Flam, drag?

[covana]

I have be recently checking out tabs for songs, and I see the words flam and drag alot, what do they mean?

[Village Idiot]

Flam is a staccato-like hit on the snare drum, usually used in marches, but also used widely as a "fill" in pop music.


A "drag" is a hit on the snare that is a bit behind the intended beat. I.E if you are to hit the snare on the 2 & 4 , you still would in theory, but you would stretch it a bit further.
Kind of hard to explain, but easy to show you.

[Ziggy13]

A flam is a basic drum rudiment where a note is played preceding the beat. This is a basic 6/8 marching rudiment ......
the main note is on the beat with the first note slightly before......The drag is a double note within the same time signature. instead of RLRL it would drag to RLRRL or RRLRL or RLLRL or RLRLL get it......... a drag will place two 16th notes in place of an eighth note ! It is like trying to explain the difference between the paradiddle variations RLRR LRLL .... RLRLRR LRLRLL have fun and remember to always return to one!