Drum Rudiments Explained: A Guide to Rudimental Drumming

A drum rudiment is a short musical phrase for drums or percussion that trains a percussionist in fundamental physical and rhythmic techniques. The Percussive Arts Society, a consortium of United States drum educators, names 40 essential rudiments that drummers should learn. Another education consortium, the National Association of Rudimental Drummers, has identified 26 core rudiments for drummers. There may be hundreds if not thousands of drum rudiments worldwide.

A drum rudiment calls on a player to perform a particular drum maneuver with a focus on two factors: playing the correct rhythmic durations and using precise drum strokes. This means that a drum rudiment does not merely call for a drummer to perform a particular rhythmic pattern. They must also precisely use their left hand and right hand in the way the rudiment prescribes.

Drummers practice rudiments because rudiments are the building blocks of much bigger drum phrases including drum rolls, drum fills, and drum grooves. Some teachers include rudiments in their drum lesson curriculum so that students have a sturdy foundation upon which they can build their drum technique. Students typically practice these rudiments with a metronome, increasing the tempo as they improve. You can practice drum rudiments on a standard drum kit or on practice pads.

Drum rudiments come in many forms. Single stroke rudiments involve alternate sticking, which means that your left and right hands alternate back and forth with no double strikes. The core single stroke rudiments are:

• Single stroke roll: This is a simple drum roll with alternating left and right hand strokes.
• Single stroke four: This involves four-note alternate sticking phrases—typically a sixteenth note triplet followed by a regular eighth note.
• Single stroke seven: This involves seven-note alternate sticking phrases—typically a sixteenth note sextuplet followed by a regular quarter note.

Multiple bounce roll rudiments use alternate sticking, but they allow the drum stick to "bounce" off the drum head multiple times. The most common multiple bounce rudiment is the triple stroke roll, where your left hand and right hand alternate, but each hand is allowed to bounce three times. The effect is a series of sixteenth note triplets.

A double stroke indicates that a player should strike twice with one stick before striking with the other stick. There are many variants on the double stroke, including the double stroke roll, five stroke roll, seven stroke roll, nine stroke roll, ten stroke roll, and more.

Double strokes played at a song's prevailing speed are referred to as diddles. A paradiddle refers to two single strokes immediately followed by a double stroke. As notated, a paradiddle appears as follows, with R signifying a right-hand stroke and L signifying a left-hand stroke:

Drummers should practice the single paradiddle, double paradiddle, triple paradiddle, and a single paradiddle-diddle—a paradiddle immediately followed by one additional diddle.

A flam (or flam accent) is a drum rudiment wherein a drummer strikes a grace note just a split second before striking the primary stroke. Flams can be played on any piece of the drum set from the snare drum to the floor tom to the rack toms to the hi-hat cymbal. They can even be played on a bass drum via the use of a double bass drum pedal.

In musical notation, the first note of a flam is a grace note. For instance, the pattern below is called a flam paradiddle, where each paradiddle is preceded by a grace note (the flam).

Explore some of the essential flam rudiments:

1. 1. Single flam: This is one flam by itself.
2. 2. Flam accent: A flam accent involves alternating groups of three notes played with alternate sticking and with a flam on the first note of each group of three.
3. 3. Flam paradiddle: This is a paradiddle with a flam on the first note.
4. 4. Single flammed mill: This is an inverted paradiddle (where double strokes come before single strokes) with a flam at the beginning of each diddle.
5. 5. Flam paradiddle-diddle: A flam paradiddle-diddle is a flam note leading into two single strokes followed by two double strokes.
6. 6. Flam tap: A flam tap involves alternating left-hand and right-hand diddles (double strokes) where each diddle begins with a flam.
7. 7. Pataflafla: A pataflafla is a four-note pattern of alternating drum strokes with flams on the first and last notes.
8. 8. Flamacue: A flamacue is a four-note pattern of sixteenth notes followed by a final quarter note. The first and last notes have flams.
9. 9. Swiss army triplet: Triplets with flams on the first note comprise the Swiss army triplet rudiment.
10. 10. Flam drag: A flam drag is a four-note pattern that goes: eighth note, sixteenth note, sixteenth note, eighth note. A flam appears on the first eighth note of the pattern.

In drum terminology, a drag is a double stroke that occurs at twice the speed of the prevailing context. For instance, if you're playing a passage filled with eighth notes, a drag would be two sixteenth notes played with a double stroke (two strokes with one hand). Some of the more challenging drum rudiments involve the drag maneuver.

1. 1. Single drag tap: A single drag tap is a drag followed by two normal notes, the second of which is accented. For instance, you could have a single drag tap where you have two sixteenth notes (the drag) followed by one normal eighth note and then an accented eighth note.
2. 2. Double drag tap: A double drag tap is like a single drag tap but with an extra drag and regular note at the beginning. For instance, you could have a double drag tap where you have two sixteenth notes followed by one normal eighth note, then another group of sixteenth notes followed by one normal eighth note, and then your accented eighth note.
3. 3. Drag paradiddle: Also called a single dragadiddle, this rudiment is a paradiddle that begins with a drag.
4. 4. Single ratamacue: A single ratamacue is just like a single stroke four, which is usually written as a sixteenth note triplet followed by a regular eighth note. The only difference is that this rudiment begins with a drag before the single stroke four.
5. 5. Double ratamacue: A double ratamacue is a single ratamacue preceded by an additional drag.
6. 6. Triple ratamacue: A triple ratamacue is a single ratamacue preceded by two additional drags.

You can create hybrid drum rudiments by combining rudiments from the various groups described—diddle, flam, drag, etc.—keeping in mind there are two rules for creating hybrid rudiments.

The hybrid rudiment must be symmetrical. This means that if you start the rudiment with your left hand, you must be able to follow it up with a mirror image rudiment starting with your right hand.
The hybrid rudiment must not be longer than one measure. Rudiments are fundamental building blocks; they are not complete drum grooves. You create those grooves by combining and repeating rudiments.

Snag a MasterClass Annual Membership, pick up your sticks, and find the beat with exclusive instructional videos from GRAMMY-nominated drummer Sheila E. (aka the Queen of Percussion). Once you master the timbales and congas, expand your musical horizons with lessons from other sonic legends like Timbaland, Herbie Hancock, Tom Morello, and others.