DrumFaster

The rudiment trainer

All 40 essential rudiments with the sticking in front of you and the pattern in your ears — right and left hands play different pitches, so you can hear exactly what your hands should be doing. Free in your browser; members unlock random practice mode.

Big letter = full stroke · filled = accent · small letters = grace notes (flam/drag) · z = buzz. R rings higher than L, so you can hear the hands.

80BPM

Keep playing and the trainer deals you a new rudiment on its own — no stopping to choose, no favouring the ones you already know. The fastest way through all 40.

How to practise rudiments

  1. Slow first — start where every stroke is deliberate (60–80 BPM), and only speed up when it feels boring. Sloppy fast practice teaches sloppy fast playing.
  2. Listen for the hands — the R and L pitches are different on purpose. If what you play doesn't match what you hear here, your sticking has drifted.
  3. Accents make the rudiment — taps low (an inch or two), accents high. The contrast is the whole point, especially in the paradiddle family.
  4. Build speed properly — when a rudiment is clean, take it to the tempo trainer and let trainer mode climb you toward a target BPM, exactly as in our guide to drumming faster.

The four families

Rolls build your doubles and buzz control. Diddles — the paradiddle family — mix singles and doubles and move the accent between your hands. Flams add a soft grace note for thickness, and drags add two. Master a handful from each family and you can fake the rest — but the full 40 is the complete vocabulary, as codified by the Percussive Arts Society.

Worn your pad out? Might be time for fresh sticks — our drumsticks section has you covered. And to see rudiments in the wild, watch how the pros use them in our drummer features.