Snare Single Strokes

Arr. Mark Little

16ths and 8ths

4
/ 4 ™™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ™™ œ Œ Ó
4
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R
4

Sextuplets and 8ths

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4
/ 4 œœœœœœœ œ œœœœœœœ œ œœœœœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

6 6 6 6

/ œœœœœœœ œ œœœœœœœ œ œœœœœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó

R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R

• All strokes to be played with a relaxed, bouncy, legato feel.

• NO ACCENTS!! All strokes should look and sound exactly the same!

• Resist the tendency to introduce tension into your strokes as you increase
the speed. The key to fast singles is to stay relaxed, and let the rebound of the
stick off the drum do most of the work!

• In the first two measures of Sextuplets and 8ths, each sextuplet is written as
two consecutive triplets. This is to help draw your attention to the timing of
how each triplet lines up with the 8th-notes. In the next two measures they
are written as true sextuplets, but they sound exactly the same as the triplets.
There is no rhythmic or musical difference in these or in how they should
be played. They are just two different ways of writing the exact same thing.
The triplets and the sextuplets should sound exactly the same.

• Accordingly, be sure to play each sextuplet (or each group of two triplets) as
six EVEN notes (even in both timing, feel, and sound of the strokes). Avoid
the tendency to want to put any sort of accent or 8th-note pulse at the
beginning of each triplet!

• All singles variations can & should also be practiced with a L-hand lead.
Reverse that sticking!