Flams — Metal Drumming Technique | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Flams?

A flam is one of the Percussive Arts Society's 40 essential rudiments, built from a quiet grace note struck almost simultaneously with a louder main note on the opposite hand, producing a single fat, textured accent instead of two separate sounds. The grace note lands just a fraction of a second before the main stroke, wide enough to be heard as a distinct "fla-m" rather than a clean unison hit, but tight enough that the two strokes read as one event. In metal drumming, flams are the go-to tool for adding weight and emphasis to accents in fills and grooves - a flammed snare hit lands noticeably heavier than a plain single stroke, which is why the rudiment shows up constantly in tom fills, crash accents, and groove-metal snare work.

How fast are flamss played?

Flams is typically played around Any.

Who is the best flams drummer?

Martin Lopez (Opeth / Soen) is among the most cited Flams drummers, alongside Mike Mangini. See the full list on MetalForge.

What are the different types of flamss?

Flams has 4 main variations: Flam (A single grace note plus main note struck almost simultaneously for a fat accent); Flam Tap (A flam followed by a tap on the same hand, common in fill vocabulary); Flammed Paradiddle (A paradiddle with a flam added to the accented strokes for extra weight); Flam Fill (Flams applied across the toms for a fat, powerful fill sound).