the sticks are flying

[IronSabbath]

Its my biggest problem, and its also the reason I basically gave up drumming the past few months. What can I do to improve this and not drop this sticks? I tried many different drum set ups, but nothing is comfortable to the point that I never drop a stick. I even raised the hi hat, it is now like four feet off the ground and my sticks still hit eachother and fly out of my hand. any help or ideas? Oh and if this has anything to do with it i dunno, I have the snare drum really low so I can hit with more power because the left hand is an idiot. thanx

[Porker69]

first try tightening your grip a little bit.
You said your left hand is "an idiot" so try getting more coordinated by practicing on a pad with it alone. Also just try playing slowly to get your hands to not hit anymore.

[Wavelength]

All the pros drop sticks every now and then, it's not a big deal. Work on your beats slowly and practice your stroke angles so that your sticks don't collide.

[Bobr]

you´re dropping your sticks because you hit one stick with the other or just "let it fly" while playing groove without crossed sticks?
just play, and exercising could be good. the more time you ´ll be behind your set, the less times you´ll drop the sticks.

[bighaibigdrums]

Get a good teacher.
xxx

[Therma lobsterdore]

I had the same problem when I first started, as people mentioned you just need to slow down and work on your technique and make sure that your holding the sticks properly (I wasn't!). Doing things like rudiments at a slow tempo and going through george stone's stick control will help you out no end.

This might help with your grip:

Gripping the stick (http://www.planet-drum.com/english/lessons/lesson1.htm)

[Vinnysimmo]

Relax a little. Tenseness is often the reason for dropping sticks.

[funkster5TP]

Make sure you are holding the sticks correctly and tight enough. Set your kit up so that you are happy with it and stick with that set up. This will ensure you know where all the drums and cymbals are and where your hands should be. Then work your way round the kit and cymbals slowly and build up the speed from there. Practice makes perfect. And bear in mind that even the greats drop their sticks!!

Good luck
D

[ghuyuiq]

I also used to have this problem but I once was on a drummersfestival and I saw one of the best drummers in Belgium and I asked how I could solve this problem. He told me it was because my tendons (Is that the correct word? Sorry, don't have a dictionnary around) weren't strong enough. He told me to grip the sticks like baseballbats(as an exercise!!) and play as fast as possible. Als play with every finger individually (thumb and index finger, thumb and middle finger thumb and... to strenghten the tendons. Also he said I should always keep the pinky around the stick. I know you should always stay loose and I'll probably get some critique for this post because of that, but it's just as an exercise you know ( the baseball exercise) and it helped me!! That guy was coached by Joe Morello, Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers, Steve Clover, Virgil Donati...

[Casper "DrPowerStroke" Paludan]

That guy was coached by Joe Morello, Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers, Steve Clover, Virgil Donati...

What is his name? I used to take lessons with Jan de Haas. Not him, is it?
DPS

[d.c.drummer]

Alez Acuna drops his sticks on the Zildjian days video http://drummerworld.com/Videos/AlexAcuna.html

every one does it. slow down and adjust your grip.

[ghuyuiq]

What is his name? I used to take lessons with Jan de Haas. Not him, is it?
DPS

No, it's Bruno Meeus :)
www.brunomeeus.com

[Styx]

Howzit IronSabbath(cool nic)

The 3 primary sounds you play on a kit are your Hi-Hat, snare and bass drum.I'd suggest positioning these 3 pieces as is most comfortable for you where you feel you can play all those 3 sound sources comfortably with out hitting your sticks together. You mentioned that your snare is really low,I believe that is what's causing alot of your frustration. A good snare height is beneficial for being able to move between your snare and toms and cymbals comfortably and with as little effort as possible.Try this,sit upright on your throne and place your drumstick on the snare pointing at your belly button.(Your seat height should not be low either and your thighs should be nearly parallel with the ground)Now raise the snare until the stick points about and inch below your belly button and lock your snare height in there. This WILL seem very uncomfortable for you when you first try it but it does get your hands and arms into a good,strong, relaxed position above the snare drum.You'll notice that when your arms and hands get lazy you'll hit alot of rimshots,it's a great exercise to force you to work a little harder in keeping your hands in a powerful playing position. Now adjust your Hi-Hat height accordingly, probably 3 to 5 inches higher than your snare and really centre yourself around your snare,hats and bass drum.This is a good strong foundation to build from.From here you can start positioning your toms and cymbals into comfortable and easily reachable positions.Position the floor tom about the same height as your snare if not a tad lower but not alot.

