"Drum roll" - a drummer's rant

**GurnKiller** · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 2319 Location: Central NJ

Let me preface this post by saying I do not mean to come across as elitist in any way. I'm really a nice guy - ask Draktyr, Defiler, or TheBigBB. If I offend anyone or come off as condescending, I'm sincerely sorry, but I need to get this off my chest. I've been playing drums for 12 years, have a college degree in music performance (percussion), and have played in numerous rock/punk bands, jazz bands, marching bands, concert bands, and orchestras, and therefore consider myself very well educated in the area of drums and percussion. I've also taught many students on drumset, in marching bands, and on other percussion instruments.

Mods, if this post gets too "flame"y or you see it as unfit to be on these forums, than feel free to remove it. However, this is a forum for Technique, which I feel this belongs in.

/rant on

On these forums, the word "drum roll" seems to be thrown around pretty loosely. The common usage of the word here seems to be the patterns of fast notes, such as in the middle of Aerosmith's "Train Kept A-Rollin" or most of all of Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills".

A drum roll, as commonly used in the drum/percussion world, refers to a closed roll, or "buzz" roll. Taken from the Wikipedia article "drum roll":

**nfamouswun** · Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 11

i concur with you. i've played drums for 14 years. a great example you used is Cherub rock opening. as far as incorporating a closed roll into the game i can see it being like a held note on guitar.

**GurnKiller** · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 2319 Location: Central NJ

**Shortmann** · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 42 Location: Orion, Mi

I concur, granted, it's not annoying me that they are confusing drum terms, but you are 100% correct. 15 years of drumming here, while I'm not a music major, I have done marching band/drum line/pit and 8 years of percussion in school, and my drum set at home.

Anyways, tangent aside, I don't really think the drums are sensitive to pick up a proper buzz roll or even any time of roll. Especially considering the drums themselves don't give enough bounce to easily do a drum roll. RttH on Expert kills my wrists (granted, they are a bit out of practice compared to when I was still playing in band) and I try to do controlled bouncing with the sticks to ease help with stamina. If they were sensitive and bouncy enough, then that would probably make the game harder for people who have no stick control.

**saxuallyAPeasing** · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 2975

If you think that's bad then try to ignore how the word "triplet" is thrown around...
_________________

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**Topher** · Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 19 Location: Long Island, NY

Only 5 years experience of general percussion for me but I fully agree with you.

Funny thing is, while I still played I had a teacher try to convince me that a roll on Tympani was entirely single stroke. I eventually quit because he was too full of himself and couldn't deal with him.

**rhythmdev9** · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Cincinnati, OH

actually i disagree... i've played percussion for 17 years... a "roll" is not just a buzz roll but also an open roll... the 16th on some of these songs are open rolls and they are played on a drum therefor they are an drum roll...

**GurnKiller** · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 2319 Location: Central NJ

**rhythmdev9** · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 22 Location: Cincinnati, OH

your right about the buzz roll thing i guess its just a semanticas argument anyway...

i've been playing percussive key boards since high school... i did drum corps for a while mostly on marimba

**GurnKiller** · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 2319 Location: Central NJ

Oh, cool... which corps? Any of the Division I groups?

**de1337ed** · Joined: 27 Oct 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: JMU, VA

**wswsii** · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 123 Location: West Hills, CA

A response to your rant: You'll have to excuse all of scorehero who misinterpreted the section of Aerosmith's Train Kept On Rollin' section as the "Drum Roll" section for the reason that it is titled "Drum Roll".

You'll have to take your rant down to Harmonix if you want to be satisfied.

Edit: Okay I wasn't trying to be harsh or anything, so I'll clear this up before I get any retaliation. Thank you for providing some insight on what is technically a drum roll due to your sources. It is valuable information for anyone that does not know a lot about drums and the techniques used. I was merely pointing out the other side of the information.

**LOSTin2007** · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:17 am Post subject:

**ghozt360** · Joined: 02 Sep 2007 Posts: 248

**GurnKiller** · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 2319 Location: Central NJ