Why are Rudiments Important

Slazaar

Member
Sorry for not understanding the importance of such a basic part of drumming, but can someone explain to me how and why rudiments are important, and how it complements the playing of a drummer.
 
Rudiments are the grammar rules of the drumming language. Without them you might be able to get across a few words but for your playing to really matter and for you to be able to get across your point you will need some rudiments.
 
Drummers rudiments are like the words in the language of rhythm
 
Dave Weckl said in a video if i can remember correctly that he only practices 5 rudiments.
single/dbl/paradiddles/flams/drags.... i think.
 
Rudiments are essentially just hand technique, and the various basic muscle movements that your hands perform while drumming. Even if you aren't playing rudiments verbatim (i.e., you could pick out exact rudiments from a transcription of your own playing,) rudiments are still involved, to some extent, in just about everything you play.

Rudiments are, obviously, linked to rudimental snare drum playing, which is alive and well today in the form of drum an bugle corps and marching bands. The connection of rudiments to drum set playing is a little bit less clear, since most of what we play is different from limb to limb and does not take place on one drum. Rudiments are very useful, as I said before, for the techniques and muscle movements they contain. Your knowledge of rudiments will also come through when it comes to fills or soloing, or any kind of embellishment to a groove.

The better your know your rudiments, the less thought you will have to put into what is going on hand-to-hand. The muscle movements will be ingrained (even if you are not exactly playing rudiment in particular) and will allow you to focus on other things, such as your musicality, time, feel, groove, etc.

For a good example of a drummer with a strong rudimental foundation, look at Steve Gadd. Much of what he plays connects to military-style snare drum playing. You can also hear plenty of rudiments, such as paradiddles, in his linear grooves.

Good luck with your playing!
 
Dave Weckl said in a video if i can remember correctly that he only practices 5 rudiments.
single/dbl/paradiddles/flams/drags.... i think.

This is great advice. I think a drummer should be at least familiar with all of the rudiments, but the ones Weckl mentioned are undoubtedly the most commonly used and the most useful.

From a technical standpoint, rudiments are how we learn technique. They're also how you can maintain and advance your technique. If there is something inconsistent or incorrect about your technique, rudiments will expose it.
 
Rudiments are to drums as notes are to a trumpet.

I *DARE* you to play something that is not a rudiment, combination of rudiments, or a modified rudiment. Write out something that you think doesn't have rudiments in it and I will prove you wrong. If I can't prove you wrong, I will walk to your house and personally give you $100.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to play something that isn't a rudiment. You simply cannot do it.
 
Rudiments are to drums as notes are to a trumpet.

I *DARE* you to play something that is not a rudiment, combination of rudiments, or a modified rudiment. Write out something that you think doesn't have rudiments in it and I will prove you wrong. If I can't prove you wrong, I will walk to your house and personally give you $100.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to play something that isn't a rudiment. You simply cannot do it.

Blast beats with all notes played in unison.
 
Blast beats with all notes played in unison.

That is a single stroke roll with rests for the lefts and the rights being played with all four limbs.

EDIT: or flams on the top and bottom with the grace note amplified and delayed.
 
Rudiments are important because they provide a meaningful, useful foundation for virtually everything we play as drummers.

Obviously, some rudiments or portions of rudiments find their way into our music more often than others, but they're all "tools". If you were a carpenter, would you rather have only a couple of tools in your kit bag, or a bag full of tools so that you could pull out the appropriate tool at the appropriate moment?
 
That is a single stroke roll with rests for the lefts and the rights being played with all four limbs.

EDIT: or flams on the top and bottom with the grace note amplified and delayed.

Blast beats contain no rudiments what-so-ever... Give the man $100.
 
I used to be kind of scared of rudiments. I didn't understand why other drummers got all worked up about them. I saw them do crazy things, but when I sat down on a pad I didn't really get anywhere. I had a major breakthrough when I realized that every note you play is a rudiment. It's not about sounding like a Pratt piece or something, any time you hit a drum with your right stick, followed by something else with your left, you are playing single strokes. If you play two rights in a row, there's a double. Almost everything we play boils down to singles, doubles, some layered together as all sorts of flams, some multiple bounce strokes, buzzes and some other striking/special techniques that you could absolutely transcribe and connect on paper. It does not matter which limb, sound source, combination, layering, dynamic level or rhythm of the strokes. Everything you play is a rudiment, the serious question of if they need special attention depends on how much time and thought you are willing to spend organizing and focusing on your pad technique using the useful tools we have around like the standard 40 rudiments. I know it may seem like a lot of time, but if you spent 15 minutes on singles a day at one tempo, 15 on doubles at one tempo and 30 on an extra PAS rudiment that you would really take your time with and perfect over weeks or months at a time, you'd see improvement. The key is STICKING TO A PLAN. Have a method, write out the order of rudiments and tempos you want to work on, take your time, be patient and don't jump ahead before you're ready. However long it takes, I guarantee you that being able to sit with a metronome and run through the 40 rudiments at tempos you know you're comfortable with certainly will not damage your playing in any way. Dafnis Prieto has a great quote, something to the tune of "a drummer is only as good as his snare drum playing."

Good luck whatever you decide to work on!


Besides, if I ever question whether I should spend the hours on the pad, I think about all my favorite drummers and realize that all all of them spent way more time on a pad than I have up to this point and I' better get to work before I get hit by a bus or something!
 
That is a single stroke roll with rests for the lefts and the rights being played with all four limbs.

EDIT: or flams on the top and bottom with the grace note amplified and delayed.

Yeah, and a paradiddle is a single stroke roll with an added double stroke and an accent. It can also be a flam tap without the flam and with some added notes. Or it could be a ratamacue minus a few notes and a displaced accent. Or it could be the entire Wilcoxson book with a slight personal twist.

You're interpreting rudiments pretty liberally, if you ask me. Apparently your definition of a rudiment is "one or more strokes with any limb combination". If that's the case, then yeah, you can't play anything without using rudiments. Personally I don't see the link between a single stroke roll and a basic rock beat. You can and should work on your hi-hat ostinato by practicing the single stroke roll, but that's a different thing altogether. A continuous stream of single handed notes isn't a rudiment of any kind -- it's a half of a rudiment at best.
 
Rudiments are to drums as notes are to a trumpet.

I *DARE* you to play something that is not a rudiment, combination of rudiments, or a modified rudiment. Write out something that you think doesn't have rudiments in it and I will prove you wrong. If I can't prove you wrong, I will walk to your house and personally give you $100.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to play something that isn't a rudiment. You simply cannot do it.

In free jazz, sometimes I stand in my throne, i hold the sticks, then i throw them up in the air and i let them fall random at my drums, then i pick them and redo...

I live in Argentina, Buenos Aires, it seems you gonna walk a way!!
And, here we are devaluated and your $100 its like $300 to me, thanks!!!!
 
Here's another one:

images


Anyone can play that, right? Which rudiment is that?
 
Blast beats with all notes played in unison.

You mean a hammer-blast (all notes in unison)

Well as in a "rudimentary language" they can be called as flat flams on the hands while the feet play a single stroke roll.
 
I think that rudiments can help you with your soling and some phrasing as well.
Yes WaveLength, there is no rudiments involved when playing a basic rock beat, but if you wanna try and be more creative with fills and even with some certain grooves, rudiments can help you a lot... It's that "personal twist" that make them more "special.

It all depends on how we interpert them.
 
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