Trad Grip Group!

Ta for the tidbit, Bob!

Yep 8-Mile, by my reckoning matched would be the most traditional grip ... but you wild and crazy young 'uns came in with your fancy new grip and then had the audacity to call it "traditional" :)

Haha. Oops, I guess I'm a bit slow and I missed the actual joke. Well played.
 
I know it was used as far back as the 1700's or even the 1600's in military bands. Further than that I don't know.

Excellent! It goes even farther, reaching back into the 1500's. Military drummers employed this grip as did Drum and Fife bands of that era. All used what method or system of playing traditional grip which was then passed down from generation to generation for 500 years plus?

jaszdrummer
 
I have been a blinded player, and I have found the light. lol. I have always been an open handed player, and I recently switched to right handed and playing traditional. Its one of the best decisions I've made in drumming. It has a whole completely different feel (better IMO) when grooving.
 
Hello everyone. I've been playing for about 24 years now, primarily as a matched grip player. I've been very busy the past few years with several local bands, but have since quit all my bands to focus more time on family. I've also decided to use some of that time to do something I've always wanted to do, which is to really get into developing my traditional grip playing. I've been working hard at it for several months, and its really getting comfortable. I'm getting around the kit better every day (which was the biggest challenge, for a while there I was ok playing grooves, but when it was time to leave the snare and go around the kit for a fill...oh boy!). Ben Sesar (drummer for Brad Paisley) wrote a great article in Modern Drummer a few years back detailing his switch to trad, and its been a great reference guide for me. He states in this article how he plays with a different flair with traditional, and how he feels like he's in alignment with the history of the drumset and the great players of the past, and I feel it too. I'm really enjoying my journey into traditional grip, and its re-kindled my love for the drums. So many of my favorite players are trad grip players, and its becoming more apparent to me every day why they favor this grip. Looking forward to learning more from the contributors to this thread.
 
He's got less fingers than usual, for one thing.

For which he surely deserves credit!

I was wondering what you'd be posting on a trad grip thread, given that you're obviously on the dark side. Okay, I'm a matched grip ring-in too though, like many, I switch to trad for brush sweeps.

Below is another who thrived despite his finger-challenged cartoonhood ... if we cartoonists wanted to take the trouble to get all the details right we'd be proper artists :)

150px-Fredflintstone.jpg
 
I like trad grip also. I took up trad grip next to matched almost from the moment I started playing (practicing) drums - 16 months ago. It took some time until it felt comfy and I'm still in this process - only recently did rolls start to feel acceptable. When I'm grabbing my sticks I would first choose trad grip automatically, then after some playing switch to matched to remember there is such a thing, and because some things feel different with matched and I want to do both. One benefit I can't have with matched (apart from the unique feel of trad grip) is the embellishments/rebound/ghost note control, it just feels so much more "finesse" than matched. I'd say I'm playing/practicing traditional grip about 70% of the time, with 50% of that as left hand lead or isolated left hand (to get my left hand up vs. my right hand).

I also like playing Moeller w/ trad grip a lot. I play a lot of left hand lead w/ trad & Moeller, it's so much fun. Moeller feels so differently with matched grip. For pure fun I'm sometimes experimenting with right hand trad grip, or both hands trad. I was shocked to learn that although the motions were quite awkward at the beginning my right hand has so much more power than my left - some stuff happened right away or at a tempo I needed months to achieve with my left hand.

My biggest problem with trad grip is when I'm imitating getting around the drumset - no full kit yet, I'm doing this with various pads for now. I do have a Roland V-Kit for temporary use and it's clear that working on a pad is one thing, playing around the toms is another story. I need to develop more feel/control with trad grip when playing with my arms in a more extended way, when moving across toms. Haven't done this a lot yet.
 
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I was taught the traditional grip many, many years ago, in fact my dad's opinion was that any other way was wrong. Now a days I play traditional about 90% of the time mixing in match and open hand the other 10%.

DSC_0083-3.jpg


When I taught my girlfriend to play, thirty some years ago, it was the traditional grip. She does revert back to the match grip sometimes while playing double bass though.

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Dennis
 
Surely, no trad grip thread is complete without this video :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0V4Aqs2D48 :)

Aside from the laugh of Buddy creating his matched grip straw man, the vid really shows how to get around the kit with trad.

For those who know the stories about Buddy Rich, this video is comical for two distinct reasons:

#1 - Buddy used the matched grip many times in his career. You can see it in videos
from the 1940's up through 1987. I have personally seen him use the matched grip
many times.

#2 - Buddy used to state that he never made mistakes. There is a real obvious blunder in
the video. He even says the "s" word while recovering from the boo-boo !!
 
Nothing against your dad... Sorry to say but that's a narrow minded concept.

I was taught the traditional grip many, many years ago, in fact my dad's opinion was that any other way was wrong.
 
Nothing against your dad... Sorry to say but that's a narrow minded concept.

That's OK. Since my dad passed away about fifteen years ago, if I could bring him back, I would let you tell him yourself. Things have changed significantly since he first taught me the traditional grip 52 years ago.

Dennis
 
I was taught the traditional grip many, many years ago, in fact my dad's opinion was that any other way was wrong......
Dennis

My Dad also taught me and told me the same.. Up until his death he still asked me my I played matched sometimes and told me I was crazy for doing so.
 
My Dad also taught me and told me the same.. Up until his death he still asked me my I played matched sometimes and told me I was crazy for doing so.


all the old timers felt that way

and I love that they did

there was a certain charm to the old school guys that just doesn't exist anymore
 
Started with matched for a couple of years but switched to trad (perhaps about two years ago) because it looks cooler and for no other reason. Haven't looked back.
 
Started with matched for a couple of years but switched to trad (perhaps about two years ago) because it looks cooler and for no other reason. Haven't looked back.


because it looked cooler?

hmmm....very interesting
 
It does look cool. Many think that trad is just more 'sophisticated' than matched, and this is probably right.

To me, apart from looking cool(er), it's...
- feeling great and comfy (once you're used to it).
- a great alternative to have (and to use whenever I feel trad would suit a situation better).

So that makes 3 reasons altogether - enough to learn it.
(I'm also playing trad grip with my right hand / left = matched for the hell of it every now and then.)
 
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