As a recovering bassist - now drummer - I experienced this phenomenon a couple of times. The wisdom and skills aren't always where we look first, sometimes they're in places where few would even bother to look. I even made a huge leap in a video game because I was grinding the fine mechanics in my hands like crazy to improve my double strokes, and for some reason that translated directly to my controller. A lovely reminder to go through life with eyes and mind open. Hope you're having a lovely day full of music!
As a completely raw, adult beginner, this is soooo helpful. I have asked several folks how to do a roll and I think many do not remember what it was like, "not to know how". Most of the time I get told, "well you just do this" and their hands fly at a 100 mph and I am no better off or closer to understanding. This video explains what "This" is. Thank you. Now comes practice time, but at least I know what I'm reaching for.
The way you present information, with both simplified imagery and a short demonstrative video is amazing. Not to mention, you seem chill as hell too. That's an instant subscription from me, dawg.
guys who are in your grade cant even hold sticks properly so its really cool that your going above and beyond to putting real time into your craft! High school percussion is going to be even more fun with marching season so i recommend finding a main in either marching battery or front ensemble, go check out vic firths learn the music series where they do videos of drum breaks from diffrent corps. My first one i watched was cadets demonic thesis on snare
hi! im agreeing with south geek down below. im an adult getting back on " the skins". i am self taught, from decades ago. i never took a lesson until last year. i did learn things so that was good. but im on you tube a lot, & i realized what he taught me is on you tube. then i found You. i always wondered how they did that. & just like the comment below, now i know what "this " is. that goes for the pull push thing for doubles too. altho i say throw grab. lol.. im glad someone on here is breaking things down. i need visual, explanation, & slow motion. i need to see it slowly, so i can actually see what the hand is doing. thank you so much for taking the time to help we drummers!! & there's another comment below here about a kid having to play the anthem. i know you made him feel like a million bucks!!!!
imma need to practice my rolling cuz even tho its been a yr, i still cant do this buzz rolling but the normal roll. and when i do it on the snare drum, my senior complains to me saying that that is not the way to do rolling. and i went "yall nvr teach me the proper way of rolling how ik?" but i think this video is sure to help me in my buzz rolling!!! u explain well!!!!
Hahaha I play French horn and I'm trying to join percussion, because I have always wanted to play the quad/tenor, I've always had a passion to listen and play the drums, thank you for making this video
I'm in an air cadet band and just started snare, the one thing I need to work on is rolls and this video, even just watched once, is already helping. Thank you :)
Thanks for this gourmet instruction! As a self taught drummer, it's always fascinating to figure out like 90 percent of the way, but then finding someone like you who can boost me the rest of the way. So, I guess I'm not really self taught actually. 😄 Now it's practice time! Thank you!
I love this lesson, helps me so much to grasp this technique way better!! It's a huge challenge for me to finally get this buzz roll going... you offered a great help, thanks Rob! :)
I’ve only ever been able to practice this when I was using a rented studio with a proper concert snare. The one my school orchestra uses is extremely old and the snare sound is barely there anymore. I put in a request for some new instruments based off of my instructor’s recommendations, but I don’t think it’s coming in anytime soon :’)
Brilliant! Deconstruct, isolate, reassemble... your tutorial is very inspiring; thanks for creating and posting it. I am going to apply your approach and master the closed roll. Thanks for the expert guidance! -Robert
lol too funny! these buzz rolls are tricky. i'm 6o, self taught & iv never done them before. i'm getting the hang of it. i started these things a couple weeks ago. i started finding my sweet spot yesterday. won't be long now. LMAO you can do this son! & because i'm speaking from the future, & this is in the past, I'm sure you knocked em dead.!!
great its helped me develop my smoothness.,after playing for many years he really breaks it down so many teachers do not show this . So will over the next week increase the technique and speed.
Thanks for all of those great hints! I naturally found out about some of them - but you connected some dots for me. I.e. practis the way you practised open Rolls ... slowly make them longer. Again, thanks!
rob knopper I think I just might have gotten a good enough version that I practice it and not get frustrated but that took my like three days almost four hours straight rip me
My roles never sounds quite like this, but I’m not giving up. I want to be able to play ‘Johnny Blade’ by Black Sabbath and ‘Gotta Get Some Action’ by The Hellacopters!
