My rudiment practice plan, looking for suggestions, opinions...etc

Phat_Rolls

Senior Member
Here's a method I came up with to learn all of the rudiments. The idea here is to learn all of the rudiments quickly, efficiently and with some degree of focus. As we know there are 5 different types of rudiments. Single stroke, rolls, paradiddles, flams and drags. With this idea we practice rudiments from each group. I have what I call Rudiments of the hour, rudiment of the day and rudiment of the week. For ease of discussion, here are a few rudiments from each group.

Single Stroke
---------------
Single Stroke Roll
Single Stroke Four
Single Stroke Seven


Rolls
---------------
Double Stroke Roll
Triple Stroke Roll
Five Stroke Roll


Flams
---------------
Flam
Flam Accent
Flam Tap


Paradiddles
---------------
Single Paradiddle
Double Paradiddle
Triple Paradiddle


Drag
---------------
Ruff
Single Drag Tap
Double Drag Tap


Alright, it takes at least 45 mins to complete this here's what I do.

Rudiments Of the Hour
---------------------
Play 1 rudiment from each of the 5 groups every day for at least 5 minutes each, so this is a minimum of 25 mins. These change every day and you never repeat a rudiment until you've worked through all of them, for example on Day 1 you practice Single Stroke, Double Stroke, Flam, Single Paradiddle and Ruff. Day 2 you would practice Single Stroke 4, Triple Stroke Roll, Flam Accent, Double Paradiddle and Single Drag Tap. You move through all of the rudiments in each group every day.

The idea here isn't so much on focus, it's more to stay fresh with all of the rudiments. I've heard of people practicing 1 rudiment per week, well that means it takes 40 weeks to move through all of them and by the time you go back to the first rudiment you probably have lost some of your technique with that rudiment. With this you play through all of the rudiments relatively quickly.


Rudiment Of The Day
-------------------
This gives you daily focus on one of the rudiments. You practice this rudiment for a minimum of 10 minutes per day, but you change rudiment groups every single day and you never repeat the same rudiment until you've worked through all rudiments of that group. So for example:

Day 1: Single Stroke
Day 2: Double Stroke Roll
Day 3: Flam
Day 4: Single Paradiddle
Day 5: Ruff
Day 6: Single Stroke Four
Day 7: Triple Stroke Roll
...etc

This allows you to focus on a new rudiment every day without just skimming the surface too much


Rudiment of the Week
---------------------
This is exactly like rudiment of the day, except you switch rudiments every single week. So you practice the same rudiment every single day for a minimum of 10 minutes and a week later you change to a different rudiment in a different group, exactly like rudiment of the day. This gives you much more focus as on Day 1 you practice a single stroke roll every single day for a week before moving on to the double stroke roll.



You get 45 minutes of rudiment practice every day if you follow this routine. Rudiments of the hour allows you to stay fresh on all of the rudiements, rudiment of the day is a little more focused and rudiment of the week is heavier on the focus for maximizing technique. Don't confuse "Rudiment of the week" for practicing that rudiment once a week - you practice it every day, you just change rudiments once per week. I use a white-board to help keep track of all this.

What do you guys think of this idea? I'm open to suggestions, opinions...etc.
 
Man its an awesome rutine.
Its funny but when you finish reading it it fells like obvious,
but its very simple planned and very efficient.

I was studing this way:

Note: I focusing more in singles and doubles
Note: Progresive work = keeping the same time in weeks or what needed periods
of time and increasing tempo by 3/5 bpm depending on the excercise

10 min with metronome in progresive work in sinlges RLRL (16th) different
intensities and focusing on stick highs. Snare only

10 min with metronome in progresive work in sinlges RLRL (16th) different
intensities and focusing on stick highs. Around the drumset


10 min with metronome in progresive work in sinlges LRLR (16th) different
intensities and focusing on stick highs. Snare only

10 min with metronome in progresive work in snlges LRLR (16th) different
intensities and focusing on stick highs. Around the drumset

Then, double strokes routine:

5 min with metronome in progresive work in a pillow
10 min with metronome in progresive work in snare
10 min with metronome in progresive work in snare 10 bpm faster

Then I fix the tempo in 130 and play Allan Dawson Rudimental ritual
4 times, I have it memorized.


But your approach seems very interesting to me, I would keep track of it
and implemented in my new focus.

Great post!
 
Thanks!

The only thing is I'm having a hard time doing the hourly rudiments for only 5 mins a piece - it just doesn't seem like enough so recently (just today) I started doing 10 minutes for the hourly rudiments and 15 minutes for the daily/weekly focus rudiments. Only problem is now it takes an hour and 20 mins of rudiment practice per day. I might go back to 5 mins eventually - only so many hours available in a day!
 
This looks like a good plan. I am trying to figure one out for myself as I've been playing every rudiment every day for about a year but it forces me to only skim the surface usually with each rudiment
 
Good stuff. You could also try and find a teacher that will teach you the Rudimental Ritual and then each week you two or three rudiments daily. You'll still keep them fresh, as such, because you're playing them in the ritual also.

The Ritual is great.
 
Nothing wrong with working the rudiments. But remember, they're just one phase of playing the instrument. Another aspect of rudiments you might want to explore is the application of rudiments via solos from, say, Charles Wilcoxon's "Rudimental Swing Solos." A book like Wilcoxon's will enable you to use the rudiments in a musical fashion. Joe Morello's "Master Studies II" really helped me with working up speed and power.

Another thought: There are many paths to the waterfall. There are many drummers who advocate this or that method as the One True Path. Especially when it comes to rudiments. You'll hear much talk about "fulcrums" and the "Moeller technique." Explore these avenues, but use what works for you. Rock-n-Roll and Jazz was invented by rule breakers and society's outcasts. And remember the sage advice of Papa Jo Jones: "Tune and tempo, young man! Tune and Tempo!"
 
