Learn Drums Lesson - The Drag Video Lecture - Learn how to Play Drums

today we're going to study another
rudiment called
the drag the drag is another great
rudiment for developing the hands
further in that it works both your lead
and non lead hands evenly and also
introduces an element of stick control
or manipulation that we've not
encountered so far it's a little on the
tricky side at first because the
pressure in the main part of the grip
the fulcrum must be slightly different
in each hand the best way to demonstrate
some stick manipulation is to start with
the stick up and ready to play then by
giving it a gentle push forward allow it
to rebound as naturally as possible in a
loose fulcrum grip so it should bounce
several times before coming to a
complete rest it'll sound something like
ya da da da da da doo da da da da da jus
this means we get slow rebounds at the
beginning of the stroke and as the
energy in this stick dissipates the hits
get faster until they finally buzz and
the stick comes to a stop repeat this
action many times and relax your fulcrum
as much as possible the stick needs to
move in the fulcrum to achieve the
correct response
this exercise is interesting because it
teaches you about controlling the motion
of the stick with your grip and wrist
position you should try to practice
isolating each part of the rebound
separately so at first just try to get
the bow stroke that happens at the end
of the rebound
keep just buzzing that one hand for a
long time then swap and play just both
strokes with the other hand next try
just rebounding the stick with four or
five eighths that's just the beginning
part of the rebound then reduce the
number of hits by picking the stick up
after the desired amount of notes how
about three hits on each hunt
now let's do just two hits before
lifting your wrist to stop the other
notes in the buzz being played the
development of this type of stick
control is crucial in order to play
several other important things the buzz
rule is a continuous alternating
sequence of right and left those strokes
where one does merges into the next the
double stroke roll played with two
controlled rebounds is also achieved
starting with this technique whereby we
use one wrist motion for every two hits
it is this last part of the method we
will try to employ to achieve the first
part of the drag if I play the rebound
game again and aim to achieve two hits
with my lead hand closely followed by a
large rebounded hit with my non lead
hand I'll hopefully get three quite fast
strokes but at the expense of only two
hand motions this is what two bars of
drugs sound like played that way here's
the notation also look how there are two
little notes called grace notes followed
by a main note exercise one
two three four I'm aiming to get the
third note perfectly lined up with the
quarter note click so I'm playing the
diddle that's another name for the
rebounded double slightly before each
click here's the same thing the other
way around
exercise two one two three four
once you've spent a long time repeating
the two different ways of playing drags
try to alternate that exercise three one
two three four
in terms of repetition the sky's your
limit you need to play these type of
exercise somewhere between a hundred
times and upwards every day to fully
develop your abilities and for this
stick control to become automatic also
don't neglect your weak side
most people develop a good drag their
favorite way only and never played the
other way around then later on when they
move the drives around the kit realize
that they need to be able to play both
ways because of the location of some of
the drums the secret is to spend more
time working on your weak side drugs
then your strong side drugs okay now
let's try and apply these techniques to
the drums with some groove and fill
ideas here are some fills that are
embellished by adding drugs in the first
one here I'm aiming to start the drag on
the of beat to exercise four one two
three four
exercise five one two three four
here's a cool way to incorporate the
drag into the rhythm and the film
remember I'm starting the two grace
notes of the drags on the are of the
previous beat exercise six one two three
four finally here's an exercise where
the drags in the fill or played between
drums the grace notes are on the low Tom
and the main note is on the snare notice
that because of the location of the
snare and the low Tom I'm forced to play
my flowers the other way around
exercise seven one two three four
the execution of your drags on a snare
or practice pad is your prime concern
when you first learn this rudiment being
able to control the sticks by using
different pressures in your grip makes
the stick react a different way and is
an important lesson to learn
make practicing drugs a part of your
planned daily practice routine and once
you've got the hang of things be
inventive and make up your own grooves
and fills using this great rudiment good
luck and bye for now