Thanks - this is a very clear and helpful video! Just one thing: how do you actually get each buzz to stop dying away? If you increase the pressure or tighten the grip you just get more a dense buzz or simply crush it. The only way I know is to go sideways towards the centre of the drum and keep the initial smoke as really low - but you're managing it without doing this...!!
The best buzz rolls in have ever heard are by willie hall isaac hayes drummer on the intro to Stranger in paradise and the Funky drummer on the Popcorn instrumental song, they sound like brushes being dragged on the drum head
Buzz rolls were instrumental to the big band movement and earlier, going back to the early 20th century. Here's Baby Dodds doing press rolls around 1:30, in 1946: ua-cam.com/video/plfshlhD_BY/v-deo.html. Here's him talking specifically about the technique: ua-cam.com/video/H4vxILobuB0/v-deo.html (don't know what year). Ignoring that, Capriccio Espagnol was written ever so slightly earlier than the 1960s, and features the technique about as prominently as it gets in the 4th movement (see e.g. a 1958 recording here: ua-cam.com/video/O1kn6WI4Wlg/v-deo.html, starts around 7:15).
Nice tutorial Rob. I might add that some percussionists tend to ''forget'' easily, about the roll quality, either because they think they got it soon in their training (so why bother working to perfect it), or because they didn't get to learn it properly in the first place. That leads to some awful sounding performances (there are some here in YT too, and those guys are apparently good, it's not that they can't play the snare, but their roll sounds uneven or falsely accented. Sometimes, the reason is obvious, bad choice of feel/density. They either go too fast, creating a ''choked'' and forced sound, or they go too slow, and it lacks consistency and even flow.
Thanks-nice even technique. I have trouble controlling one hand - the stick goes all over the place much more so that the other. So I am thinking of cutting it off, and taking a clipping of the other hand and planting it there to grow a new identical one. Haha..... Well, it was a thought anyway! :)
Awesome video! I was thinking that you should make a video on how to do rebound strokes cause that would be really cool and will probably help a lot of percussionists out there including me
Wow! Really great video. Sounds and looks great. Loved the visual aids; simple yet highly illustrative. I just started on snare drum a few months ago and it's a three steps forward two steps back kind of process but I'm really enjoying it. I'm playing snare on a piece for my community symphonic band and at this point I'm in over my head: it's a piece with nothing but long emotional pp to ff snare rolls and I am nowhere near skilled enough to execute them yet. *sweats profusely* But now I have something to work on other than repeating crappy rolls for extended periods of time! :D
cool! i'm so glad that this gives you ideas on how to make your buzz rolls smoother. i'll be doing even more stuff in the next few weeks, especially on snare drum technique practice and warming up. some of it is only going up on instagram, so make sure to follow me there.
Excellent Rob! I'm just a dude messing around at home on a drum kit, nothing classical, but this was very helpful in identifying where all the issues are and what to work on. Thanks!
Great Video! I'm right handed when I write so, I'm primarily more controlled in the buzz and release in my right hand. My stick sometimes loosens up in the left hand of the pocket as If I'm not holding it right when I am. How can I break this habit to gain better control of the left hand?
I have an audition in one month and one of my set pieces require me to play the snare, which I have never touched. I’m only meeting my teacher 4 weeks later because he’s overseas and I don’t have access to any snare for four weeks either, any tips you can give me to help me? I’m rewatching this videos over and over again to see if I can slowly improve while thinking upon these tips
You may have figured this out by now, but it's all in the grip. You need the grip to be both firm and loose at the same time. Your pointer and middle finger are fairly firm against the thumb while the other fingers control how much freedom the stick has. It's super important that you don't let any tension enter your hand. It will ruin both your sound (by adding inconsistencies) and it will ruin your longevity. A good place to start with rebounds is doing a regular stroke, but just as the stick hits the head, let go with all your fingers, except your pointer (but don't apply any force with it, it's only a balance point). This will help you get a feel for how the stick should move in your hands. From there you just mess around with different types of pressure in your back fingers. Try to find a youtube video on rebounds. It will be a lot easier to understand from seeing than it is from reading.
