust the exercises to your own needs. All the exercises I included in this book are just some
of thousands ideas that you may use for practicing. They are for you to work on but also make up
your own ones. Feel free to get inspired by my ideas, modify them and make them fun to play.
Make the exercises challenging. With such an approach you have a chance to develop wider
and more efficiently. Add things and modify what is already there, however make sure you don’t
exaggerate too much not to become stuck on one example that is very hard which wouldn’t bring
anything good to your musical life. Try to stay wise and conscious about your priorities and needs.
Get creative in this area and be your own inventor of exercises.
Stay open minded. The worst thing you may do is to think narrowly and become unconcerned
about what is happening while practicing. Don’t get closed in a certain thinking. Try out different
methods, constantly seek for the development in various areas. Stay focused on your destination.
Vary dynamics in the exercises. Make sure you are able to play everything both quietly and
loudly, but also in the wide range between these two extremes. It’s also important to make
everything always sound well as a whole. So for example don’t go quieter with just the bass drum,
but try to lower down the dynamic levels of the whole exercise so that it blends well with the rest
and that you are able to control all the elements and still make it sound tight and with a good
feeling. The same situation applies to playing in any dynamics, always care about the levels.
Practice regularly. I always recommend an approach based on short sessions that you do fully
focused on many different elements. Making them regular is the key for a steady and reliable
development. It’s far better than practicing for five hours one day a week. Even if the total time
you play is the same in both situations, your body and mind quickly gets tired and breaks the
habits you are working on. Try to plan your time wisely, since it’s the best and most valuable
resource in the development process.
Approach problems with a fresh mind. If you happen to have problems with any exercise from
the book, then leave it for some time. Then you give yourself an opportunity to gain a fresh mind
and approach the exercise again. It’s a lot better than sitting with one exercise for couple hours
straight and still feel frustrated about not feeling any development.
Remain calm. Don’t expect the development to come the next day. It’s a process, so stay patient.
For double bass drum technique development practice the exercises using both feet separately
and also together if possible (the exercises with multiple strokes and hand / foot rudiments). 
INTRODUCTION 5 Practicing Method

NOTATION EXPLANATION
In the book I present you exercises using a notation. If you are not familiar with reading music I
really recommend you to learn basics that are crucial for taking advantage from this book. It will
also surely come out to be useful later during the learning process and working as a musician.
Take a look at some basic rhythmic patterns and concepts that I show you together with the
graphic explanation so that you may better understand the point.
TIME SIGNATURE
The meter (or time signature) represents the duration of one bar and the number of certain notes
that appear there.
how many beats in one bar
what kind of note gets one beat
The top digit represents the number of notes that you have in one bar. The bottom digit says what
kind of notes are they. These notes are the beats in the bar and often represent the pulse. The
bottom number is always going to be a multiplication of four, where a certain number goes for a
certain subdivision.
2 half note
4 quarter note
8 eighth note
16 sixteenth note
32 thirty second note

Take a look at couple examples and see the duration, beats and the basic subdivisions appearing
in the bar in different time signatures.
4/4 - four quarter notes
3/4 - three quarter notes
NOTATION EXPLANATION 6 Time Signature

6/8 - six eighth notes
10/16 - ten sixteenth notes
SUBDIVISIONS
See the table of subdivisions that explains the duration of certain notes and relations between
them.
See different rests that I placed within the bar. You may clearly see their duration and relations.
quarter 8th
whole rest half rest 16th rest 32nd rest half rest
rest rest

Subdivisions that appear in the bar create a grid which notes are placed in. You choose the unit of
the grid by looking for the smallest subdivision in certain bar or phrase. Take a look at the example
rhythm placed in a 4/4 bar.
You can see that the smallest subdivision appearing here is 16th notes. It means that you can
place all the notes within the 16th note grid. And since it’s a 4/4 time signature, one bar has four
quarter notes duration. Since one quarter note is the equivalent of four 16th notes, you have a
total of sixteen 16th notes in this bar. In other words there are sixteen spaces within the bar which
you can place 16th notes in.
NOTATION EXPLANATION 7 Subdivisions

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
See the rhythm from the notation placed into the grid.
o o o o o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
Take a look at the rhythm in a 6/8 bar.
You may notice some 32nd notes and it’s the smallest subdivision appearing here. This is going to
be the basic unit of the grid. The time signature indicates that the bar has a six eighth notes
duration. One 8th note has the same duration as four 32nd notes (see the subdivision table to
make sure). Since you have six 8th notes, the grid has twenty four 32nd notes. In other words
there are twenty four spaces within the bar which you can place 32nd notes in.
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a 5 e + a 6 e + a
o o o o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a 5 e + a 6 e + a
But how to think about the grid when you have both straight and triplet subdivisions in the bar…?
It may be solved first by choosing the main unit. You typically choose the smallest subdivision
from the type that appears the most in a certain bar or phrase. Then just for the duration of the
opposite subdivision type we switch the counting and the main grid unit.
Take a look at the example. There’s a rhythm in 5/4 with mostly 8th notes but also some 16th
notes and couple 16th note triplets.
The main grid unit here would be 16th notes, since that’s the smallest subdivision of the most
frequently appearing type. In the third beat where the 16th note triplet sequence begins, the grid
changes to 16th note triplets. In the next beat you come back to the 16th note one. The bar is in
5/4 meter, so it has five quarter notes duration.
NOTATION EXPLANATION 8 Subdivisions

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e a + e a 4 e + a 5 e + a
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e a + e a 4 e + a 5 e + a
FREQUENTLY APPEARING RHYTHMIC PATTERNS
Learning how to read music is a bit like learning to read words. You see notes (letters) that come
together in certain short patterns (words) that create phrases (sentences). And you usually don’t
read a word letter by letter, but rather recognise it just by a quick glance. That’s the purpose of
learning to read music. There are some frequently appearing rhythmic patterns and it’s nice to be
able to immediately know how they would sound.
Take a look at some frequently used rhythmic patterns notated on the staff that I also explain
using the grid so that you may better understand it.
16th notes
o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a
o o o o o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a
o o o o o o o o
1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a 1 e + a
NOTATION EXPLANATION 9 Frequently Appearing Patterns

8th note triplets
o o o o o o o o o
1 + a 1 + a 1 + a 1 + a
Other patterns are always equivalent of the ones above, but presented in different subdivisions.
NOTES GROUPING
If you take a closer look at all the notation that already appeared in this chapter you may notice
that the notes are grouped in a certain way. In every time signature it’s a bit different. In the
following examples the bottom voice represents the beats. The top one is the rhythm example
placed in the bar in a certain time signature.
In 4/4 we group all the notes and subdivision patterns as separate quarter notes. It’s just a way to
make things simpler to read. Quarter notes in 4/4 represent the pulse which you may easily relate
other notes to. That’s why notating this way helps make everything clearer.
For example in 6/8 time notes are grouped by cutting everything in half, so you have two groups
of three 8th notes. In this case that’s because “one” and “four” are the strongest parts in the bar.
There are time signatures in which it’s not very clear how the notes should be grouped. These are
usually the ones with uneven number of beats. For example in 5/8 you may group them either in
three and two or two and three 8th notes. It depends on the musical idea, where the strong parts
come and how it is easier to read. See both possibilities together in a two bar phrase.
NOTATION EXPLANATION 10 Notes Grouping

NOTATION KEY
Drum set consists of many different instruments and every one of them has a certain place on the
staff where they are put in. There are different methods to notate instruments on the staff, but see
the notation key that is in my mind most frequently used in the industry and teaching. I also use it
in this book.
COUNTING
In order to keep everything clear and eye-friendly in the book I don’t include either sticking or
counting with all the notation. To make things clear I explain everything here and you are able to
come back to this page whenever you are uncertain about anything in this matter. Take a look as I
go through all the subdivisions that appear in this book together with the counting that you may
use when figuring out the placement of certain notes.
All the information I presented you regarding the notation is enough to freely use and understand
everything that is included in this book.
All the notation that you find in this book is in 4/4 time signature unless indicated otherwise
at the beginning of the section or in the notation. 
NOTATION EXPLANATION 11 Notation Key / Counting

(MY) FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW
For the condensed and practical information about the technique I use, read the sentence below.
Summing up the most important aspects of playing the bass drum, I have my foot always
really relaxed, flexible in the ankle, confidently striking the pedal from above, moving
within the certain strict area on the pedal perpendicularly to the surface of the head and
staying constantly in contact with the footboard…
…in order to achieve…
…strokes that are consistent and repeatable in sound and dynamics, so that I feel
confident about my technique and have a great feeling and control over the pedal in any
situation I find myself in.

The first part is about my technique and my way to achieve the aspects mentioned in the second
half of the sentence. You may have your own methods to acquire those effects since every one of
us is different. Some are taller and some shorter. Some feel comfortable in different positions than
others. That’s why there’s no one good way to play the bass drum. If you have all the abilities from
the second part of the sentence and you don’t hurt yourself, then you do everything right
regardless of the technique you use.
For further detailed explanation of my foot technique see the sections below.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Starting from the beginning in details, in this chapter I go through important aspects of the foot
technique, but first I tell you about the pedal setup. In the next sections I continue with the general
information about the technique itself, then proceed to multiple strokes which is the last topic
here.
I explain HOW I set up the pedal and play different strokes, but also WHY I do it such a way.
Remember that everything I cover in this chapter is about MY foot technique. It doesn’t have to
work for you the way it works for me, so look for your own method of playing the bass drum that
you feel comfortable in and gives you all the important skills.
BASS DRUM PEDAL SETUP
There are three main components of the pedal setup that I usually think of - the spring tension,
footboard angle and the beater distance from the head (beater angle in the starting position). All of
them are very strictly connected with each other. It means that when you change one of them, it
may affect the rest. So for example if you change a beater distance, it may cause some
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 12 General Information

inconvenience with a spring tension and then it probably needs some extra attention. Also when
you decrease the angle of the footboard, you may want to increase the angle of the beater to have
a bigger swing and hence the dynamic range.
beater angle
e
ngl
da
tb oar
foo
spring tension
Make sure you find your own comfortable mix of these three components. Be conscious about
how you set up the pedal and all the reasons why you do it this way.
For me a comfortable setup is where the spring tension is somewhere in the middle. This along
with quite a big footboard angle allows me to constantly keep the contact of my foot with the
pedal which gives me a great control over it. I’m certain about the moves of my foot and how they
may affect the pedal and hence the strokes and the sound. Quite a big beater angle gives me a
wide dynamic range to use in my drumming.
There are other elements of the pedal setup that are less significant for the comfort of playing but
may affect it as well for example the footwear we use, cam shape (the element which has a direct
contact with the chain), beater weight, bass drum tuning, front head setup or bass drum muffling.
All of these aspects are very personal, so make sure you are guided by your own comfort, feeling
and the sound you are looking for.
Remember that it is not the setup that makes your technique good. It is just a tool to make
things comfortable for you and to make you feel confident playing the bass drum. The technique
itself lays in certain motion, relaxation of your foot and control over the pedal regardless of how is
it set up.
A very important aspect of the foot technique is flexibility. Be able to adjust it to different situations
you find yourself in and make sure that none of the setup elements, even the most important one,
won’t stop you from performing consistent strokes that sound confident even without feeling
comfortable while playing them.
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 13 General Information

