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Drum Rudiment Coach: Learn 16 Essential Rudiments by Playing Them
Tap the left and right pads, or clap into the microphone, and every stroke is checked twice: did it land on the beat, and did the right hand play it? Sixteen rudiments, five levels, and a quiz that tests transfer instead of memory.
Drum Rudiment Coach is a free web app that teaches 16 essential drum rudiments, from the single stroke roll to the ratamacue. You play each rudiment twice against a count-in, and the app scores every stroke for timing in milliseconds and for sticking: R is your right hand, L is your left, small letters are soft grace notes, underlined letters are loud accents. Every mistake gets one named hint within about a second, such as "Wrong hand", "You rushed that stroke", or "Add the grace note before the accent". Quiz mode, points, streaks, ranks, badges, and a progress dashboard, with confetti and chimes you can switch off. No drum kit is needed: tap on a table, your knees, or a practice pad. Everything runs on your device: no audio is recorded, uploaded, or sent anywhere. It is a home practice tool, not a teacher.
Open Drum Rudiment Coach
The 16 rudiments, in five levels
Level 1 starts with the three rudiments every drummer learns first: the single stroke roll (R L R L), the double stroke roll (R R L L), and the single paradiddle (R L R R L R L L). Level 2 adds the double paradiddle, the paradiddle-diddle, and the triple paradiddle. Level 3 covers the stroke rolls: five, seven, nine and thirteen stroke rolls, each one a run of even doubles finished by a single loud accent. Level 4 teaches flams: the flam itself, the flam tap, and the flam paradiddle. Level 5 teaches drags: the drag (once called a ruff), the single drag tap, and the single ratamacue. Passing any rudiment in a level unlocks the next.
These 16 are a teaching subset of the 40 International Drum Rudiments standardised by the Percussive Arts Society in 1984, which grew out of the older Standard 26 American Drum Rudiments. The full list adds the single stroke four and seven, the multiple bounce roll, the triple stroke roll, the six, ten, eleven, fifteen and seventeen stroke rolls, the flam accent, the flamacue, the Swiss Army triplet, the double drag tap, Lesson 25, the drag paradiddles, and more ratamacues. Learn these 16 well and the rest of the list is mostly combinations of what you already know.
Two checks at once: timing and sticking
Most metronome apps check only whether you played on time. This one checks the hand too, because a paradiddle played with the wrong hands is a different rudiment, even if every stroke lands on the beat. Each hit is matched to the nearest written stroke that has not been claimed yet. Within the on-the-beat window it scores. A little outside, it is rushed or dragged. On time but from the wrong hand, it is a wrong-hand mistake. Too far from every stroke, it landed between strokes. A written stroke with no hit by the time its window closes is missed, and a missed grace note gets its own hint. A take passes at 75% of strokes on the beat, with extra hits counted against you.
The windows scale with the rudiment: for quarter notes at a moderate tempo a hit within 60 ms of the beat counts as on the beat, while for sixteenth notes the window tightens (never below 30 ms), because the strokes themselves are closer together. Mic mode grades timing only, because a microphone cannot tell your left hand from your right. Use the pads when you want sticking checked.
Flams and drags, explained plainly
A flam is two notes that sound almost as one: a soft grace note just before a loud main note, played by the opposite hand. In this app the grace note sits 0.15 beats before the main note, and the main note still lands exactly on the beat. A drag is the same idea with two grace notes, at 0.3 and 0.15 beats before the accent. Beginners usually play grace notes too loud or too late; the app names both mistakes, so you can hear what to fix. The flam paradiddle and the ratamacue combine these ideas with a paradiddle: the flam or drag replaces the first single of the pattern.
Quiz mode tests transfer, not memory
Quiz mode picks 5 rudiments from a separate set you have never practised: left-lead versions of the rolls, paradiddle and flam, plus combinations like a paradiddle into a five stroke roll, and a flam followed by a drag. Because the patterns are new, the quiz measures whether you can read and play a sticking on first sight, not whether you memorised the practice list. Wrong answers show the named hint and do not advance the quiz; a perfect quiz earns a badge.