Great video! I am audition soon and im playing the 4th movement of capriccio espaniol and i was wondering how much pressure i should be applying with my thumb? My buzzes sound solid, but i get tired quickly because im applying so much pressure to the stick with my thumb, is this wrong? Thanks in advance!
Hi Rob, Hey,, I find your snare videos really inspiring-- Can you reveal what kind of Mike/camera set up you're using--- my assumption is that your microphone and camera are two separate units in these vids,, am I wrong?-- Thanks so much for your work and any response you might give,, I've also been rewatching the Sopranos!!
bruh i gotta perform the national anthem tomorrow at a football game and I'm finna be the only one rolling and I wanna cry ty for the video
Ik this old but how did it go
SWEAR IM SO BAD AT IT TOO OH MY LORD
I have to play snare for the first time tommorrow for our Christmas concert and I’m also the only one rolling. I’m right there with ya.
hiow did it go
Plz come back and let us know 😭
It's so satisfying watching someone who can articulate what they're trying to teach. Yesssss
IKR😂
As a violinist, I did not expect it, but this video proved to be very useful for smooth bow changes and string crossings 🙂
As a recovering bassist - now drummer - I experienced this phenomenon a couple of times. The wisdom and skills aren't always where we look first, sometimes they're in places where few would even bother to look. I even made a huge leap in a video game because I was grinding the fine mechanics in my hands like crazy to improve my double strokes, and for some reason that translated directly to my controller. A lovely reminder to go through life with eyes and mind open. Hope you're having a lovely day full of music!
in years of teaching research i havent found a material as clear as this regarding the closed roll. bravo.
Greetings from Uruguay
thank you so much, mike!!!
As a completely raw, adult beginner, this is soooo helpful. I have asked several folks how to do a roll and I think many do not remember what it was like, "not to know how". Most of the time I get told, "well you just do this" and their hands fly at a 100 mph and I am no better off or closer to understanding. This video explains what "This" is. Thank you. Now comes practice time, but at least I know what I'm reaching for.
I’ve been playing percussion for 5 years and I still mess up on my rolls lmfao
New drummer here. I have no idea how to do this yet or even the basics of this, but I can tell you know what you are doing. Thanks.
MixingGBP thanks!! i hope these exercises can help you out.
Its been 2 years ago, i think you can do more than that now
@SQUEEZEY what the fuck?
Drum corps will humble you. You need it
@SQUEEZEY Nobody asked. Break a stick
I just learned how to do a buzz roll in my drum lesson this week, and your video is helping to iron out getting them to transition smoothly!
The way you present information, with both simplified imagery and a short demonstrative video is amazing. Not to mention, you seem chill as hell too. That's an instant subscription from me, dawg.
As a sixth grader who is struggling with this in band camp, I thank you!
guys who are in your grade cant even hold sticks properly so its really cool that your going above and beyond to putting real time into your craft! High school percussion is going to be even more fun with marching season so i recommend finding a main in either marching battery or front ensemble, go check out vic firths learn the music series where they do videos of drum breaks from diffrent corps. My first one i watched was cadets demonic thesis on snare
At least you aren't a 7th grader struggling to play roll for MPA. Basically a music EOG which os graded by judges
hi! im agreeing with south geek down below. im an adult getting back on " the skins". i am self taught, from decades ago. i never took a lesson until last year. i did learn things so that was good. but im on you tube a lot, & i realized what he taught me is on you tube. then i found You. i always wondered how they did that. & just like the comment below, now i know what "this " is. that goes for the pull push thing for doubles too. altho i say throw grab. lol.. im glad someone on here is breaking things down. i need visual, explanation, & slow motion. i need to see it slowly, so i can actually see what the hand is doing. thank you so much for taking the time to help we drummers!! & there's another comment below here about a kid having to play the anthem. i know you made him feel like a million bucks!!!!