SINGLE STROKES (GENERAL TECHNIQUE)
The technique I use may be generally named as heel up. It means that when performing the stroke
my heel is up in the air. I feel that this method gives me a wide dynamic range of the strokes and I
feel a better control over the pedal.
Heel up technique
I have a certain starting position in which my foot rests on the pedal and partially on the ground.
When I don’t play densely with the bass drum I sometimes rest my heel on the ground too so that
it’s not always up in the air. In this position my whole leg is very relaxed but ready to react quickly
and perform a stroke.
Starting position, foot rests on the ground
Once I want to perform a stroke I prepare by making a swing. I raise the whole leg at the same
time keeping my toes glued to the pedal, but my foot is relaxed and it only touches the footboard.  
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 14 Single Strokes

I care about not making any unnecessary quiet hits with the beater. To perform a stroke I rapidly
place the whole leg on the pedal making the beater hit the head.
Swing Stroke

I mostly leave the beater glued to the head after the stroke which is quite natural and easy since
then your foot is always ready to perform a swing for the next stroke. However the sound you
achieve is shorter, has less breathe and sustain. You may often get an impression of a thin sound.
To keep all these features, so get a bigger and richer sound, take the beater off the head
immediately after the stroke. There are certain situations in which it may be highly demanded such
as recording in the studio. Also some bass drums are more sensitive for this fact and some less.
The more you muffle the bass drum, the smaller difference you have between leaving and taking
the beater off the head after the stroke.
When taking the beater off, it’s a lot harder to control the pedal. In that situation I recommend to
go immediately from the hitting position to the resting position with the heel on the ground. Then I
perform the stroke more with the sole part of my foot rather than toes which happens in case of
leaving the beater. It’s really nice to be able to operate with both techniques since then you
become more versatile and have even more tools to express your musicality and ideas.
DOUBLE STROKES
As you are already familiar with the general technique I use, it’s time for double strokes. I'm not
fluent in using all the techniques, I don’t even know many of them, that’s why I present you just my
approach. For performing double strokes I use a modified slide technique.
To better understand the modification, I just shortly describe the typical slide technique. The key is
in the motion that your foot makes in order to perform two strokes in a row with just one move.
You start out in the closer part of the footboard, the area near the heel plate. There you perform
the first stroke called a tap. Then the beater bounces off the head, but at the same time you move  
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 15 Single Strokes

your foot towards the head and slightly push it to the bottom, eventually placing the weight of your
whole leg on the pedal, which creates the second stroke.
TYPICAL SLIDE TECHNIQUE
Tap Hit

I modify this technique by minimising the slide motion. Instead of performing the stroke sliding
horizontally towards the head, I strike the pedal from above. In my technique the key is flexibility in
the ankle. The first stroke is performed mostly with just my foot while having the whole leg in the
air. Then the beater bounces of the head and at the same time I drop my leg which strikes the
pedal that gives the second hit. In my technique to raise the leg I use mostly the muscles of my
thigh. Also I keep my foot rather in one strict area on the footboard and don’t move it as much as
with the slide.
MODIFIED SLIDE TECHNIQUE
Tap Hit

So the theory of my own technique has in fact little to do with a typical slide technique, but I feel
that it’s the easiest way to describe and explain it, especially that it has actually naturally
transformed from the slide technique in my case. I gradually tried to make things more stable and
minimise certain movements, then I replaced the horizontal move with the vertical one. This
allowed me to perform also more than two strokes in a row very confidently and consistently.
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 16 Double Strokes

MULTIPLE STROKES
In order to perform a more numerous multiple stroke I use the exact same motion as with double
strokes, so the modified slide technique. The difference is that I make more hits before placing the
foot as the final one. This requires a lot more discipline and confidence in motion, but most of all
relaxation of the foot. Once it gets too tight, it’s very hard to control what you play not to even
mention how you do it.
Striking the pedal from above, not sliding towards the head allows me to perform more than two
strokes in a row. With a typical slide it’s hard, since the pedal is simply too short to perform for
example six strokes in a row. With keeping my foot in one place and attacking the pedal vertically,
I get an unlimited number of strokes that I’m able to play and I’m certain about the sound of every
stroke that occurs before the final one, since I make the same motion every time. In a typical slide
it’s hard for me to control the sound qualities and dynamics of the strokes, since every hit is
performed on a different place on the pedal.
Moving the foot in the ankle while performing multiple strokes
Also what matters for me while performing multiple strokes is consistency in sound and dynamics.
The last stroke is naturally stronger and louder. I always try to level out these strokes, so make the
preceding hits louder and adjust the final one to them. Instead of playing it with the whole weight
of my leg, I restrain it a bit, so that all the strokes are similar in tone and volume.
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW SUM-UP
As a summary of this chapter take a look at the table. There I join together all the most important
aspects of my technique and compare the actions I take with the results that they bring to my
technique. For the same information included in one sentence see the introduction of this chapter. 
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 17 Multiple Strokes

WHAT / HOW (specific actions I take) WHY (the result for my technique)
Balanced, stable, natural and flexible Confidence in technique, comfort of playing

position behind the set the bass drum
Flexibility in performing different sounds,

Ability to play both with leaving the beater
more tools to express your ideas, comfort in
and taking it off the head after the stroke
every musical situation
Relaxed foot Endurance, control
Ability to strike from above, better

Flexibility in the ankle
adaptation ability
Dynamic control especially in multiple

Striking the pedal from above strokes, better feeling of the pedal, easier to
take the beater off the head after the stroke
Keeping the foot always in contact with the

Control and feeling, better adaptation ability
footboard
Control, consistency of strokes in sound and

Strict area of moving my foot on the
dynamics, repeatable motion with repeatable
footboard
strokes
Perpendicular moves towards the head Control, confidence in performing strokes
Modified slide technique for multiple strokes Control over the pedal, ability to easily
(minimised slide motion) perform more than two fast strokes in a row
For even more detailed information about the technique and pedal setup that I use check out the
Foot Technique Fundamentals lesson available on my website (www.wdrumlessons.com). There
besides the text you have videos with explanation and slow motion moves so that you may clearly
see every little detail.
FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 18 Foot Technique Overview Sum-up

THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES
I believe the most efficient way to practice foot technique is to play challenging grooves with
different combinations of the bass drum placement. It really prepares you for real life situations,
because music is mostly about the groove.
By placing bass drum exercises within the groove the hands are engaged and you avoid sitting
behind the kit with your arms crossed and a bad position and having just your foot playing. Since
the position affects the comfort and abilities of playing the bass drum, you always want to have a
proper posture when practicing as well. Keep it flexible and natural.
When performing the exercises in this chapter focus on the bass drum, but remember also about
the aspects of the whole groove which are dynamic levels, the sound of certain instruments,
feeling, precision. Such an approach prepares you to use the patterns in music and work on many
different aspects at the same time which makes your development wider and faster.
To get the most out of the exercises and to gain comfort in every situation, practice all the grooves
using different hi hat (or ride) patterns or ways to play it. Here are couple options you may use.
• 8th notes
• one 8th note and two 16th notes
• two 16th notes and one 8th note
• 16th notes
• quarter notes
• following the bass drum: the hi hat strokes go only together with the bass drum, no matter
what kick pattern is there in the notation.
• improvised: play some random hi hat patterns having in mind the rest of the notation. This
method develops the freedom in playing hi hat in the groove. 
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 19

• open handed: it means that you place the opposite hand on the hi hat and the snare. So if you
normally cross your hands when playing a groove and place your right hand on the hi hat and
the left one on the snare, now you switch hands. This method develops your left hand and
general coordination. Use different hi hat patterns within this method too.
• using different rudiments (singles, doubles, paradiddles): include not only your right hand to
play that hi hat, but also join in with the other hand. This most probably means that we have a
continuous hi hat motion, for example 16th notes. Play different rudiments within this hi hat
rhythmic pattern and change the sticking, but do it consciously. If there’s a groove with triplet
subdivision, play different rudiments in 16th note triplets.
Let’s go through the single, double, triple and quadruple strokes placement within a simple 4/4
groove with the snare drum falling on “two” and “four”.
SINGLE STROKES
In the following chapter I cover different single bass drum strokes placement options within the
subdivision grid in 8th note triplets, 16th notes, 16th note triplets and 32nd notes. Make sure the
strokes are placed very precisely.
Every placement option here is presented in two different hi hat patterns. The second one is
always the same as the smallest subdivision in the groove, so it represents the grid. This way the
bass drum falls always together with the hand which makes things easier to understand regarding
the placement of certain notes.
16th notes
If you change the option along with every beat, in other words if you move the bass drum stroke
by one 16th note in every other beat, you receive a groove that loops after five bars. The pattern
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 20 Single Strokes

itself needs two and a half bars to loop, but when you want to play it as a 4/4 groove, you still
need two and a half more so that it fully loops and meets with “one” again.
8th note triplets
When you join together all the options and change them along with every bar you are able to fit
them into one 4/4 bar.
32nd notes
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 21 Single Strokes

4
Here are eight different placement options. To join them together you need just two bars in 4/4,
but then the pattern won’t loop regularly. I decided to make the exercise shorter here and loop just
the two bars. Otherwise it would take nine bars. See that in the transition you are forced to play a
double bass drum stroke.
16th note triplets
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 22 Double Strokes

6
If you join together all the options beat by beat you need just one bar of the groove in 6/4 time to
regularly loop it.
Notice that here the bass drum falls on every seventh space in the 16th note triplet grid. It would
take a lot more bars for the pattern to loop when continued without breaking, but notice that here
you just cut it and repeat just one bar all over again.
Watch out for the notes to precisely fall together or in between the 8th note triplet hi hat. Use a
16th note triplet hi hat motion if you feel that it would be easier for you. Then in faster tempos it’s
really hard to play it with just one hand, so you would probably want to use both. Make things
harder and more challenging by using not singles sticking but other pattern or rudiment like
paradiddle-diddle or six stroke roll. Also try to do that with doubles and paradiddles. I just give
you some ideas on how you could modify the exercises I show you in this book. Use your
creativity.
DOUBLE STROKES
Depending on the place you put double bass drum stroke, it may feel a bit different. It’s mostly
because of the relation to what hands play and also the note which you want to accent more.
Typically you would want to make the note that comes on the strong part of the beat a bit louder,
so either on the full measure or on “and” of full measure. It turns out to be quite hard or at least
unnatural to emphasise the first out of two notes in a row.
I don’t want to tell you which foot technique you should use for the double bass drum strokes, but
I really recommend a slide technique. In my mind it’s the easiest one to learn and to become
comfortable with. I use a slightly modified slide technique with a minimised motion, which I
described widely in the second chapter in this book. Make sure you come back there if you
haven’t got familiar with it yet.
In this section there are couple versions of every placement of the double bass drum strokes. The
first two show the placement performed every second beat falling in the first and the third beats
and then in relation to the snare drum accent, so in the second and the fourth beats. Then you
have them joined together and play the double stroke in every beat. The last bar in every option
helps better understand the placement of the double bass drum strokes and situate them more
precisely thanks to the continuous hi hat which represents the subdivision grid. 

