NoteAtlas

PAS #15 · Roll rudiments

Seventeen Stroke Roll

17 main strokes over 5 beats. Read it, hear it, and slow it down until it is even.

RR LL RR LL RR LL RR LL R

Seventeen Stroke Roll in standard drum notation with sticking letters, right, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right44RRLLRRLLRRLLRRLLR

Capital letters are full strokes; small letters are the quiet grace notes of a flam or drag.

5-beat cycle · loops until you stop it · both hands on the snareStopped

What the seventeen stroke roll is

Eight double strokes resolving onto a single accent — the longest of the measured rolls on the PAS list, and a stamina test as much as a rudiment.

How to practice it

  • Eight doubles then the accent — the longest measured roll, so pace your energy.
  • Keep the stick heights low and identical; only the final stroke comes up.
  • Practice it slow and open first; as it speeds up it should become a smooth roll.

Where it leads

The seventeen stroke roll belongs to the roll rudiments family, and it feeds directly into concert snare rolls and the multiple bounce roll. 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.

Seventeen Stroke Roll drum notation
Seventeen Stroke Roll in standard drum notation — sticking RR LL RR LL RR LL RR LL R, notated on the snare line.

Rudiment data last updated . Every diagram here, in the printable PDF and in the chart image comes from one dataset, so the paper and the screen cannot disagree.