You're AWESOME! Self-taught, I've been trying to better my buzz rolls. Now, by the end of your video, I am already getting it. Thank you!
Great explanation. Even calling it a "buzzroll" is helpful. Got the theory. Off to practise.
I teach myself. That was ultra-lucid. Cheers Rob.
imma need to practice my rolling cuz even tho its been a yr, i still cant do this buzz rolling but the normal roll. and when i do it on the snare drum, my senior complains to me saying that that is not the way to do rolling. and i went "yall nvr teach me the proper way of rolling how ik?" but i think this video is sure to help me in my buzz rolling!!! u explain well!!!!
Hahaha I play French horn and I'm trying to join percussion, because I have always wanted to play the quad/tenor, I've always had a passion to listen and play the drums, thank you for making this video
of course! have fun getting started with your buzz rolls. let me know if there's another video that would be useful for you at some point.
His videos are done so well and the information is so valuable
thank you seth!!
I'm in an air cadet band and just started snare, the one thing I need to work on is rolls and this video, even just watched once, is already helping. Thank you :)
awesome! so glad to hear that it's helpful.
Gosh. Im a newbie and I learned this (after a lot of practicing) on around a week! Bravo
Thanks for this gourmet instruction! As a self taught drummer, it's always fascinating to figure out like 90 percent of the way, but then finding someone like you who can boost me the rest of the way. So, I guess I'm not really self taught actually. 😄 Now it's practice time! Thank you!
I love this lesson, helps me so much to grasp this technique way better!! It's a huge challenge for me to finally get this buzz roll going... you offered a great help, thanks Rob! :)
Ooh, man!! That's cool!, I like how do you play the snare drum.
thanks juan!! and thanks for watching!
Clear and concise tutorial. My buzzes are pretty good on my right hand but a slop show on the left - time to watch some TV with the ol practice pad.
I’ve only ever been able to practice this when I was using a rented studio with a proper concert snare. The one my school orchestra uses is extremely old and the snare sound is barely there anymore. I put in a request for some new instruments based off of my instructor’s recommendations, but I don’t think it’s coming in anytime soon :’)
Brilliant! Deconstruct, isolate, reassemble... your tutorial is very inspiring; thanks for creating and posting it. I am going to apply your approach and master the closed roll. Thanks for the expert guidance! -Robert
thank you so much for the kind words robert! good luck with these exercises - let me know if you have any questions.
Great video.
I start rehearsals for La Gazza Ladra next week and the first 6 bars are giving me nightmares.
lol too funny! these buzz rolls are tricky. i'm 6o, self taught & iv never done them before. i'm getting the hang of it. i started these things a couple weeks ago. i started finding my sweet spot yesterday. won't be long now. LMAO you can do this son! & because i'm speaking from the future, & this is in the past, I'm sure you knocked em dead.!!
great its helped me develop my smoothness.,after playing for many years he really breaks it down so many teachers do not show this .
So will over the next week increase the technique and speed.
Great video for players working to improve their roll quality.
Thanks for all of those great hints! I naturally found out about some of them - but you connected some dots for me. I.e. practis the way you practised open Rolls ... slowly make them longer. Again, thanks!
Great video, excellent presentation and explanation. Thanks for this! Greetings from Chile!
First time I see and listen to a proper explanation, thanx a lot. 👍🏼👍🏼💪🏼💪🏼
brilliant! comprehensive strategy with clear explanations and exercise ideas. Well done.
thanks for the kind words!! and of course, thanks for watching!
screaming inside because you didn't get any of it even tho you know you don't learn something within a day especially a new drummer
haha awww that's ok! keep doing it every day.
rob knopper I think I just might have gotten a good enough version that I practice it and not get frustrated but that took my like three days almost four hours straight rip me
@@atelophob_ia How's your buzz role 3 years later?
@@atelophob_ia and three years after that?
Thank you so much!
Greetings from Mexico City!!!
helloooo!!! thanks for watching!!