At the end of every section I also include the exercise with every placement option joined together.
They are set in a certain order which you are free to modify and change accordingly to your own
needs. The more transitions you practice the better.
Sometimes you may come across a bass drum note in a bracket. It means that the note is a part
of the groove (usually falling on “one” or “three”), but is not necessary for the exercise. When it
appears it means that it’s either close to the double stroke or falls directly before or after it, which
would force you to perform a triple hit. You choose whether to play it or not!
16th notes
The following groove contains all four options appearing in two bars.

Another way to include every option in one groove is to continuously play double bass drum
strokes leaving just one space in between each of them. The order of the possibilities is now
different and it takes three full 4/4 bars for the groove to loop.
8th note triplets
See the groove containing all the options. It changes after two beats every time. You may make
the phrase shorter or longer and also modify the order of the placement.
Here every option is put into one bar and the bass drum strokes are very regular, so there are
always two 8th note space in between them.

32nd notes

8
Again join together every option and form one groove which here takes four bars to loop. Here the
placement changes every second beat. Remember that you may change the hi hat (or ride)
pattern to make the exercise harder. See that in couple places here you are forced to perform a
triple stroke. Make sure it’s tight and precise. It may be a nice introduction to what happens in the
next chapter.
In such a small subdivision grid there is more space within one beat to put some additional notes.
See the options with more than one double bass drum stroke within the beat. It’s simply repeating
the same pattern twice in a row.
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You can of course join them together and play a busy exercise with two double bass drum strokes
options within one beat. There are four ways to do that and when every one of them repeated
twice, the whole exercise has two bars.
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There are also couple possibilities to place double bass drum strokes next to each other divided
by just one 32nd note space. In two of the following examples I also put a single stroke there. In
the last one it’s possible to place three double strokes within one beat.
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If you continue the last option using the same rule, so leaving just one space after the double bass
drum stroke, you achieve a very busy pattern which placed in a simple groove loops after three full
4/4 bars.
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See the same exercise in the version with a continuous 32nd hi hat for you to better understand
the placement of certain notes.
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16th note triplets

4
Join all the options together and form one exercise. It takes three bars and every option is
repeated twice. You are free to change the order of the options. See that in couple places here you
are forced to perform a triple stroke. Watch out for that and approach them carefully.
It’s also possible to use every option within one bar leaving two spaces after every double stroke.
This way in one 4/4 bar we repeat the same part twice.
Since there’s a lot of space within one beat it’s possible to place more than one double strokes
next to each other. There are three options to do that.

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Join all the options together and form one exercise. This one here takes two bars but you are free
to make it shorter or longer and also change the order of the options
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Subdivision mix
In this section there are 8th note triplets and 16th note double bass drum stroke options within
one set of exercises. First there are full bars filled with separate subdivisions which are also
divided with one bar of the groove. The whole exercise takes sixteen bars to loop. The order I
show you here is just and example. You are free to change it and play your own one.

Next mix two different subdivisions within one bar. Here they are divided with one groove bar too.
In the following version of the exercise the subdivision changes along with every bar. This time
without the groove in between.
Next make the phrase shorter. Now switch the subdivision after two beats.
The last version of this exercise takes two bars and the subdivision changes along with every
beat. It’s very busy now, so make sure you play it very precisely and confidently. You are of course
free to change the order of the options.
In the following set of exercises there are 16th note triplet and 32nd note double bass drum stroke
options mixed. These are busy ones where you have two double foot strokes per beat. The last
exercise in every set includes changing the subdivision of the hi hat as well. This may help you
place the notes more precisely within the grid, but it may also come out to be harder, so watch out
for these exercises and make sure you give them enough attention.

At the beginning mix the first 16th note triplet and the first 32nd note options.
Then go to the next options both in 16th note triplets and 32nd notes.

Since in total there are just three 16th note triplet and four 32nd note options, in the next set of
exercises stay with the second triplet option and play another 32nd note one.
In the last set play the last options from both subdivisions.
You are free to mix all the options together. The ones here are just examples that are logically
placed with each other. You may also invent your own exercises based or inspired by the ones I
presented.

TRIPLE STROKES
In this section you learn about all the possibilities of the triple bass drum strokes placement within
the groove in 32nd note and 16th note triplet subdivisions. The same as with double strokes, triple
ones feel different when put in various places. Sometimes you want to emphasise certain note
more than the other. For example when the first hit comes on the full measure you want it to be
slightly stronger. Also when the last note comes on the beat you would rather make it a bit louder.
Both situations require a bit different approach in terms of the technique and thinking, so it’s good
to go through every option and become comfortable playing them so that you are prepared for
any situation you may come across later in music and approach it with a lot of confidence and
consciousness.
For the technique tips regarding the triple strokes performed with one foot, see the second
chapter of this book. There I describe my approach and things to watch out for.
In every subdivision here you have a set of exercises with every placement option presented in
couple ways. First where the triple stroke appears in the first and the third beat, then in relation to
the snare drum accent, so in the second and the fourth one. The last bar presents the previous
ones combined, where you play the triple bass drum stroke on every beat.
32nd notes
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 35 Triple Strokes

5
It’s also nice to join all the options together and form one exercise which includes all of them in a
four bar phrase.
Play continuous triple bass drum strokes with two 32nd note spaces in between every one of
them. This way you create a five note pattern made of three notes and two rests. It’s set within a
4/4 groove, which means that it doesn’t loop regularly and you need five full 4/4 bars to do it.
10
 
16th note triplets
Same as previously join all the options and form one exercise. First build a three bar exercise
where you repeat certain option twice which means that it lasts for half bar each. You are free to
use your own order of the parts.

There’s also another way to build a combined exercise using all the options. Here repeat triple
bass drum strokes with one space in between them. You need just half 4/4 bar to loop it.
You may use a larger subdivision (8th note triplets) and form a one bar phrase of the same
exercise concept. It’s just another way to notate and think about it. The second bar below
presents the same thing but with an 8th note hi hat. An interesting thing here is that it creates a
polyrhythm in relation to the bass drum part. It may turn out to be quite hard to put these two
voices together, but try to loop it and work on it. Such an independence may be useful in
expressing your ideas better.
QUADRUPLE STROKES
Now put even more bass drum strokes in a row within one beat. It depends on the technique you
choose to use, but generally the rules are the same as with triple and more than four strokes.
In this section I present you different placement possibilities of quadruple strokes within a groove
in two different subdivisions. Same as previously first I go through all the options and then I show
you the exercise that includes all of them in one place.
32nd notes
THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES 38 Quadruple Strokes

3
See the single exercise that contains all the options. In between the quadruple strokes there’s just
one empty space. The whole groove loops after five full bars.

Using the same method play it in a larger subdivision which is 16th notes.
10
16th note triplets

6
The following exercise joins together all the options and is presented as an 8th note triplet groove.
It’s just the way of notating it though, because you may think about all the placement options the
same way as in 16th note triplets.
Here just one empty space is left after every four stroke, so there’s a five note pattern that is
continuously repeated within the groove. The whole exercise takes five bars to fully loop.

COMBINED GROOVE EXAMPLES
This is in my mind the most important chapter of the book. Here I present you examples of the
grooves that contain different bass drum strokes placement that already appeared. Here you may
find mixed single, double, triple, quadruple strokes in different placement and subdivisions.
For me setting up such grooves is the best way to practice bass drum strokes, since then you
have different combinations in one place that are supposed to be played together with various hi
hat and ghost note patterns.
Feel free to modify these grooves for your own needs. I strongly encourage you to build your own
beats based or inspired by these presented in this chapter. Remember to stay creative and serve
the foot technique development as well as you can. While practicing focus mostly on the bass
drum, but care about other aspects too. Think about the dynamic levels of the groove
components, how different instruments sound together. Try to keep a certain feeling when looping
the groove. Make everything consistent and repeatable in time and feeling.
COMBINED GROOVE EXAMPLES 42

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The following examples are set in 6/8 time, which may require a bit different approach to the
feeling. The general idea behind the foot technique stays the same.

6
The following examples are set in the shuffle groove, so everything is played in triplets. The hands
part stays always the same, but the bass drum placement is different every time. Make sure that
you take a good care about the feeling of the whole beat. Shuffle grooves require a very sensitive
approach and precision that is responsible for making them sound groovy.
Watch out for the ghost note that comes right after the snare drum. It’s quite tricky to perform it
smoothly, so focus on this aspect if you don’t feel comfortable with it yet. Make it the same
dynamically as the rest of the ghost notes and relatively quieter comparing to the snare drum
accent. If you prefer to take care of the bass drum part more, you may just leave this ghost note
for now and play a rest right after the snare.
Make sure that the bass drum notes come very precisely together with the hand strokes. Watch
out for the notes that appear along with the left hand especially, since they are the hardest to
perform smoothly. Avoid flams, since everything should be perfectly overlaid.
First see the shuffle beats where the main subdivision is 8th note triplets. The snare drum comes
on “two” and “four”.

