rudiments: slim down

[radiofriendlyunitshifter]

i've started doing my rudiments again regularly, and needless to say, i need practice on all of them.

however, looking at vic firth's education page (awesome resource), which consists of 40 rudiments, i'd like

your opinions on which specific rudiments to work on first and foremost (and why).

[vadrum]

if it were me i would focus on the single stroke roll, the long roll (double stroke roll), the paradiddle, the flam, and the ruff first. i would focus on these because the remainder of the rudiments will generally be a combination of these particular rudiments.

[Wavelength]

I'll second that.

20 characters.

[mind_drummer]

I work these days the straight paradiddle, the paradiddle-diddle, the permuted paradiddle, the inverted paradiddle, double strokes and triple strokes rolls, flams, triplet (Rll-Lrr), the single five strokes rolls and the seven strokes rolls.

I like how Randy Gallerin introduced the seven strokes rolls -RllrrlR or RllffrL
http://drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17458

After some practice I feel every of them better.

[dea]

I have had to take a more unconventional approach at keeping up with my rudiments since I have young children...

What I do is incorporate flams into every rudiment I can. This way your practicing two rudiments at once. Also try to attach two or three sequentially. This way, your can squeeze in more rudiments into a single run.

Flamadiddles
Flamaqueue
Flam tap
Flam double strokes

flam double stroke ( 2 measures ) + flamadiddles ( 2 measures )
flam tap ( 2 measures ) + ratatat ( 2 measures )

The possibilities are endless.

[fat in the middle]

Here's an interesting one i do,,,single paradiddle dittle, and the flam accent. do those with with your feet offering quarter notes, that way the triplet feel seems musical.[ as opposed to half notes] Good for jazz, when broken all round the kit.

[jonescrusher]

'Unitshifter is looking to slim down the repetoire of rudiments to work on, why are people suggesting flamacues and paradiddle-diddles?! First and foremost stick to the basic three, singles, doubles and paradiddles. As these are the building blocks of most of the other rudiments there's little pointing moving on to anything else until you have a really solid grasp on these.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I'm using a print out of the Vic Firth rudiment guide for my practice as well.

When I'm doing the rudiments, I just stick to one page per practice 'block' (30 min). I pick a tempo range and play each line first leading with my right hand and then I repeat the line leading with my left. I repeat both of those again, then bump up the tempo 2 BPMs until I get to the top of that tempo range. If I'm having trouble with the line I keep repeating it until it feels right (usually my left hand led patterns).

Then I move on to the next rudiment down and repeat the same process. This will easily take 30 minutes for me. When it comes time to practice rudiments again, I decide whether or not I feel comfortable playing what I played the last time. If so, then I move on to the next page otherwise I practice that page again.

[h3r3tic]

I also will be begin my practising with rudiments
And I've got thjose 40 rudiments from vic firth :)
Hope it will work! ;)

[Filthy]

Flamawhatadiddle?

This may sound lazy, but I tend to start with the rudiments which are the most readily applicable to the drumset and more than anything, sound cool and make me look like I am better/faster than I really am. (Crazy fast complex rudiments impress other drummers, who are rarely impressed anyways; focus on this stuff later, go for the instant gratification of amazed non-musicians.)

I like flams/drags/ruffs. Add a flam/drag to any set of eighth/sixteen notes in your favourite fill and you sound like a hero, especially if it is something triplet based. A triplet fill while playing 2 and 4 sounds hard to the untrained ear as it is; spice it up with a flam or drag somewhere instead of just a single stroke and you are getting free drinks all night.

The more complex stuff is definitely worth concentrating on to improve overall ability and knowledge, but this won't necessarily get you the gig.

I of course realize that I am setting myself up for a bunch of booing and hissing; I don't mind.

[dea]

What you pick as your exercises is dependent on what you want to accomplish. There is no single subset, or order for that matter, of rudiments that you should practice. And for gosh sakes, don't start at square 1 unless you have determine that you must. For example, you already know how to play drums, but want to start learning some fancy rudiments, one of them being the flam. Well, as soon as your even the slightest bit comfy with the flam, stop practicing it alone, and incorporate it into your paradiddles, etc. You'll be killing two birds with one stone... you know the deal.

Your goal for practice is to pick the most, "skill dense" exercises. This way, you'll benefit the most from the least. This is not being lazy, but rather its maximizing your practice time.

Sometimes you have to get yourself outside of the traditional box. Read between the lines, incorporate unconventional ways of teaching yourself something. Everyone is different and some will pick up certain skills more quickly than others. If thats the case, then you must be prepared to adapt accordingly.

Good luck!!!

[radiofriendlyunitshifter]

alright, thanks for all of the reponses. i'm approaching it by keeping a log (each rudiment

has its own page, and on each page i'm listing the date, and bpm i'm comfortable with

leading with each hand). i'm working on the single stroke roll, single paradiddle, flam,

drag, and long roll/double strokes.

i didn't realize how weak my doubles were. i can bounce them fine, but at medium

tempos, i'm having trouble. also i've come to realize how sloppy my paradiddles are sounding:

once i pick up a moderate pace, my weak (left) hand bounces the doubles, while my right

doesn't, so they sound very uneven.

it feels good to start laying into the rudiments again. i've identified my weaknesses rather

quickly, so hopefully i'll see improvement soon.

thanks again guys.

