I'm not sure if there was another post on this, but sorry if there was. I can't get my flams fast at all. I cant break through the point of single wrist turning them to diddling them. Anyone have an tricks or good exercises to help me get them to diddling speed.

Post deleted by Middle Age Man

I figured out how to bounce flams a while back. I would recommend taking them as fast as you can using entirely wrist at first. Then try to get the same sound as before while bouncing them. If it doesn't work, isolate each hand to understand what each one does. It will take a while to get them clean, it really takes practice.

Are you guys talking about alternating flams or what?

Yeah. :lRLr:

You mean lRrL, correct? As in alternating flams?

As was previously mentioned, isolating hands is always helpful. But basically you're dealing with an accent/tap issue. You've got to practice the crap out of "> tap > tap > tap..." on each hand. Often the main speed inhibitor is excess grip tension on the taps so make sure you're not tensing up too much.

You need to approach it as an accent/tap development issue because if you just start approaching it as a sort of bounce control issue, you'll end up with high taps and low accents - almost to the point of making them look like flat flams.

I hope that made sense.

It made sense, but yea, i think they've sort of turned into flat flams. :-/ Im just going to practice them alot a lot more. Thanks.

Do this, it's gauranteed to work for ya. Play this 1 uh 2 uh 3 uh 4 uh 1 with R r L l R r L l R etc. Over and over loosely with the down beats higher than the uh's. Now speed it up alot a lot and you'll notice the notes getting really close together and start to sound like flams, keep the same technique staying loose and not stiffening up. That will definitly speed up your flams. After you get the feel for that, try to get them more defined. A good speed is playing alternating flams in a sixteenth note check at 120. Oh and you won't play them flat this way either. They'll sound nice and chunky.

Try doing a 2 handed Accent exercise like have Accents on Downbeats (1,2,3,4), Up beats (&), and the filler notes (e, a)all on sixteenth notes and then when you're comfortable with that then put flams where the accent used to be.

always remember to play relaxed as you get faster. that should help you to bounce it becuase if you just try to muscle your way to a fast tempo, you aren't letting the head to any of the work which is like half of what I call the "chops theory". hehe, i'm so sophisticated(not! haha i don't think i even spelled that right)