Now take care of the shuffle with a half time feel. Although it’s notated as a regular groove with the
snare coming on “two” and “four”, the smaller subdivision makes it sound like a half time groove.
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THE BEST BASS DRUM EXERCISE EVER
As the last exercise in this chapter I would like to show you the one that I used the most in my
whole development process. I already gave you a lot of similar ones, since it’s also based on the
groove, but I felt that in order to make this book complete, you need to know this one too.
It has all kinds of strokes including single, double, many triple ones and one quadruple. I like to
practice it with an improvised hi hat part, but make sure you spend some time playing as it is
notated too. Quarter note hi hat makes it quite challenging to precisely place the notes in the grid.
Remember that fast tempo is not your only goal. There is also a tempo in which it’s not very
uncomfortable to play this kind of stuff. For me it was something around 75 - 80 BPM. Look for
your own awkward tempo range and spend some more time there working on the precision and
making things fluent. 
COMBINED GROOVE EXAMPLES 46 The Best Bass Drum Exercise Ever!

HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS
In the following chapter I present you the concept of practicing the bass drum using modified
rudiments. Here I go through the basic ones, so singles, doubles and paradiddles. Then I show
you some more examples of six stroke roll, paradiddle-diddle and flams.
What I do here is simply replace certain notes of the hand rudiments with the foot strokes. This
way I achieve linear patterns (where only one note is played at a time) that can be used either as
exercises or grooves and fills base. When orchestrated differently they give you a lot of interesting
fill possibilities. At the stage of practicing the bass drum you may start with the snare drum and
then go to the whole kit and explore different voicings.
Every rudiment has a lot of different sticking options. You can also start either with hand or with
foot. I show you every rudiment in two subdivisions - 16th notes and 16th note triplets. All the
following exercises are also great for your coordination, precision of the strokes and moving
around the kit, time, dynamic control and sound. Think about all these aspects while practicing.
In the main three sections I give you a set of notation and sticking possibilities that is the same for
every rudiment. In the sticking the letter “T” means hands together.
16th NOTES 16th NOTE TRIPLETS
1 e + a 1 e a + e a
RIGHT HAND RIGHT HAND
LEFT HAND LEFT HAND
SINGLES starting from the right hand SINGLES starting from the right hand
SINGLES starting from the left hand SINGLES starting from the left hand
DOUBLES DOUBLES
PARADIDDLE PARADIDDLE
HANDS TOGETHER TRIPLE HITS (only in singles)
HANDS TOGETHER
SINGLES
First take a look at the most basic rudiment which is singles.
R L R L R L R L
There are many possibilities to apply the bass drum to this pattern. The only rule here and at the
same time the thing which is certain is that you always alternately play the bass drum and the
hand stroke.
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 47 Singles

16th notes
See some sticking options in 16th note subdivision.
Starting with hand
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
1.1 R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K
1.2 L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K
1.3 R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K
1.4 L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K
1.5 R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L K
1.6 R K L K R K R K L K R K L K L K
1.7 T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K
Starting with foot
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
2.1 K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R
2.2 K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L
2.3 K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L
2.4 K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R
2.5 K R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L
2.6 K R K L K R K R K L K R K L K L
2.7 K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T

Triplets
The approach to a triplet subdivision singles is slightly different, since the stickings we already
know don’t always loop the same way as in 16th notes. Some patterns don’t even loop within one
bar. Then make sure to play a two bar phrase and continue the sticking without stopping. Check
out some sticking possibilities and the relation of certain notes to the pulse.
Starting with hand
1 e a + e a 2 e a + e a 3 e a + e a 4 e a + e a
1.1 R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K
1.2 L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K
1.3 R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K
1.4 L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K
1.5 R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L K
1.6 R K L K R K R K L K R K L K L K R K L K R K R K
1.7 R K R K R K L K L K L K R K R K R K L K L K L K
1.8 T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K
Starting with foot
2.1 K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R K R
2.2 K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L K L
2.3 K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L
2.4 K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R K L K R
2.5 K R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L K R K R K L K L
2.6 K R K L K R K R K L K R K L K L K R K L K R K R
2.7 K R K R K R K L K L K L K R K R K R K L K L K L
2.8 K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T K T

Coordination exercises
In the following section I show you the same exercises but performed with a polyrhythmic element
played on the ride or the hi hat. There’s also a version with a hi hat foot which forces us to engage
all the limbs. Use the same sticking ideas as in the previous sections.
Starting with hand
Starting with foot
Subdivision mix
It’s good to be able to smoothly transit between both subdivisions and here I present you different
ways to do that. I don’t give you sticking options anymore, since you may use the ones from the
previous sections. Use different combinations and try to feel free in switching between them.
Starting with hand

2
Starting with foot
Switching starting limb
You may also combine patterns starting both with hand and foot. Again use different sticking
options. Care about the transition moment, since it’s kind of breaking the pattern. Make it smooth
and perform it without any hesitation.
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Set in the groove
I like to practice such a stuff by placing the pattern in the groove. See couple ideas below. There I
put the bass drum in between the hi hat which serves as a hands part. I also include the snare
drum accent falling on “two” and “four” to give it a groovy vibe. I play it in couple subdivisions and
starting limb options.

1
A really nice way to practice this kind of rudiment patterns with the bass drum is to set them in the
groove by putting small sequences of the rudiment to the regular beat. See couple examples I
have for you.
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You may also play the regular singles rudiment with both hands as it is normally, but also place the
bass drum on every right one (or left if played with a mirror reflection). It’s a great way to practice
not only your foot, but also coordination with hands (by playing together) and hand technique. It’s
a lot more interesting, efficient and creative than practicing singles on the practice pad! See some
examples of practicing this way.
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Other concepts of practicing
In the last section I present you some more concepts of practicing the singles rudiment with the
bass drum applied which may make your playing even more comfortable and effortless.
In the previous sections I used the pattern orchestrated just on one instrument. It’s nice to be able
to move with it around the whole kit, that’s why I show you some possibilities of placing certain
notes on different instruments from the kit. First starting the pattern with hand.

The same set of the exercises but starting with foot.
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You already switched between two subdivisions, but it’s also nice to be able to move freely within
many different ones. Take a look at the exercises which allow you to get comfortable in this area
as well. You may also orchestrate the patterns since you have some ideas ready!
The following exercises are presented in two versions differing with the starting limb.
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DOUBLES
Another rudiment that I want to show you is doubles. See the basic sticking for this rudiment.
R R L L R R L L
The concept of applying the bass drum to this pattern is exactly the same as with the singles.
There are some double bass drum strokes appearing quite often, so make sure you perform them
smoothly and that everything has a steady flow. If you feel that it doesn’t sound the way it should,
slow the tempo down and spend some more time smoothening things out.
Try to include the hi hat foot or ride that is polyrhythmic comparing to the rudiment and pulse. It’s
a nice way to make the exercise even harder and to train the coordination more efficiently. An
easier way to make things complicated is to just follow the pulse with the ride of hi hat foot.
Remember about the sticking order that I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. It will help
you better and faster understand the patterns below. Again see the sticking options in two
different subdivision and starting limb options.
16th notes
Let’s start with 16th notes which is a very natural subdivision for doubles rudiment.
Starting with hand
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
1.1 R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K
1.2 L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K
1.3 R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K
1.4 L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K
1.5 R R K K L L K K R R K K L L K K
1.6 R L K K R R K K L R K K L L K K
1.7 T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 55 Doubles

Starting with foot
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
2.1 K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R
2.2 K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L
2.3 K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L
2.4 K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R
2.5 K K R R K K L L K K R R K K L L
2.6 K K R L K K R R K K L R K K L L
2.7 K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T
Triplets
Doubles in triplets are quite tricky to feel comfortable with. It’s not as straightforward as with 16th
notes, since here the pattern loops after two full beats. When you continuously play the patterns,
every next beat is started with the opposite limb. In the paradiddle sticking (second to last) the
pattern loops after two full bars so make sure you continue it and switch the sticking in the
second bar.
Starting with hand
1.1 R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K
1.2 L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K
1.3 R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K
1.4 L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K
1.5 R R K K L L K K R R K K L L K K R R K K L L K K
1.6 R L K K R R K K L R K K L L K K R L K K R R K K
1.7 T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K

Starting with foot
2.1 K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R K K R R
2.2 K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L K K L L
2.3 K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L K K R L
2.4 K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R K K L R
2.5 K K R R K K L L K K R R K K L L K K R R K K L L
2.6 K K R L K K R R K K L R K K L L K K R L K K R R
2.7 K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T K K T T
Subdivision mix
As you feel comfortable with different stickings of the same pattern, join two subdivisions together
and get familiar with the transition which is quite tricky here. The same as with singles, here I give
you just the notation ideas. You may use different sticking options from previous sections as well
as invent your own ones that you think may help you.
Starting with hand
Starting with foot
It would be hard to switch starting limb in the middle of the pattern since then you would be
forced to play four bass drum and hand strokes in a row (you may of course try!) but there’s one

exercise where switching comes really naturally thanks to the triplet subdivision which changes
the starting limb after one beat in this pattern.
INVERTED DOUBLES
Doubles rudiment may appear also in another version called inverted doubles which is quite
popular. It’s created by starting the regular doubles rudiment from another place. In other words
you move it by one unit. See a short graphic explanation of this hands rudiment.
R R L L R R L L R R
There are two main ways to apply the bass drum to this pattern. You either start with one hand
stroke or with one foot stroke and then continue with the doubles pattern. Then you have many
sticking options which concept is the same as in case of the regular doubles.
A nice exercise is to go through all four different doubles options, from regular ones started with
hands through inverted started with hands to regular started with foot and finally inverted started
with foot. There are four bars of each rudiment alternative (but you may make the phrase shorter
or longer).

Do the same but in 16th note triplets. Here I use a two bar exercise, so you switch the rudiment
option after half bar.
Set in the groove
Take a loot at couple ideas of setting the doubles pattern within the groove. See that I mixed all
the patterns and also use more complicated grooves with some ghost notes and more complex hi
hat patterns. When the bass drum appears together with your hand, make sure there are no flams
and that everything falls precisely in the point.
Make the grooves harder by using different sticking options that I showed you at the beginning of
this section or your own ones.
It’s nice to be able to freely move around the set with the doubles pattern with the bass drum
applied. Make sure the distance between the instruments is not a problem for you and that you
are able to smoothly go between them and at the same time maintain the pattern and feeling.

