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In 1933 a group of drummers got together at the American Legion’s national convention in Chicago and did something bass players have never really done.
They agreed on a list.
The 26 standard drum rudiments
They called themselves the National Association of Rudimental Drummers. They picked 13 essential rudiments, then 13 more, for a standard list of 26. These are short sticking patterns like the flam, the single stroke roll and the single paradiddle, the kind every drummer learns and drills until the hands can do them without thinking. If you wanted to join, you had to play the 13 essentials in front of a member.
Most of it goes back to military drumming. The list grew out of the patterns military drummers needed for camp duty, the drum calls of the Civil War era, and some of the founders had studied with Civil War veterans.
That list stayed the American standard for half a century. In 1984 the Percussive Arts Society added 14 more to make 40, and the original 26 are still in there.
It’s a big part of how drummers get fast in a way the rest of us don’t. They build speed by drilling the right pattern until the hands stop needing the brain.
Bass players drill the wrong hand
Bass players mostly do the opposite. We try to get fast with the left hand. We run scales up and down, stretch, do finger gymnastics, and wonder why the wall doesn’t move.
We assume speed comes from the left hand because the left hand is playing the notes. It actually comes from the right hand, and especially for eighth notes, it comes from alternating. Most left hands I see look good. When a fast line stutters, it’s usually because the player has been paying attention to the left hand and not the right.
The drummers had the answer the whole time.
Drum paradiddles on upright bass
One drill I use comes straight out of that drum world, and on upright it works freakishly well.
Call your first finger “right” and your middle finger “left.” Now the drummer’s right, right, left, left becomes one, one, two, two. Left, left, right, left becomes two, two, one, two.
- Pick a scale. Take the F major scale and play it right, right, left, left: one, one, two, two.
- Switch patterns. Try right, right, left, right, or left, left, right, left. That last one is tough to do fast, because you have to do two, two, one, two.
- Play the speed game. See how fast you can do it. Then see if you can do it even faster.
- Keep it short and daily. Ten minutes a day on a few major scales.
It sounds boring. But with practice, you’ll develop the dexterity to alternate and use your right hand to create speed. There are two more right-hand drills in three right hand drills for upright bass speed.
Pick one pattern tonight and drill it until your hand doesn’t need your brain. Then pick the next one.
Go deeper
The 15 Minute Warmup for Upright Bass
An 11-exercise daily warmup for upright bass with Simandl-correct fingerings.
