40 Essential Rudiments

Drum Rudiments are small rhythmic patters with certain specified "sticking" patterns. Sticking refers to the Right Hand or Left Hand designation for each note in the rhythm. Rudiments build coordination and balance between the hands and allow percussionists to execute complex rhythms. While rudiments are written for and are practiced on snare drum (or the practice pad), they have direct application on many other instruments such as keyboard percussion, timpani, drumset and multi-percussion.

Rudiments are grouped on by similar basic concepts: Rolls, Diddles, Flams & Drags. Rudiments within each group get more or less complex and build progressively. Shown below are two recommendations for progressively learning the Rudiments. The first is a five level progressive recommendation that introduces the fundamental concept rudiments first, then moves to more complicated Rudiments. Dr. Wooton's four tier sequence is similar, with some minor differences.