The 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments are the official list of sticking patterns maintained by the Percussive Arts Society. They're built from the older traditional 26 rudiments plus drum corps, orchestral, European, and contemporary rudiments, and they're sorted into four families: rolls, paradiddles (diddles), flams, and drags. You do not need all 40 to play drums — start with about five, learn them slowly on a pad, and add more when the first five feel automatic.
Think of a rudiment as a short, named hand pattern. "Single paradiddle" is just a label for right-left-right-right, left-right-left-left. The names sound like a secret code, but each one is only a few strokes long.
Where the list comes from
The traditional 26 rudiments came first. The modern list was compiled by Jay Wanamaker and Rob Carson, who added thirteen rudiments to complete the official set of 40. PAS keeps that list as a free reference at pas.org/rudiments, and there are free individual audio recordings of all 40 so you can hear what each one is supposed to sound like. A printable PDF that includes practice instructions is also freely available from university percussion departments — worth having next to your pad.
The four families, in plain terms
Rolls — patterns built from repeated strokes to fill space with sound. This family includes single strokes (alternating hands), multiple-bounce and triple-stroke patterns, and the double-stroke family: two hits per hand, counted by how many total strokes they contain (five-stroke roll, seven-stroke roll, and so on).
Paradiddles (diddle rudiments) — patterns that mix single alternating strokes with a "diddle" (two strokes on the same hand). The diddle is what flips which hand leads next, which is why paradiddles feel so useful when you start moving your hands around the kit.
Flams — two hands hitting almost together, one slightly before the other, so you get one fat sound instead of two separate ones. The quiet early note is the grace note.
Drags — like a flam, but the grace note becomes two quick quiet strokes on one hand ahead of the main note. Drags are where a lot of the odd names live: ratamacue, Lesson 25.
The full list of 40
Roll rudiments
Single stroke family:
- Single stroke roll
- Single stroke four
- Single stroke seven
Multiple bounce: 4. Multiple bounce roll 5. Triple stroke roll
Double stroke open roll family: 6. Double stroke open roll 7. Five stroke roll 8. Six stroke roll 9. Seven stroke roll 10. Nine stroke roll 11. Ten stroke roll 12. Eleven stroke roll 13. Thirteen stroke roll 14. Fifteen stroke roll 15. Seventeen stroke roll
Diddle (paradiddle) rudiments
- Single paradiddle
- Double paradiddle
- Triple paradiddle
- Single paradiddle-diddle
Flam rudiments
- Flam
- Flam accent
- Flam tap
- Flamacue
- Flam paradiddle
- Single flammed mill
- Flam paradiddle-diddle
- Pataflafla
- Swiss army triplet
- Inverted flam tap
- Flam drag
Drag rudiments
- Drag
- Single drag tap
- Double drag tap
- Lesson 25
- Single dragadiddle
- Drag paradiddle #1
- Drag paradiddle #2
- Single ratamacue
- Double ratamacue
- Triple ratamacue
The numbers in the roll names count strokes, not beats. A five stroke roll is two doubles plus one single: RR LL R. A nine stroke roll is four doubles plus a single. Once you spot that, half the list stops looking scary.
The five to start with
If you're in your first months, these five cover a lot of ground. Stickings are written R for right hand, L for left.
- Single stroke roll — R L R L R L R L. Plain alternating strokes. It's on the official list, and a lot of your early fills will likely use it.
- Double stroke open roll — R R L L R R L L. Two per hand, all the same volume.
- Five stroke roll — R R L L R, then L L R R L. Your first "real" roll, and a common fill ending.
- Single paradiddle — R L R R, L R L L. Learn this one well; it shows up everywhere.
- Flam — both hands together, one just barely first. Play it leading with each hand.
Start every one of them leading with your weaker hand for at least half the time. That hand is going to feel clumsy at first. That's normal, and it's the whole point of the exercise.
How to practice them (open to close to open)
The standard method printed with the official list is to play each rudiment open to close to open: start slow, gradually speed up to as fast as you can play it cleanly, then gradually slow back down. The other option in the instructions is to play it at one even, moderate march tempo.
A simple way to do that as a beginner:
- Set a metronome to 60 BPM. If 60 is messy, drop to 50 — there's no speed you have to prove.
- Play the rudiment as steady eighth notes for eight bars. Say the sticking out loud: "right-left-right-right, left-right-left-left."
- Bump the metronome up by 5 BPM. Repeat.
- When it gets sloppy, stop climbing. Come back down the same way you went up, 5 BPM at a time.
- Finish at your starting tempo and listen — the slow version should sound better than when you began.
A metronome and a practice pad is the usual setup for this, and it's cheap. A pad plus a pair of drum sticks lets you work on rudiments in front of the TV without annoying anyone. If you're doing this on an acoustic snare or full kit instead, ear plugs made for drummers are worth having — a snare at close range is loud.
If you want structure, PAS has free audio recordings of each of the 40 so you can check your version against the reference, and Vic Firth publishes a 40 Essential Rudiments program with play-along audio playlists that let you track your progress across tempo levels graduating from Bronze up to Diamond. That gives you a target instead of guessing.
A 10-minute rudiment session
- 2 min — single stroke roll, slow, even, eyes on stick height.
- 3 min — one rudiment you're currently learning, open to close to open.
- 3 min — the same rudiment moved around the kit: two strokes on the snare, two on a tom. This is where a hand pattern turns into a fill.
- 2 min — the rudiment leading with your weaker hand only.
Do that a few times a week rather than one long session. Reps beat marathons.
Common beginner mistakes
Chasing speed before evenness. If the doubles are louder or later than the singles, playing it faster just hides it. Slow down until every stroke sounds the same.
Only leading with your strong hand. It feels better, so it's tempting. Then you get to a fill that starts on the other hand and it collapses.
Trying to memorise all 40 as a checklist. Learning the rudiments isn't simply about memorising patterns — a rudiment you can play but can't use in a groove or fill hasn't done much for you yet. Rudiments are the foundation for longer, more complex patterns, so the payoff comes when you start hearing them inside music.
Skipping the slow return. The "close to open" half is where you find out whether the pattern is actually clean, so don't stop at your fastest tempo.
Gripping harder as you speed up. Tension is a common first response to a hard tempo. If your forearms feel locked up, drop the tempo and let the stick rebound do more of the work.
Do you actually need all 40?
Not to play songs. Plenty of drum-set playing runs on singles, doubles, paradiddles, and flams. The other 36 exist because they're standardised vocabulary — useful for marching and concert percussion, for reading printed music, and for building hand control that shows up later in fills and grooves. Treat the full list as a long-term reference, not a test you're failing.
Pick one rudiment this week. Learn it slowly, both hands leading, then put it in a fill on the kit. That's how the list gets shorter.