Improving Your Double Stroke Rolls 

Agreed! The BEST no BS content on the web!

I would love Ricky to slow down to Basic when showing these strokes. He is a brilliant technician though.

I'm getting close to my 70th trip around the sun and what I would offer is simply daily practice. And push yourself in different ways but always do a "technique check" by slowing things down to make sure you're not fudging anything and that your motions remain consistent, correct and comfortable. Increase the tempo slightly in small increments at first and keep increasing little by little till you can no longer execute cleanly. Then back off to where you can. I also have found it useful, when I'm having difficulty executing something, to stop and evaluate where I might be experiencing tension since that's what's typically preventing me from good clean execution. It's not always in one of the limbs that you'd think was the obvious culprit and more often than not, it's in a completely different body part like the neck or even the face. Learn to identify these stress points and concentrate on "letting go." As we age we begin to feel more stress points since we often overcompensate for something. Aside from that, kick the booze, smokes, substances if you haven't already, get out for daily walks and maintain a decent diet of healthy foods. Keep up with your doctor appointments and if you have been prescribed meds, make sure you keep on your daily schedule. Try to maintain the child-like wonder at the process of making music too. It goes a long way in making you feel young. 😁

Thanks So Much, Gary… I appreciate you taking the time and for all of your tips. 🙏🤩🕺🏽😊

The last note is a continuation of the underlying 16th note rhythm I am playing throughout. Please see the answer I posted to another question here that might help you understand the exercise.

@@rickdior Got it! For some reason, I thought you were hitting 3 strokes per accent with each hand (on the two-handed diddle exercise). I slowed down the video and saw they're actually diddles like you said. Thanks for clarifying!

All of the written rhythms are played with two 32nd notes instead of the 1 written note. Those 32nd notes are played as doubles.

@@rickdior Just to make sure that I understand... The metronome is clicking on the 8th notes? If that is the case should your count in be 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and rather that 1234? Thanks

@@rickdior Thanks. Yes, I understand that, but the main thrust of my question actually concerns the notes that aren't played as 32nd notes, i.e. the notes that aren't part of the written exercise. Do you play them as 8th notes as you mentioned at the beginning? Sorry if my question seems inane or stupid but I'd like to work on these and I just want to make sure I understand how they should be played. Thanks.

I've just stumbled upon this video. The notes in-between the diddles are played as 16th notes; Rick stated this in the video description. Great exercise, looking forward to trying this. Thanks Rick 🙂