Playing grace notes on drums: the Drags

Introduction to the video drum lesson: Drags drum rudiments

This lesson about drum rudiments introduces the Drags: Single and Double, Ruff, Drag paradiddles, Ratatap, Ratamacue.

The Drag, just like the Flam, doesn't have a precise musical lenght value, and it's made by a hand double weak stroke very closely followed by a stronger stroke by the other hand.
In drum sheet music the Drags are represented by two small notes with a legato tie put just befor the principal note. As in Flams, for a correct execution, the stick that plays the principal stroke starts from a superior height than the stick that plays the double, weak strokes.

The Drag, when coupled with triplets, is named Ratamacue; for a better understanding of the Ratamacue, you should study it after the previous lesson about triplets.

Drum sheet music Drags File ZIP

Learn to read the drum sheet music

Drum set elements     The graphic symbols of drum set elements in drum sheet music.
Notes and Rests     Notes and rests value in drum sheet music.
Tie and Dot     Tie and dot in drum sheet music.