Snare Drum Rudiments
Every drummer should have in their toolbox as many of the snare drum rudiments that they can master. Having these under your belt will help open up your playing by giving you experience with a wide variety of drum figures that will come in handy in composition, improvisation and performance. Think about it. How many times have you heard a couple of pro studio drummers talking about a session where they finally got to use the paradiddle-diddle they learned 10 years ago? It’s just like learning a foreign language. The more experience you have with standard phrases the easier it is to go beyond those. At the same time, knowing the structures helps you build on them.
Vic Firth Rudiments
I was researching snare drum rudiments when I came up on the Vic Firth Rudiments site. I was blown away! Here you can learn 40 snare drum rudiments by listening to audio or watching both high and low quality video. The sessions are all done by Dr. John Wooton and feature level difficulties from bronze to diamond with play along files that apply the rudiment to real world examples. Before I say anything else, let me mention that this site is part of a much larger Vic Firth Education Resource section. Take a look!
What’s The Catch?
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how much this snare drum rudiments refresher is going to cost you. How does NOTHING sound? That’s right zip, zilch nada. So, go check it out and see if you’re not completely floored by the professional quality of these exercises in both content and presentation. And don’t forget to check out his other educational offerings. There is something for every level of player to gain from them. There you’ll find audio and video on everything from tuning drums to a stick selection guide. All under one roof on the Vic Firth Education site.
What are you waiting for? Click below to go there now!
I firmly believe that the rudiments are the gems of drumming study, practice and live playing.
The diddle rudiments in particular have a huge scope of application to live playing regarding interesting groove patterns and fills – its astonishing that they were invented strictly for the snare drum, yet can be applied creatively to the entire drum set.
There are infinite combinations that can challenge you and up the game in your playing.
Revisiting the rudiments and incorporating them into your practice regime can ignite your passion for drumming and create a WOW factor in your live playing if applied tastefully.
Hey Steve,
If you had to give a percent, how much have the rudiments helped improve your live playing?