Michael Bremo

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY: Single Flammed Mill.

This week we’re working on the Single Flammed Mill.

To simplify it, start by getting comfortable with a backward single paradiddle. Once that feels solid in your hands, then add the flam.

With rudiments like this, you’ll quickly realize that stick height is everything. The process can feel challenging at first, but simple hand exercises focused on controlling stick height will make a noticeable difference.

One thing I consistently encourage my students to do is get comfortable playing rudiments (or any hand combination) across multiple subdivisions. A solid starting point is binary and ternary subdivisions, which will make it much easier to handle more complex phrasing later on. In this example, I’m working through 8th notes, 8th note triplets, and 16th notes.

If you are curious about the click track, it’s called Mapalé. Mapalé is a rhythm and dance from the Caribbean Coast of Colombia, it’s a fusion of African musical traditions developed by enslaved Africans that were on the land in the 16th century.

Watch the hand motion.�Same pathway every time.�This builds real independence.

I’ve got 2 open spots in my teaching schedule right now. If you’re ready to clean up your technique and actually feel the difference in your hands, send me a message and let’s get to work.

Practice Pad Monday: Flam Paradiddle
(aka “Flam-a-Di**le”)

This week we’re combining the single paradiddle with a flam.

This one will definitely expose where your technique really stands.

As always, it comes down to stick height, training your hands so your articulation stays clean and consistent.

Once you start getting it under your hands, take it to the kit and experiment with different orchestrations.

That last measure in the four bar phrase, where you’re implying dotted quarter notes and a quarter note, can be a really effective idea to use as a fill.

Give this one a try.

If you’ve been feeling stuck or like your ideas aren’t flowing, more often than not it’s a sign your hands just need a little fine tuning.

I’ve got one spot left on my teaching schedule. If you’re ready to clean this up and take your playing to the next level, send me a message.

Practice Monday: Flam Tap.
This week’s Practice Pad Monday was delayed… apparently my rudiments needed a rest day too....
Building on last week’s flam work, here’s the flam tap. This one is all about stick height when it comes to executing clean, consistent flams. It can feel awkward at first, but once you lock in the motion, that’s when things start to open up.
The flam tap is a great rudiment to expand your vocabulary and control. You’ll notice my sticks are coming up higher off the pad, but it took some time to get there, so don’t rush it.
As always, these are short flows. Once you’ve got it memorized, plug it into your daily routine and start building from there.

Have been wanting to play the drums or brush off the dust off your chops?

I currently have two open slots in my teaching schedule

Reach out and let's get you going!

Practice Pad Monday: Flams

When I tell some of my students that way back when I first started learning how to develop a better understanding of stick control and rudiments, the flam was the one that took me the longest to get comfortable playing with both hands.

It was a struggle.

One of my teachers at the time wrote out something very similar to the notation I included with this short hand flow. Let me tell you, it took me close to nine months before it really started to feel natural. I remember being pretty frustrated with it, but I stuck with it.

At some point the light bulb finally went on.

That exercise helped me understand something simple but really important. Stick height matters. A lot. Once I started paying attention to the relationship between the grace note and the primary stroke, everything started to make more sense.

Flams are about spacing.
Not big, but controlled. The grace note stays low, this is all touch.

Take it slow and really listen to how the notes sit together.

Side note: To this day flams is of the first rudiment that start with anytime I sit to work on on my hands.

I have one open spot for lessons if you want to work on things like this and get your hands moving a little more efficiently.
Reach out if you are interested

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:

Paradiddle Di**le Flow

This one is by far one of my favorite rudiments. As drummers, we all have a couple that we naturally gravitate toward. The Paradiddle Di**le is one of those for me.

The sticking is simple on paper:�R L R R L L�L R L L R R

But it is a different story when you try to make it really flow.
Most players rush the doubles or over accent the first note. The goal here is control inside the diddles. Let the hands move evenly. No tension. No forced accents unless you choose them.

The four measure phrase consists of eighth note triplets and then moves into sixteenth notes for the last measure.
That final measure includes a group of single paradiddles to help facilitate a left hand lead without having to interrupt the flow.
Start by locking in the triplet spacing. Feel the circular motion of the subdivision. Then when you move into the sixteenths, keep the same relaxed motion. Same sticking. Different density.

