EarthRocker
Senior Member
Over the last few years I've been telling everyone who talks about it, that Buddy Rich did not use a finger technique to get his fast strokes. And yet legions of drummers on forums and Youtube claim they've figured out "Buddy Rich's hand technique." and when you read or watch it, it's fingers, fingers, fingers.
A friend of my shared a drum magazine article from way back, Mel Torme interviewing Buddy Rich - and I caught this bit about halfway through reading the interview.
Tormé: What about the lever action of your right hand when you play the cymbal?
Rich: I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t play with my fingers for one. You don’t get a sound with the fingers. Louie Bellson and Joe Morello are the true exponents of what they call finger control. But your fingers don’t control the stick, your hand controls the stick, and if you can’t use the wrist action then you don’t have stamina and power to play any given tempo for any length of time. You must have the benefit of your whole hand. That’s the same as walking—if you don’t use your ankles you limp quite a bit. The same flexibility applies. You use the leverage of your ankle for the pedal, and you use your wrist, not your fingers, to control all of the motion for the stick.
So there you have it. Buddy Rich's technique was not that fruity little finger twitch. And it wasn't Jojo Mayer's masturbation technique. It was good wrist motion.
P.S - here is the whole article so you can read for yourself. http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=947
A friend of my shared a drum magazine article from way back, Mel Torme interviewing Buddy Rich - and I caught this bit about halfway through reading the interview.
Tormé: What about the lever action of your right hand when you play the cymbal?
Rich: I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t play with my fingers for one. You don’t get a sound with the fingers. Louie Bellson and Joe Morello are the true exponents of what they call finger control. But your fingers don’t control the stick, your hand controls the stick, and if you can’t use the wrist action then you don’t have stamina and power to play any given tempo for any length of time. You must have the benefit of your whole hand. That’s the same as walking—if you don’t use your ankles you limp quite a bit. The same flexibility applies. You use the leverage of your ankle for the pedal, and you use your wrist, not your fingers, to control all of the motion for the stick.
So there you have it. Buddy Rich's technique was not that fruity little finger twitch. And it wasn't Jojo Mayer's masturbation technique. It was good wrist motion.
P.S - here is the whole article so you can read for yourself. http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=947
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