1
You may also practice doubles engaging another foot playing on the hi hat which makes it hard in
terms of the coordination. See the subdivision change exercises with the left foot coming on every
beat. You may make it harder by making it polyrhythmic, so playing every three or five notes.
The last way of practicing I would like to present you is by going through more than one
subdivisions. Here we have 16th notes, 16th note triplets and 32nd notes, but you may include
even more possibilities.

PARADIDDLE
The last basic rudiment for me is paradiddle. With these three that I already mentioned you are
able to play a lot of interesting things and for me they are the base of the hand technique. In my
daily playing probably around 90% of what I use are these three rudiments. But you are here to
work on the bass drum in the first place! See the paradiddle rudiment pattern.
R L R R L R L L
There are of course many ways to apply the bass drum to this pattern. In this section I present you
couple ideas of mine that you may get inspired by.
16th notes
This subdivision is really easy to think about when considering paradiddle placement. You have
four notes in one beat which is the equivalent of the paradiddle pattern cut in half.
See the notation and sticking possibilities I came up with. It may be tricky to find the rule that
patterns are build with, but let me give you a hint. First is the table I included at the beginning of
this whole chapter. The second is to leave the bass drum strokes in your consideration and look
just at the hands part. Then you may see that for example when using singles all the hand strokes
come alternately. The same with doubles, there are always two strokes of the same hand next to
each other no matter if separated with the bass drum or not. These are just ideas, but think of
your own ones and also make sure you are able to improvise the hands part with maintaining the
same foot pattern.
Starting with hand
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
1.1 R K R R K R K K R K R R K R K K
1.2 L K L L K L K K L K L L K L K K
1.3 R K L R K L K K R K L R K L K K
1.4 L K R L K R K K L K R L K R K K
1.5 R K R L K L K K R K R L K L K K
1.6 R K L R K R K K L K R L K L K K
1.7 T K T T K T K K T K T T K T K K
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 61 Paradiddle

Starting with foot
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
2.1 K R K K R K R R K R K K R K R R
2.2 K L K K L K L L K L K K L K L L
2.3 K R K K L K R L K R K K L K R L
2.4 K L K K R K L R K L K K R K L R
2.5 K R K K R K L L K R K K R K L L
2.6 K R K K L K R R K L K K R K L L
2.7 K T K K T K T T K T K K T K T T
Triplets
With triplet subdivisions it’s a lot more tricky. The paradiddle pattern doesn’t loop within one bar,
but it takes one beat and two notes to do that. In one full 4/4 bar we have three full loops of the
pattern.
There are sticking options that don’t loop perfectly within one bar. You need two bars to make
them meet with “one” in the same form again. Make sure you find them and remember about this
fact when practicing. If you find it helpful write down the full sticking of both bars.
Starting with hand
1.1 R K R R K R K K R K R R K R K K R K R R K R K K
1.2 L K L L K L K K L K L L K L K K L K L L K L K K
1.3 R K L R K L K K R K L R K L K K R K L R K L K K
1.4 L K R L K R K K L K R L K R K K L K R L K R K K
1.5 R K R L K L K K R K R L K L K K R K R L K L K K
1.6 R K L R K R K K L K R L K L K K R K L R K R K K
1.7 T K T T K T K K T K T T K T K K T K T T K T K K

Starting with foot
2.1 K R K K R K R R K R K K R K R R K R K K R K R R
2.2 K L K K L K L L K L K K L K L L K L K K L K L L
2.3 K R K K L K R L K R K K L K R L K R K K L K R L
2.4 K L K K R K L R K L K K R K L R K L K K R K L R
2.5 K R K K R K L L K R K K R K L L K R K K R K L L
2.6 K R K K L K R R K L K K R K L L K R K K L K R R
2.7 K T K K T K T T K T K K T K T T K T K K T K T T
Subdivision mix
Switching between subdivisions within this pattern is quite tricky, but gives you a lot of freedom,
so it’s worth spending some time on it. Again here I give you just the notation and it’s up to you
which sticking option you choose.
Starting with hand
Starting with foot
Here I already included the hi hat foot playing on every beat which makes the exercise even harder
in terms of coordination and precision.

Set in the groove
It’s nice to build grooves using the paradiddle pattern. Check out some of my ideas to do that.
Again a great way to get familiar with the patterns is to set them within a groove.
I recommend you to orchestrate the pattern differently, so place your hands on various
instruments. Such exercises may help you move around the kit using the pattern more fluently.
3
 

RUDIMENT MIX
In the following section there are all the three basic rudiments mixed together. You are free to use
any of the sticking options that I presented in the previous sections.
16th notes
There are three options and to keep an even number of the bars in the phrase repeat one of the
options and make a loop that regularly closes itself in 4/4 time. In this case I repeat double
strokes, but you may think of your own order.
Triplets
Do the same thing with 16th note triplets.
It’s nice to join together just singles and doubles in triplets and play just a one beat sequence of
each. This way in the middle of the 4/4 bar we change the starting limb.
Subdivision mix
To make an exercise even harder and more complete at the same time mix all the rudiments in
both subdivisions. Again use different sticking options.
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 65 Rudiment Mix

6
You may also make the phrases shorter and mix the rudiments in different order.
10
 
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 66 Rudiment Mix

OTHER RUDIMENTS
There are of course many other rudiments out there that you could modify, but for me the three
above are the basic ones and most frequently used. In this section I would like to present you
short ideas using three other rudiments which are also popular.
SIX STROKE ROLL
Six stroke roll is typical for triplet subdivisions since it has six notes. The first and the last ones are
usually accented.
R L L R R L
The way I’m going to apply the bass drum to it is a bit different from what I did with previous
rudiments. Here I replace just one of the notes with the bass drum. The rudiment has six notes, so
there is the total of six possibilities to do that.
Remember to play everything very precisely. There is only one foot stroke, but it’s tricky to blend it
smoothly together with hands. Spend some time to coordinate these two parts. If you have
troubles fitting the bass drum in, try to think about it a bit earlier and get ready to perform the
stroke. Feel the moment in which it should fall. See the sticking change concept and then the
notation. Every beat is the same here.
1.1 K L L R R L K L L R R L K L L R R L K L L R R L
1.2 R K L R R L R K L R R L R K L R R L R K L R R L
1.3 R L K R R L R L K R R L R L K R R L R L K R R L
1.4 R L L K R L R L L K R L R L L K R L R L L K R L
1.5 R L L R K L R L L R K L R L L R K L R L L R K L
1.6 R L L R R K R L L R R K R L L R R K R L L R R K
1.1
1.2
 
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 67 Other Rudiments - Six Stroke Roll

1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
In the following exercise join all the options together. The bass drum falls every seventh note.
The patterns above are great for creating fills. Take a look at the orchestration example of the
fourth pattern. In my mind it’s the easiest and at the same time the most musical pattern out of all
six above. The bass drum falls in the middle, so on every “and” in the bar.
If you have a hard time understanding the patterns or get familiar with how they should sound and
feel, it’s nice to play them alternately with the regular six stroke roll. You may also use other hand
rudiments like singles or doubles. Make the phrases and changes shorter or longer accordingly to
your needs. See the example with the fourth pattern.
You may as well replace two notes in a row from the rudiment. Take a look at the examples, again
we have six different options. Practice and orchestrate them the same way as previously.
Depending on the place where the double bass drum note falls it may feel differently. For example
when it appears at the very beginning, so replaced by the first two notes, you would probably
want to put a bit more emphasise on the first one. On the other hand when the double stroke falls
on the last and the first notes of the pattern, you would like to make the second one slightly
stronger. Remember to control this aspect and adjust technique to make it sound well blended
with hands. Again see the sticking changes and then the notation.

5.1 K K L R R L K K L R R L K K L R R L K K L R R L
5.2 R K K R R L R K K R R L R K K R R L R K K R R L
5.3 R L K K R L R L K K R L R L K K R L R L K K R L
5.4 R L L K K L R L L K K L R L L K K L R L L K K L
5.5 R L L R K K R L L R K K R L L R K K R L L R K K
5.6 K L L R R K K L L R R K K L L R R K K L L R R K
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
There is also a possibility to replace more than two notes with the bass drum. Since you rather
want to avoid three hits in a row, there is a limited number of possibilities.
The patterns are quite busy in terms of the bass drum strokes placement so make sure you spend
some more time making yourself comfortable with playing and using them in music mostly as fills,
but also trying to place them as parts of the grooves and in improvisation.
6.1 K L K K R L K L K K R L K L K K R L K L K K R L
6.2 K L L K K L K L L K K L K L L K K L K L L K K L
6.3 K K L K R L K K L K R L K K L K R L K K L K R L
6.4 K K L R K L K K L R K L K K L R K L K K L R K L
6.5 K L K R R K K L K R R K K L K R R K K L K R R K
6.6 K L L K R K K L L K R K K L L K R K K L L K R K

6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
All the patterns I gave you are great for creating interesting fills. Make sure you get comfortable at
least with part of them. Look for couple ones that work especially well for you and try to
implement them to your playing.
There are of course more possibilities of placing the bass drum to this pattern, such as using
couple single bass drum strokes or two double bass drum strokes with one space in between. Try
to explore as many possibilities as you can.
Mix all the patterns together to put the level of the exercises higher and also to make the patterns
even more interesting. Freely playing such patterns mixed in a logical way differently orchestrated
on the drum set is like fluently speaking a language. I gave you the words. Give them meaning and
learn to build beautiful sentences that may tell interesting stories.
PARADIDDLE-DIDDLE
While it may look a lot like the last six stroke roll section, I would like to approach paradiddle-
diddle based patterns a bit differently. There I sticked to one certain hand sticking that came from
the original rudiment. Here I approach it more freely and I modify the hand sticking too. What is
left from the paradiddle-diddle rudiment here is the general idea for implementing the bass drum.
R L R R L L
There are possibilities to start either using the hand or the foot. See some options of modifying the
sticking. Feel free to use your own ones based or inspired by those I present you.

