Switching to TG while maintaining MG skills?

I've been drumming seriously for a little over a year now and have been using a match grip. I want to start incorporating and moving more towards a traditional grip for many reasons, which are detailed on multiple threads throughout the site.. My question is: How do I learn the traditional grip and still keep progressing with and keep from regressing in my match grip skills? I think the obvious answer is to just practice both, but I do have limited time and would like to hear any suggestions people have for progressing with both. I've just started experimenting with the stick control routine recommended by jazz snob in the GSL SC thread. So I think it's a perfect time to start ramping up my work on my TG. I'm looking to put together an efficient practice routine, which will help me reach these goals.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help. This site is awesome

I play matched grip.
In traditional grip, isn't only one stick held differently?
If so, just practice with that one hand.
This should save some time.

I think you will just need to practice both, if you want to be proficient at both.

Just a little personal history - I started with traditional grip nearly 40 years ago and played it exclusively to start with, including several years in drum corp. Later, (and I don't remember exactly how many years later) I started playing matched grip because I was playing rock and used a bigger kit.

Fast forward - these days, I play matched as my main grip, but my left hand has never developed to the level my right hand has. And despite playing trad only intermittently, it comes back to me in no time, and I am still faster and can still play many things trad that I can't matched.

For reasons I can't really quantify, if I were starting today and I started with matched grip, I would play matched and stick with it only...

Thanks for the feedback. I just did 60 minutes of stick control work from the 1st page of Stick Control by GLS alternating 5 minutes with each grip. I think I'll keep working like this and see how it goes. Wondering if there's people out there who have an opinion as to whether this is a good idea or if it's better to commit to one where the other??

swingbob said:

Thanks for the feedback. I just did 60 minutes of stick control work from the 1st page of Stick Control by GLS alternating 5 minutes with each grip. I think I'll keep working like this and see how it goes. Wondering if there's people out there who have an opinion as to whether this is a good idea or if it's better to commit to one where the other??

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I think it's good to stick to one for now; at least for each practice session. Maybe alternate grips each day at first. But you want to train so that traditional grip is second nature, so you need to work it in steadily over many, many hours. And that means sticking to it for a long time. Now if you feel fatigued at some point, sure- switch it up for a bit. But don't worry about losing your matched grip ability. Even if you totally switched over to traditional, you could get your matched chops back in no time. I think it's a lot harder the other way around.

The other thing I strongly suggest, without sounding like a broken record, is to take lessons with someone who teaches traditional grip. So many times I've had a teacher adjust my fingers, hands, elbows and give me immediate feedback on what was wrong or good. You simply can't get that from a book or video. You don't have to do many at first; it depends how far you want to take it. But even a few will be worthwhile. it will take the guess work out of the mechanics and save you a lot of money and time in the long run.

I played match the first couple years after picking up the sticks, then spent the rest of my life learning traditional. The matched skills have never really gone away.

Non-scientific, mostly anecdotal observation: I'm of the opinion that if you can play traditional, you can also play matched. The left hand movements have enough in common that you aren't losing as much of your matched skill as you think by playing trad.

As an aside, I went to see Gadd play last summer and at one point, he executed this incredibly flawless, open left-handed triplet with matched grip. It's a move I've seen him do many times with traditional grip, but I couldn't believe how effortlessly he pulled it off matched. When I had the good fortune to ask him about it directly, he said he still only practices on the pad with traditional grip, never matched. So here's a guy who spent his entire playing career using trad and he easily pulls this difficult stuff off when he flips the stick over in his left hand, even though he doesn't really practice that way.

Then again, he's Steve Gadd and we're... not.

Then again, he's Steve Gadd and we're... not.

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Touché 8 mile! But I do think you make some excellent points. You've given me much to think about. Steve Gadd is my instructors ideal of the pinnacle of drumming so he would appreciate this as well. Really cool that you got to speak to him. Thanks for the feedback

But don't worry about losing your matched grip ability. Even if you totally switched over to traditional, you could get your matched chops back in no time. I think it's a lot harder the other way around.

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Thanks John, that's exactly the kind of wisdom I was looking for. I also like your point about finding someone who teaches traditional grip. My instructor is a bit of a legend. Where I live, and he's been drumming for 50 some years, but admits that traditional grip is not his strong suit, though he says it does have some advantages. I am committed to working with him, but if I can find someone who's an expert on the traditional grip. I'll look to take a couple lessons at least. At this point my life. It's about the drumming journey more than the destination, so I'm really enjoying the process and I want to learn from wherever I can get good information. Thanks again

Hmmm, after a year I think I'd still be working on getting your matched grip together-- because you will use it. It becomes a little bit of a dilemma, because there ends up being some duplication of effort as you relearn how to play everything with the new grip, and you wonder if the time would be better spent just getting better with the one grip. That being said, I have spent a lot of time learning traditional grip, and am fairly proficient with it, even though I rarely use it now. I think I'd recommend taking up TG after you can do your rudiments at, say, march tempo, matched grip. I also would not try to teach yourself that grip-- get a teacher who is expert at it.