How to Get Better at Playing Drum Rudiments
Drum rudiments are exercises for drummers, typically played on a snare drum or practice pad. Learning them increases your drumming skills, as the 40 rudiments cover a variety of areas, such as single stroke rolls, double stroke rolls, flams and drags. The skills learned from mastering these rudiments can be applied to the drum set, concert playing, marching drumming and any other area of drumming. Through smart, regular practice you can get better at playing drum rudiments.
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Instructions
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Shake out your wrists before playing. Get your body loose and relaxed. Stay this way while playing rudiments. It’s natural to tense up or push hard during tricky rudiments, but this makes playing them harder. Keep your breathing relaxed.
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Turn on a metronome to a comfortable tempo, such as 60 beats per minute.
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Play each rudiment on a snare drum or practice pad while the metronome clicks the tempo. Follow the suggested sticking, playing both versions of sticking: left hand first or right hand first. Play each rudiment multiple times before going on to the next one.
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Mark down the rudiments that you have trouble playing.
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Turn off the metronome after you’ve run through all 40 rudiments.
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Work out the rudiments you had difficulty playing.
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Turn the metronome back on and play the rudiments you had difficulty playing before. Try several times until you can get them right. If you’re still unable to get them right, don’t worry, you’ll get it right at a later time. Consider slowing down the metronome to a tempo you can play these difficult rudiments at.
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Rest. Playing rudiments for hours, especially if you’re not used to regular, long practice, can wear you out. Devise a practice schedule that works for you, such as 30 minutes or an hour a day. Try to practice regularly, as opposed to once a week or just every few days. Regular practice helps you get better at rudiments.
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At your next practice time, return to your snare drum or practice pad. Turn the metronome back on. If you were able to play cleanly at 60 beats per minute the previous practice, bump up the metronome a few beats, to, for example, 63 beats per minute. Repeat the previous steps, working to master each rudiment at the tempo the metronome clicks. Continuing this regimen, increasing the tempo each run-through of the rudiments, improves your abilities to play the rudiments. If you were unable to play all the rudiments cleanly at 60 beats per minute last practice time, then try again. Master the rudiments at 60 beats per minute before moving on to a quicker tempo.
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Tips & Warnings
Place a mirror or video camera in front of your snare drum or practice pad and watch yourself as you play the rudiments. Are your stick heights wildly different from each other when they should be the same? Does your body tense up when you play a flamacue? Watching yourself helps you spot weaknesses in your technique and playing.
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