1

1.1 R K R R K K R K R R K K R K R R K K R K R R K K
1.2 L K L L K K L K L L K K L K L L K K L K L L K K
1.3 R K L R K K L K R L K K R K L R K K L K R L K K
1.4 R K R L K K L K L R K K R K R L K K L K L R K K
1.5 T K T T K K T K T T K K T K T T K K T K T T K K
You may of course reverse the pattern and start with the kick. The sticking ideas remain the same.
You may also modify the original rudiment and achieve different versions of it. The following ones
are based on moving the pattern by couple spaces.
Invent your own sticking options and also try to place them in 16th note subdivision, join
everything together and try to orchestrate them, just as I showed you with the three basic
rudiments in this chapter. Such an approach to practicing these patterns later lets you fluently use
and combine them as fills and in improvisation and allows you to gain a lot more freedom in
expressing your thoughts and ideas on the drums.
FLAMS
It may feel weird at first to perform flams using not just both your hands, but your foot and hands
in different combinations. Being able to control the dynamics of the grace note and its distance
from the grid may give you a lot of confidence in the bass drum strokes placement. Make sure you
spend some time playing these rudiments smoothly.
Start with really slow tempos, but remember that then the distance between the note and grace
note stays the same and is not longer. Memorise the sticking first, since it may seem to be quite
confusing. It’s nice to practice these exercises with the floor tom and the bass drum. Both
instruments have a similar sound and this way you may clearly hear any imperfections that need
to be smoothen out. Take a look at some ideas I came up with. 
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 71 Other Rudiments - Paradiddle-diddle

The pattern based on the flam accent rudiment with the bass drum applied.
1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a
1.1 kR K R rK R K kR K R rK R K
1.2 kL K L lK L K kL K L lK L K
1.3 kR K L rK R K kL K R lK L K
1.4 kR K R lK L K kL K R rK R K
1.5 kT K T tK T K kT K T tK T K
The pattern based on the flam tap rudiment with the bass drum applied.
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
2.1 kR R rK K kR R rK K kR R rK K kR R rK K
2.2 kL L lK K kL L lK K kL L lK K kL L lK K
2.3 kR R rK K kL L lK K kR R rK K kL L lK K
2.4 kR L lK K kL R rK K kR L lK K kL R rK K
2.5 kR L lK K kR R rK K kL R rK K kL L lK K
2.6 kT T tK K kT T tK K kT T tK K kT T tK K
Use the same sticking ideas for the version which starts with the bass drum.
3
 
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 72 Other Rudiments - Flams

The pattern based on the continuous flam motion with the bass drum applied.
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
4.1 kR rK kR rK kR rK kR rK rK kR rK kR rK kR rK kR
4.2 kL lK kL lK kL lK kL lK lK kL lK kL lK kL lK kL
4.3 kR rK kL lK kR rK kL lK rK kR lK kL rK kR lK kL
4.4 kT tK kT tK kT tK kT tK tK kT tK kT tK kT tK kT
The pattern based on the flam paradiddle rudiment with the bass drum applied.
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
5.1 kR K R R rK R K K
5.2 kL K L L lK L K K
5.3 kR K L L lK R K K
5.4 kL K R R rK L K K
5.5 kT K T T tK T K K
HAND / FOOT RUDIMENTS 73 Other Rudiments - Flams

HAND / FOOT PATTERNS and ORCHESTRATIONS for fills
In this chapter I give you some pattern examples that you may use as fills, grooves and parts of an
improvisation. These are not only great words that enrich your drumming vocabulary, but also
exercises that develop your bass drum technique. Some patterns presented here are tricky to
coordinate and play precisely, so make sure you spend some time working on them and
smoothening things out.
Patterns are presented first using just the snare drum and the bass drum, but the key of this
chapter is when I give you four different orchestration ideas for every one of them that you may
use or get inspired by. The first one is always the easiest and uses mostly toms and the snare
drum. Then it goes gradually harder as I add some more instruments like the hi hat and the ride.
The last orchestration is always connected with modifying the sticking as it includes hands played
together with the bass drum.
The last notation is the same pattern presented in the odd subdivision. For 16th note patterns it’s
16th note triplets and the other way around. It’s just another way to play a completely differently
sounding fill using the same tools. Be aware that then it also loops a bit differently since it takes a
longer phrase and it’s more complicated rhythmically.
16th NOTE PATTERNS
In the following section I give you six different patterns in 16th notes. Most of them are based on
rudiments like singles, doubles and paradiddles mixed in a certain way. Every pattern is unique,
that’s why I shortly describe it and give you tips for practicing it.
Pattern 1
The first pattern is based on a paradiddle rudiment. The first half is an equivalent of the first
inversion with the bass drum applied and the second half is based on the first half of the original
paradiddle. See the sticking to clarify where the idea comes from.
K L R K L K R L
While looking for different orchestrations of the pattern notice that when played in 16th note
subdivision the second left hand stroke comes always on “two” and “four”. When you place a
strong snare drum accents there you get a groovy vibe. This is one of the methods I use to keep
the fill well blended with the groove and not disrupting the flow. See example of such a fill in the
second orchestration. There all the notes are being played on toms except for the ones that fall on
the backbeats. There you strike the snare maintaining the same dynamics as the groove backbeat.
HAND / FOOT PATTERNS for FILLS 74 16th Note Patterns

1
Pattern 2
Another pattern is based on the inverted doubles rudiment. There is just one bass drum stroke
here. Make sure it falls precisely after the double left hand stroke usually played as ghost notes.
R L L K R L R L L K
The pattern repeated all over again seems to be quite monotonous, that’s why it’s nice to bring a
little modification. Starting with the second one, add another two notes to the pattern every
second loop. The second and the third orchestrations are based on this variation. There you
switch between a six note and a four note patterns which makes it loop irregularly comparing to
the pulse and meter.

5
Pattern 3
The following pattern are pure inverted doubles with the bass drum applied starting with foot.
K R L K
It’s relatively easy to loop since one pattern circle falls on just one full beat. Make sure you
perform it smoothly with confident bass drum strokes.
Pattern 4
If you take a closer look at the notation of the following pattern you may notice that it’s actually
the same thing as the first one but with switched halves and hands sticking. There are a lot of right
hand strokes and they come always before the left one. So again the pattern comes from the
paradiddle rudiment variations.
R K R L K R L K

Try out different orchestrations. In the exploration stage of getting familiar with the pattern I really
recommend to look for very simple solutions like placing your hands on two separate instruments.
Then you may not only clearly hear certain notes placement but also find out something
interesting about the pattern.
Pattern 5
Another pattern is a mix of doubles started with foot and singles with the first note replaced with
the bass drum.
K K R L K L R L
It’s quite tricky to make the pattern sound smooth especially because of the bass drum that
comes before the left hand which starts the singles part. Spend some time with just the snare
drum and the bass drum (or practice pad) to gain confidence in performing the pattern. You may
even loop just the second half to focus on this section. Once you feel comfortable with the pattern
proceed to orchestrations.
3
 
4
Pattern 6
The last 16th note pattern I would like to show you is again based on inverted doubles and
singles. The reason I use the same rudiments and their modifications is to show you that with just
the basics you are able to do really a lot of different things. What you need is a bit of out-of-the-
box thinking and a dose of creativity.
R K K L R K L K
Care about the singles part especially. It may come out to be problematic, so make sure you work
on it to keep things precise and tight. Again you may loop just the second half of the pattern, but
you will quickly see that it’s just a continuous singles motion. What is the problem here is joining
this short section with the inverted doubles part.

TRIPLET PATTERNS
In the following section I give you four different patterns in 16th note triplets. Most of them are
based on rudiments like doubles, paradiddle-diddle and singles mixed in a certain way. Every
pattern is unique, that’s why I shortly describe it and give you tips for practicing it.
Pattern 1
The first triplet pattern I want to show you has twelve notes in one loop. It’s based on a triple note
pattern that we first repeat twice in the same shape and then again twice but with a switched bass
drum placement.
R L K R L K K R L K R L
Again see the orchestration ideas. Watch out for the dynamics in the last one. Make sure you
include ghost notes that vary dynamically from the rest of the notes. It may be tricky to play them
right after the accent, so make sure you focus on this aspect more. Ghost notes give the fill more
sound and dynamic layers. There the right hand plays on the ride (except the notes that come on
“one” and “three”) and the left one fills the space jumping between different instruments.
Pattern 2
The following pattern serves equally well as a fill and as an exercise. There are four alternated
hand strokes followed by two bass drum hits. One pattern sequence has six notes so it loops
perfectly within one beat in 16th note triplets.
HAND / FOOT PATTERNS for FILLS 79 Triplet Patterns

R L R L K K
Make sure you use different instruments to make the fill sound interesting. The last orchestration
example includes the sticking change. There it’s the same as the double paradiddle rudiment with
the bass drum falling on every double hand stroke.
Pattern 3
Take a look at another pattern based on the same concept as the previous one, but here it’s a lot
harder to understand the rhythm and to get comfortable with thinking about it. There are three
hand and two foot strokes. It gives us the total of five notes. It’s an odd grouping and combined
with the fact that it’s played in 16th note triplets makes it even more complicated.
R L R K K
In order to fill one 4/4 bar with 16th note triplets using the pattern you need four full loops and four
additional notes which are taken from the pattern. See the example orchestrations and at the end
the same pattern applied to 16th notes subdivision where it loops differently.

