Trad Advice

andSometimesY

Senior Member
I have been playing drums for roughly four years now and 99% of my experience has been with matched grip. I can play beats and such using trad, but I am never confident enough with it to use it in a gig. It seems that when I watch the pros (Antonio Sanchez, any jazz great) they get grace notes that are much more fluid by using traditional grip. I never feel like putting in the time to get good with it. I have asked my drum teacher (who plays trad 99% of time) if it is important that I learn to play trad, and he always seems to brush off the question. So I ask you guys: Is it important that I get comfortable with traditional grip?
 
I recently adopted trad grip, and in fact it has caused my ability to play tasteful grace notes and ghost notes tremendously. I have also noticed that I seem to be able to play some around-the-set rudimental ideas a little more comfortably. But in general, I switch back and forth between traditional and matched for different feels. When playing jazz (which is about 85% of my practice and performance playing), I play with my left hand traditional and my ride hand tends to go French on the cymbals and switch to more American for snare and tom work. I guess I like the rebound French grip gives you for cymbals, whereas my finger control suffers if I play French on drums.

I would highly recommend learning Trad, if only to say you have tried it. A lot of times, when you try out a new setup or paradigm, you end up learning a LOT even if you end up switching back later.
 
Guys who don't play Trad knock it, and those that do play it, love it. I'd go with the guys that have tried it and love it. Practice it daily and you too will one day see the benefits of playing trad. Besides, it looks cool.
 
I've always used matched grip but since starting using brushes in a quiet band I've had to switch to trad for songs that require sweeping. It helps get my elbow away from my body and makes it easier to add accents by keeping the wrist/forearm motion steady and pulling my finger in.
 
There's really no physical reason why you might be able to play better grace notes with trad grip than with matched grip. Stick control is stick control - regardless of how you hold 'em.

However you practice is how you'll be better. That said - there's no harm experimenting with trad grip.

and - Pollyanna raises a good point about brushes and how the mechanics of sweeping works better with trad grip.
 
There's really no physical reason why you might be able to play better grace notes with trad grip than with matched grip. Stick control is stick control - regardless of how you hold 'em.

There are different muscles involved, though. I think it's 4 for tradish versus 12-13(?) for matched. That could be one answer.
 
There are different muscles involved, though. I think it's 4 for tradish versus 12-13(?) for matched. That could be one answer.

that's true - but I still think it comes down to control and practice.

It's hard to pin down really - I learned to play trad (a long time ago), changed to matched grip (also a long time ago) and I still switch back and forth while playing, although it's mostly matched grip these days. So I know that trad feels different than matched, and that I (again) feel more comfortable playing jazz rhythms with my left hand holding the stick traditionally - but I believe it has more to do with the fact that I learned to play that way originally than it does with anything inherent to the grip itself.

If you break it down - what's a grace note or a ghost note other than just a double stroke with an accent? If you're a trad grip player - can you play doubles (or singles or triples or quads,...) faster or more controlled with your left hand than your right hand? Probably not unless you're left handed - so the difference in grips doesn't really matter - what matters is how you practice. It does feel different playing trad, but objectively that's not the same as saying it's better or easier.

to change the subject a little - one of the biggest differences between matched grip and trad grip is that you would probably set up your drums differently depending on which grip you use. Matched grip players would find it really hard to play on Buddy Rich's snare drum, with it angled away from them, and a traditional grip player would probably have a really hard time on Bill Bruford's, flat tom, symmetrical set up. So in that respect - one grip might be better than the other depending on the kit you're playing at the moment.
 
I learned trad many years ago, though not well and I have a rudiments teacher working with me on it. He said it could take a year of intense practice to straighten it out. I picked up some bad habits over the years.

I practice both ways, and I'm thinking I could transition over to complete matched faster than I could fix my flawed grad grip. I feel comfortable with trad but am realizing now I really do need to angle the snare Buddy Rich-style because the angle of the stick is different when you're doing it right.

Bottom line, I see no advantage with trad except for brushes as Pollyanna has noted.
 