Once you truly have it in your hands, you can move to the kit and start applying it creatively without much effort. Those two doubles naturally set you up for smooth phrasing around toms, between snare and kick, or orchestrated across cymbals.
Keep it short.

Two to three minutes.
Focused reps.
Make it feel good.

If you want to tighten up your doubles and get these rudiments to actually feel musical around the kit, I have one open in person lesson spot right now.

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:

Triple Paradiddle Flow

I share this story with my students all the time.

When I first started learning the rudiments in the “paradiddle family,” I had a tough time executing them in a way that felt natural and actually flowed around the kit. Truth be told, I thought they were useless. Just a pain in the butt.

Man, was I wrong.

These rudiments are the foundation. They’re the cornerstone of so many great players. In my own playing, the paradiddle family allows me to move efficiently around the kit without wasting motion or overworking.

Learning and incorporating your single, double, and triple paradiddles into your daily routine will pay off. Guaranteed.

Here’s a short, easy-to-memorize triple paradiddle flow, and a reminder while you’re working on it:

Endurance without tension.
Stay relaxed and let the pattern work for you.
If your grip tightens, slow down.
Control first. Speed later.

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:
Double Paradiddle Flow

This one’s about flow.�Don’t accent unless you mean to.�Let the sticking breathe.
�This shows up everywhere in phrasing.
We’re changing things up by moving from a binary to a ternary feel in the subdivisions. There’s something about the circular motion of ternary compared to binary. Not that one is better than the other. But personally, I find that spending time exploring triplets and sextuplets gives your drumming more flow and a forward-propelling motion.

Again, these exercises are meant to be easy to memorize. Quick. Get up and go.
And if you want, you can always take it further. Spend more time with it. Let your creativity and imagination put your own twist on it.

Enjoy this one.

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:
SINGLE PARADIDDLE FLOW

Again, this is a short exercise that’s easy to memorize and highly effective, especially if you’re tight on practice time. Just a couple of repetitions will get your hands warmed up and ready to flow.

In this exercise, I start with the pattern in 8th notes and then switch to 16th notes. If you’re just beginning to work on moving the accents across the single paradiddle sticking, start slow and work your way up to a comfortable pace. Aim for a tempo where you can clearly hear evenness in your sound and your strokes feel smooth, not forced.

Pay close attention to the accents and make sure they are clearly distinguished from the unaccented notes.

I currently have one open spot for in person lessons. If you are interested, send me a message.

HAVE FUN WITH THIS ONE!!

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:

Double Strokes

This week we are working with a short sequence that is easy to memorize and designed to help your double strokes feel more natural and connected. The exercise moves through four different permutations of the double stroke roll, first over eighth note subdivisions and then over sixteenth note subdivisions.

The main focus here is evenness between each stroke and maintaining a smooth, relaxed transition from one sticking to the next. Pay attention to how the sticks rebound and aim for consistency in sound and feel between both hands.

This flow also works great as a quick warm up. It is simple, efficient, and easy to recall, making it something you can come back to daily to get your hands moving and centered before diving into more demanding material.

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:
Single Stroke Flow

Slow it way down.

The focus of this exercise is rebound and evenness.
Listen for an even sound and let the rebound do the work.

I personally like to work on this using the free stroke principle, which is a concept I also teach my students. One of the main reasons I like this approach is that it starts training your stick height.

Stick height is one of the biggest reasons drummers struggle with an unbalanced sound between the hands.

The single stroke is one of the rudiments that gives you a great opportunity to work toward a more balanced sound, if you are willing to slow it down, YOU will reap the benefits, guaranteed!

If you’re forcing it, your hands are working too hard.
This is where good technique actually starts.

I currently have one in-person lesson spot open if you want help dialing this in.

- Bremo

PRACTICE PAD MONDAY:
Single Stroke Four

It’s the end of the day, but I couldn’t skip getting a Practice Pad Monday video up before the clock ran out.

The Single Stroke Four is a great rudiment. You can use it for fast passages, or slow it way down and use it to build endurance, control, and consistency. Simple on paper, not always easy in the hands.

Once you’re comfortable leading with the right hand, switch it and lead with the left hand. Then mix it up!

One of the main goals with these Practice Pad Mondays is to give you short, easy-to-memorize exercises you can drop straight into your daily practice without staring at sheet music. Learn it once, keep it forever.

Give them a try!

I currently have one 30-minute lesson spot open in my teaching schedule.
Shoot me a message!