[Drummer Karl]

Yes, rudiments...this is one thing you could practice your whole life...

One thing I can really recommend is to practice Doubles. They seem easy and simple to do (and yes, the concept RRLL is easy) but in the end, if you look on details, it is a complex thing which is really worth to work with.
I`m working hardly on doubles at the moment, as warm-up. But also I like to practice them for a long time, slow and fast, for the consistence, look on the small details. Since I practice them I can see a big progress in my swing playing for example.

Go through basic things like singles, doubles, paradiddles and its variations and also through things like Flams and like dea said, variations with it (Flamaque, Flam-paradiddle etc.)
I notice that those really help to develope your striking out movement with the stick and the timing of it, so: WHEN do I have to do the movement, how fast etc.

but as I said, you could spend your whole life with all those rudimental things...anyway, work exact on that, take enough time for every single rudiment and never rush through all that.

PS: Sorry for this English...

Karl

[jonescrusher]

What you pick as your exercises is dependent on what you want to accomplish. There is no single subset, or order for that matter, of rudiments that you should practice. And for gosh sakes, don't start at square 1 unless you have determine that you must. For example, you already know how to play drums, but want to start learning some fancy rudiments, one of them being the flam. Well, as soon as your even the slightest bit comfy with the flam, stop practicing it alone, and incorporate it into your paradiddles, etc. You'll be killing two birds with one stone... you know the deal.

Your goal for practice is to pick the most, "skill dense" exercises. This way, you'll benefit the most from the least. This is not being lazy, but rather its maximizing your practice time.

Sometimes you have to get yourself outside of the traditional box. Read between the lines, incorporate unconventional ways of teaching yourself something. Everyone is different and some will pick up certain skills more quickly than others. If thats the case, then you must be prepared to adapt accordingly.

Good luck!!!


This can only be good advice if you're absolutely sure that your technique on whatever rudimental technique is completely up to scratch. If your teaching yourself this advice is particularly dangerous - for example, how can someone who's only been playing a couple of years be sure that their double stroke roll technique is correct? There is no point attempting multiple roll rudiments until the basic technique is down. Same for flams - good flam technique requires at least some knowledge of Moeller.
I disagree completely - stick to the basics until you're sure they are tight.

[vadrum]

This can only be good advice if you're absolutely sure that your technique on whatever rudimental technique is completely up to scratch. If your teaching yourself this advice is particularly dangerous - for example, how can someone who's only been playing a couple of years be sure that their double stroke roll technique is correct? There is no point attempting multiple roll rudiments until the basic technique is down. Same for flams - good flam technique requires at least some knowledge of Moeller.
I disagree completely - stick to the basics until you're sure they are tight.

in general i agree. it will be much harder for a self taught student to be 100% sure that their technique, expressed thru the performance of the rudiment, is correct w/o the guidance of an experienced teacher. but, i dont feel that its absolutely necessary for a student to have an idea of gladstone, stone, moeller, or any other school of technique in order to play even the most simple rudiments. moeller was not the only person, or even the first person, to incorporate upstrokes into his arsenal of technique, moeller was just the first person to perform the upstroke the "moeller way".

[radiofriendlyunitshifter]

thanks for the replies karl, jonescrusher, and vadrum...

in my case you are completely right jonescrusher. i wouldn't consider any of my

rudiments "tight" and do indeed need to start from square one to get things in order. in a

few years i could see how combining rudiments would be efficient, but not for me right now.

off to the pad...

[Tac3]

Lately, I've been working on some of the more obscure rudiments, and have found Inverted Flam Taps to be very useful in my playing.

Ideally, on a pad they should sound indistinguishable from flam taps. However, the inverted taps open up lots of possibilities on the set if you substitute them in the place of normal taps.

[Michael G]

stick to the basics until you're sure they are tight.

Keep that in mind.

Singles
Doubles
Triples
Paradiddles
Flams

Those are the basic rudiments, every rudiment has a variation of at least one of these. I suggest advancing in these 5 with perfect technique to a proficient speed before moving on to the others. It is just like any single other activity that requires even the littlest of skill, it all comes down to the mastery of basics.

[jello]

Keep that in mind.

Singles
Doubles
Triples
Paradiddles
Flams

Those are the basic rudiments, every rudiment has a variation of at least one of these. I suggest advancing in these 5 with perfect technique to a proficient speed before moving on to the others. It is just like any single other activity that requires even the littlest of skill, it all comes down to the mastery of basics.


I second that, It all goes down to mastery of basics. What I do alot these days are unisons, it really help me tighten my groove.

[RudimentalDrummer]

Ok I do it in this manner:-

Slim Down: -

(1) - Single,
(2) - Double (Using Pull-Up) Techniques,
(3) - Flams, Flam Tap, Flam Accent,
(4) - Ruff. Single Drag, Double Drag
(5) - Single, Inward, Reverse, Delayed Paradiddle (continue varying this 4 using
Accenting/Ghosting Techniques)

Then when I am confortable with above...I carry-on to do the other Rudiments.

I was advice:-

To do it with a Metronome.
To not focus on speed, but SOUND - It has to sound right & correct.

From above, I then will improve & excel on my other Rudiments.

The main point of practicing Rudiments is to play it in the pocket, because in a Solo - we are not supposed to (and we can't) think of what rudiments follow by which....it's instinct by feel...so how musical a solo is very individualistic.