My routine this month is:

20 min stick control, half a page per session, one page per week.

10 min single stroke speed, right now Derek Roddy's exercise, groups of 4 on the right hand and then on the left, then groups of 8, then 12 then 16 and finally single stroke roll. 2 minutes each. In his exercise I try to push my self and don't worry so much about perfect accuracy. It has done wonders for my general hand speed.

5 minutes of finger exercise, basically just French grip one finger at a time. Right now left hand fulcrum only because it's very weak compared to the others.

5 minutes of double strokes at a slow speed but I accent the second stroke and immediately lift the stick back up at the same time. This is to build kind of a reflex for the second stroke.

Rest of the session (30 minutes or more) I do the single paradiddle. I do a paradiddle grid exercise (accents) and also do paradiddles as eight notes, eight note triplets, 16th, 16th note triplets and 32 notes.

This month I'm focusing on the single paradiddle, I raise the metronome 10 bpm every week but I practice at about half my max speed with the accents.

Next month I'm going to practice the 6 stroke roll.

I do one month each because I find it helps to get absorbed into one rudiment for a long period until you can eat sleep and breathe it. I don't just play the rudiment over and over, I try to make it as effective as possible by practicing accents in all possible places in the rudiment, play it in different subdivisions etc.

I work on single and double strokes all the time. I switch exercises for those every month as well.

I don't plan to master all rudiments, I practice what I intend to use on the kit. I might learn 5-10 rudiments. Sure you get more stick control by learning all of them but that's why I practice the book stick control.
 
Anything that works for you is great.

I personally don't like to practice them individually that way. What I do is doing through is reading and subdividion exercises that pretty much covers them all and more in what I feel is a more practical and usable way.

I do the Life Time warm-up every morning though as one of the more speed oriented parts of my rudimental practice. In that sense I do isolate them a bit.

I think it's great to put together something like the Rudiment Ritual and other things that also keep your brain working and changes based on a meter frame of some sort.

I also have a snare set up by itself in my practice room and a music stand with some etude books on it. A good one to start with would be "The All American Drummer" by Wilcoxon.
 
Anything that works for you is great.

I personally don't like to practice them individually that way.

I think it's great to put together something like the Rudiment Ritual and other things that also keep your brain working and changes based on a meter frame of some sort.

Well I'm still pretty new, I've been drumming for 2 years and have practiced rudiments sporadically the last year. I'm trying this new approach now to get more serious with it and set goals for every month. You have probably mastered many rudiments and probably just need to keep them fresh.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play singles, doubles and paradiddles up to 200 BPM as 16th notes very clean and very comfortable. Right now I'm at 160 for doubles, a bit higher for singles and maybe 140 for paradiddles. Not as comfortable as I would like though.

Is that a good goal? From what I've seen on youtube most drummers seem to be able to do that :p
 
Anyone has seen this ? Looks promising... I could certainly use such a visual tool on my iPhone... I'm not such a good music sheet reader, sadly.
Don't know when it'll be available though... I'll have to check back from time to time.

http://www.rudidrum.com/

In the meantime, I like to practice the double-stroke roll for at least 5-10 minutes until I get warmed-up and regular agains't a metronome, and after a couple of paradiddles I usually incorporate them in small solos instead of simply play them individually. Makes for a more interesting practice session...

Some of you might already know my YouTube channel ?

www.youtube.com/alainhubert
 
Great routine. If the student is just starting out, it MIGHT be too much. If not, then keep on going.
 
Well I'm still pretty new, I've been drumming for 2 years and have practiced rudiments sporadically the last year. I'm trying this new approach now to get more serious with it and set goals for every month. You have probably mastered many rudiments and probably just need to keep them fresh.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play singles, doubles and paradiddles up to 200 BPM as 16th notes very clean and very comfortable. Right now I'm at 160 for doubles, a bit higher for singles and maybe 140 for paradiddles. Not as comfortable as I would like though.

Is that a good goal? From what I've seen on youtube most drummers seem to be able to do that :p


Mastery is a strong word. lol I've only been playing drums for about 3 years. However, I've played and studied music for about 30.

I've had a lot of time on my hands, so my own technique routine is quite a marathon. I do separate things, but when I got the motions down I add them to the routine.

I've never really practice speed per see except for a some one handed conditioning I do at the end of my day or practice sessions. My focus has been on control and increasing vocabulary.

Instead of focusing on increasing speed on one thing in particular I rather take whole musical concepts and practice them slowly and practically and then I slowly increase the speed on the whole thing. Thing is though, if the technique is good you'll be able to increase the speed quite effortlessly. Speed really comes down relaxation and control.

I equate this to how I pratice improvisation on the guitar or the saxophone. I leran concepts and practice whole songs or parts of songs using all my senses all the time. Playing fast in a usable way isn't just about the hands going faster, but it's about hearing and thinking faster, so I practice in a way where I can't just move my hands at that speed, but I can experience complete musical freedom and control at that speed.

I advocate training your ears and your brain and developing your musicality in parallell with your technique. That's the way that technique might actually be of use and you avoid the syndrome of throwing in specific licks where they don't fit. Rather you get inspired by those licks, practice them like rudiments so you more and more develop the ability to feel and play what feels right with ease and focus on the music.
 
I usually don't worry about working up to high speeds. Not that it is not good or necessary, but I don't play set drums, just marching or re-enacting type solos and tunes. I just don't have music that requires that kind of speed. Most music that I play is at about 100-120 bpm. Some are slower, if you are playing colonial or civil war fife and drum music. Clarity is a bigger concern.
 
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