A certain drum trick

[jamszy]

Alright, so if anyone has seen the new Motley Crue DVD, Tommy Lee slams his stick down on a drum and it flies up in that air and he catches it...he does this a lot throughout the whole show. Does anyone know how this is done, or has a video explaining how to do it. I'm trying to add some flair to our shows! Thanks

[franklinj]

I read in Modern Drummer that when he was a kid, he would go outside with his snare and throw sitcks at it at various angles and see which ones would fly back up. Like everything else, its just a lot of practice. Do it outside though; if you dont, youll end up breaking a couple of windows.

[moosryan]

the article says he figured out that if he put his drum perfectly straight (no angle) and threw the stick down, it would go straight up and come back down. as with anything drumming, experimentation and lots of practice will get you a long way.

[Pete Stoltman]

I think Lionel Hampton used to do that too. Maybe Tommy studied a bunch of Hampton videos...or not.

[nate]

yeah, it's not really that hard - i'd never do it at a gig...but just try it out - it'll take a while to get it but you will. you can do it off the floor as well....tommy's pretty good at tricks

[nocturna]

taylor hawkins of the foo fighters does that alot.you can see this trick at the end of their new video ''Resolve''.he did it in some concerts too i saw it in mtv.but i cant do it. lol
but it s a very cool trick tommy is a great showman

[georgebird]

if you thow your stix parrallel to the floor some bounce back off the floor, some even above your head!! ther a bit of a trick to it (dnt get it too parralel). maybe its the same principal. i used to angle my tom slightly and if the stick butt and tip hit the the two heads simultaniously the stick should bounce back in the same way it went down. itf you catch it slightly off u can be lucky enough to catch the stick as it spins back wich looks more impressive.

[jamszy]

Alright, I just watched the Resolve video, and he just tosses the stick up. I didn't see Taylor hit anything to get that effect. But thanks for all the tips and suggestions everyone. I guess it's just one of those things you need to try. Is it possible for anyone to do this on this forum, and make a video of it?

[burnthehero]

I've tried learning this before, too. I gave up trying to learn it, but I can tell you that it's all a matter of hitting the drum in the perfect spot. Good luck finding it.

[Minskie]

I tried something similar on a gig one night.

My stick flew through the air with great velocity and struck the sax player 'butt on' in the back. He was in the midst of a ripping solo.

Needless to say, his solo was prematurely ended and I was very unpopular.

Cheers,

Minskie

[Mckinney]

I know it. I only know how to do one flip though, no more than that. I don't use it much on the drumset either cuase i rim shot my snare and you kind of need it a little lower. I'll try my best to go step by step here.

Step one: Stroke the drum a little above the center of the drum, but don't do a rim shot. You should have your hand about 5 inches above the rim.

Step two: Right before you hit (im talking milliseconds before you hit) take all your fingers and open them up so the stick doesn't go flying out of your hand, but it doesn't get caught in your fingers.

Step three: After you do that you are going to take your hand and pull it towards you like you are going to do a front flip with the stick. Don't pull to hard up, pull it more of the shaft. The stick should then do a back flip, and depend on how fast you let your and go of the stick, depends on how fast the stick flips.

Although doing this trick only gets you to do one flip it is a great on to do on snares a lone.
You really, really, have to practice this to get it.

[Backwards Marathon]

Yeah really its not hard at all. Its all about angles, and if you do it at the correct angle itll come spinning back at you, then you catch it. I can do it, but i seldom do it, only when im dicking around on my kit. hehe.

[mikeybbdrummin]

I have the video your talking about. I also have Dream Theater Score. Portnoy does the same thing through the concert.

[Tuxido]

angle your snare parallel to the floor,
and do a rimshot
but you hold the stick only about about 1in and a half from the end,
when it hit let it go,
the first times, it may even jump back at you going towards your face
so youll have to experiment on how much stick goes on the snare side and apply enough force to make it do one full turn.

but if i were you id never yuse it in a show, because it sometimes goes in crazy directions.

hope this helps.

[darknessdude16]

I'm glad I found this thread.

I saw Sevendust last night and Morgan Rose did this, he pulled it off so brilliantly and caught it perfectly. Its a shame but I dont have it on video.

Can anyone help out this thread by posting a link to a video of someone doing it or showing how its done?

Or...does anyone know what the trick is actually called, if it had a precise name?

Yours

Adam

[oops]

I too saw Mike Porntnoy do it on Score.

I think it's just a matter of hitting the right angle, i think you have to do a rim shot, but let go of the stick just before impact. I'll have a try later and see if I can do it.

[fugazi]

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=LuibdktNlWQ

he does it too on 2:30 although he fails =p pretty cool vid tho

and does anyone know how he does that fast, short twirl?

[Drumsword]

I do it fairly often with about 50%-70% success, Usually at the end of a song, ocassionally during.
I use fairly close to the same technique that McKinney Mentioned but slightly different.

I use the floor tom (Mine are flat)

Bring the stick down striking the rim a millisecond before the head and shoulder of the stick strike the head, realeasing the stick just before it strikes the head. Mine will usually do several backward spinning twirls about a foot above my cymbals before I catch it, again it works well about half the time or little better. If I strike harder I can get em up about 10 feet, but catching them at that point is a crap shoot..lol.

[NUTHA JASON]

a variation is to slam your left hand and stick down onto the snare with 1/4 of the stick protruding over the right hand rim. your right hand and stick should be hiding next to the drum on the right side. immediately release your left hand and get it out of the way as soon as the stick is still then flick the right hand up slightly just enough to catch the left stick and flick it into the air without the right hand stick being seen by the audience. it should look like a delayed bounce.

j

[Drumsword]

a variation is to slam your left hand and stick down onto the snare with 1/4 of the stick protruding over the right hand rim. your right hand and stick should be hiding next to the drum on the right side. immediately release your left hand and get it out of the way as soon as the stick is still then flick the right hand up slightly just enough to catch the left stick and flick it into the air without the right hand stick being seen by the audience. it should look like a delayed bounce.

j

Ohhh, slight of hand trick.....I Like it, I'll have to practice that.

Jason, How are the wife and Soon to be born babe?

[NUTHA JASON]

he's kicking and she's coping thanks.

j

[Drumsword]

he's kicking and she's coping thanks.

j

Sweet, congrats again. Mine just turned 5 months