Using FLAMS - do you?

MadJazz

Silver Member
We all know the basic flam but I don't often see them being played, especially drags, flam taps and flam accents. It's one thing to practice on a pad, it's another to know how to fit them in a song. So how do you apply flams? I think the difficulty lies in the fact that flams, unlike other rudiments, don't flow as well and interrupt the pulse.

Please post videos of tasty flam applications, drags, flam taps and flam accents.
 
No vids unfortunately MJ......but I use flam accents around the toms as a fill often, with the last flam ending back on the snare. They lend themselves to a nice 'triplet feeling' fill. Also use the old tried and tested flam, kick, kick fill too.
 
I have no sound files to post, either, but I incorporate flams into fills all the time. I often start or end a fill with a flam.

Many years ago, in a band called Return To Forever, Lenny White used to flam his way around the kit constantly. That's what got me interested in incorporating flams into the mix.
 
They sound good in the middle of a fill too. Cheers for wanting to use them, they are cool.
 
I think the difficulty lies in the fact that flams, unlike other rudiments, don't flow as well and interrupt the pulse.

THe difficulty in moving flams into playing repertoire is the sheer amount of practice it takes to get them to flow with ease and without conscious effort.
I try and think of the flam as another accent device, which act to punctuate the note flow in a solo / fill context. All the flam rudiments need to be practiced fully to achieve fluency.
Splitting the flam between two voices allows for a thicker texture in the sound of what you play.
Check out any youtube vids of guys like Tony Williams or Vinnie Colaiuta for master examples
 
No vids unfortunately MJ......but I use flam accents around the toms as a fill often, with the last flam ending back on the snare. They lend themselves to a nice 'triplet feeling' fill. Also use the old tried and tested flam, kick, kick fill too.

You mean two 16th kicks before a snare accent? Like a kick drag ending on the snare.
 
I use swiss army triplets as a nice 4 bar fill to set up the band. I also flam with my left hand on a tom and right hand on the snare drum, this can be a nice kicker if you put the bass before it all. Other than that....I will throw whatever I know into my fills...which includes some flams.
 
Constantly. How many times a night do you play a French (flat) Flam?

As for the "flammy" sort of flams, I use them for accents and setups frequently. Nothing like a strong rimshot flam on the beat to set up an off-beat big band kick.
 
I agree with Jonescrusher and will add this, splitting the flam voices around the kit really opens things up and provides a huge sound. As larryace suggests, I agree they sound awesome in fills.

Check out Steve Smith's dvd History of the US Beat. He plays flams and flam rudiments in his solos and they are beautiful and melodic, if not gorgeous. He breaks down his flam rolls around the toms and gives a great lesson on how to use flams in them. When I play them in a solo, people always comment on that specific sound, or I can tell they are hit by the musicality of the flam sound by their look. I got it from that dvd, you can too. As I suggested above, check it out, you will most likely be impressed.

I started searching the net and found a couple things that might also interest you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhHxRygqWGc (Check out from 1:50 on)

http://hudsonmusic.com/hudson/wp-content/uploads/smith-legacy-ebook-sample.pdf (Check out 45 and 46. I just played it and I think good stuff ... YMMV. Now I have to purchase this dvd. See what you did!))
 
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First of all, directing me to solos from top drummers is useless because they play way too fast to understand what's going on.

Secondly, many flams split around the kit don't sound well. There are few combinations that are musical and usable, as far as I'm concerned. If that's so obvious to you, please provide some written examples.
 
Hahaha, you're funny, MadJazz! I did post a video showing Smith slowing it down. I also posted some transcription. Not great transcription, but all I could locate on the net. I again suggest you consider obtaining the US Beat dvd, he goes really slow and breaks down tom flam fills.

Until then, try these Steve Smith tom and flam stickings around the toms. Split the voices between the toms and see if you like it. Bring 'em up to high speed and mix 'em up after you get comfortable. And remember, don't hit the same tom with both sticks, I think it sounds fabulous. Good luck!

RRL RRL RRL RRL
RRLR LLRL LLRL
RRLL RRLL RRLL

OK, just found an example on video. Great sounding flams around the kit in a couple spots. What do you think?
(You have to select the Thank You Mr. Williams video)
http://www.hudsonmusic.com/hudson/products/drumset-technique-and-history-of-the-u-s-beat/


Joey
 
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I do it all the time on the snare drum or between the toms and the snaredrum. The thing to remember is that flams sound better when the grace note is struck on a lower drum and the main note is struck on a higher drum. So, for right handed players with regular kits, you want to stick with left flams for the majority of time.

To gain fluency with flams, you need to practice flams. They do flow beautifully once you get it, but it takes a while to get the chops down. Swiss triplets are phenomenal for this. If I'm not entirely misinformed about my own playing style, I either play single flams or phrases derived from Swiss stickings.
 
First of all, directing me to solos from top drummers is useless because they play way too fast to understand what's going on.

Secondly, many flams split around the kit don't sound well. There are few combinations that are musical and usable, as far as I'm concerned. If that's so obvious to you, please provide some written examples.


I wonder why people are still so willing to repsond to your endless dribble of threads when you take a tone like this.

If flams split around the kit don't sound good to you it's because you don't know how to play flams properly or haven't put in the practice. It shouldn't require an enormous amount of effort to take one of the standard flam rudiments and experiment for 5 minutes on the kit until you find something interesting.
 
Max Roach uses flam taps in his solos. They are slow quater note triplets too, just get the album Clifford Brown and Max Roach
 
In addition to using flams around the kit Tony Williams used a lot of swiss army and flam taps on his ride and snare. You may not pick up what he's doing right away off of a video, but just try them out when you practice and think of some ways they may apply i.e. when Tony used them.Then the next time you watch him on video some of it may start to click for you.
 
Please post videos of tasty flam applications, drags, flam taps and flam accents.

Hi MJ, i use flams as fatter accents within things usually, as accent on its own or as part of a series of notes.

i put a video up about 6 weeks ago of some grooves, its about 4 minutes long but heres the rough markers for where there are flams.

0:25-0:30, 1:33-1:36, 2:31-2:35, 2:40-2:43, 3:42-3:45.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6w5kAbL_p4
 
I think the difficulty lies in the fact that flams, unlike other rudiments, don't flow as well and interrupt the pulse.

I do not know about this. I was teaching JR's opening to Rock with you earlier today.


I use flams a lot.
 
I wonder why people are still so willing to repsond to your endless dribble of threads when you take a tone like this.

I'm surprised too, people don't stop posting no matter what! So who's the idiot :)

No seriously, sorry for the tone, I'm straightforward because it saves time. I do appreciate all the replies.


Hahaha, you're funny, MadJazz! I did post a video showing Smith slowing it down. I also posted some transcription. Not great transcription, but all I could locate on the net. I again suggest you consider obtaining the US Beat dvd, he goes really slow and breaks down tom flam fills.

He still plays like a madman and he throws in other stuff inbetween. Can't follow.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback :)

If flams split around the kit don't sound good to you it's because you don't know how to play flams properly or haven't put in the practice.

Yes that must be it, that's why I post for help. Reading through this thread, I have some ideas now to work on.
 
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