Modern Drummer - May 2007
Effective Warm-Ups
Part 3: Flamming The Triplets
by Ari Hoenig
Last time, we looked at some practical applications of flam rudiments. We analyzed different sticking options and chose to use the most practical ones. This month I want to share with you several triplet flam exercises that I use as warm-ups.
Examples 1 - 3 are skeletal ideas of longer phrases that we'll be working with later. Master these first. I've included two sticking patterns: right- and left-hand lead.
(8th Note Triplet Subdivision - 4/4 time sign.)
Key: the lower case "l" or "r" followed by a bold capital "L" or "R"
means that it's going to be a "right-hand lead flam" or a "left-hand lead flam"
*with an accent*. That means you'll have to accent the Right and/or Left.
Example 1: lR R L lR R L lR R L lR R L
rL L R rL L R rL L R rL L R
Example 2: L lR R L lR R L lR R L lR R
R rL L R rL L R rL L R rL L
Example 3: R L lR R L lR R L lR R L lR
L R rL L R rL L R rL L R rL
Example 4 is composed of triplets grouped in fours. (For the remainder of the examples, if two stickings are notated, the second one is played on the repeat.)
Example 4: lR R L R rL L R L lR R L R
rL L R L lR R L R rL L R L