THE TRADITIONAL GRIP THREAD

[mase11th]

I play both techniques based on the style of music. For example, any and most rock tunes will require a slightly heavier feel that is easier for me to play with a match grip. But playing ghost notes on the snare over a Jazz swing feel is easier for me playing traditional. I can play those ghost notes with a match grip, but the placement of the left hand stick in a traditional grip allows me to move around the snare more.

I'm not saying this would work for you or not, but it is a good example of effectively applying both grips to my drumming.

[h3r3tic]

Hey guys whats up?

First of all want to thank for giving your opinions on the "moeller on blast-beats" tread
Thank you so much :) you rule!

On the last time we were talking about the moeller on the blasts, one of the coments (i think) suggested that it would be better to try to do the finger control based on Art Verdi´s finger control technique.

oh! i´ve been playing traditional grip for like almost a month and i find it very natural to play with. So i´ve been wondering if anyone could tell me how to practise this exercise (finger control on trad) and if it will take long?

I thank you all :)
Peace

[Jared_Falk]

Alot of times I will see drummers turn their hand over on top of the stick when using finger control. I find it quite awkward as your pushing down on the stick. Capturing and controlling the rebound becomes more of a challenge. However, I know there are hundreds of drummers doing this...Art Verdi being one of them, and he seems to do all right....that's kind of an understatement but...you know what I mean. :)

[photon]

I'm not sure if the style is similar to what Art Verdi does but Dave Weckl demonstrates a method of finger control for the left hand traditional grip on his Back to Basics dvd.

[Peter J]

I think it should be mentioned that all the great traditional grip players with great fingers probably mastered the free stroke utilizing the wrist before developing fingers--I haven't done a study on this and I'm just hypothesizing but from my own experience and when watching those players use fingers you see they have a very solid wrist foundation they work off of. I personally believe it is impossible to develop good finger technique without developing your wrists first. You can think of it this way-- by using wrists your developing a larger muscle group that will act as support for using fingers which employs a smaller muscle group. I believe there is a good video by Dom Famularo on wrists and the free stroke in this site. Just my opinion

Peter J

[photon]

I agree Peter...the wrists generate all the power and are the foundation of the traditional style. Finger control should come later once the fundemental technique is mastered.

[sejives]

Fingers are not connected by "small muscles", they are connected by tendons. Finger control can be potentially hazardous, watch out for tendonitis and carpel tunnel synd!!!

My only advise about finger control is: find what works for you, especially in trad grip. A lot of players use their thumbs in a very interesting way...

sorry for being so vague. i'm learning myself

[Drummin Drew 1]

Drummers ARE going to laugh at you, i have seen it plenty of times.

[PreppieNerd]

Either way is fine, again in drumming there are no rules, merely preferences. Trad used to feel weird, but after training, half the time I pick up sticks trad on reflex.

[Cabazon]

Drummers ARE going to laugh at you, i have seen it plenty of times.


If a person played traditional in both hands and did it well, I would not laugh.

[funked_up]

A very good question. I often see people, who are 'right handers', play traditional grip in their right. I don't agree with this. It would make sense that if their drum kit was set up in the 'right-handed' way, then they should play traditional in their left. You may ask why. It's because if you are playing it with your right, then you will mainly be keeping time, with your right hand, in traditional grip. This will not be effective and it will be painful and strenuous. Therefore, I believe, that if you are right-handed, you should play traditional in your left, and if you are left handed, play traditional in your right.

Hope this helps!

Tim

[math_metal_182]

What about doing both? At the same time?

What about doing both? At the same time? With one hand tied behind your back?

[funked_up]

What about doing both? At the same time? With one hand tied behind your back?

Math Metal, you're a dick.

[mr_hayward_99]

does anyone know why my grip keeps slipping towards the back of the stick when using traditional grip and how i stop it. obvisously i dont want to grip the stick tighter becasue i will stop the rebound . will it just come with practice?

any ideas

[radeq]

you need to practice this - just take your stick, hold it with your open hand ( left ) in traditional grip ( dont close your fingers, just place the stick where you normaly have the grip), and then hold the tip of your stick with your right hand, and then drop to your practice pad - and let it bounce - dont do nothinig with your L hand, repeat this, until it you find a postition, where it doesnt slide doesn;t slide - and always when you will preactice, keep that position in mind...after a while it becomes atomatic for your hand..

I hope it will help

I'll send a video tommorow, ok?

[brightman96797]

yah exactly what radeq said. i had the same problem. after hours of practice...it got a lot better.

[TheSteve]

Also, make sure that the stick is placed on the cuticle of your ring finger and have a nice tight but relaxed fulcrum should keep your grip in place.

