The 20-times rule
The one instruction Stone insists on, he prints in capitals: each rhythm "20 times without stopping", before moving to the next — and he flags it, again in capitals, as important enough to state twice. He even explains the page layout by it: the exercises deliberately lack a musical ending precisely so each one can be looped. Why twenty, and why without stopping?
What twenty uninterrupted reps actually train
The first three or four repetitions of a sticking are reading: your eyes and conscious attention drive the hands. Somewhere in the middle reps, the pattern moves into muscle — you stop spelling R L R R and start playing a paradiddle. The final reps are where the value concentrates: the pattern is automatic, attention is free, and you can finally listen — to evenness between hands, to whether the doubles sit on the click, to creeping tension. Stop at rep six and you've practiced reading, not playing.
"Without stopping" is the honesty clause. A restart erases the accumulating fatigue and drift that reps 15–20 are supposed to expose. If the pattern falls apart at rep 14, that's not a reason to restart the count — it's the exercise telling you the tempo is too high.
Counting is the enemy of listening
The rule has one practical flaw: counting twenty repetitions occupies exactly the attention the later reps are supposed to free. Every drummer knows the experience of losing count around thirteen and rounding up. The fix is to make something else count. StickTempo runs the count for you — set the reps (20 by default, adjustable), press start, and the run stops itself when the twentieth repetition ends.
Keeping the reps honest
- Count-in first: one measure of clicks, so rep one starts in time.
- Rate the run when it ends — clean, shaky, or lost. Self-assessment is itself a skill the research associates with the fastest-improving practicers.
- Twenty clean reps at a modest tempo beat twenty ragged ones at a proud tempo, every time. The tempo guide covers when to move up.