10 Rudiments Every Drummer Should Learn First

Rudiments are the scales of drumming: short sticking patterns that build control, speed and coordination. The Percussive Arts Society lists 40 of them, but you don’t need all 40 to sound great. These ten cover nearly everything you’ll play in grooves and fills — and every one of them is waiting in the Rudiments section with notation and a metronome.

Rolls

1. Single stroke roll — RLRL

Alternating single strokes. It’s the most important sticking in drumming: fast fills around the toms, sixteenth-note hi-hat patterns and most solos are built from it. Aim for both hands sounding identical — same height, same volume.

2. Double stroke roll — RRLL

Two strokes per hand. The second stroke comes from the rebound of the first, guided by the fingers, not from a second wrist motion. Practice it slowly with both notes at full volume (an “open” roll) before speeding it up. Doubles give you smooth rolls and fast kick-snare combinations.

3. Five stroke roll — RRLLR

Two doubles followed by an accented single. It teaches you to finish a roll with a strong note — handy at the end of fills and for crashes.

4. Single stroke four — RLRL

Four alternating notes played as a quick triplet into a final note. It’s a short, punchy burst that drops into fills and grooves everywhere.

Diddles

5. Single paradiddle — RLRR LRLL

“Para” is two singles, “diddle” is a double. Because the lead hand switches every group, it’s the key to moving smoothly around the kit. Put the right hand on the hi-hat and the left on the snare and you have an instant funky groove.

6. Double paradiddle — RLRLRR LRLRLL

Six notes per group. It fits naturally into triplets and 6/8, and it gives shuffles and fills a rolling feel.

7. Paradiddle-diddle — RLRRLL

A paradiddle with an extra diddle. Spread it between toms and you get fast, flowing sextuplet fills that sound much harder than they are.

Grace notes

8. Flam — lR rL

A quiet grace note just before a full stroke in the other hand, so the two sound almost — but not quite — together. Keep the grace note very low (a couple of centimeters) and the main stroke high. Flams make a single hit sound thick and wide.

9. Flam tap — lRR rLL

A flam followed by a tap in the same hand. It trains switching quickly between high and low strokes, and sounds great as a fill around the toms.

10. Drag — llR rrL

Two quiet grace notes (a soft double) before a main stroke. Drags add a snappy, marching feel to grooves and are the start of many ghost-note patterns.

How to practice them

• Start slower than you think. Pick a tempo where every note is even and relaxed. That might be 60 BPM. That’s fine.
• Use a ladder. Play each rudiment for 4 bars, raise the tempo by 5 BPM, repeat. When it gets tense, drop back 10 BPM and finish there. The trainer in StickHits does the counting for you.
• Lead with both hands. Switch the lead to the left hand every other day so your weaker hand catches up.
• Take them to the kit. Move the right hand to the floor tom, put accents on the cymbals, add the bass drum on every quarter note. Rudiments only become music when you orchestrate them.
• Five minutes is enough. One or two rudiments at the start of each session add up faster than a weekly marathon.

Learn these ten well and the other 30 will come easily — most of them are combinations of the same strokes.