Hearing weird words like “Grace Notes” and “Flams” and “Drags” could be enough to scare anyone away from drumming much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz was scared by “Lions” and “Tigers” and “Bears.” Don’t be afraid, though, because we’re going to pull back the curtain and show you the magic behind playing grace notes, drags and flams on the drums.
Let’s start by understanding grace notes and how they’re played. Grace notes are lightly played taps on the drums that come immediately before accented notes. They are played at the same volume as ghost notes which we briefly talked about in “HonkyPox Vaccine Discovered at Jazz Alley in Seattle.” However, grace notes are played immediately before accented notes whereas ghost notes are played evenly between accented notes.
Grace notes are primarily used to play two sounds on the drum set: the flam and the drag. Say the word “Flam” out loud. The “Fl” is the grace note and the “am” is the accented note.
Listen to Tre’ Cool from Green Day playing flams on the snare drum at the beginning of “Know Your Enemy” on the album 21st Century Breakdown. Flams played on the snare drum can be extra powerful when the bass drum is played between them.
Try playing flams on your leg:
- Hold your left hand 2 inches above your leg.
- Hold your right hand about 12 inches above your leg.
- Drop your hands at the same time, at the same speed.
- The left hand should hit your leg slightly ahead of your right hand. You should hear the “Flam” sound. If you hear one sound (like “Tap”) then your hands are hitting at the same time. If you hear two distinct sounds (like “ba-dum”) then your hands are hitting too far apart. It should sound like the word “Flam.”
- If you want to get adventurous, try alternating between right flams (where the right hand is higher than the left) and left flams (where the left hand is higher than the right).
Okay, let’s try playing some drags. Drags are like flams except there are two grace notes before the accent instead of one.
By the way, the word “drag” is also used in the drummer community to describe when the tempo of a song slows down. If a drummer slows down unintentionally during a song, they are said to be “dragging.” One other thing about drags: you may hear old time drummers call the drag a “ruff.” I’m not sure when and why the name changed.
One of my favorite drags of all time is played by Don Brewer at the beginning of “Footstompin’ Music” on the Grand Funk Greatest Hits MP3 Download. The fill (or “lick” as we say in the business) starts with an accent on the snare drum (which is not part of the drag). Then the drag grace notes are played on the snare drum followed by the drag accent on the crash cymbal. The bass drum is played at the same time as the crash cymbal to add extra power. What makes this drag extra cool is that the left hand grace notes are played on the snare drum and the right hand accent is played on the cymbal.
Playing drags is very similar to playing a flam except that you are playing two grace notes instead of one. Try playing drags on your leg:
- Hold your left hand 2 inches above your leg.
- Hold your right hand about 12 inches above your leg.
- Lightly tap your left hand twice on your leg before dropping your right hand. The space between the two grace notes and the accent should be the same (like when you say “Bah-dah-dum”).
- If you play a drag slowly, you should hear three distinct taps. This is different than the flam where you should hear two taps close together that have one sound (I hope this isn’t too confusing).
- Just like with flams, you can get adventurous with drags by alternating between right drags (where the right hand is higher than the left) and left drags (where the left hand is higher than the right).
I hope all this talk of “Grace Notes” and “Flams” and “Drags” (Oh My!) has not scared you away from the drum set. I use flams and drags a lot when I’m playing to add different sounds to the music. Try making up some drum fills that use flams and drags. Try playing your right hand on a different drum or cymbal than your left when you play grace notes.
Have some fun with it and be creative! I’d like to hear how you’ve used grace notes in your playing so be sure to leave a comment below.