This is a list of drum rudiments but before you dive in, I should explain that my approach to teaching drum rudiments is different to others’ for a number of reasons.
Right Left vs One Two
It takes mental effort to associate the words ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ with your hands. This slows down learning rudiments, especially for young players, so I use Stick-1 and Stick-2 instead. To start, we imagine that Stick-1 is in the dominant hand (usually the one you hold a pen with) and Stick-2 in the less dominant hand.
As well as making rudiments quicker and easier to learn this also means that Left Handed drummers and Right Handed drummers can learn together without having to think about turning ‘RLRR’ into ‘LRLL’.
Also, using numbers instead of letters naturally helps you lock into the tempo and once the rudiment has been learned it can be practiced starting (remember Stick-1?) with the less dominant hand.
Rudiments as grooves
If we are going to use a rudiment on the kit as a fill or a groove then we need to know how it will fit over a beat. So I’ve shown all the rudiments over a basic 4/4 crotchet beat to give a feel for how it can be applied.
I recommend learning rudiments on a kit rather than just a snare drum. Keeping time using the bass drum and high-hats improves the phrasing of the rudiment and builds independence. It also helps build up your high-hat foot control for that perfect “chick” sound. If you don’t have a kit when practicing rudiments then you should still tap your feet.
Dots and lines
That mess of lines and dots is much easier to understand if you know what the rudiment is supposed to sound like. During a lesson I will demonstrate each rudiment as a groove on the kit but for now I have included a MP3 file with each rudiment below.
Enjoy…
Rudiments
Single Stroke Roll
Single Stroke Four
Single Stroke Seven
Multiple Bounce Roll
Triple Stroke Roll
Double Stroke Open Roll
Five Stroke Roll
Six Stroke Roll
Seven Stroke Roll
Nine Stroke Roll
Ten Stroke Roll
Eleven Stroke Roll
Thirteen Stroke Roll
Fifteen Stroke Roll
Seventeen Stroke Roll
Single Paradiddle
Double Paradiddle
Triple Paradiddle
Single Paradiddle-Diddle
Flam
Flam Accent
Flam Tap
Flamacue
Flam Paradiddle
Single Flammed Mill
Flam Paradiddle Diddle
Pataflafla
Swiss Army Triplet
Inverted Flam Tap
Flam Drag
Drag
Single Drag Tap
Double Drag Tap
Lesson 25
Single Dragadiddle
Drag Paradiddle No1
Drag Paradiddle No2
Single Ratamacue
Double Ratamacue
Triple Ramatacue
If you want to learn more about me and my approach to teaching and playing then please see my Welcome page.