It helps get my elbow away from my body


Woah just thought I'd chime in here. Why would you want that? If you're supporting your elbow instead of relaxing it against your body, you are using a high amount of energy for no reason. You will immediately employ the use of shoulders and upper arms unnecessarily. I've always been of the opinion that as much work as possible (or as little work, I should say) should be done with the wrists - possibly fingers if you're into that kind of thing. When I play on the snare or pad, I don't feel anything above the wrist really.

Am I misreading your post? Sorry if I am.


Lloyd.
 
I practice both but never really seen much difference between the sound and volume of the ghost notes, if your comfortable with both i don't think it makes all that much difference even though you would be using slightly more muscle groups in matched than in trad grip.
Saying that though using trad grip does allow you to angle the stick up so you can play directly on the tip of the stick to get to the real quiet end of dynamics, trying to do the same with matched can be quite akward.
 
Why would you want that? If you're supporting your elbow instead of relaxing it against your body, you are using a high amount of energy for no reason. You will immediately employ the use of shoulders and upper arms unnecessarily.

I have no idea why, Lloyd :D

It just feels more comfortable for me. I just got on the brushes now to see what was happening ... it seems that, when sweeping with matched grip, my body doesn't support me so much as it gets in the way (female body fat ratio? lol).

If others here hadn't agreed re: trad grip and brushes I might have figured it was because my technique isn't there.

Originally trad for brushes was suggested to me by a guy in a drum shop who is a much better player than me. At first I resisted because trad grip's always been alien to me but I was having trouble keeping the sweep even. So I tried trad again and it felt better and worked better.

Of course, there are heaps of good players using either grip, so I'm not advocating for one or the other.
 
I have no idea why, Lloyd :D

It just feels more comfortable for me. I just got on the brushes now to see what was happening ... it seems that, when sweeping with matched grip, my body doesn't support me so much as it gets in the way (female body fat ratio? lol).

If others here hadn't agreed re: trad grip and brushes I might have figured it was because my technique isn't there.

Originally trad for brushes was suggested to me by a guy in a drum shop who is a much better player than me. At first I resisted because trad grip's always been alien to me but I was having trouble keeping the sweep even. So I tried trad again and it felt better and worked better.

Of course, there are heaps of good players using either grip, so I'm not advocating for one or the other.


Hmm. Ok.

Well in my experience (I play traditional all the time these days), I've no reason to believe that one grip is easier than the other whilst using brushes.
 
LOL ... I see your "hmm" as "her arms are moving too much but I'll leave her to it". I guess 20-something years of rock bands can do that you if you're not careful :)

Do you know of any exercises for loosening up your wrists? Ideally, something that you could work on while waiting for trains / lifts etc.

Cheers
 
LOL ... I see your "hmm" as "her arms are moving too much but I'll leave her to it". I guess 20-something years of rock bands can do that you if you're not careful :)

Do you know of any exercises for loosening up your wrists? Ideally, something that you could work on while waiting for trains / lifts etc.

Cheers

You could work on deep breathing exercises to loosen everything in general and just work on relaxing. Breathing is a really important part of drumming that many overlook. A lot of people will held their breath, especially when playing something uncomfortable and it results in a lot of tension. So much of playing is mind over matter. A lot of my practice is more of a personal meditation experience than something mentally taxing (although, believe me I get frustrated plenty). Staying loose, in my opinion, is something you teach your mind, not your body.
 
Thank you for responding, guys. I haven't had time to get on for a couple of days but I just read all of the posts. What I meant about the grace notes is that when you are playing trad, you have a different stick angle to work with, so you can use the very tip of the stick to hit the snare. Also, it seems as if upstrokes (i use those for ghost notes a lot) would be easier with traditional. I think that to get notes really accented with trad, you have to use some arm movement (wrist can't move stick up as much), and that seems like it may be a disadvantage. I don't know, I think I should get comfortable with it, just so I have it in my array of drum techniques in case of emergency. It will also add a bit of variety and make stuff that is now easy for me challenging again. I just need to make sure I'm using proper technique.
 
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