Difficulty Playing With Fingers

[Adam-B]

Hello. For over a year now I've been focusing on finger technique and listening to the wise words of folk like 'Tiger' Bill and Art Verdi (All about rebound motion, relaxation, the 'Gladstone' Method, finger control etc.). As far as practising on a pad or my snare drum, their teachings work fine and are easily applied- with practise- and I'm comfortable playing my fingers to achieve greater speed. However, I feel that finger technique falls short when it comes to moving around the kit, playing on other drums and playing accents. I can play a single stroke roll with fingers on my snare drum fine, but moving that roll around the drums fluently and comfortabley is a hassle. Any advice? Is it possible to use fingers on the toms or should I switch between fingers and wrists?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

[jiltednut]

Personally I feel the same way about fingers as I do about doubles on Toms, and thats don't use them. I find that u can't get the power on the toms using either, so my advice would be to use a mix of wrists and fingers, that way u get the speed and some power from the wrists.

[Jeff Almeyda]

Truth be told, I only use fingers for fast rolls on the snare or fast ride patterns.

Moving around the drums requires good wrists. If you try to play around the kit with fingers only your playing will lack power and authority.

I can go just as fast with my wrists as with my fingers.(16th's at 230 BPM) It's just that I can keep the fingers going for alot longer so it works great for ride patterns. Fills around the kit, however need the power that the fingers alone cannot provide.

Check out Dennis Chambers or Dom Famularo move around the kit and you'll see how it's all in the wrist. I specifically picked those two players because they come from different schools of thought regarding technique development yet they both use wrists to go around the kit.

"The wrist is the motor" Joe Morello

Good luck

[Adam-B]

Excellent, thanks for the replies. But what do I do about the rebound motion (or rather, the lack of rebound motion) when I play on the toms? Is it really all wrist and no rebound whatsoever?

[Jeff Almeyda]

There is rebound with the wrist. Go to the vic firth website, in the education section you will find Dom Famlaro's cyber lessons. Watch them over and over. Start with the free stroke and you'll see just how much rebound you can get with the wrist.

I worked on the free stroke for months and it improved every aspect of my hand technique.

Good luck

[centralzeke]

Yeah. Try to get really good wrists before you even think about fingers.

[Adam-B]

Yeah, I've watched all those video clips and learnt to use my wrists first. I don't think I worded it correctly. My problem is that I don't get any (or little) rebound when I play on the toms, and that's what causing my problems playing at faster speeds around the drums. Playing quickly on a snare drum or practice pad is fine because I have that rebounding motion of the stick, but there isn't any rebound on the toms.

[Jeff Almeyda]

If your wrists are developed you don't need rebound at all. You don't even need sticks! I can play almost as fast with bare hands as with sticks. Mike Mangini played over 1,000 strokes in a minute with his bare hands.

I understand that you've learned that the wrists are of primary importance but you need to pay your dues like the rest of us and develop those muscles and the reflexes that go along with it. It's not going to happen overnight.

Start off by setting the metronome at 100 BPM or even slower. NOT faster. Play a single stroke roll (16th notes). Do it in front of a mirror. Notice how much worse your left hand (or weak hand, if you prefer) looks. That's something that needs to be handled by practice and a critical eye.

No play that slow roll for 90 minutes!!! I guarantee you that your hands will be begging for mercy before 30 minutes are up.

That's how you practice to develop technique. Slow and for extended periods of time. You will get much faster results that way.

Do this religously for like 2 months and your hands will amaze you with their development.

[bigfatbobby]

Go to "Finger Technique: Using fingers on the french grip"

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/drumset/domfamularo.html

[Scatman]

Finger technique is used for fast singles on a snare basically
I think moving from one drum to another wrists or arms would be used

[Mcot2]

Yes phsyically moving around the kit requires sholders, but as far as playing on the toms, I can still use the fingers.

Just practice it. Go into french grip mode and use all fingers and just move around the kit. You won't get the same power as wrists but you might find you get a bit more speed.

[d.c.drummer]

i've been blasted before for my "it will come to you eventually" approach to drums but i still think its true. I recently switched my grip to a "wrist+back two fingers" and it has worked out for me. I expirement (often gaining inspiration from instructional material or watching good and even bad drummers) and build on what works well for me.

I find with a wrist finger combination you can get a very whack on you drums. look at some of the vids on the moeller motion. not really the bounce, just the first strike motion

[deltadrummer1]

Yes phsyically moving around the kit requires sholders, but as far as playing on the toms, I can still use the fingers.

Just practice it. Go into french grip mode and use all fingers and just move around the kit. You won't get the same power as wrists but you might find you get a bit more speed.

He's right. You can still develop your fingers to the point where you can move around the toms and still be using your fingers. French grip/ gladstone/...do it

[jazzsnob]

Personally I feel the same way about fingers as I do about doubles on Toms, and thats don't use them. I find that u can't get the power on the toms using either, so my advice would be to use a mix of wrists and fingers, that way u get the speed and some power from the wrists.

If you have good technique, you can play doubles and use fingers on toms. You are limiting yourself in an extreme way if you don't practice those things.

[skippy]

i use fingers and wrists on toms. sometimes one of the two sometime a mixture of both. its all what fits you.