It is difficult to get the hang of this at first. It requires finding a balance between pressing the stick down to keep it bouncing and releasing pressure to keep from “crushing” the stick into the drum. In general, you want your stick to make between 2-5 hits and keep it about an inch off the drum. Closer than that, and it sounds too “crushed”, kind of dead sounding. Much higher, and that means that you’re probably not in a lot of control of what you’re sticks are doing.
Tip: don’t try to “snatch” your stick away to end the bounce quickly, simply add some pressure to stop the stick from moving. When you practice this, make sure you’re not manually making two hits, that would be defeating the purpose.
Start by making two hits on each hand, starting slow and getting faster. Because you’ve been working on bouncing and developing your skills, you should be able to go much faster than you originally would have been able to. Despite your practice, you’ll still hit a breaking point, however you can push through that breaking point by using bouncing. Every time you practice, try to make your strokes go faster (get faster before resorting to bounces).
There is a basic formula for knowing how many hand exchanges are needed for each roll. Odd numbers: add 1, divide by 2 = hand exchanges. The last hand will make the end stroke. Even numbers: divide by 2, add 1 = hand exchanges. The last two hands will make a stroke. (This end stroke is very quick). All Double Strokes should end with an accented, definite stroke. If there are two or more rolls in a row, this is very important to make them distinct from each other. You should raise your hands slightly before entering a roll- it will keep it from bleeding into the last thing you just played and will also force you to play into it more, making it crisper and cleaner. Most double strokes should be alternated (one starting on the right hand, the next on the left hand). Even rolls are hard to alternate when played in a row, but you should be competent with them on both hands. Traditionally, however, sevens and sometimes fifteens are played only on the left hand (Ancient Fife and Drum, Civil War/Rev War/etc).
