Help with my hand technique

[TheGrandTr0ll]

Here recently I have switched to more of a middle finger fulcrum. In doing so i have noticed that im beginning to get skin irritation on the thumb and index finger of my right hand. Im playing as loose as I can with out dropping the sticks but it doesnt seem to help. Is it my technique? or could it be the fact that my practice time has increased here recently?

[SticksEasy]

Anyone else would tell you that if you're experiencing discomfort or irritation, you're doing it wrong...

But I'm not anyone else.

I use a similar grip myself. Try holding the stick more with your first two fingers, and use a bit tighter of a grip, rather than loser. Focus on wrist technique.

I play with a tight grip, and my strokes are 95% wrist. For the few slower songs my band plays I may use a bit more arm. But for the most part it's high paced punk rock, with my wrist moving the whole time. It's just the way I'm comfortable.

So I guess in short, try to tighten your grip, rather than loosen it. If your grip is loose, the stick will always rub, especially with the grip you're using. Less stick movement will mean less irritation.

[TheGrandTr0ll]

Originally Posted by SticksEasy

Anyone else would tell you that if you're experiencing discomfort or irritation, you're doing it wrong...

But I'm not anyone else.

I use a similar grip myself. Try holding the stick more with your first two fingers, and use a bit tighter of a grip, rather than loser. Focus on wrist technique.

I play with a tight grip, and my strokes are 95% wrist. For the few slower songs my band plays I may use a bit more arm. But for the most part it's high paced punk rock, with my wrist moving the whole time. It's just the way I'm comfortable.

So I guess in short, try to tighten your grip, rather than loosen it. If your grip is loose, the stick will always rub, especially with the grip you're using. Less stick movement will mean less irritation.

Hey man thanks for the tips and I will try it out. I will try to check back in a few days to tell the results. Again thanks

[cornelius]

Without seeing your hands, it's tough to comment. But the whole idea of middle finger fulcrum is a loose grip, so I wouldn't recommend holding the sticks tighter.

Your index finger should be pointing forward (not wrapped around the stick), pretty much just keeping the stick from flopping around. You should be gripping more with your three back fingers.

[TheGrandTr0ll]

today I also started noticing it beginning to become irritated on the second joint of the middle finger as well as my thumb and index. So I decided to post a video so that it might help you guys out a bit with advice. Sorry for the bad quality.


http://youtu.be/L4dim51A7F0

[SticksEasy]

I can't really see anything you're doing wrong. For the most part, the technique looks solid. You might want to make a bit more use of your point finger instead of letting it just kinda' hang there. But as far as irritation, maybe you just need to look at a different stick size.

[cornelius]

Thanks for posting that!
Ok, so your grip is looking loose - but my guess is you can wrap your last three fingers around the stick more, maybe the sticks are moving around too much, causing friction - it looks like you're playing with a lot of fingers, I'd try using more wrist, and have your index point out even more... There is a way to get great rebound while still having your last three fingers wrap around the stick (not tightly). It's helpful to practice full strokes, starting at 90 degrees and using all wrist - really slowly. You can throw the stick down quickly, but leave time between each stroke. After a while your wrist will be able to chase the stick back up, without your grip getting to loosy goosy. You want to let the sticks do the work, but still be in control.

One other thing to try is using a bigger diameter stick. Once I loosened up my grip, I couldn't play anything smaller than a 5B - or else I started squeezing the sticks too tightly.