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The Flam and Stroke. This is simply a flam with another note
added—two TAT's instead of one. It goes ra-TAT-TAT, ra-
TAT-TAT, ra-TAT-TAT.
Start it with the left hand, striking the grace note. Then
strike the two TAT's with your right hand. Then reverse the
sticking. Strike the grace note with your right hand and the
TATs with your left hand. Then the left hand does the grace
note again, and so on. Reverse the sticking each time.
The Drag. The drag sounds like ra-ta-TAT, ra-ta-TAT. It
consists of two grace notes, both struck by one hand, and a
longer and louder note struck with the other hand The stick-
ing is reversed each time you play it.
The Flam and Feint. This consists of a grace note followed
by a dotted quarter note and an eighth note. The dot after the
quarter note makes it equal in duration to three eighth notes.
It increases its duration by one-half. Put another way, a dot is
equal to one-half the value of the note after which it is placed.
(See Chap. 2).
This is hard to illustrate by rats and tats, but the Flam and
Feint sounds like ra-TA-AT-TAT, ra-TA-AT-TAT. There is a
slight pause after the first TAT. Then the AT comes in quickly,
and the TAT follows it at once. Reverse the sticking each time.
Five Stroke Roll. This sounds like rat-a-tat-a-TAT, rat-a-tat-
a-TAT. Notice the sticking carefully. It goes left, left, right,
right, left. Then right, right, left, left, right. Then start with
the left hand again, and alternate each time.
Seven Stroke Roll. This consists of seven rapid, evenly-played
strokes. Practice it slowly at first, counting 1-2-3-4-5-6 TAT.
Increase the speed as you get used to the sticking. It sounds
like rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-TAT.
The seven stroke roll is always started with the left hand and
ended by the right hand.
Four Stroke Ruff. This also always begins with the left hand
and ends with the right hand. You have heard it played many
times. It goes rat-a-ta-TAT, rat-a-ta-TAT.
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