Single Drag Tap

Grip & Sticking

Also called fourteen-stroke single drag tap, single drag ruff.

Take the flam tap and swap the flam for a drag: two low grace notes, an accented primary stroke, a quiet tap, then the same figure led by the other hand. Same rhythmic skeleton as the flam tap, but the double grace note gives every accent a darker, raspier attack.

In swing and shuffle playing, drag taps slide behind the beat beautifully — more whisper than bark compared with flams. Gospel and R&B players use them to feather accents next to ghost notes, and around the toms they make a smoky, rolling fill that sounds like the drums are leaning back against the tempo.

Work the bare skeleton as plain diddles against a metronome at 60 bpm — accent-tap, accent-tap — before adding any drags. The grace notes must stay quiet, even and fast; a loud first grace note kills the effect and blurs the accent. Keep both lead hands equal, because the left-led version is where this rudiment usually falls apart.