Drag

The Drag is a rudiment (#31 of the 40 P.A.S. certified essential or standard rudiments) which has one (accented) note and two (unaccented) notes right in front of it. These are called grace notes or in this case a double grace note. We only count the main note and in music notation (the) grace notes have no note value. This is a hand-to-hand pattern which means it alternates between starting on the Right Hand and the Left Hand.

Sticking

Alternating: llR   rrL

Non-alternating: llR or rrL

Notice the Triple Stroke Roll sticking with an accent on each first note (R.rr or L.ll) because of the grace note being added. There will actually always be a small rest in between the accent and the two grace notes so this makes it effectively a Single Stroke and a faster Double Stroke right after.

Counting

tk1.....tk2.....tk

or

&a1.....&a2.....&a

How you would count this depends greatly on the tempo. Thinking of 16th notes and doubling up the last 16th note to 32nd notes at a tempo of quarter note = 60 bpm is a good starting point.

Drag

Exercises

31a

This exercise combines quarter note Drags with two 8th notes which reverses the sticking.

Counting

tk1.....tk2.....tk3...n...4.....tk1.....tk2.....tk3...n...4.....tk

or

&a1.....&a2.....&a3...&...4.....&a1.....&a2.....&a3...&...4.....&a

31b

This is a dynamic control exercise where we combine four accented Drags with four unaccented Drags.

Practice #31b along to the MIDI of #31 since the rhythms of these exercises are identical.