One Hand Cymbal Rolls

“I like what you’re doing. Can you keep that going and throw in a cymbal swell on the modulation?


Playing the shaker with your right hand, you hear the music building to that big climax. If you could just continue the shaker part while adding a crescendo roll on the suspended cymbal…

There are a couple of one handed methods available to make that cymbal roll a reality.

  1. In one hand, hold two mallets using any of the conventional 4-mallet grips (Stevens, Musser, Burton, cross). Spread the mallets to 9:00 and 3:00 on the cymbal and alternate the mallets in the independent roll fashion used in marimba playing. You don’t have to roll very fast to get a good sound.

   2. With palm down, hold the two mallet shafts one over the other in snare drum matched grip with about 2 inches between the mallet heads. With one mallet above the cymbal and one below, use an up and down motion to produce the roll.

I favor Method 1 because of the better tone quality. Either way will allow you to add that roll while continuing to play the instrument in your other hand.