Buddy Rich Playing Matched Grip!

Bruce M. Thomson

Bruce M. Thomson

Gold Member
I don't think until I stumbled on this video had I ever seen him do so; he was such a proponent of the traditional. I don't think it really matters all that much these days and perhaps for this tune he felt that is what worked best.
You have to love how smooth and easy he sails through it.
For myself I wish I had put some effort in to the traditional grip as I can tell for certain things it would sound better but again I don't believe there is any argument anymore as to which is better, what works for you is all that is important. Buddy could play with his ears and it would sound fantastic.

https://youtu.be/t-AOK5ykfo4
 
Never seen the appeal of trad grip. It was used to get over the problem of using a marching drum where the left hand has to reach over the drum. I dont march while I drum so matched makes more sense, and I also play open handed. Some use it as its the way they were taught, thats there choice and good luck to them.
 
Every trad kit drummer has poor posture, a list to the trad'd side.

Natural grip at the kit produces better posture with ease.

Here's an example, watch this guy go from natural to trad, from straight(er) back to a list.
 
Not all, but most. Guys like Daniel Glass, who play exclusively trad can have great posture, but it is impossible to switch back and forth while maintaining a good playing angle, so guys like Vinnie and Steve Gadd end up dropping their shoulders lower and slouching to maintain the playing angle (the angle the stick strikes the head at)

As a general rule, drummers have poor posture, though. Not all, but most. It is by no means limited to trad grip, and you can blame the switching on matched every bit as much as trad grip.

you really should end this sentence with ..... "for me"

because that is certainly not a general truth
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True enough, bu I do think it is a general truth. There is less control over moving the stick from surface to surface in trad. It is possible, and possible to do quickly, but not as many options... especially of the floor tom. Not to say it can't be done - just that there isn't as many options - particularly with respect to radioulnar rotation.
 
WhoIsTony? said:
what an ignorant, uneducated, blatantly untrue blanket statement

thanks for the laugh though
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Haha.. yes it's true - that IS an untrue blanket statement!

.. anyone that has poor posture does not get it from playing trad.. they get it because they have poor posture!

Also; although I play matched - playing trad is just as fast (if not faster) to move around the drums (with angled drums n all) as you can use the angles to your advantage almost like a springboard.. it's one of the things i kinda miss since I switched over about 30 years ago. The only reason I switched over was to get more power when smashing a crash cymbal in loud bands (it just hurt my fingers more with trad)... and I like the symmetry.
 
John Lamb said:
Not all, but most. Guys like Daniel Glass, who play exclusively trad can have great posture, but it is impossible to switch back and forth while maintaining a good playing angle, so guys like Vinnie and Steve Gadd end up dropping their shoulders lower and slouching to maintain the playing angle (the angle the stick strikes the head at)

As a general rule, drummers have poor posture, though. Not all, but most. It is by no means limited to trad grip, and you can blame the switching on matched every bit as much as trad grip.
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Again, natural grip at the kit produces better posture with ease.

There are no examples of a trad kit player with straight shoulders Im aware of yet, they all play with a list to the trad side, Glass included. While Glass may work on keeping his back straight, he still has a list. To comfortably engage a trad grip while sitting one needs to drop their shoulder.

Its simply the nature of the trad grip to produce a list while sitting, its not the grip that provides the best posture on a drum kit, its the grip that provides the most ease while marching with a drum slung on your side.
 
WhoIsTony? said:
^ this chick is out there

you have absolutely no clue as to what you speak

you obviously have something against trad grip for some extremely strange reason and proceed to fabricate nonsense until you actually believe it

great stuff

part of the reason I love this place
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]

Provide an example of a trad grip kit player without a list, I'd love to see it.
 
I'm sure she is using "list" to refer to a lean. Although I am picturing Santa sitting behind a kit checking his list with a drumstick.

Edit: Ameodo, I don't know about any list but that is one sweet beard! You could put on a Santa hat and get your list out. Be sure to check it twice...
 