[h3r3tic]

Hey there ;)
There´s a small but nice video where you can download about the traditional grip from Art Verdi, he explains how to do finger control with the traditional grip but he first explains how to grip the stick on traditional...
But it looks that the link is broken :/
But I have the video anyway, I could send it to you if you want to, just give me your email

Peace

[Tex12]

Go to Art Verdi site www.artverdi.com
Art has tons of videos about the traditional grips left hand stuff

[mr_hayward_99]

great

thanks for the tips guys

[DrummerGuy75]

hey well I've been playing for a year now with matched grip and I'm pretty good with it and I decided to start using traditional. I'm not going to stop using matched but I thought knowing traditional grip would be good. I am having trouble with it though I have the motion down but It feels like i'm not getting any where with it any help would be helpful.

[jazzsnob]

Could you maybe explain what problems you are having?

[DrummerGuy75]

When I practice I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it.

[Drummer4Jesus]

I played matched for over a year and a half before I made the switch to traditional. I can tell you that once I really started to practice with it, it revolutionalized my playing.

What do you mean when you say you're not getting it? Is it that you're not getting any rebound or not playing any better? These are things I practiced on when I just started playing in trad.
First, learned how to do simple rudiments in trad. like singles, doubles, paradiddles. Then I got into the more complex rudiments like flams and drags. For a more practical application in music learn the Buddy rich one handed roll and the Moeller technique. These two techniques really brought my playing to new heights.

[DrummerGuy75]

Thanks that helped. I already know moller but I'll look into the one handed roll.

[jazzsnob]

I think you shouldn't worry about any rudiments besides singles for a while. Make sure you can do 16th note singles evenly and quietly at 168( I know it doesn't seem very fast, but doing singles for five minutes will let you know it's a good excercise. work up to it) Also, you should consult a teacher who specializes in traditional grip, because it's twice as easy to mess up as matched.

[RudimentalDrummer]

Yeah...I'm also trying to get into Traditional Grip...just remember...

The adjoining part between Hand & your Wrist - Must Be Straight (must never be bend - look at your wrist constantly)...this is the most important thing to remember in using Traditional Grip.

Initial problem - is always the Grip between (the place) ...thumb & 2nd finger - I'm still having this problem...it slips.

Next - just practice and practice.

[Chip]

I tried to get into it........it requires the snare to be at an uncomfortable level. And then I thought...... What's the point? Marching drummers did it to reach the drum, with modern technology, we can reach it with both hands, so there really isn't much point....

[h3r3tic]

Hey dude :)

I think it´s always good to learn a new grip but changing it wouldn´t be the best thing (Not the end of the world). I play matched grip too and like yourself, I wanted to change to traditional... but then there was some not cool hings that happened when I tried to change to traditional...

Traditional grip was made for marching drummers because it is the best way to hit the drum on trad because your hitting the drum sidways :P. I lost power when I was playing traditional, I lost speed too...

That´s why I don´t agree with the change to trad grip


BUT THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION DOESN´T MEAN IT´S THE RIGHT ONE lololol

There´s no doubt that you can find excelent drummers that use traditional (Virgil Donati, Jojo Mayer, Derrick Pope, Thomas Lang, etc)

[jangus]

Hey kids I'll tell you why it's easier for your right hand trad when you're right-handed. You haven't developed you left hand's muscles enough for it to work better than your right. You gotta get it developed and it will help you in the future.

[cnw60]

hey - I have a question for any natural southpaws out there who play both trad and matched grip?

i've noticed lately that almost all of my practice time which is dedicated to just hands (Stick Control, free stroke,little bit of Moeller, singles, doubles triples, etc,...) is spent working with matched grip - yet when I flip around to trad grip, there's virtually no falloff with the left hand.

just a little background info - I played trad grip almost exclusively from the beginning (being eight or nine years old) until I started studying with a teacher who was a proponent of matched grip during my junior year of high school. I messed around with both grips through college, and then like a few others here at DW, I didn't play much at all until the drums called me back about three years ago (at age 44).

Obviously, all that time playing trad grip during my formative years ingrained it pretty strongly, and being a lefty gives that limb an advantage - but it still drives me a little crazy that the left hand can switch back and forth so easily. It's not like I think my right hand is weak, but it has to deal with one basic grip, and it still takes constant practice to keep it on par with the left hand playing either grip.

Anyway - just wondering if other lefties out there have noticed the same thing???

[Funky Crêpe]

literally just 20mins ago i had a major epiphany!
everything just clicked....ive been playing trad for about a month now...and although i had beter feel, i couldnt play as fast as i could matched...
but tonight i managed, with really not working on it, how to dot the push pull aka.(drop and grap) method....i decided to try and do it after looking at tony williams..

i can now play much faster quiet or loud than i could ever do with matched.....if anybody hasnt looked at this method...TRY IT!.....you can also work it into triplets without having to do the moeller whip stroke..
now my trad grip is better than matched and i couldnt see myself being able to do this method matched!

[Mette]

Hi guys! I'm trying to learn the traditional grip, started yesterday haha! But I practise hard. I was just wondering, how long did it take for you to be able to play (comfortably) with trad? Does anyone have some good exercise for this?