Basic Flam

Learn How To Play The Flam Stroke

The basic flam is a foundational pattern that you'll need to learn in order to play more advanced rudiments. You won't be able to play the flam accent, flam tap, flamacue, single flammed mill, flam paradiddle, flam paradiddle-diddle, or several other rudiments without first learning the basic flam. Here is a measure of alternating flams written out in standard drum notation:

As you can see, a flam stroke consists of two notes being played as one. The first note is smaller to indicate that it is to be played at a lower volume, while the second is to be played at a normal volume. The trick is to play the notes slightly off-set, so they have a fatter sound. Watch the training video to see exactly how this is done.

The Flam Stroke - Drum Set Exercises

Here is a simple drum beat that includes a right-handed flam on the two and four counts:

Here is a simple drum fill that incorporates a right-handed flam on the four count:

Once you have mastered the basic flam, try the flam accent or flam tap. Both are great follow-up rudiments.

Learn how to play all 40 drum rudiments with the Drumming System by Mike Michalkow!