This approach is different from what I use and teach, but it clearly works. I’m gonna give it a go! Thanks for all the great stuff.
This is a very well done video. Thank you for such a lucid demonstration of the elements and how to put them together.
This is great !!
Thank you !!
My roles never sounds quite like this, but I’m not giving up. I want to be able to play ‘Johnny Blade’ by Black Sabbath and ‘Gotta Get Some Action’ by The Hellacopters!
"Alright....I can do this."
*manages to stab self in eye*
It's so incredibly cool to learn from someone who has such a reflective and experienced view on technique build-up, thank you for the great videos!
so glad to be helpful even, thank you for watching!!!
Thanks - this is a very clear and helpful video! Just one thing: how do you actually get each buzz to stop dying away? If you increase the pressure or tighten the grip you just get more a dense buzz or simply crush it. The only way I know is to go sideways towards the centre of the drum and keep the initial smoke as really low - but you're managing it without doing this...!!
Love the way you're explaining this. Good work
Very helpful
The best buzz rolls in have ever heard are by willie hall isaac hayes drummer on the intro to Stranger in paradise and the Funky drummer on the Popcorn instrumental song, they sound like brushes being dragged on the drum head
Good video There was no such thing as a buzz roll when I learned snare back in the 60s I have to learn myself to teach my students Thanks
hm, cool. i didn't realize it was a new technique.
Buzz rolls were instrumental to the big band movement and earlier, going back to the early 20th century. Here's Baby Dodds doing press rolls around 1:30, in 1946: ua-cam.com/video/plfshlhD_BY/v-deo.html. Here's him talking specifically about the technique: ua-cam.com/video/H4vxILobuB0/v-deo.html (don't know what year).
Ignoring that, Capriccio Espagnol was written ever so slightly earlier than the 1960s, and features the technique about as prominently as it gets in the 4th movement (see e.g. a 1958 recording here: ua-cam.com/video/O1kn6WI4Wlg/v-deo.html, starts around 7:15).
I did not think there was this much to a buzz roll godam
i didn't think there was this much to any roll. lmao !! drums are way more technical than anyone knows. i LOVE em!! what a blast.
This is so great! Thank you for posting
Thanks so much for this!! I had to look around for a matched grip one!! I appreciate it
Amanda Gardner so glad it was helpful!!
awesome vid!! thanks
Can u go more into the hand technique ur using to get a crescendo for each buzz?
can you do a video on how to get and keep even hands on snare drum?
Keegan Vaughan yes that's a great idea!!
This is very helpful. Thanks!
Nice tutorial Rob. I might add that some percussionists tend to ''forget'' easily, about the roll quality, either because they think they got it soon in their training (so why bother working to perfect it), or because they didn't get to learn it properly in the first place. That leads to some awful sounding performances (there are some here in YT too, and those guys are apparently good, it's not that they can't play the snare, but their roll sounds uneven or falsely accented. Sometimes, the reason is obvious, bad choice of feel/density. They either go too fast, creating a ''choked'' and forced sound, or they go too slow, and it lacks consistency and even flow.
Great insight thanks for sharing
Fantastic lesson very much appreciated!!
Excellent, thank you!
Gonna start working on em soon!
Thanks-nice even technique. I have trouble controlling one hand - the stick goes all over the place much more so that the other. So I am thinking of cutting it off, and taking a clipping of the other hand and planting it there to grow a new identical one.
Haha..... Well, it was a thought anyway! :)
hahahaaa that's a strategy i have not attempted. may want to check with your doctor first.
Great analysis. Thank you!
swhall72 thanks for watching!!
thanks for sharing it's a real help
of course! thanks for watching :-D
Nice exercise! It is a detailed video for close roll! Thanks for sharing!厉害！
Excellent, and original video man...thank you
thanks for watching!!
Awesome video! I was thinking that you should make a video on how to do rebound strokes cause that would be really cool and will probably help a lot of percussionists out there including me
Austin Choi yes! great idea. rebound strokes and double bounce roll videos... coming up.
