Free percussion practice app

Choose the rudiment. See the sticking. Build the hands. Control the tempo.

Rudiment Builder is a free browser-based trainer for the 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments. Pick a rudiment, read its sticking, watch the strokes light up in time, and practice it at one tempo, up a tempo ladder, or through an open–close–open path.

Launch Rudiment Builder → View the App Guide

No account · No download · Works on phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and computers · Free forever

Diddles · PAS 6

Double Stroke Open Roll

Right-hand lead · sixteenth notes · two-beat cycle

1e&a >R R L L

2e&a >R R L L

Accent
Diddle
Left hand
Sounding now

Every one of the 40 reads like this: the letters big enough to take in from across the room, the counting printed above them, and the accents, diddles, flams, and drags marked in shape as well as colour.

What Rudiment Builder is

The named rudiments, with the practice built in

Rudiment Builder is a focused trainer for established, named rudiments. All 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments are here — rolls, diddles, flams, and drags — each one carrying its sticking, its accents, its grace notes, a short teaching note, and a suggested starting tempo.

It teaches the rudiments you already have to learn, rather than letting you invent new ones. There is no pattern editor and no notation software to fight: choose a name from the list, and the app supplies a correct sticking, an accurate loop, and a practice path to take it through.

Who it's for

Students, band directors, and studio teachers

Students

Learn what a rudiment is actually called, see exactly where the accents and diddles fall, and work it up from a comfortable tempo without guessing at the next step.

Band directors

Put any of the 40 on the board in a couple of taps, model it at a tempo the section can hold, and run the same rudiment with a right or left lead in front of the whole class.

Percussion instructors and private teachers

Set a starting tempo, a target, a step size, and the reps at each rung, then copy a link that opens that exact drill on the student's own device.

Choose it. Read it. Work it up.

Three panels, one rudiment between them

The Choose the rudiment panel: a search box reading Search all 40 rudiments, family chips for Rolls, Diddles, Flams, and Drags, level chips for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, and the Rolls group listing Single Stroke Roll through Six Stroke Roll with each rudiment's PAS number and level. — **Choose the rudiment** Search all 40 by name, or filter to rolls, diddles, flams, or drags at a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level. Each one shows its PAS number, its N.A.R.D. lineage, and a teaching note.

The sticking panel showing Flam Accent: six triplet-eighth cells counted 1 trip let 2 trip let, with a small grace L printed ahead of the accented R on beat 1 and a small grace R ahead of the accented L on beat 2. — **See the sticking** Large R and L cells on a counted grid, with accents, grace notes, diddles, buzzes, and grouped strokes marked — and either hand able to lead where the rudiment allows it.

The Practice mode panel with Open-Close-Open selected: starting BPM 60, peak BPM 100, a 5 BPM step, 2 reps per tempo, and the full rung path 60 through 100 and back down to 60, summarised as 17 steps, 34 cycles, about 0:57 total. — **Control the tempo** Loop at a fixed tempo, climb a tempo ladder, or run open–close–open. Every rung of the path is spelled out before you press Start, along with how long the whole run takes.

Key features

Built for the percussion classroom

All 40 PAS International Drum Rudiments
Search by name, filter by family and level
PAS number and N.A.R.D. heritage on every rudiment
A short teaching note and a suggested tempo range
Large R/L sticking cells on a counted grid
Accents, grace notes, diddles, buzzes, and grouped strokes
Right- or left-hand lead
Current-stroke highlighting synchronized to the sound
Right and left distinguished by pitch and stereo placement
Fixed-tempo, tempo-ladder, and open–close–open practice
Starting tempo, target, step size, and reps per rung
A four-beat count-in and a printed tempo path before you start
Optional pulse under the sticking, or a downbeat-only cue
Mute for silent, visual-only practice
Copy a link that opens one exact drill
Pause holds your place; Reset returns to the top
Space starts and pauses, R resets
Full-screen mode for a projector or classroom display
Responsive layouts for phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and computers

Built for the band hall

Use Rudiment Builder to:

Put any of the 40 rudiments on the board without hunting for a chart
Show a student where the accent and the diddle actually fall
Run the same rudiment leading with the weaker hand
Set a slow tempo that a beginner can play cleanly, and hold it
Work a rudiment up a tempo ladder with a fixed number of reps at each rung
Run an open–close–open cycle to a peak tempo and back down the same steps
Mute the sound and let students watch the sticking during a section rehearsal
Send one exact drill home as a link, with no account to set up

The Practice panel mid-run: 60 BPM in large type, the phase reading Closing — building speed, a Next tempo chip showing 65 BPM, a sage banner reading Tempo change next cycle to 65 BPM, and the position Rep 2 of 2, Step 1 of 17. — Every tempo change is announced a cycle ahead and lands on a cycle boundary — never in the middle of the pattern.

Why it's different

A rudiment chart shows you the sticking and stops there.

A poster on the wall cannot play the rudiment. A metronome can hold a tempo but knows nothing about the pattern. A notation app will let you write anything — including a rudiment that is wrong.

Named rudiments only
The established catalog, with the names, families, and numbers students are tested on — not a blank pattern builder.
Sticking you can read across the room
Large R/L cells on a counted grid, with accents, diddles, flams, and drags marked without relying on color alone.
Playback that agrees with the page
The highlighted cell is the stroke you are hearing, scheduled on the audio clock so it stays honest over a long run.
Tempo work with rules you can see
Ladder and open–close–open print their whole path — every rung, the reps at each, and the total time — before you press Start.
Educational lineage on every rudiment
The PAS number and the N.A.R.D. Standard 26 heritage, so a student learns where the rudiment came from along with how to play it.
Free, and account-free
No paywall, no signup, no install. Open the URL on whatever device is in the room and practice.

Free, private, and easy to open

No account. No download. No paywall.

Rudiment Builder requires no account and no backend. Your settings stay in your own browser. Open it in a modern browser and start practicing.

Definitions follow the PAS 40 International Drum Rudiments (1984), rooted in the N.A.R.D. Standard 26 (1933). Some hybrid rudiment interpretations vary by published source and remain under educator proofing. Rudiment Builder is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Percussive Arts Society or N.A.R.D.

Ready to build the hands?

Pick a rudiment, set a tempo you can play cleanly, and let the app take it up from there.

Launch Rudiment Builder → Read the App Guide