Hot Licks Throwback: Paradiddle Grooves

Many drummers practice paradiddles for hand development, and paradiddles are obviously important in rudimental-style drumming. But paradiddles also have many drumset applications. We will start with a paradiddle grove that can be used for funk. First, make sure you are comfortable with the paradiddle sticking pattern. For now, play it without any accents.

Next, put a bass drum pulse underneath.

Keep the left hand on the snare drum, but play the right-hand on a closed hi-hat.Next, put a bass drum pulse underneath.

Accent the 2 and 4 on the snare drum.

Make a bigger difference between the left-hand notes by playing the unaccented notes as ghost notes.

That can work as a funk groove. Of course, depending on the tune, you can change the bass drum pattern.

Now we’re going to “re-orchestrate” that same groove to make it sound “Latin-ish.” First, move the right hand to the ride-cymbal bell.

Play the bass drum on 1 and 3 and use the hi-hat pedal for 2 and 4.

Now, play the left-hand double strokes on a tom-tom. (Don’t ghost them.)

Finally, play the single left-hand notes as cross-stick notes on the snare drum. (You can play the double notes on the tom with the butt end of the stick.)

Again, you can change the bass drum part to accommodate different tunes. This is certainly not an “authentic” Latin beat, but it can work for Latin-rock or Latin-jazz tunes that just need a Latin flavor.