Like all rudiments for snare drum the word “Ruff” is onomatopoeic. The word sounds like the action or the sound of the rudiment itself. It’s important to remember this so when you’re learning to play your Ruffs you will know how they’re supposed to sound. If you can roll your “R’s” when you say the […]
How to Play a Four Stroke Ruff on the Snare Drum
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The Four Stroke Ruff can be a tricky thing to learn but no more tricky than a lot of snare drum rudiments. I think as long as you practice you can play anything. The Four Stroke Ruff is comprised of 3 grace notes that precede the main note. There are several ways to play the […]
How to Play the Flam Tap
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The Flam Tap is another one of those onomatopoeic words that early drum teachers used to teach their students how to play the rudiments on the snare drum. It’s simply a Flam then a tap and they are played with alternate sticking. Before you go any further with this lesson, make sure you understand what […]
How to Play a Flam
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Flams can be tricky! But they are very important for every percussionist to learn how to play correctly. What is a flam? A flam is a pair of notes played on the snare drum where one note is played ever so slightly ahead of the other note. The first note is a grace note and […]
How to Avoid Tension in Your Snare Drum Playing
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Tension is the great killer of many things and when we’re speaking of drumming, tension can really cause problems with your tendons. Getting tendonitis is not fun at all. I’ve had it but not from playing drums fortunately (be careful when you clean your swimming pool). Anyway, if you are experiencing any tension while you […]
How to Play a Snare Drum Roll
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The snare drum roll is created by playing alternating strokes R L R L etc, and letting the stick buzz on the drum head while you do this. In order to play a buzz you have to control the stick so that it stays on the drum head with just enough pressure. If there is […]
How to Play a Paradiddle
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RLRR LRLL The para- diddle is the most important rudiment of them all because contained within this short 4 note rudiment are the two essential building blocks of snare drumming technique Practice your para-diddles so that you can play them in your sleep or at least whenever you want to. Practice your para-diddles going from […]
