Flam Accent

The next flam based drum rudiment we’ll be taking a look at is the flam accent. In this free drum lesson, Lionel Duperron guides you every step of the way, while you learn how to execute the flam accent accurately on a single surface. He also shows you how to use the flam accent for coming up with creative drum fills and drum beats.

Taking a look at the sheet music below, you can see that the flam accent naturally alternates within itself. The flam accent is an 8th note triplet single stroke roll where the first note is flammed. Therefore, be sure to learn how to play the flam and the single stroke roll before you go through this free drum lesson.

As a quick reminder, don’t forget that for playing great sounding and consistent flams, the grace notes have to be played as close as possible to the primary stroke, and with the drumstick positioned very close to the surface of the drum.

Drum Beats

Exercise #1 is an 8th note triplet drum beat. The flam accents are played almost exclusively on the hi-hat. The only exceptions to this are the flammed snare shots on counts 2 and 4. Once you have the hands happening, add the bass drum on counts 1 and 3. The bass drum pattern is kept fairly simple, but you can experiment with different foot patterns once you’ve mastered this drum beat.

Exercise #2 is another 8th note triplet drum beat. This drum beat is pretty much identical to the previous one. To play this drum beat as written, move the right hand from the hi-hat to the bow of the ride cymbal while you’re playing drum beat #1. Yup! It’s that simple.

Drum Fills

Exercise #3 is a 12/8 time signature drum fill that incorporates the flam accent. Start by playing an 8th note triplet single stroke roll around the drums instead of flam accents, just to get you used to playing a triplet based drum fill. When you feel comfortable with it, add the flams where notated.

Since you’re playing an 8th note triplet pattern around the drums, your leading hand will change for every count. If you’re only used to playing 8th note drum fills or 16th note drum fills, this can become a predicament. To get used to changing your leading hand, start practicing this drum fill at a slower speed.

Exercise #4 has the flam accent scattered between the floor tom and the snare drum in a 12/8 time signature drum fill. The whole pattern is performed with the right hand on the floor tom and the left hand on the snare drum. Thus, the flams are broken between those two drums.

Going from the last hi-hat note on the stock 12/8 drum beat to the grace note on the floor tom, can be a bit of a stretch. Make sure you practice this beat-fill transition real slowly at first, making sure the grace note from the flam on count 1 is played exactly like it should.

Once you’ve mastered this free drum lesson and would like to keep working on new patterns that include the flam accent, go watch “Flam Accent Madness.” If you’d like to learn new flam based drum rudiments and haven’t learned how to play the flam tap, go check it out next.

If you’ve already learned how to play the flam tap, we encourage you to check the free drum lesson on the flamacue next. The Swiss army triplet and the flam drag are great options as well, since they share similarities with the flam accent.