Rim Stroke

The rim stroke is a higher-pitched sound than the basic open stroke. Strike the drum’s head close to the rim (in most cases, you actually hit the head where it meets the shell) to play the rim stroke. You want a clear, bright sound, so you need to experiment with each drum that you play to get the best sound. The pitch gets higher as you get closer to the very edge of the drum. After you get comfortable with this stroke, you’ll discover a huge palate of variations in tone that you can use in your playing.