Quintuplets Drum Lesson 1

Here’s the first part of a series of lessons on 16th-note quintuplets, a group of five notes in the space of a quarter note.

We start with a warm-up playing quintuplets with an alternate sticking (RLRLR LRLRL) without accents, and the bass drum or left-foot hi-hat on quarter notes. The next step is to add accents, playing various combinations. We start slowly at 60 bpm, repeating each line at least four times. An additional, advanced way to practice the exercise is to play accents, adding flams and drags.

Once we have mastered the exercise, we can apply it to the drumset, playing accents on the toms and cymbals, or between the hi-hat and snare (right hand on the hi-hat, left hand on the snare).

The next section, called rolling in quintuplets, is useful for working on rolls, consisting of playing a diddle (32nd note) with various combinations (Fig. 2). The sticking is the same RLRLR LRLRL, but when we play a diddle, we use a double sticking: RR or LL. As a variation, we can play diddles with an alternate RL or LR sticking.

Here are two sticking variations: the first is a double-stroke roll, and the second is a paradiddle. Another additional sticking is the five-stroke roll: RRLLR LLRRL. When practicing these exercises with these stickings, it’s important to play quarter notes on the bass drum or hi-hat.

* white square: right hand, black square: left hand