Eleven Stroke Roll

Learn How To Play The Eleven Stroke Roll

The eleven stroke roll is based almost entirely on double strokes, except that it ends with a single to complete the odd-note group. This drum rudiment's structure is very similar to the five stroke roll, seven stroke roll, and nine stroke roll. If you've already practiced those patterns, this will be very straight forward. Here is how the rudiment is written out in drum notation:

As you can see, this rudiment starts with five alternating groups of double strokes, and then ends with a single. You can practice it with both right and left hand leads. Focus on keeping the double strokes even and in time, as that will make the entire pattern flow much better.

Eleven Stroke Roll - Drum Set Exercises

Here is a drum beat that makes use of the eleven stroke roll:

This final pattern features a drum fill that incorporates the eleven stroke roll:

Once you are done practicing this drum rudiment, you can move on to the thirteen stroke roll. Alternatively, you can browse back to the drum rudiments page and pick a random lesson that appeals to you.

Learn how to play all 40 drum rudiments with the Drumming System by Mike Michalkow!