Nine Stroke Roll

What the nine stroke roll is

Four double strokes resolving onto a single accented stroke — nine strokes filling two full beats before the accent. It is the standard way to roll into a downbeat, and the point at which double strokes have to be genuinely even, because eight of them in a row make any weak hand obvious. Count the sixteenths out loud while you play it so the accent lands exactly on the beat rather than wherever your hands finish.

How to practise it

• Two full beats of doubles before the accent, so count all eight sixteenths out loud. Losing count here is what makes the accent land early.
• Play just the eight doubles against the click first, with no accent, until they are dead even. Only then add the resolving stroke.
• If the roll accelerates, you are pushing. Set the metronome 20 BPM slower than feels necessary and let it feel too slow.
• Alternate the lead so you can roll into a downbeat starting with either hand.

Where it leads

The nine stroke roll belongs to the roll rudiments family, and it feeds directly into the eleven, thirteen, fifteen and seventeen stroke rolls, and long crescendo rolls. Get it even at a slow tempo before you move on — every rudiment built on top of it inherits whatever unevenness you leave here.

Reading the notation above

Both hands play the snare drum, so every notehead sits in the third space of the staff and the sticking letters underneath tell you which hand plays which note. Capital letters are full strokes; small letters are grace notes. There are no grace notes in this rudiment, so every note is a full stroke. The > marks above the staff are accents: hit those notes harder. Full details in the drum notation guide.