Now that you've mastered the double stroke pattern in triplet form we will step up to the next level. This lesson should sound exactly as lesson 1 and 2 did but with the exception of the pattern that the hands will be playing. You will be keeping the same triplet feel but instead you will be playing paradiddles instead of doubles. Repeat this measure over and over until you can continuously loop it smoothly without stopping.

Now you see that there are 8 places to start (8 triplet permutations) within this paradiddle-triplet pattern. You can start with any triplet you want in this pattern as long as you play through until you loop back around to the front of the pattern. Use the metronome, beginning slow, and gradually increasing the speed as you get better. Set the metronome to click where you see each bass drum note in the pattern above. Ocassionally you should switch back to single stroke triplets to remind yourself what you should be hearing. If your paradiddles don't sound very similar to what your single stroke triplets do, then you need to slow down until they do.

Now technically a paradiddle is two double strokes and two single strokes put together in one pattern. What is so great about this pattern is that it forces both hands to work equally together in order execute it smoothly. It also forces you to smoothly mix single strokes and double strokes together making this excercise very efficient. With this single excercise you will be doing all of the following:

This is one of my favorite excercises. It is a power packed excercise that is elegant and efficient, training you in several areas with one excercise. In the following video I'm playing the continuous paradiddle rudiment in triplet time. I begin accenting every other triplet with the bass drum.