criticize my technique #3

Looks like you've been practicing a bit! You have smooth, natural hands. I'd say work on transitions of slow to medium fast and medium fast back down to slow. Attaining speed is not a problem for you. Just be careful not to run away with tempos
 
Your technique lacks strong character and is lazy. It will never make anything of itself and will end up flipping burgers for the rest of it's life.
 
Benfordrum said:
What can I do to improve that? Accent the second stroke on a slow tempo? I don't see the knowledge behind that because at a faster speed ill mostly be using fingers and rebound control as opposed to making a strong stroke with my wrist
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A lot of people are probably going to chime in on this...

One technique I use (Alan Dawson showed me, so la-de-da!) is to do a rudimental breakdown of doubles (slow-fast-slow) like this:

Start very slow, ultra quiet. As you gradually increase tempo, gradually increase volume. At your peak speed, play maximum volume, hold it for a moment and then gradually decelerate as you gradually decrease volume back down to very slow, ultra quiet. Ideally it should be perfectly symmetrical.

His rationale for this as a conditioning exercise was that most players do the opposite; implying that their hands aren't getting a workout at top speed because they're just playing quiet.

There are many other ways to do it to get the same results. And I wouldn't completely ignore accenting the 2nd note as an exercise. Even though it may not directly apply to finger technique at fast tempos, it will certainly be a compliment to it.
 
@brady about 2 and a half years give or take a month

@JohnW thanks!!! i have the dawson book but got caught up in a few other books because i was trying to stray away from technique (until i picked up trad grip)
 
What can I do to improve that? Accent the second stroke on a slow tempo? I don't see the knowledge behind that because at a faster speed ill mostly be using fingers and rebound control as opposed to making a strong stroke with my wrist
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No, I don't think you have to do that. You've got enough finger control to stick with quicker tempos, it's just a matter of refining it. I would back off on the tempo and work on the doubles as 16ths from around 108 BPM or so. When you're playing a Long Roll, rather than hearing your hands as two seperate entities, try to hear the notes you're playing in longer strings of 4 or 8 notes or even more. Trying to make every one sound exactly the same. Gradually push the tempo up. Oh, and resist the temptation to slightly accent the first note of whatever length you're counting/hearing. Record some Long Rolls at various tempos and listen back to hear where things get uneven.

Use shorter bursts - i.e. 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, etc. of double strokes trying to get every note to sound identical. I.e. don't accent the last note. Like I said above, try to hear each group as a continuous whole. Oh, and make sure to do this leading with both hands.

You can also try playing your doubles inverted and accent the second note on the downbeats and/or the ands. That is, start by accenting the second note only in one hand. Then switch your lead and do the same, then add in the accent on the other hand. This is really good stuff from about 120 BPM up in my experience.
 
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BTW, when I have students do very slow doubles accenting the second note, I have them begin using the fingers along with the wrist to snap the stick up against their palm on the second stroke in order to activate their fingers. This seems to lead more seamlessly to the wrist/fingers double stroke at quicker tempos than a wrist stroke alone.
 
I suggest you listen to everything Boomka says

you have some good tools....now it is time to refine them

then the next step would be to take what you refined and apply it around the kit

nothing that I have seen tells me that you will not be able to do all of this very well

for the amount of time you have been playing it is evident that you have a passion and put in a lot of work by the state your hands are currently in

stay humble and remain in a state that allows you to always improve

I say that because I see it all the time.......someone playing for a relatively short time who advances quite quickly.......they tend to start to feel like they have it all .
and get into the mind state of....let me show you what I can do ....instead of having a constant hunger to improve

I'm not implying that you are doing this.....I'm just saying it does happen

keep working brother.......you are going to be one hell of a player
 
@Boomka Thank you! Those are definitely good exercises. I often find myself just playing a double stroke roll at random tempos just because i'm not sure on how to build them, but thank you! I like the idea of grouping into four/8

@Anthony Thank you for the kind words man means a lot. Last night was at a jam session and played an uptempo which skyrocketed to about 350 bpm or so. I flipped the time a few times just because everything was so hectic and everyone didn't care and was open about it. Really humbling experience because we're all just trying to play music and get better. So i'll definitely stay thirsty to learn haha. appreciate it alot
 
Good hands for such a short period of time playing. Like has mentioned, playing slowly to fast to slow and breakdowns are where you will develop the evenness and consistency, and a fluid dynamic range. Don't have much to add other than good work.
 
I play drums a few years longer and your hand techniques are quicker than mine. I'd like to hear you play on a kit, do you have any video's of that?
 
Only 2.5 years, wow, great hands. I am impressed. You clearly work hard at it.
hope you use all that on the kit too.
 
I wouldn't really criticize your technique because you have good technique already. Practice will tighten it up, but when it comes to technique, a lot of players choose different things they are comfortable with. What works for you, might not work for someone else and vice versa. Keep up the good work.
 
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