How To Practice Rudiments
Traditionally, it is recommended that you practice your rudiments open-closed-open. This means from a very slow tempo (open) to the fastest tempo you can play it (closed), and then back down to open. I have spent a considerable amount of time practicing rudiments this way, and while I won’t argue this approach will improve your rudimental control and speed, I do feel there are more time effective ways for drumset-centric drummers to practice rudiments.
- Grooving, Musical Context – I have found that when my students practice rudiments in exercises that have a groove, some rhythmic variation, phrasing and phrases (click HERE if want to better understand the difference), they are much quicker to incorporate rudiments into their musical ideas. Check out “Rudimental Grooving” in Lesson Materials for the exercises I provide for my students.
- Melodic Stick Control – My book will have you applying rudiments in a melodic way from the get go, which is more efficient than learning your rudiments first, and then trying to use them to play melodically later. The 2nd half of the video below has some demonstrations of this almost “sneaky” way MSC will have you learning your rudiments.