2
Pattern 4
The last triplet pattern I want to show you is based on the paradiddle-diddle rudiment.
K R K L R K
Take a look especially at the last triplet orchestration. It’s a basic version of the idea, but try to
develop it. Use more instruments, switch hands, add accents… It may serve not only as a great
sounding fill, but also as a nice exercise for coordinating the bass drum with your hands.
6
 

TRIPLE HITS
In the following chapter I present you the concept of exercises based on the three note patterns.
Here I treat both hands and foot as two separate voices that I use to build them. There are six
different patterns that we can build with this concept.
1 HAND HAND FOOT
2 HAND FOOT HAND
3 FOOT HAND HAND
4 FOOT FOOT HAND
5 FOOT HAND FOOT
6 HAND FOOT FOOT
The exercises here are great mostly for the coordination, so to make it four-way add a hi hat foot
played on every quarter note. You may of course change its placement or leave it for now but I
highly recommend you to include it so that your development is wider and faster.
It’s natural for these patterns to be played in triplet subdivisions, but not to make things too easy
I’m going to show them as 16th notes too. At the beginning stage of practicing use just the snare
drum and the bass drum, but then gradually go into other parts of the drum set and use other
instruments too. The final exercises in this chapter include both subdivision and pattern mix.
8th NOTE TRIPLETS
There are three notes in each pattern, so they loop perfectly within one beat when played in 8th
note triplets. See all six options. Make sure you keep them consistent and very precise.
TRIPLE HITS 82 8th Note Triplets

4
As you feel comfortable with playing all the patterns separately it’s time to join them together by
playing two beats of every option. There are have six different patterns so it takes three full bars.
16th NOTES
In the following section the things get harder since the patterns don’t loop evenly within the pulse
as they did in triplets. When played in 16th notes in every 4/4 bar you have five full pattern loops
and one note added from the beginning of the next loop.
See that when you loop one whole bar all over again the pattern breaks near the end and you
have to start it again together with a new bar. However when you continue the pattern without  
TRIPLE HITS 83 16th Notes

stopping or breaking it, it would take three full bars in 4/4 time to fully loop and start the pattern
naturally from the beginning together with “one”.
SUBDIVISION MIX
In this section everything is mixed together. These are the final exercises of this chapter, so make
sure you spend enough time playing them. Try out different orders of the patterns since the one I
present is just an example for you to show the concept. The more transition possibilities you
practice the more versatile you may become.
First take half bar of every option in both subdivisions and join them alternately. This way you
achieve a six bar exercise.
You may as well make the whole phrase shorter by taking just one beat of every option. Watch out
for the transitions since here it’s really busy and you have to think quickly!
TRIPLE HITS 84 Subdivision Mix

PATTERNS ORCHESTRATIONS
Following the idea from the previous chapter regarding using the patterns as fills, take a look at
some orchestration examples that I built using the three note patterns. Every one of them has two
versions of voicing - 16th note triplet and 16th note one.
HAND - HAND - FOOT
HAND - FOOT - HAND
FOOT - HAND - HAND
FOOT - FOOT - HAND
TRIPLE HITS 85 Patterns Orchestrations

FOOT - HAND - FOOT
10
HAND - FOOT - FOOT
11
12
The orchestrations I presented are just examples that you may get inspired by. Try to think of your
own voicings for these patterns. Approach it with creativity and with your mind wide open. 
TRIPLE HITS 86 Patterns Orchestrations

BASS DRUM STROKES IN JAZZ
The following exercises are basically jazz comping examples. Here you may seek for the
development in precision, subtleness, dynamic control and consciousness of the feeling of the
bass drum also comparing to the rest of the set. Jazz music is especially sensitive for these
aspects. Along with them you have a coordination factor that makes everything quite tricky to
play, but thanks to which you may develop expressing your ideas freely.
Every example is played over a swing pattern performed by the ride cymbal with right hand.
Additionally you have a hi hat foot played on every “two” and “four”.
swing 8th notes
Both bars above carry the same information even though they are notated differently. The first bar
is probably clear straight away. You have a triplet pattern and everything is set within the grid.
In the second bar however it’s notated in straight 8th notes, but it’s supposed to sound like
triplets. That’s because of the note above saying “swing 8th notes”. It means that you treat 8th
note subdivision as 8th note triplets. The same note may be written in different forms too like
“swing 8ths” or presented graphically using notation.
Take a look at another example that clarifies all the possibilities. The first bar is notated with 8th
note triplets and the second one is the same thing but presented using swing 8th notes.
swing 8th notes
As you already know the rules of the notation in this chapter it’s time to take care of the exercises.
BASS DRUM STROKES IN JAZZ 87

5
10
11
12
13
14
Make sure you focus on performing the bass drum correctly, but remember that in jazz music the
ride cymbal and its consistency and repeatedness are very important in the first place. It gives the
music steady drive and creates a certain rhythmic mood of the tune. If you are not sure how to
perform it correctly (all the slightest details are very important, believe me!), then I recommend you
to go through these and other jazz comping examples with a reliable teacher. 
BASS DRUM STROKES IN JAZZ 88

OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS
In the last chapter of the book I present you some smaller concepts of practicing that are also very
useful in the process of the foot technique development.
THREE STROKES IN A ROW
The following concept is based on playing triple strokes with both hands and foot alternately.
There are different sticking possibilities, but here I just stick to the basic ones. It’s obvious to play
it in triplets, since then the pattern loops naturally.
1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a
1.1 R R R K K K L L L K K K
1.2 R L R K K K L R L K K K
1.3 R R L K K K L L R K K K
1.4 R L L K K K L R R K K K
2.1 K K K R R R K K K L L L
2.2 K K K R L R K K K L R L
2.3 K K K R R L K K K L L R
2.4 K K K R L L K K K L R R
Join the options together and form longer phrases of the exercise. Make sure it’s not completely
random, but you keep a certain order of the stickings and that you do that consciously. This way
you train discipline in performing which is very important for solid playing.
You may as well place the pattern within 16th note grid. Then it would take three bars for the
pattern to loop. See that every bar looks differently. To make this exercise harder include the hi hat
foot played in different places. It’s nice to feel free with performing also multiple strokes in relation
to different hi hat foot rhythms.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 89 Three Strokes in a Row

You may also loop just a single bar of the triple strokes pattern in 16th notes. See the sticking and
then the notation.
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
4.1 R R R K K K L L L K K K R R R K
4.2 R L R K K K L R L K K K R L R K
4.3 R R L K K K L L R K K K R R L K
4.4 R L L K K K L R R K K K R L L K
5.1 K K K R R R K K K L L L K K K R
5.2 K K K R L R K K K L R L K K K R
5.3 K K K R R L K K K L L R K K K R
5.4 K K K R L L K K K L R R K K K R
Try to make the exercise harder and longer by switching the sticking patterns. Again set up a
certain order that you use and don’t do that completely randomly.
As you feel comfortable with playing the patterns in both subdivisions, see the exercises which
include joining everything together. The one below has a half bar sequence of each notation
possibility and hence takes two bars to loop.
An interesting way to practice is with hands playing continuously. So when the bass drum comes
simply place your hands on the hi hat or the ride. You may use different sticking like singles and
doubles or try to play these triple strokes with just one hand. There are many options and try to go
creative with that. Overlay all the notes perfectly and avoid flams.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 90 Three Strokes in a Row

Since triple hits in straight subdivision may not be very comfortable to loop, try to combine the
16th note triplet ones with doubles rudiment with the bass drum applied. First play them joined
together using different sticking options and then try out the version with continuous hands
motion just as it is presented in the last exercise.
10
11
12
FOUR STROKES IN A ROW
Use the same concept but with four strokes in a row. Again play both subdivision options using
different sticking. First do that in the most natural subdivision for the pattern which is 16th notes.
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
1.1 R R R R K K K K L L L L K K K K
1.2 R L R L K K K K L R L R K K K K
1.3 R R L L K K K K L L R R K K K K
1.4 R L R R K K K K L R L L K K K K
2.1 K K K K R R R R K K K K L L L L
2.2 K K K K R L R L K K K K L R L R
2.3 K K K K R R L L K K K K L L R R
2.4 K K K K R L R R K K K K L R L L
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 91 Four Strokes in a Row

It’s quite easy to loop the pattern also in 16th note triplets since there it nicely makes a circle
within one bar by repeating itself three times.
3.1 R R R R K K K K L L L L K K K K R R R R K K K K
3.2 R L R L K K K K L R L R K K K K R L R L K K K K
3.3 R R L L K K K K L L R R K K K K R R L L K K K K
3.4 R L R R K K K K L R L L K K K K R L R R K K K K
3.5 K K K K R R R R K K K K L L L L K K K K R R R R
3.6 K K K K R L R L K K K K L R L R K K K K R L R L
3.7 K K K K R R L L K K K K L L R R K K K K R R L L
3.8 K K K K R L R R K K K K L R L L K K K K R L R R
Not every one of the sticking options loop perfectly within one full bar here. Sometimes it takes
two bars for the exact same notation to meet with “one” again. Then make sure you create a two
bar loop and switch the sticking in the second bar.
Again once you feel comfortable with all the exercises above, try the same ones but with the
continuous hands motion. Remember to use not only singles, but also doubles and other
rudiments so that the exercise is not too simple, but rather challenging.
Join together these subdivisions and make up your own exercises. Try to make things harder for
example by adding a left foot pattern playing on every beat or every “and”.
Once you feel comfortable with playing the exercises on the snare drum, move your hands to
different parts of the set. Explore it and look for interesting orchestrations that you could later use
in fills or as grooves.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 92 Four Strokes in a Row

CONTINUOUS HI HAT MOTION GROOVES
In this section I present you some options of the grooves with a continuous hi hat motion. The
main concept here is that you don’t use single strokes to perform them, but rather various
different stickings like rudiments and their combinations. The purpose is to become fluent in
various hi hat patterns played together with challenging bass drum parts and to develop a great
precision in playing your hands together with the foot.
See some ideas on the sticking. I included singles, doubles, basic paradiddles, quadruple strokes
and triple strokes. Every one of them is shown also in the version starting with an opposite hand.
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
1.1 R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L
1.2 L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R
2.1 R R L L R R L L R R L L R R L L
2.2 L L R R L L R R L L R R L L R R
3.1 R L R R L R L L R L R R L R L L
3.2 L R L L R L R R L R L L R L R R
4.1 R R R R L L L L R R R R L L L L
4.2 L L L L R R R R L L L L R R R R
5.1 R R R L L L R R R L L L R R R L
5.2 L L L R R R L L L R R R L L L R
There are some stickings which are hard to connect with the snare drum accents. There are two
solutions for that problem: you may either leave the snare and play just on the hi hat or make the
pattern easier and leave the note that comes directly before or after the snare drum.
Overlay all the notes perfectly. The bass drum should fall together with the hi hat. In these
exercises make your hands lead the bass drum but also be able to think the other way since the
bass drum is the rhythmical base together with the snare drum.
Here are some groove ideas I came up with using this concept. Make up your own ones too and
then remember not to think with the schemes, but rather escape with them outside the box.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 93 Continuous Hi Hat Motion Grooves

1
10
11
12
13
14
15

16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
You may also switch the hands sticking during performing and change it to a different one. For
example one bar of doubles and one bar of paradiddles with keeping the same bass drum and
snare drum pattern. Generally all the stickings should sound the same. We use different ones so
that you get comfortable in any situation and gain freedom in performing different things on top of
the bass drum part.
Try to play grooves also with a triplet hi hat motion using the same concept. Use similar sticking,
but also the one that is specific for this subdivision. Remember about all the important aspects of
the exercise that I mentioned in this section.

