double-bass-drumming-training-manual

R&L Ch. 22—The Ladder

Skeleton sheet. This chapter has the metadata block and Core / Rotation / Reference tables but has not yet been rewritten to the shape of chapter-01.md and chapter-02.md—no first-session walkthrough, no worked advancement example, no per-exercise rationale. See chapter-template.md for the shape this sheet will take when filled, and DEVELOPMENT.md “Things to do later” for the outstanding propagation work.

• Stage: 6 (Rondinelli additions, eighth chapter)
• Book pages: R&L pp. 99–100
• Total exercises: 8, presented as a walkthrough rather than a numbered drill list
• Section labels present: none—the chapter is a single narrative-driven concept study

Session role: focus block.

Every session opens with warm-up on the current R&L Ch. 1 exercises before you work this chapter. Baseline 30-min session: ~7–8 min warm-up (Ch. 1) → ~15 min focus (this chapter) → ~5–6 min application → ~2 min cool-down. Full detail in approach.md §6.

How to use this sheet

This chapter is a single-concept study, not a drill library. R&L introduces the ladder—a hand-foot combination of strong hand, weak foot, weak hand, strong foot—as a distinct alternative to quads (strong hand, weak hand, strong foot, weak foot). The pattern looks similar to quads on the page but is very different to play. The hands play singles, and the feet play singles between the hands.

R&L walks through the concept over eight numbered examples on the page, in the order the concept builds:

• Ex. 22.1—a quads reference pattern for comparison.
• Ex. 22.2—the ladder itself, at a base rate. This is where most of the work happens.
• Ex. 22.3—the ladder in a triplet feel. R&L recommends thinking in triplets as the way in—that framing came originally from Gregg Bissonette via Bill Miller.
• Ex. 22.4—16ths with the hands staying constant and the feet moving in and out.
• Ex. 22.5—the same shape as Ex. 22.4 but in triplets.
• Ex. 22.6—inverted ladder: feet stay constant, hands drop in and out.
• Ex. 22.7—the inverted-ladder idea in 16ths.
• Ex. 22.8—a triplet groove that moves into a ladder fill.

Work them in order. Do not skip forward. Ex. 22.3 (the triplet-feel entry) is the pattern that unlocks the rest for most people—spend most of your early time there.

The bpm defaults come from the 16th-note beats row of approach.md §4 (start 50 bpm, target ~110 bpm), but expect to start well below that on Ex. 22.2 and Ex. 22.3. R&L is emphatic that this pattern only works at slow tempos until the motion is felt.

Suggested per-exercise starting bpm

Ex.	Role	Start	Target
22.2	Ladder base pattern	40 bpm	100 bpm
22.3	Ladder in triplet feel (the felt entry point)	40 bpm	100 bpm
22.4	Hands constant, feet drop in and out (16ths)	50 bpm	110 bpm
22.5	Hands constant, feet drop in and out (triplets)	40 bpm	110 bpm
22.6	Inverted ladder—feet constant, hands drop in	50 bpm	110 bpm
22.7	Inverted ladder in 16ths	50 bpm	110 bpm
22.8	Triplet groove into ladder fill	40 bpm	100 bpm

Ex. 22.1 is a quads reference and does not need its own working bpm—play it once to feel the contrast with Ex. 22.2.

Practice notes

• Ex. 22.3 is the felt entry point. R&L’s whole point about “thinking in triplets” is that the ladder motion clicks in triplet feel before it clicks in 16ths. Do not increase speed until the motion is honest.
• Do not flam the ladder. R&L flags this specifically for Ex. 22.7 but it applies throughout—the hands and feet must land distinctly between each other.
• Take these ideas slowly. R&L’s parting cue is verbatim: “it’s hard until it becomes easy”. That is the whole method summary for this chapter.
• The ladder is a texture worth carrying forward into your own playing once it clicks. It is not the kind of pattern you master and retire.

Log line format

Log this chapter’s work with the exercise number prefixed by 22.—for example 22.3 50 bpm 15 min pass triplet-feel. See approach.md §8.

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