Flam
A quiet grace note just before the main stroke, played by the opposite hand. Widens the sound.
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Flam
A grace note a fraction before the main stroke, played by the other hand — one thickened note rather than two.
L R R L Flam rudiments Audio at any tempo
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Generate drum loops with Drumloop AIHow to practise the flam
- Set the tempo slow — 60 BPM or below to start. Every stroke should be clearly audible on its own.
- Play it for a full minute without stopping, listening for whether both hands sound identical.
- Raise the tempo five BPM at a time. If the evenness goes, drop back to the last clean tempo.
- Once it is solid, move the accents around the kit to turn it into a fill.
How to play a flam
A flam is two strokes played almost simultaneously: a quiet grace note from one hand landing just before a full-volume stroke from the other. The gap is tiny — a few tens of milliseconds — and the ear does not hear two notes. It hears one note that is wider and fatter than a plain stroke.
The technique is about stick height rather than timing. The grace-note hand starts low, roughly an inch off the head; the main hand starts high. Drop both at the same moment and physics produces the offset automatically, because the higher stick has further to travel. Trying to create the gap by moving the hands at different times produces an inconsistent flam that sometimes sounds like two separate notes.
A flam played right-handed (grace note in the left) is a right flam, and vice versa. Alternating them — left grace into right, then right grace into left — is the flam rudiment proper and the basis of everything from flam taps to flam paradiddles. In kit playing, flams are what make a backbeat sound huge without hitting harder.
The sticking, note by note
| # | Hand | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Left | Grace note — very quiet |
| 2 | Right | Accent — loudest stroke |
| 3 | Right | Grace note — very quiet |
| 4 | Left | Accent — loudest stroke |
Frequently asked questions
How do you play a flam?
Start one stick low, about an inch off the drum, and the other high. Drop both hands at the same time. The higher stick travels further so it lands fractionally later, producing the grace note and main stroke automatically. Do not try to time the two strokes separately — that produces an inconsistent flam.
What does a flam sound like?
One thickened note, not two. If you can clearly hear two separate strokes, the gap is too wide. If you hear a single ordinary stroke, the sticks are landing together and the flam has "flattened". The target is a note that sounds wider and heavier than a plain stroke.
What tempo should I practise the flam at?
Start at whatever tempo lets you play every stroke evenly — for most people that is 60–80 BPM. Speed comes from repetition at a clean tempo, not from pushing past your control. Use the speed trainer on the metronome to climb in small, automatic increments.
Can I practise this over a real groove?
Yes, and it helps a great deal — playing into silence hides timing problems that a groove exposes immediately. Drumloop AI generates original, royalty-free drum loops at any tempo, and the free loop library is browsable by tempo.
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