DJEMBE-L FAQ The Beginner's Path - Paradiddles

Paradiddles

Paradiddles are a rudimental exercise for stick drummers and can be useful for learning the "handing" for djembe.  R. has already  posted the handing, but here it is again:

B/b = base
T/t = tone
S/s = Slap

R/r = right
L/l = left

1) R L R R L R L L (that's one cycle of the exercise)

You can change the order of the "diddles" and the "paras":

2) R L L R L R R L

3) R R L R L L R L

4) R L R L L R L R

The traditional to play them is with accent on the beat after the
"diddle":

1) R l r r L r l l

2) r l l R l r r L

3) r r L r l l R l

4) r L r l l R l r

The original purpose of paradiddle was for snare drummers to develop the  double stroke.  Each stroke of the double should be as clean as each  single stroke in the exercise. It's all about controlling stick bounce.  The essence of the exercise is somewhat lost on djembe, an instrument  which does not typically make use of stick bounce.

Then again, a paradiddle sets up a cool accent pattern, especially if  you play each hand on a different sound source (left hand on high conga,  right hand on low; left hand on djembe tones, right hand on slaps). You  could work the exercise the way Giovanni Hidalgo, the Puerto Rican conga  master, does on tumbadoras: play each double as a heel-toe combination.

Or just work on playing bare-handed doubles at lightning speed!

You said your friend asked about the paradiddles and the djembe. While  the paradiddle is a useful stick rudiment that can be used in some ways  for djembe, I would suggest djembe-oriented rudiments as the focus of  your practice. Here are two (out of literally hundreds):

 
B t T b S s
R l R l R l

T b B s B b
R l R l  R l

Beginner's Path