I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID ABOUT DANIAL GLASS. I'm sorry. I should have spent more time looking. Check out his shoulder height in this photo. Trad players usually dip their trad-side shoulder down - Glass is a leftie. He is leaning to the right in the photo, but it is actually the fairest photo I saw.

http://img.youtube.com/vi/tGwpqbA-QrY/mqdefault.jpg


Unfortunately, this is exactly the problem with trad playing on a drum set with multiple surfaces.
 
WhoIsTony? said:
without a list ?

not sure what that means

but I could provide probably hundreds without poor posture

I can start with myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD5DDiY2dfM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgYM4CpkG_w
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(I think he means list, as in, lean or tilt.)


Nice playing! And yes, you shoulder ISN'T dipping. I completely agree that it is a perfectly workable grip - dipping the shoulder isn't a requirement of trad playing, just a danger that most fall into unwittingly. Like sitting low pulls the hips and lumbar spine backwards ... causing many drummers who sit low to roll their hips backwards, unwittingly. They don't have to, but most do.

BTW - my next book is on the biomechanics of playing, and will be ready in 6 weeks.
 
There is no such thing as perfect drumming posture, only what suits the individual. If you play daily, and gig often, without discomfort, over a long period of time then your posture at the kit suits you. If not then you need to get your posture sorted.
 
WhoIsTony? said:
huge difference between "perfect drumming posture" and poor posture
and what is being discussed is the trad side lean that some have.
this person said they had never seen a trad player without it .... which is utterly ridiculous because I barely see anyone with it anymore
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Same thing as so called poor posture, what suits one, anatomicaly, may not suit another. Personaly I dont care what a drummers posture looks like, If they can play well and its not causing them problems then so what.
 
WhoIsTony? said:
I don't care if someone is bent in half holding the sticks in their armpits.... but the discussion is about someone saying they have never seen a trad player without the trad lean

see post #7 where the posture discussion starts
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And I was responding to the views on posture, and more precicely correct or perfect posture. And my view is that there is no such thing, it was you that jumped on my post not the other way round. As you seem to agree with me, re posture, whats the problem?
 
Les Ismore said:
Natural grip at the kit produces better posture with ease.
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What's really funny to me is that if you google "natural grip" most of the information is for traditional grip.

Anyways, these statements are completely out of line!

- Bad posture is not a reuslt of what grip you use, it's a result of bad technique or training, that's it!

- Traditional grip does NOT in any way inhibit your ability to move around the drumset!

Where on earth are you getting this nonsense?!?!?!
 
tcspears said:
What's really funny to me is that if you google "natural grip" most of the information is for traditional grip.

Anyways, these statements are completely out of line!

- Bad posture is not a reuslt of what grip you use, it's a result of bad technique or training, that's it!

- Traditional grip does NOT in any way inhibit your ability to move around the drumset!

Where on earth are you getting this nonsense?!?!?!
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Thats odd, cos if you give a young child a pair of sticks to hit any sort of drum with they generaly hold them the same in both hands. Like picking up a knife and fork or two hammers.
 
Buddy played traditional purposefully with the butt end in his left hand.
It's to emphasize the punch.
 
tcspears said:
- Bad posture is not a reuslt of what grip you use, it's a result of bad technique or training, that's it!

- Traditional grip does NOT in any way inhibit your ability to move around the drumset!

Where on earth are you getting this nonsense?!?!?!
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It must have been on the interweb, so it must be true haha..

I've seen lot's of matched drummers with horrible posture .. so it must be because they are using matched grip :) Really.. one of the first things you learn when starting drumming is how to hold the sticks properly, how to sit in the right posture, how to arrange and angle your drums properly etc. etc. If you don't learn tried and proven techniques or ignore them, then you do so at your own peril.. I've never heard of a trad lesson where they say "oh yeah.. you should lean to one side" - I suppose it's because it doesn't make any sense!

This whole thread should go in a dust bin somewhere..
 
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