FILL RUDIMENT EXERCISE: Rudiment Voicing Intro and Ways to Play

An introduction to the rudiment voicing system.

We use a slightly modified voicing system for rudiments, for this video our example rudiment will be double stroke rolls.

We begin with our hands on the snare, then we had a voice and run a permutation set. Permutation just means moving notes through the measure, after you’ve permutated one note through the set, add another and move both notes together. You can change the distance between the notes, or move one note at a time also.

For permutation sets with three voices, we set a base voicing and move a third voice through the set. For four voices we use what are called “pair reversals”. Three and four voice sets tend to be more of a mental workout and coordination exercise - very good for breaking default-fill-route habits. Some students do struggle with splitting doubles between drums - as always, go slow and strive for flow not speed.

Once you are comfortable running the permutations sets, we can apply the rudiments in a ton of musical ways. We can create fills, add kick substitutions, play grooves, or play melodies and fill-ins.  

The “Ways to Play” is where the creative rubber meets the road - take your time to see how much mileage you can get from just doubles with two voices. The goal is developing YOUR voice on the instrument, use your creativity!

Happy drums to you all