Paradiddle

A paradiddle is a special drum sequence that alternates between left and right hands in striking the rhythm. It is one of the standard rudiments (other examples of which are the flam, the various rolls, ratamacues etc.) that are usually first taught while learning how to play the snare drum and later applied to the whole drum set especially during fills.

There are three main paradiddles, they can be written as (where L represents the left hand struck and R the right hand struck).

• RLRR LRLL
• RLLR LRRL
• RRLR LLRL

and they are usually repeated. The bold strokes indicate where the accent is usually played. Often (especially as a learning aid) these are varied by adding LRLR or RR/LL measures at different points, for example:

• the double paradiddle: LRLRLL RLRLRR
• triple paradiddle: LRLR LRLL RLRL RLRR
• paradiddlediddle: RLRRLL or LRLLRR

Another fairly common technique is to chain paradiddles to achieve different effects, for example chaining two measures of the first and two measures of the second produces

• RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL RLLR LRRL RLLR LRRL

note how the beat is displaced when transitioning to the second paradiddle.

Steve Reich used a melodic (not simply percussive) version of the paradiddle in his Phase Patterns.