Single-stroke roll

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The single-stroke roll is a rudiment used by drummers and percussionists in a variety of music styles. This roll is the most basic of the drum rudiments, and it is often the first rudiment that drummers learn.

The single stroke is very easy to learn, but it can be somewhat difficult to perform well. The player simply alternates between sticks: right, left, right, left, etc., typically at a high speed. The key to perfecting this rudiment is to make sure it is in time, and that each stroke sounds the same. Accents can be used to augment the roll's sound, but beginning players should be able to achieve uniformity before experimenting with accents.

This rudiment works well with both matched grip and traditional grip. Players who use traditional grip should be especially careful to achieve identical sound quality from the hands, since each hand grips the stick differently.

The single-stroke roll is especially common on instruments such as suspended cymbal, timpani, and mallet percussion such as marimba or xylophone. Buzz rolls aren't appropriate to such instruments because of difficulties in the technique and/or because they would produce substandard sound quality.