40 PAS rudiments · 12 interactive lessons

Drum Rudiments

The complete 40-rudiment chart, plus 12 full lessons with notation, sticking and loopable audio you can slow right down.

What are drum rudiments?

Drum rudiments are short, fixed sticking patterns — set sequences of right- and left-hand strokes — that drummers practise to build speed, evenness and independence between the hands. They are drumming’s vocabulary: rolls, diddles, flams and drags combine into fills, grooves and solos the way scales and arpeggios combine into melodies.

The standard list is maintained by the Percussive Arts Society and contains 40 rudiments in four families. Rolls sustain sound by repeating strokes; diddles mix singles with doubles to move the leading hand around; flams thicken a note with one grace stroke; drags do it with two. Every one of them is practised on a single snare drum before it goes anywhere near the kit.

Start with these 12

Each of these has a full lesson: standard notation with the sticking written underneath, slow and full-speed playback, a tempo slider and practice notes. Single paradiddle and flam first — they are the two most people come looking for.

Single Paradiddle
RLRR LRLL
Diddle rudiments90 BPM
Flam
lR rL
Flam rudiments80 BPM
Single Stroke Roll
RLRL RLRL
Roll rudiments90 BPM
Double Stroke Open Roll
RR LL RR LL
Roll rudiments80 BPM
Five Stroke Roll
RR LL R
Roll rudiments84 BPM
Nine Stroke Roll
RR LL RR LL R
Roll rudiments80 BPM
Double Paradiddle
RLRLRR LRLRLL
Diddle rudiments80 BPM
Single Paradiddle-Diddle
RLRRLL LRLLRR
Diddle rudiments80 BPM
Flam Tap
lRR rLL
Flam rudiments80 BPM
Flam Accent
lR L R rL R L
Flam rudiments92 BPM
Drag
llR rrL
Drag rudiments76 BPM
Single Drag Tap
llR L rrL R
Drag rudiments76 BPM

The 40 essential rudiments

The full Percussive Arts Society list in official order. Capital letters are full strokes; small letters are the quiet grace notes of a flam (lR) or a drag (llR). Every rudiment is also practised leading with the other hand.

All 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments — number, family and sticking
#	Rudiment	Family	Sticking
1	Single Stroke Roll	Roll	RLRL RLRL
2	Single Stroke Four	Roll	RLRL
3	Single Stroke Seven	Roll	RLRLRLR
4	Multiple Bounce Roll	Roll	RLRL
5	Triple Stroke Roll	Roll	RRR LLL RRR LLL
6	Double Stroke Open Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL
7	Five Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL R
8	Six Stroke Roll	Roll	R LL RR L
9	Seven Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR L
10	Nine Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL R
11	Ten Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL R L
12	Eleven Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL RR L
13	Thirteen Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL RR LL R
14	Fifteen Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL RR LL RR L
15	Seventeen Stroke Roll	Roll	RR LL RR LL RR LL RR LL R
16	Single Paradiddle	Diddle	RLRR LRLL
17	Double Paradiddle	Diddle	RLRLRR LRLRLL
18	Triple Paradiddle	Diddle	RLRLRLRR LRLRLRLL
19	Single Paradiddle-Diddle	Diddle	RLRRLL LRLLRR
20	Flam	Flam	lR rL
21	Flam Accent	Flam	lR L R rL R L
22	Flam Tap	Flam	lRR rLL
23	Flamacue	Flam	lR L R L lR
24	Flam Paradiddle	Flam	lRLRR rLRLL
25	Single Flammed Mill	Flam	lRRLR rLLRL
26	Flam Paradiddle-Diddle	Flam	lRLRRLL rLRLLRR
27	Pataflafla	Flam	lRLR rL
28	Swiss Army Triplet	Flam	lRRL rLLR
29	Inverted Flam Tap	Flam	R lR L rL
30	Flam Drag	Flam	lR rrL R rL llR L
31	Drag	Drag	llR rrL
32	Single Drag Tap	Drag	llR L rrL R
33	Double Drag Tap	Drag	llR llR L rrL rrL R
34	Lesson 25	Drag	llR L R rrL R L
35	Single Dragadiddle	Drag	RRLR LLRL
36	Drag Paradiddle #1	Drag	R llRLRR L rrLRLL
37	Drag Paradiddle #2	Drag	R R llRLRR L L rrLRLL
38	Single Ratamacue	Drag	llR L R L
39	Double Ratamacue	Drag	llR rrL R L R
40	Triple Ratamacue	Drag	llR rrL llR L R L

How many drum rudiments are there?