My final suggestion would be using the german grip while you get used to your new playing position. This grip positions your hands and arms nicely for the snare height and hi-hat.Once you're comfortable with that start introducing the american and french grip when playing around the kit using the various grips suited for where you're playing on the kit.

These are just suggestions that I think will help you cure your stick hitting problems.If not I'm sure someones advice on this site will work for you.

Hope you get where you're trying to go dude.

Good Luck

Styx

[aboylikedave]

I know its obvious but make sure your sticks are not parallel (side by side) but have a good angle between them - I was taught to aim for 90 degrees (i.e. making a quarter of a circle, tips close together, butts apart). This way you quite literally keep them apart to stop them hitting each other as you do rolls around the set.

Good luck!

[ghuyuiq]

I know its obvious but make sure your sticks are not parallel (side by side) but have a good angle between them - I was taught to aim for 90 degrees (i.e. making a quarter of a circle, tips close together, butts apart). This way you quite literally keep them apart to stop them hitting each other as you do rolls around the set.

Good luck!

Well, what you discribe not to do is the french grip, and I'm pretty shure that won't help much . When you hit the sticks on each other you do that with the shoulder or the tip of the stick, and by having a bigger angle between the sticks, they only get a little further from eachother, not much.

[aboylikedave]

Well, what you discribe not to do is the french grip, and I'm pretty shure that won't help much . When you hit the sticks on each other you do that with the shoulder or the tip of the stick, and by having a bigger angle between the sticks, they only get a little further from eachother, not much.
Even in German or American he might still have the sticks at too small an angle. It was just a thought because before I had lessons this was what I did and the sticks often hit each other because of it, and being aware of it solved the problem for me when doing fills. I accept this might not be his problem though.

EDIT: AAAHHH! Just realised they are hitting whilst on snare and hi hat - I thought the problem was when playing fills. Apols.

[Deathmetalconga]

If you are just starting out in drumming, you might want to consider playing open (left hand doing hats and ride, right hand playing snare) before you get too set in your ways. If you play open, you have immediately eliminated much of the potential for your sticks to hit each other. Yes, there are many other things that will cause your sticks to leave your hands, but playing open eliminates some of that.

Also, there's a good cheap mod Gruntersdad describes at http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25351. I've done this myself and my sticks stay in my hand MUCH better. This stick coating material is slightly abrasive and you should "ease into it" over time as it will develop your calluses.

[ledzepjb]

If you tried everything suggested before my post, then its probably just the lack of experience or something is seriously wrong with your drumming.

[ghuyuiq]

( If your sticks would be flying out of your hands becaus they are sweaty, you maybe could try vater nude sticks or sexwax (that's a sticky material which surfers also use so they don't slip of there board, you can just apply it on your sticks). )

I'm sorry I didn't know when your sticks were flying. I also had this problem when playing h-hat and snare the sticks hit eachother, what helped for me, is if I'm playing in eight notes on the hi-hat, is to really exaggerate accenting 1, 2, 3 and 4 by making big movements with your arm, and playing all the ghost notes (so every hit on the snare that doesn't fall on the backbeat) very light. That way they never get in eachothers way.

[hauk]

If you're talking about the sticks colliding when you're on hi-hat and snare, try how I have things set up:
I have my hats close enough to the snare and far enough forward so that when I play hi-hat/snare beats, my sticks don't actually cross. The shaft of the right stick passes just in front of the bead of the left stick. It also helps when you want a huge backbeat, but you're playing eighth notes on the hats - you can raise your left stick as high as you want.

[IronSabbath]

thanx everyone for the tips and all. I dont know, I guess I have just been ignorant to never taking lessons and learn proper grip, because its really killing my playing and holding me back. All these wasted years of playing wrong technique on drums, blaa

[Vixus]

I have dry fingers and hands at the start of playing, until I've worked up a sweat... so the sticks start to slip upwards due to the motion and the only way I can get around this is to put on a little cream.
My grip is perfectly fine I think, however I still can't get those single stroke rolls perfect... ;)

[Deathmetalconga]

If you're talking about the sticks colliding when you're on hi-hat and snare, try how I have things set up:
I have my hats close enough to the snare and far enough forward so that when I play hi-hat/snare beats, my sticks don't actually cross. The shaft of the right stick passes just in front of the bead of the left stick. It also helps when you want a huge backbeat, but you're playing eighth notes on the hats - you can raise your left stick as high as you want.

How do you position that? It seems like you'd need to have your hats in the 11 o'clock position or thereabouts and that would make it hard for your left foot, unless you have a cable.