Knowing how to play drum rudiments is the most important thing that you can do as a drummer. It is estimated that great drummers spend between 40-60% of their practice time practicing drum rudiments, and various applications that they may have. As a drummer knowing how to play drum rudiments properly can help you more than you will ever know. Once you know how to play drum rudiments you will instantly find yourself getting more creative with your beats, fills, and drum solos.
There are a total of 40 drum rudiments that are generally accepted as the most “need to know” drum rudiments. Now, although it isn’t absolutely necessary that you know how to play all 40 drum rudiments off from memory, you will discover that just simply practicing them will help you build up limb independence and creativity. For starters, learn the top four rudiments here: The Single Stroke Roll, the Double Stroke Roll, the Flam Stoke, and the paradiddle.
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A drum rudiment is simply a pattern, or pre-made exercises that will help you build limb independence, and creativity. They are designed to improve your stick speed and control. Most drum rudiments were originally just written for the snare drum or practice pad. This is totally fine for just practicing, but if you want to take your drumming to the next level try applying the patterns that you learn from drum rudiments around the drum kit to get a truly unique, and powerful drum practice session. You can practice these rudiments for Latin music and Jazz music as well!
It is important to know how to practice your drum rudiments. First of all, I would recommend buying yourself a practice pad. These can cost you between $20-$60. The reason that I would recommend buying a practice pad is to keep you motivated to practice the drums. Just think about it, its a lot harder to sit at your drum kit and stay focused and motivated if you are trying to learn a new pattern. It can be very tough to commit to that hour of practice. But, if you have a practice pad, because it is so quiet you can practice virtually anywhere. A very common practice spot for drummers is the TV room… Think about it, just turn on your favorite TV show and practice patterns at the same time. This way you won’t tense up because some of your focus is spent on the TV and it will make it so you don’t get bored while practicing your drum rudiments. Then if you want some serious practice time, just turn off the TV and turn on a metronome, or maybe just use a metronome during the commercial breaks. Then later once you have mastered some new patterns, take them to your drum kit, and use these drum rudiments around your entire drum set.
Taking the time to practice your drum rudiments is a very important discipline that is required if you want to take your drumming to the next level. There are many different training aids that will show you how to play drum rudiments, both on the practice pad, and around the drum kit, but I would defiantly recommend either the Drum Rudiment Secrets Training Pack, or the Rock Drumming System. Both are great resources for learning rudiments, and applying them around your drum kit. It is important to practice these rudiments in every time signature. Also, practice drum rudiments with your double bass drum to help develop your feet.
For more information on drum rudiments, click on this rudiment article!
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