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Beginning Drum Programming: Rudimentary Watson

Rudiments are to percussion as scales and arpeggios are to all other instruments.

They build speed, facility and familiarity.

Flam

The flam is a prehit with the opposite stick, hand or foot; sort of ba-dam. Notated in sticking notation as:

LR RL

in standard notation we would see it as:

The above notation shows a flam on the kick, the snare the closed hihat and the open hihat in sequence. The following audio clip plays through this 8 times sothat you can hear the effect of each flam.

The initial hit can occur on the beat, as above, or before the beat:

Double Stroke Rolls

A double stroke roll is a sticking technique where every two notes in a roll are played with the same hand, either by

  • deliberately moving the hand twice or
  • allowing the stick to bounce and make a second contact with the drum head.

Snare rolls are usually sticked as this using double strokes where the hand is intentionally moved twice or the stick is allowed to bounce in a controlled manner for the second stroke. These are sometimes referred to as Ma-Ma-Da-Da-s to identify that it is double stroke in each hand:

  •  5-stroke ~
    LLRR L or
    RRLL R
  •  6-stroke ~
    LLRR L-R or
    RRLL R-L
  •  7-stroke ~
    LLRR LLR or
    RRLL RRL
  •  9-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR L or
    RRLL RRLL R
  • 10-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR L-R or
    RRLL RRLL R-L
  • 11-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLR or
    RRLL RRLL RRL
  • 13-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR L or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL R
  • 14-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR L-R or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL R-L
  • 15-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR LLR or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL RRL
  • 17-stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR L or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL R
  • 18 stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR L-R or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL R-L
  • 19 stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR LLR or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL RRL
  • 21 stroke ~
    LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR L or
    RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL R

Rolls in sequence


Double stroke rolls solo Drumline snare


Double stroke rolls solo double headed jazz snare


Double stroke rolls solo orchestral snare


Double stroke rolls solo snare


Double stroke rolls full drum line


Double stroke rolls solo everything

Triple Stroke Rolls

A triple stroke roll is a sticking technique where every three notes in a roll are played with the same hand, either by

  • deliberately moving the hand thrice or
  • allowing the stick to bounce and make a second and third contact with the drum head.
  •  4-stroke ~
    LLL R-- or
    RRR L-- or

    L-- RRR or
    R-- LLL
  •  7-stroke ~
    LLL RRR L-- or
    RRR LLL R-- or

    L-- RRR LLL or
    R-- LLL RRR or

    LLL R-- LLL or
    RRR L-- RRR
  • 10-stroke ~
    LLL RRR LLL R-- or
    RRR LLL RRR L-- or

    L-- RRR LLL RRR or
    R-- LLL RRR LLL or

    LLL R-- LLL RRR or
    RRR L-- RRR LLL or

    LLL RRR L-- RRR or
    RRR LLL R-- LLL
  • 13-stroke ~
    LLL RRR LLL RRR L-- or
    RRR LLL RRR LLL R-- or

    L-- RRR LLL RRR LLL or
    R-- LLL RRR LLL RRR or

    LLL R-- LLL RRR LLL or
    RRR L-- RRR LLL RRR or

    LLL RRR L-- RRR LLL or
    RRR LLL R-- LLL RRR or

    LLL RRR LLL R-- LLL or
    RRR LLL RRR L-- RRR

Rolls in sequence


Triple stroke rolls solo Drumline snare


Triple stroke rolls solo double headed jazz snare


Triple stroke rolls solo orchestral snare


Triple stroke rolls solo snare


Triple stroke rolls full drum line


Triple stroke rolls solo everything

Paradiddle

A paradiddle is a sticking technique where alternate hands play a combination pattern of single and double strokes. The word pa-ra-did-dle is a mnemonic for LRLL or RLRR where:

pa and did and dle are all the same hand and

ra is the opposing hand

  •  5-stroke ~
    LRLL R or
    RLRR L
  •  6-stroke ~
    LRLL R-R or
    RLRR L-L
  •  7-stroke ~
    LRLL RLR or
    RLRR LRL
  •  9-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR L or
    RLRR LRLL R
  • 10-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR L-L or
    RLRR LRLL R-R
  • 11-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LLL or
    RLRR LRLL RRR
  • 13-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL R or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR L
  • 14-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL R-R or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR L-L
  • 15-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL RLR or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR LRL
  • 17-stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL RLRR L or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL R
  • 18 stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL RLRR L-L or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL R-R
  • 19 stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL RLRR LRL or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL RLR
  • 21 stroke ~
    LRLL RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL R or
    RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL RLRR L

Rolls in sequence


Paradiddle rolls solo Drumline snare


Paradiddle rolls solo double headed jazz snare


Paradiddle rolls solo orchestral snare


Paradiddle rolls solo snare


Paradiddle rolls full drum line


Paradiddle rolls solo everything