Keep up the good work. Appreciate you putting this up. As an educator, I can say this will be very useful for my percussion students.
thank you so much for the kind words! i will keep putting stuff up :-)
This is great. Thank YOU!!! Cheers!
Perfect. That's the explanation i looked for
Great help....thank you!
of course! thanks for checking it out.
buenísimo!!!
Great lesson
Thanks for watching? Thank YOU for putting out this great video!
Great video, very informative!
Enjoying UA-cam
Great job
Wow! Really great video. Sounds and looks great. Loved the visual aids; simple yet highly illustrative. I just started on snare drum a few months ago and it's a three steps forward two steps back kind of process but I'm really enjoying it. I'm playing snare on a piece for my community symphonic band and at this point I'm in over my head: it's a piece with nothing but long emotional pp to ff snare rolls and I am nowhere near skilled enough to execute them yet. *sweats profusely* But now I have something to work on other than repeating crappy rolls for extended periods of time! :D
cool! i'm so glad that this gives you ideas on how to make your buzz rolls smoother. i'll be doing even more stuff in the next few weeks, especially on snare drum technique practice and warming up. some of it is only going up on instagram, so make sure to follow me there.
Great video!
Thank you for this. It really helped me out a lot. New sub 💞
Excellent Rob! I'm just a dude messing around at home on a drum kit, nothing classical, but this was very helpful in identifying where all the issues are and what to work on. Thanks!
glad it was helpful. have fun practicing!!
GREAT LESSON
This dude is like a more approachable Steve Albini
WOW THIS REALLY HELLPED!!? ❤️❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭😭😭😭😁
Great 🥁
This is great👍👍
nice
Great Video! I'm right handed when I write so, I'm primarily more controlled in the buzz and release in my right hand. My stick sometimes loosens up in the left hand of the pocket as If I'm not holding it right when I am. How can I break this habit to gain better control of the left hand?
thank u bro!
What is laying down on your drum (the Black one) and how hard is your snare drum tuned ans how loose are you wires?
That’s a mute
I have an audition in one month and one of my set pieces require me to play the snare, which I have never touched. I’m only meeting my teacher 4 weeks later because he’s overseas and I don’t have access to any snare for four weeks either, any tips you can give me to help me? I’m rewatching this videos over and over again to see if I can slowly improve while thinking upon these tips
This is the only roll I can do.
Idk how I can’t double or single stroke roll but can do this.
How do you make the stick do the buzzing sound?
You may have figured this out by now, but it's all in the grip. You need the grip to be both firm and loose at the same time. Your pointer and middle finger are fairly firm against the thumb while the other fingers control how much freedom the stick has. It's super important that you don't let any tension enter your hand. It will ruin both your sound (by adding inconsistencies) and it will ruin your longevity. A good place to start with rebounds is doing a regular stroke, but just as the stick hits the head, let go with all your fingers, except your pointer (but don't apply any force with it, it's only a balance point). This will help you get a feel for how the stick should move in your hands. From there you just mess around with different types of pressure in your back fingers.
Try to find a youtube video on rebounds. It will be a lot easier to understand from seeing than it is from reading.
Beauty, great stuff!
oh thank you!!!
That's a nice snare BTW
thank you!!
Im a beginner and i learned how to do the roll and im just tryna see if im doing it right
Great video! I am audition soon and im playing the 4th movement of capriccio espaniol and i was wondering how much pressure i should be applying with my thumb? My buzzes sound solid, but i get tired quickly because im applying so much pressure to the stick with my thumb, is this wrong? Thanks in advance!
Mike Dawson sent me here!
Hi Rob, Hey,, I find your snare videos really inspiring-- Can you reveal what kind of Mike/camera set up you're using--- my assumption is that your microphone and camera are two separate units in these vids,, am I wrong?-- Thanks so much for your work and any response you might give,, I've also been rewatching the Sopranos!!
so when should you know if the snare rolls are denser or not?
Devourment type beat
HOW DO U BUZZ IN GENERAL LIKE WHAT IS THAT SOUND I CATN DO IT
That slow mo though...
Jeezus its sounds like a fucking machine gun lol
thanks!!!