The fifth and final installment in our series about creating the ideal warm-up routine.

The previous four blog articles in this series got your hands moving and introduced accent patterns, wrist lifts, and flams. Let’s move on now to rolls.

Element #5: Rolls

Rolls are arguably one of the most difficult elements of playing percussion. I like to incorporate double and triple/multiple bounce rolls into my warm-ups so I can work on my fine motor skills. I generally do these exercises for 30 seconds and then switch hands. Make sure that once you start you don’t change the tempo:

Once your hands are warmed up, it’s time for the long roll. The key to long rolls is to relax. Start with a minute for each long roll and build up to 4 – 5 minutes. This is also a great exercise when you are watching TV or YouTube:

Use a metronome on the first set of exercises to maintain a steady tempo. The rolls are the final exercise in a well-rounded warm-up.

For more roll exercises, check out my previous blog post “How Do You Roll.”

Creating a warm-up routine is an individual process and what works for me will not necessarily work for everyone. Feel free to create your own routine! Share your results with me at percussion@yamaha.com.

Check out the previous postings in our Snare Drum Warm-Up series:

Part 1: Warming up the big muscles

Part 2: Transitioning to the small muscles

Part 3: Accent patterns and wrist lifts

Part 4: Adding flams to the equation