There are 40 official drum rudiments on the Percussive Arts Society International Drum Rudiments list: 15 roll rudiments, 4 diddle rudiments, 11 flam rudiments and 10 drag rudiments.

Older sources sometimes say 26 — that is the earlier N.A.R.D. list, which PAS absorbed and extended in 1984 with drum-corps, orchestral and European rudiments. You will also meet hybrid rudiments: hundreds of unofficial combinations with names like the cheese inverta or the blackadiddle. They are real and widely played, but they are not part of the official 40, and none of them will teach you anything the standard list does not cover first.

How to practise a rudiment

Start absurdly slowly. Slow enough that you can see each stroke land. Every lesson page here has a Slow button set to 60% of the working tempo for exactly this.
Match your hands before you add speed. Record ten seconds and listen: if one hand is quieter or later, speed will only entrench it.
Lead with the other hand too. Every rudiment on this list should be playable starting left. Most drummers skip this and end up with one usable hand.
Use a click, always. Rudiments are timing exercises as much as hand exercises. The rhythm trainer gives you a metronome with a visual pulse.
Move it to the kit. Once a rudiment is even, split it between snare and toms, or put the right hand on the hi-hat — that is how a rudiment becomes a fill.

Printable rudiments chart (PDF)

All 40 rudiments on one page with names, families and sticking, generated from the same data as the table above. Letter and A4, no email address required — tape it above your practice pad.

Frequently asked questions

What are drum rudiments?

Drum rudiments are short, fixed sticking patterns — set sequences of right- and left-hand strokes — that drummers practise to build speed, evenness and independence between the hands. They are the vocabulary of drumming: rolls, diddles, flams and drags combine to make fills, grooves and solos, in the same way scales and arpeggios combine into melodies. The Percussive Arts Society maintains the standard list of 40.

How many drum rudiments are there?

There are 40 official rudiments on the Percussive Arts Society's International Drum Rudiments list, grouped into roll rudiments (15), diddle rudiments (4), flam rudiments (11) and drag rudiments (10). Beyond those, hundreds of unofficial hybrid rudiments exist — cheese invertas, blackadiddles and the like — built by combining the standard 40, but they are not part of the official list.

Which rudiment should I learn first?

The single stroke roll, then the single paradiddle. The single stroke roll teaches your hands to alternate evenly, which everything else depends on, and the paradiddle teaches them to swap leading hand without a gap — which is what lets you start a fill with either hand. Add the double stroke roll third, because the five, seven and nine stroke rolls are all built from it.

What is a paradiddle?

A paradiddle is a four-stroke rudiment with the sticking RLRR (or LRLL): two alternating single strokes followed by a double stroke. The name imitates the sound — "pa-ra-did-dle". Because it ends with a double, the leading hand swaps every four notes, so playing it continuously alternates R and L leads. It is the most-used rudiment in kit playing, turning up in fills, hi-hat patterns and linear grooves.

Single Paradiddle drum notation — Single Paradiddle in standard drum notation — sticking RLRR LRLL, notated on the snare line.

Flam drum notation — Flam in standard drum notation — sticking lR rL, notated on the snare line.

Single Stroke Roll drum notation — Single Stroke Roll in standard drum notation — sticking RLRL RLRL, notated on the snare line.

Double Stroke Open Roll drum notation — Double Stroke Open Roll in standard drum notation — sticking RR LL RR LL, notated on the snare line.

Five Stroke Roll drum notation — Five Stroke Roll in standard drum notation — sticking RR LL R, notated on the snare line.

Nine Stroke Roll drum notation — Nine Stroke Roll in standard drum notation — sticking RR LL RR LL R, notated on the snare line.

Double Paradiddle drum notation — Double Paradiddle in standard drum notation — sticking RLRLRR LRLRLL, notated on the snare line.

Single Paradiddle-Diddle drum notation — Single Paradiddle-Diddle in standard drum notation — sticking RLRRLL LRLLRR, notated on the snare line.

Flam Tap drum notation — Flam Tap in standard drum notation — sticking lRR rLL, notated on the snare line.

Flam Accent drum notation — Flam Accent in standard drum notation — sticking lR L R rL R L, notated on the snare line.

Drag drum notation — Drag in standard drum notation — sticking llR rrL, notated on the snare line.

Single Drag Tap drum notation — Single Drag Tap in standard drum notation — sticking llR L rrL R, notated on the snare line.

Rudiment data last updated 3 August 2026. Every diagram here, in the printable PDF and in the chart image comes from one dataset, so the paper and the screen cannot disagree.