The PAS 40 drum rudiments — drummer’s bible or a joke?

Hi all drummers!

Just a really quick post today — no video to go with it, but there’s a really cool download you can get which many of you will find extremely useful. Hopefully it will get you all really thinking about rudiments, which is something worth doing!

Many years ago, the closest thing we had to a standard set of rudiments to focus our drumming lives around was the NARD 13 standard rudiments. That later developed into the NARD 26 standard rudiments, and a few decades later again we had a more international representation in the PAS (Percussive Arts Society) official standard international snare drum rudiments. That was about two and a half decades ago now, and a lot has changed in the world of drumming since then — even in (some might say especially in) rudimental drumming.

So the question is — are the PAS 40 standard rudiments relevant to the drummers of today? Are they even very well written and chosen, if we hold them up under close scrutiny and a little logic?

Well after quite a few years specializing in drum technique, and thinking about this very subject, I’ve finally written an in depth article about it.