Top Ten Best Drum Rudiments to Learn
Any serious drummer knows that their are advanced skills you have to learn and their are fundamentals. Rudiments are a combination of both. Any pro drummer (unless you play drum set) should know all of them and should have them mastered. Their are generally 40 rudiments. Some difficult, some easy. They are usually split into 4 categories. Roll Rudiments, Diddle Rudiments, Flam Rudiments, and Drag Rudiments."Two alternating notes followed by a diddle." This should be the first rudiment you learn. It is a basic rudiment. By the time you are in high school you should be able to play at a really fast tempo.
"Two taps (a grace note followed by a full volume tap) played very close together in order to sound like one slightly longer note. In the Hudson Music DVD "Great Hands For a Lifetime", drummer and educator Tommy Igoe describes flams as "the easiest rudiment to play wrong" and goes on to say "...think of the syllable 'lam'. It's one syllable. 'Flam' is still only one syllable, but it's slightly longer." This is a good way for a beginner to conceptualize a "correct" flam." Flams are really important and like this article says it can be tricky. Flams are used in at least every drum piece you play at least 8 time.
"Like the single-stroke roll, usually played fast, but even when played slowly, alternate diddles are considered a double stroke roll. Played so each individual note can be heard distinctly." It is really hard to master. It very important though and will help you in tougher pieces.
"Alternating handed strokes with no specific number of bounces. Should sound even and continuous. Also called "buzz roll," "closed roll," or "press roll" (most often when referred to in the context of drum-set playing)." The most basic roll of them all. Just don't get it confused with Double Stroke Roll.
"Four alternating notes followed by a diddle." A little more advanced, but still relatively easy. Just get it confused with a paraparadiddle.
"A group of four notes and an ending downbeat, where the first note and the down beat are flammed, and the second note is accented." Just now starting to get this one down.
"Two diddles followed by an accented note." Really fun to play, still trying to increase speed.
"A single ratamacue consists of four notes where the first note has drag grace notes and the fourth is accented." Kinda getting into the more advanced stuff, but it is still fun to play.
"A double ratamacue consists of a single ratamacue with a drag before it." Also really fun to play. Can be pretty advanced though.