FULL SET WITH POLYRHYTHMIC TOMS
In the following section I show you an exercise idea that involves the whole drum kit. It is typically
made for moving around the kit and feeling free in transitions between the instruments, also with
the bass drum.
The idea behind the exercise is to keep one of your hands busy on the ride or the hi hat and at the
same time play a specific pattern on toms with the other hand together or in between the bass
drum.
The hard part here may be to understand the rhythm performed on the toms. They play a
polyrhythm in relation to the main subdivision and the pulse. So when performing the exercise in
triplets you play four strokes on every tom and when you play it in 16th notes you play just three
notes. It’s just another aspect that makes the exercise more versatile and complicated.
You may make it even more complicated regarding the coordination by adding the hi hat foot
strokes. It’s up to you how you do that, just make sure its not too easy for you!
Also try to join together both subdivisions and modify the exercises accordingly to your own
needs and development directions.
HANDS AND FOOT TOGETHER
Another practicing concept I would like to present you is based on playing with your foot exactly
the same things as with your hands. All the notes should be played together without any flams.
Make them perfectly overlay each other.
There are many possibilities of hands sticking. Use the ones you already know so the singles,
doubles, paradiddles and other rudiments, but also invent your own ones. There are no strict rules
so it may all be even played by one of the hands. It’s totally up to you.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 96 Full Set with Polyrhythmic Toms

First start with the single subdivision. I show it to you separately in 16th notes and 16th note
triplets. Play the exercise just on the snare drum and once you feel comfortable with that, move
your hands to different instruments like hi hat and toms. Remember that the position affects the
comfort of performing the bass drum strokes and you also receive different sounds which may be
surprising and at the same time distracting for you, so make sure you spend some time moving
around the kit too.
Now join both subdivisions together. Also see the orchestration that you may use for practicing.
Speaking of the subdivision change, add some more starting with 8th notes through 8th note
triplets, 16th notes, 16th note triplets ending with 32nd notes and going the other way round. Use
the same concept so with the notes overlaying each other.
Make sure that both voices go together especially in the transition moments. It may be tricky to
play, but also easy to hear mistakes, since you use the snare drum and the bass drum here. It’s
very clear when these instruments play a flam, so it may help you evaluate whether everything
goes right or not.
Once you feel comfortable with that make sure you place your hands on different parts of the
whole kit as well. 
97
CONTINUOUS BASS DRUM IN GROOVES
In this section I show you a set of exercises which include a subdivision change of a continuous
bass drum motion placed in a simple groove with a quarter note hi hat and the snare drum falling
on “two” and “four”.
First take care of the straight subdivisions. Here I go through quarter notes, 8th notes and 16th
notes. I repeat the 8th notes part to make an even number of bars in the phrase that I loop.
The next step is to get comfortable with triplets. Here as well you have one bar of every
subdivision.
In both situations use various hi hat patterns. Playing just quarter notes is quite challenging in
terms of time keeping, but change it also to 8th notes, 16th notes and the hi hat following the bass
drum part… See where you feel uncomfortable and spend more time practicing this way.
Join all the subdivisions to form one complete exercise. You may use different orders, but here I
go from the slowest to the fastest. One subdivision takes one bar.
Try to get comfortable with as many different transitions as possible. Remember not to start with a
fast tempo, since it would be hard to perform 16th note triplets smoothly. If you go gradually faster
you may leave this subdivision and end the exercise just on 16th notes.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 98 Continuous Bass Drum in Grooves

See the same exercise but with shorter phrases. It’s good for the subdivision change ability, since
they now occur twice faster, but in the previous version you trained the endurance more efficiently.
Care about the repeatedness of the strokes. Keep them very consistent in the sound, dynamics
and feeling. The key to this effect lies in the steady and repetitive motion of your foot. Don’t make
any unnecessary moves. You want to have a 100% control over what you play.
THE BASS DRUM COPYING THE HANDS PART
In the last section in this book I would like to present you the concept where you alternately play
the same patterns with hands and foot. They include single, double, triple, quadruple hits, but
there appear also some with more strokes in a row like five or eight. All of them played in two
subdivisions.
Parts of these exercises already appeared in the previous sections and chapters, but here I would
like to point out that the purpose of this concept is more to gain an endurance in playing
continuous bass drum strokes. You may at the same time practice the hand technique and its
strength too.
See how I joined together patterns from one to four strokes in 16th notes. Modify it and go up to
eight notes or even further to develop a better and longer lasting endurance. See that here I play
just half bar phrase. Make it bigger so that you can easily fit longer patterns.
Do the same in 16th note triplets. See that here I go up to six notes in a row. Then it loops
perfectly within one beat in this subdivision. One loop of this exercise takes five bars. The same as
previously I go from the smallest pattern to the largest and back. Try to make it longer too and add
more patterns.
OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS 99 The Bass Drum Copying the Hands

2
Play the same bass drum part, but keep hands playing continuously. Do the same with triplets.
You may also keep a steady number of the strokes in a row without changing it. This way you get
quite a monotonous exercise, but giving you a great development in strength of your technique.
Take a special care about the smooth transitions between the hands and the foot parts.
See how I placed eight notes in a row in 16th note subdivision. First I keep the same concept as at
the beginning, so switching the pattern between hands and the foot. In order to develop more
aspects at the same time and make the exercise more interesting, see the second notation where I
play hands continuously and at the bass drum part I place them on the hi hat. The last notation
includes playing everything together. Use different sticking options for all the exercises.
See what happens when you place the same pattern but in 16th note triplets.
As you can see it doesn’t loop as nicely as in the straight subdivision, but still it’s quite regular. It
takes two full bars with three full patterns for it to meet with “one” again. Both bars are similar to
each other, since the only difference is the reversed hands and foot sticking.
A natural pattern for 16th note triplets which at the same time greatly develops the endurance is
twelve notes in a row. Here the pattern fully loops within one 4/4 bar. Again practice it the same
way as in 16th notes using different possibilities and exercise modifications.
10
CONCLUSION
When thoroughly practiced, the exercises I presented you in this book will greatly help you
develop your single foot technique, but also other areas of drumming like coordination, hand
technique, precision, time and subdivision awareness.
While practicing always keep in mind all the aspects I mentioned in the introduction. Carefully
listen and react to what you hear while practicing. Diagnose problems and look for the solutions to
solve them quickly. Always practice with a metronome starting with slow tempos and gradually
increasing them. Keep a balanced and flexible, but solid position behind the set that you feel
comfortable with. Remember about all the aspects like dynamics, sound, feeling, articulation,
precision and time. Practice regularly with your mind fresh and wide open.
Remember that just having the book and playing the exercises doesn’t mean that you will develop
immediately. This requires a lot of effort and attention put in working on the exercises and
regularly approaching them always looking for a space to improve.
All the exercises and concepts presented in this book are just ideas or things I’ve been working on
in the process of my foot technique development. Work on them but also invent your own
exercises that may be based on or inspired by those from the book. Remember to make things
challenging, since only then you may develop quickly and efficiently.
Don’t spend too much time on the things you already feel comfortable with. It’s good to constantly
smoothen them out and master them, but keep in mind an enormous amount of topics you still
need to work on no matter in which place you currently are on your musical path. After all always
have in mind your destination, goal and why do you even practice. In your possible answers there
should always be passion and simply enjoying playing music.
Make sure you check out my website www.wdrumlessons.com. There you may find many other
lessons in the form of interactive e-books with videos. I recommend you to see especially the Foot
Technique Fundamentals lesson where I describe all the details of the foot technique I use. There
you have videos where you can clearly see the movements I use also in slow motion.
I hope you enjoyed working with this book and that it helped you bring the desired results.
Wojtek Deregowski
102
NOTES
103
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THE SINGLE BASS DRUM

THE COMPLETE GUIDE FOR THE SINGLE

© Copyright 2018, by Wojtek Deregowski

Any unauthorised duplication of this book or its contents is a

Wojtek Deregowski is a Polish drummer, musician and

In his drumming and education he focuses on the unique

The purpose of the book ............................................................................................. 4

Practicing method ....................................................................................................... 4

NOTATION EXPLANATION .................................................................................................... 6

Bass drum pedal setup ......................................................................................................... 12

Single strokes ........................................................................................................................ 14

Double strokes ...................................................................................................................... 15

Multiple strokes ..................................................................................................................... 17

THE BASS DRUM IN GROOVES ......................................................................................... 19

Single strokes ........................................................................................................................ 20

Double strokes ...................................................................................................................... 23

Triple strokes ......................................................................................................................... 35

Quadruple strokes ................................................................................................................. 38

COMBINED GROOVE EXAMPLES .................................................................................... 42

The best bass drum exercise ever ........................................................................................ 46

HAND/FOOT RUDIMENTS ................................................................................................. 47

Doubles / inverted doubles ................................................................................................... 55

Rudiment mix ........................................................................................................................ 65

Other rudiments .................................................................................................................... 67

HAND / FOOT PATTERNS and ORCHESTRATIONS for fills ........................................ 74

16th note patterns ................................................................................................................. 74

Triplet patterns ...................................................................................................................... 79

TRIPLE HITS ...........................................................................................................................

8th note triplets ..................................................................................................................... 82

16th notes ............................................................................................................................. 83

Subdivision mix ..................................................................................................................... 84

Patterns orchestrations ......................................................................................................... 85

BASS DRUM STROKES IN JAZZ ....................................................................................... 87

OTHER PRACTICING CONCEPTS .................................................................................... 89

Three strokes in a row ........................................................................................................... 89

Four strokes in a row ............................................................................................................. 91

Continuous hi hat motion grooves ........................................................................................ 93

Full set with polyrhythmic toms ............................................................................................ 96

Hands and foot together ....................................................................................................... 96

Continuous bass drum in grooves ........................................................................................ 98

The bass drum copying the hands part ................................................................................ 99

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 102

THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

INTRODUCTION 4 The Purpose of the Book

INTRODUCTION 5 Practicing Method

how many beats in one bar

what kind of note gets one beat

32 thirty second note

4/4 - four quarter notes

3/4 - three quarter notes

NOTATION EXPLANATION 6 Time Signature

10/16 - ten sixteenth notes

NOTATION EXPLANATION 7 Subdivisions

Take a look at the rhythm in a 6/8 bar.

NOTATION EXPLANATION 8 Subdivisions

FREQUENTLY APPEARING RHYTHMIC PATTERNS

NOTATION EXPLANATION 9 Frequently Appearing Patterns

NOTATION EXPLANATION 10 Notes Grouping

NOTATION EXPLANATION 11 Notation Key / Counting

…in order to achieve…

BASS DRUM PEDAL SETUP

FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 12 General Information

FOOT TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW 13 General Information

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 102 