Transcript
I’m going to cover a rudiment now called a single ratamaque. And it’s another type of rudiment where if you say the word, you play back basically the same sound. As in ratamaque, ratamaque. There are four notes in general there, with a drag right before the four notes. So it’s da da da da da da, da da da da da da, da da da da da da. You’re alternating hands, and your last note is an accent.
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to set up as if you’re setting up for a standard flam, which is your strong hand being up, and your weak hand closer to the head. Now what you’re going to do is you’re going to drag your weak hand as a double stroke into the four strokes following. And you’re going to accent the last note.
So what I’m going to do is I’m going to play this open. And I’m going to play it slowly and speed it up, so you can hear what it sounds like in time. [pause] Just like other rudiments, you can play ratamaques closed as well. Where the drag portion of the rudiment becomes closed in, or buzzed a little bit more. And it sounds something like this.
[pause] So if you get confused, you could say ratamaque out loud, and it will give you some indication of how to play this. Just remember, a drag stroke before four other notes, and an accent on the last note, alternating.
