Paradiddle Practice Machine

Practice makes perfect. If you want to become a better drummer, then you have to practice rudiments. Even the professionals play rudiments all the time to practice stick control and independence. Out of all the different rudiments, Paradiddle is one of the most famous ones. This rudiment contains single and double changing, accent practice, and stick control practice. However, rudiment practices are boring! So one day I thought to myself, how can I make practicing more fun? And this practice machine idea pops out.

Container (any kind) x 1

Arduino (Uno or Leonardo) x 1

Bread Board x 1

Electric Resistance for Led bulb x 2

Both Green and Red Led bulb x 1

Jump rope with male to male head x 6

Jump rope with male to female x 4

Sticky mud x 1 pack

Marker x 1

This machine is basically about 2 LED bulb representing left hand and right hand blinking. When the right side blink, the user will hit the practice pad/snare once with their right hand or vice versa. To build this, you will need to understand how to do a LED blink because it's basically two LED blinking. The machine will start one second after the power source is connected to the board. This machine is a loop of 85 bpm and 125 bpm in its 16th note. So follow up!

To assemble everything, please follow how the picture assembles it. First the LED bulb. There are two connector leg on a LED bulb. The longer leg is for connecting to the D-pin, and the shorter leg is used to connect to negative ground cable using jump cable. Between the negative connection cable and the lightbulb. Electric resistant needs to be used in the middle of the two gadgets to avoid electric overload on the bulb and blow up the bulb. I used male and female jump rope to make it longer so it can stick out of the box instead of sticking on the breadboard. After, you are good to go to the next step!

Your project is now half way done! Now, you will give your machine soul by inserting the code into the board. Remember, you will have to choose the right port on the "tools".

Download the code: Here

(Before you package your board, please remember to test it out and see if it works or not) To add some spice on this machine, you can decorate your package however you like. But it must have two holes for the LED to stick out. I recommend to have some sticky mud on the hole to stabilise the bulb, or else it will fall easily.

Congratulation! You finished your own Paradiddle practice machine! Now, grab a pair of sticks and a practice pad to practice! I strongly recommend the users to also use metronome while using the machine. This will make your practice more stable. The app is called metronome tempo (if you don't have a metronome). Remember to set it as 85/125 bpm loop per ten bars!

With this machine, I hope that all users out there can become a better drummer. Remember to practice every day. In addition, this machine is not only about paradiddle. It can be changed into different rudiments. All you need to do is to change the bulb's code. So, don't limit your thoughts. If you master this rudiment, change the code and practice a new one! Last, I want to thank Mr. David Huang for all technical knowledge supports in this project (Click for Mr. David's website. And click here for his youtube channel).

Have fun!