The basic drum stroke patterns used in playing drums are known as snare drum rudiments. While there are numerous snare drum rudiments, the Percussive Arts Society recognizes only 40 of them. The following 40 snare drum rudiments are considered essential for all drummers to know. Roll rudiments, diddle rudiments, flam rudiments, and drag rudiments are the four types of rudiments.
Roll rudiments make use of the roll technique, which involves rapidly bouncing drum sticks on the snare drum head to produce a series of sustained notes. There are three different types of snare drum rudiments. They are the single stroke roll, which uses alternate sticking to create evenly spaced notes; the double stroke roll, which has 10 variations; and the multiple bounce roll, which produces the most recognizable buzz type snare roll. The triple stroke roll, which is played three notes per alternating hand, falls into this category as well.
The four types of diddles that make up the diddle rudiments are the single paradiddle, double paradiddle, triple paradiddle, and paradiddle-diddle. At the end of a rudiment, a diddle is a double-stroke note played with one hand. A single paradiddle, for example, consists of two alternating notes (L, R) followed by a diddle (R, R). It’s written as RLRR beneath the notes on sheet music.
The flam rudiment is the next snare drum rudiment. Flams are two notes played quickly in succession, the first being softer and the second being more accented. Beginning drum teachers will teach their students to play the flam as the word sounds, with the first tap being the “f” and the second, stronger tap being the “lam.” Flam rudiments are made up of flams connected by paradiddles and accented strokes.
The snare drum rudiments category ends with drag rudiments. This is an advanced rudiment category that includes many of the first three snare drum rudiment types, as well as strong stick skill and rudiment mastery. Drag notes have a unique time signature because they are two notes played at twice the speed of the rest of the piece and at a lower volume. A single drag rudiment, for example, would be played with two quick strokes (RR) followed by one stroke with half the count of the first two strokes (L), as shown: RR L. Flams and drag rudiments employ what are known as “grace” notes, which are used to introduce stronger notes.