No kit, no account, nothing leaves your device
Tap on a table, your knees, or a practice pad with the on-screen pads or the F and J keys. In mic mode, clap or tap a surface and the microphone signal is measured in your browser and discarded block by block; only hit times are kept for the current take. The microphone is only on while you are on a practice screen in mic mode. There are no accounts, ads, cookies, analytics or trackers, and the app works offline after your first visit. The Offline proof button shows a live log of every network request the page makes, a simulate-offline toggle, and exactly what is stored on your device, with a button to delete it all.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a drum rudiment?
A drum rudiment is a short, named sticking pattern: a fixed sequence of left and right hand strokes with a fixed rhythm. Rudiments are the vocabulary of drumming. The Percussive Arts Society standardised 40 of them in 1984, organised into roll, diddle, flam and drag families. This app teaches 16 of the most useful ones.
What does R and L mean in a sticking?
R means your right hand and L means your left hand. Small letters are soft grace notes played just before the loud main note, and underlined letters are accents: play them louder. For example, a flam written lR means a soft left grace note just before a loud right stroke.
Do I need a drum kit to practise?
No. Tap on a table, your knees, or a practice pad. The app checks the timing and the hand of each tap, not the sound of a drum. A practice pad helps if you want realistic rebound, but it is not required.
How does the app check my sticking?
In tap mode you play with two pads: the left pad (F key) and the right pad (J key). Each tap carries the hand that tapped it, and the app compares it with the hand the pattern asks for. A stroke on time but from the wrong hand is reported as a wrong-hand mistake with the named hint.
Why does mic mode not check sticking?
A microphone hears a hit but cannot tell which hand made it. Mic mode therefore grades timing only and skips the hand check. If you want sticking checked, use the tap pads. The home page states this plainly so nobody is misled.
What is a flam, in plain language?
A flam is two notes that sound almost as one: a soft grace note just before a loud main note, played by the opposite hand. In this app the grace note sits 0.15 beats before the main note, which still lands exactly on the beat. If you skip the grace note, the app tells you to add it.
What is a drag, and how is it different from a flam?
A drag (once called a ruff) is a flam with two grace notes instead of one: two soft notes at 0.3 and 0.15 beats before a loud accent, both from the hand opposite the accent. Flams have one grace note, drags have two. The ratamacue is a drag followed by a paradiddle.
What score do I need to pass a rudiment?
A take passes at 75% of strokes on the beat, with extra hits counted against you. A perfect take, every stroke on the beat with the right hands and no extra hits, earns bonus points and a badge. Passing any rudiment in a level unlocks the next level.
What is quiz mode?
Quiz mode scores 5 rudiments you have never practised, including left-lead versions and combinations such as a paradiddle into a five stroke roll. It tests whether you can read and play a new sticking on first sight. Wrong answers show the named hint and do not advance the quiz.
Is my drumming recorded or uploaded?
No. In mic mode the audio is measured in your browser and discarded block by block; only hit times are kept for the current take. The microphone turns off when you leave the practice screen, press Turn off, switch to tap mode, or switch tabs. The Offline proof button shows every network request the page makes, and there are none beyond this site.
Which rudiments are not in the app yet?
The app teaches 16 of the 40 International Drum Rudiments. Missing for now are the single stroke four and seven, the multiple bounce roll, the triple stroke roll, the six, ten, eleven, fifteen and seventeen stroke rolls, the flam accent, the flamacue, the Swiss Army triplet, the double drag tap, Lesson 25, the drag paradiddles, and the remaining ratamacues.
Is this app a substitute for a drum teacher?
No. This is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. A teacher can watch your grip, rebound and posture in a way no app can, so find a local drum teacher or community music school for real instruction.