The paradiddle, dressed for the occasion.
The Rudiment
The flam paradiddle — sometimes called the flamadiddle — is exactly what the name promises: a single paradiddle with a flam planted on its first note. The underlying RLRR / LRLL sticking of the paradiddle is untouched; the flam simply widens and accents the leading stroke of each group, so the familiar “para-diddle” lilt now opens with a fat, weighted downbeat.
It is the gateway from the flam family into the flammed hybrids, and it teaches you to launch a sticking pattern from a flam without disturbing the flow of what follows.
Sticking
The standard PAS sticking is lRLRR then rLRLL, repeating. The lowercase stick is the grace note; the accented primary begins the paradiddle, and the remaining L-R-R (or R-L-L) proceeds exactly as an ordinary single paradiddle would, ending on the double that sets up the opposite hand’s flam. Counted in sixteenths, the flam falls on the beat.
How to Play
Play the flam with a low soft grace and a strong accented primary, then let the paradiddle unwind at a lower, even dynamic — the accent belongs to the flam alone. The closing double should stay relaxed and rebound-driven so it flows straight into the next flam on the opposite hand. As always with flams, the grace-note height is what keeps the timing honest.
In Practice
The flam paradiddle is a workhorse of both the rudimental pad and the drum set. On the kit it becomes an accented, orchestrated fill — flam on a tom or snare, the diddle voiced across drums — and in marching writing it drives accented sixteenth passages. It also sets up its denser relative, the flam paradiddle-diddle.