Flam rudiments · 22 of 40
Flam Tap
Flam plus a tap on the same hand — a flammed double.
lRRrLL
Big letter = full stroke · filled = accent · small letters ahead = the grace hand. Notation reads as on a practice-pad sheet: accents marked >, slashed small notes are grace notes, z on the stem is a buzz. R rings higher than L, so you can hear the hands.
80BPM
What it is
A flam followed by a tap on the same hand as the main note: a flammed double stroke, alternating sides. It sits in eighth or sixteenth notes and turns up in a lot of rock fills.
How to practise it
- The tap is the second half of a double, so think "flam-double".
- Keep the grace hand out of the way of the tap. It wants to sneak in early.
- Start where every stroke is deliberate, around 60–80 BPM, and only speed up when it feels boring. When it is clean, take it to the tempo trainer and let trainer mode climb from where you are.
Take it further
- Open in the rudiment trainer →Step through all 40, shuffle, and (for members) random practice that deals you a new one every few loops.
- Log the sessionNote the BPM you reached, and next time starts where this one stopped.
- Why rudiments matter, and where to startThe five to learn first, and how to get them off the pad and onto the kit.
More flam rudiments
A soft grace note just ahead of a full stroke. Flams add thickness to a note, and the flam rudiments put them into rolls and paradiddles.
- FlamGrace note low and close, main note full. Fat, not flat.
- Flam AccentTriplets with a flam on the downbeat of each.
- FlamacueThe accent is on the SECOND note, not the flam. Same lead each time.
- Flam ParadiddleA paradiddle wearing a flam on its accent.
- Single Flammed MillAn inverted sticking: flam, same-hand tap, then alternate.
- Flam Paradiddle-DiddleParadiddle-diddle with a flammed accent, alternating lead.
- PataflaflaFlams on the first and fourth notes. Say it out loud — that IS the rhythm.
- Swiss Army TripletFlam, same-hand tap, opposite tap. Same lead every time.
- Inverted Flam TapThe tap comes from the OTHER hand — a flammed inverted double.
- Flam DragA flam accent with a drag tucked into the middle note.