The double ratamacue is one of the ten drum rudiments from the drag family. With this free drum lesson you’ll learn how to play and practice the double ratamacue accurately, so you can perform it to your fullest potential sooner than later. This free drum lesson is also a great resource for all drummers interested in learning how to apply the double ratamacue within beats and fills.
Taking a look at the sheet music below, you can see that the double ratamacue is basically a single ratamacue with an extra drag ruff played in front of it. So if you’ve learned how to play the single ratamacue, you’ll have no problems in mastering the double ratamacue.
The double ratamacue is played in 6/8 time signature here. This means you’ll have 6 counts per bar, with the 8th notes taking the click. Thus, the left hand double ratamacue on the sheet music below starts on count 1 and ends on count 3, while the right hand double ratamacue starts on count 4 and ends on count 6.
Exercise #1 is a drum beat played in 6/8 time signature. The double ratamacues are scattered between the hi-hat and the snare drum. Start by playing the double ratamacues on the hi-hat. Once you’ve gotten the right feel for them, move the hands from the hi-hat to the snare drum on the third triplet of counts 2 and 5, and on count 3, and from the hi-hat to the floor tom on count 6. Add the bass drum to counts 1 and 4 when the hands are under control.
Exercise #2 is a tom-tom drum beat played in 6/8 time signature. This pattern has the same underlying rhythmic structure as exercise #1. Thus, if you took your time with it you should have no problems in learning how to play this one. Start by breaking the double ratamacues between the hi-hat and the hi-tom. The grace notes are kept on the hi-hat while the remaining strokes are moved to the hi-tom.
As soon as you’re playing this pattern effortlessly, start moving some of the hi-tom strokes to the drums notated on the sheet music below. Move one stroke at a time, making sure everything lines up perfectly before you start moving the next one. This pattern has a lot of things happening so practice it slowly at first. Add the bass drum on all the 8th notes as soon as you get the hands happening.
Exercise #3 is a drum fill played in 6/8 time signature. The grace notes are kept on the snare drum while the remaining strokes are spread around the drums. You have to be extra careful in the sections where you move from the hi-tom to the mid-tom, and from the mid-tom to the hi-tom. Those transitions can lead to a full head-on collision between your hands. This is avoidable if you practice this pattern slowly at first.
Exercise #4 is another double ratamacue-based 6/8 drum fill. This exercise is a great example of how to take the same rhythmic pattern and change it around a little bit. Playing different melodies between the drums, and performing unison figures between the hi-hats/cymbals and the bass drum are great ways of spicing things up. This is a very different sounding 6/8 drum fill.
The drum beats and drum fills from this free drum lesson have been developed around the same rhythmic figure. You can create hundreds of new drum beats and drum fills from this single pattern. Keep that in mind when you feel there’s nothing left to learn from a given rhythmic pattern – there’s always something new you can come up with.