Drum Roll Types: Single, Double, Buzz and Press
"Drum roll" is four different techniques sharing one name, and drummers who do not know which one they are being asked for will practise the wrong thing for months. A single-stroke roll, a double-stroke roll, and a buzz roll sound nothing alike and are used in completely different places.
The short answer
Four types, distinguished by how the strokes are produced.
Single stroke roll: alternating hands, one stroke each — R L R L. Clean and distinct at slow tempo, gradually blending into a continuous sound as it speeds up.
Double stroke roll: each hand plays two strokes — R R L L. Uses the stick's bounce for the second stroke. The standard rudimental roll.
Buzz roll: each hand plays many tiny strokes with the stick pressed lightly into the head. Sounds like a sustained hiss rather than individual notes. Also called a multiple bounce roll.
Press roll: a buzz roll played with the stick pressed harder into the head for a denser, more aggressive sound. Common in orchestral and marching writing.
Same beat, four textures. Choosing the wrong one is the most common roll mistake.
Single stroke roll
The simplest and the most useful for general playing. Two hands alternate, one stroke each.
Sound: at slow tempo, distinct alternating notes. At fast tempo, a smooth even buzz. The transition is gradual and there is no clear boundary — it becomes a continuous sound somewhere around 160 to 200 BPM in sixteenths depending on the player.
Where it is used: fills, drumline passages, and any time a roll needs to be clean and articulate. It is also the most common fill-ending in rock and pop, covered in drum fills.
How to practise it: alternating sixteenths on a pad at 60 BPM, both hands at identical volume. The limiting factor is almost never speed, it is evenness — stick control exercises covers the drill.
Double stroke roll
Each hand plays two strokes. The second stroke should come from the rebound, not from a second wrist motion.
Sound: slightly thicker than a single stroke roll at the same tempo, because each hand is producing two notes. The classic rudimental roll sound.
Where it is used: marching percussion, orchestral snare writing, and any rudimental context. It is one of the forty standard rudiments.
The critical detail: a double that is played as two separate strokes is not a double stroke roll, it is a fast single stroke roll with bad technique. The distinction matters because the bounce-driven double is what makes higher speeds possible, and it depends entirely on rebound control.
Diagnostic: play one double slowly and watch the stick. If the second note is produced by the stick returning to the top and coming down again under its own wrist motion, it is a forced double. If the stick makes contact twice during one downward motion, it is correct.
Buzz roll
Also called a multiple bounce roll or a closed roll. The stick is held loosely enough that it bounces many times per stroke, producing a dense sustained sound.
Sound: a hiss or a sheet of sound rather than distinct notes. It is the roll that orchestral players use for sustained notes, and the one most drummers mean when they say "roll" in a concert band context.
Where it is used: orchestral and wind ensemble writing, sustained crescendos, and any context where the roll needs to sound continuous rather than counted. Full technique is in the buzz roll.
The key variable: how much pressure the hand applies. Too little and the bounces are too sparse and the sound is thin; too much and the stick stops bouncing entirely.
Press roll
A buzz roll with more pressure, producing a tighter, more forceful sound.
Sound: denser and harder than a buzz roll. It reads as a rhythmic accent rather than a texture.
Where it is used: marching percussion for accents and attacks, and orchestral passages where the composer wants weight rather than shimmer.
The difference from a buzz roll is purely the amount of downward pressure at the moment of contact. It is a continuum, not a distinct technique, and players move between them constantly.
Choosing the right one
The decision is usually made for you by the musical context.
Fill at the end of a rock chorus: single stroke roll. Clarity matters.
Sustained note under a concert band melody: buzz roll. Continuity matters.
Rudimental solo or drumline: double stroke roll. It is the idiom.
Marching accent: press roll.
A useful rule of thumb: if the roll needs to be counted, it is a single or double stroke roll. If it needs to be sustained, it is a buzz or press roll. The two families are not interchangeable and the mistake is immediately audible.
Building an even roll from scratch
Whatever the type, the method is the same and it starts slow.
Step one: singles at 60 BPM, both hands even, for two weeks. Nothing else. Evenness first.
Step two: doubles at 60 BPM, bounce-driven, both hands. Watch for the forced double.
Step three: singles to 100 BPM. At this point the individual strokes start to blur.
Step four: the half-time approach to buzz. Press the stick lightly into the pad and let it bounce many times. Feel how little input is needed.
Step five: the transition. Play a single stroke roll at increasing tempo until the strokes blend, then switch to a buzz roll at the same tempo and try to match the sound. The goal is that a listener cannot hear the switch.
That last exercise is the one that teaches the most, because it forces you to understand that both rolls are trying to produce the same continuous sound by different means.
The most common roll mistakes
Practising the buzz roll before the single stroke roll. The buzz is easier and it teaches nothing about evenness. Do the singles first.
Forcing the double stroke. The second note is pushed rather than bounced, which caps the tempo and sounds uneven.
Too much pressure in the buzz. The stick stops bouncing, the sound becomes a series of thuds, and no amount of speed helps.
Practising rolls fast. A roll played at 200 BPM with uneven hands is not a fast roll, it is a loud mess. The tempo a roll can be played at is set by how slowly you practised it.
::: callout
The counterintuitive part: the four roll types are usually taught as separate techniques to be learned one after another, and they are really one technique under different amounts of pressure and speed. A single stroke roll and a buzz roll converge at high tempo — the singles blur into a continuous sound and start to resemble the buzz. That is why the most useful exercise is to speed up one until it becomes the other, and it is also why drummers who learn them as four unrelated tricks never manage the transition.
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Where rolls appear in real music
Fills. The single stroke roll is the default fill-ending in rock and pop, and drum fills covers the surrounding vocabulary.
Sustained notes. Concert band and orchestral parts use buzz rolls wherever a note is held.
Rudimental playing. All four appear in the standard rudiments, listed in drum rudiments.
Drumline. Press rolls and double stroke rolls are the foundation of marching snare writing.
Notation. Rolls are written differently depending on type — a slash through the stem for a roll, and specific symbols for buzz versus measured rolls. The symbols are covered in drum notation symbols.
::: verdict
Pick one roll and own it: on a pad at 60 BPM, play alternating sixteenths for two minutes, then double strokes for two minutes, then a light buzz for one minute. Five minutes a day for a month will give you a usable single and double stroke roll. Choose which one your music actually needs before you spend the month.
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Frequently asked questions
The questions readers send us most about drum roll.
Four: the single stroke roll (alternating hands, RLRR-style alternation), the double stroke roll (two strokes per hand, bounce-driven), the buzz or multiple bounce roll (many tiny bounces producing a sustained sound), and the press roll (a buzz roll with more pressure).
Only the amount of pressure applied to the stick at the moment of contact. A press roll presses harder, producing a denser and more forceful sound; a buzz roll is lighter and produces a hiss. They sit on a continuum rather than being distinct techniques.
Start with alternating singles at 60 BPM and refuse to increase the tempo until both hands are identically loud. Evenness is built at slow tempos and cannot be fixed later — the most common reason rolls sound uneven is that the player started fast.
It should not be. The second stroke comes from the stick bouncing off the head, not from a second wrist motion. A forced double sounds similar at slow tempo and caps the achievable speed, which is why rebound control has to be in place first.
It depends on the type rather than on a number. A single stroke roll blends into a continuous sound somewhere around 160 to 200 BPM in sixteenths. A buzz roll has no tempo as such — it is a sustained texture, and the variable is how densely the bounces land.