Hi all and welcome back to Hackney Wick Drum Studio for another free Drum Lesson in London. My names Jack and I'm a drum teacher in Hackney and today I'll be giving you a brief lowdown on the art of playing the drag. This is another lesson in my series of Drum Set Rudiment guides.
If you checked out my last drum blog in which we looked at the flam, you should already be familiar with the idea of the grace note. With the flam, we had one grace note followed by the main note whereas the drag has two grace notes followed by the main note.
Its really important before you start learning this exercise to have a good grasp of your double stroke rolls as that's essentially what you're going to be playing before you strike the main note; a short, crisp, quiet double.
DRAG ex. 1
Here you can clearly see that we have two grace notes before the main note on beat 1. These are two quiet bounced notes played with the left hand before the main note on beat 1, which is a right hand. It's important to start these slowly, aiming for a nice smooth double. Consistency is key with this exercise. It can also be tricky at first to get your timing perfected, but on the other hand, it is a very useful rudiment to help improve your timing, so it's worth putting some work into this rudiment. This rudiment is very widely used in all genres of drumming and can open up a huge range of possibilities to you as a drummer.
DRAG ex. 2
Here we can see the drag played the other way around, with the left hand playing the main quarter note. It's important to be able to play this rudiment both ways as it will really help you with developing your ideas and becoming a more creative drummer.
ALTERNATE DRAG
With the alternating drag, we're simply combining the two previous exercises. Watch for the sticking on this one. Like we did in the alternating flam, leave your left stick just above the snare head after beat 1, so it's ready to perform the drag on beat 2....and so on.
Check out the short video below where I've compiled all 3 exercises. Pay close attention to the mechanics of the sticking and you should be away with this great rudiment in no time at all.
So that's it for another free Drum Lesson. I hope you've found it a useful one, but as always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Like I always say, if you're looking for a Drum Teacher in London or some Drum lessons in Hackney, please check out my main site where you can find out all about free taster drum lessons, online drum lessons, as well as all my contact details and pretty much anything else you'll want to know about taking drum lessons in East London with me. Until next time, enjoy your drumming, and I'll be back soon with another Rudiment for you!
Happy Drumming
Jack x