How feasable is this idea?

So my teacher has fun pointing out how bad my left (weak) hand is in comparison to my right. He tells me that I'm going to have to work it atleast 3X as much as my right if I want them to somewhat even out. It's really holding me back in trms of progress. He gave me some exercises for left hand only (going up and down between 8ths/triplets/16ths and down again at vaious BPMs then just 8ths at my highest BPM) and told me to do it for atlest 15 minutes a day. I've been doing this egularly now but I was thinking the other day, because my left hand is so terrible, what if I spent entire week useing ONLY my left hand? My teacher says that even if both hands were worked eqaully, no matter how much better they both became, the large gap between right and left would still exist because neither was given more work to do then the other. Is it realistic to see improvments in your weak hand if you spent such a lng time only useing that hand and not your dominate hand? I plan to do this for a week and see what happens but I was looking for some input on this idea.

I am currently trying to work on my left hand as well, since I've started learning how to play matched grip as well as traditional. I've doing basically what your drum teacher suggested, as far as my practice pad is concerned. Mostly it's so that I maintain that coordination between my right and left hand. Also it's because I'm sure I'd get bored doing ONLY the left hand for a week. I'm sure it wouldn't be devastating to practice one week solely on one hand, but my suggestion would be to at least practice for a little bit using both, either before or after your left hand training session.

Something else to consider... what if your left hand gets too good? Maybe your left hand signs a record deal and goes on a big nation-wide tour, leaving you at home with your right hand! Then one day you and your right hand are back home watching TV and eating junk food, and there you see your left hand on stage playing some big televised music festival. You can't let this happen!

I suspect that as you really start focusing on what's wrong with your left, you'll start noticing things that could be better with your right as well. So I'd probably use both hands.

There are stories (and I don't know how true they all are) that Gene Krupa was so concerned about his hands being equal he taught himself how to open doors and brush his teeth with his left hand.

Their may be something to that. I don't know. I can't brush my teeth with my left hand to save my life.

DrumEatDrum said:

There are stories (and I don't know how true they all are) that Gene Krupa was so concerned about his hands being equal he taught himself how to open doors and brush his teeth with his left hand.

Their may be something to that. I don't know. I can't brush my teeth with my left hand to save my life.

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HAHA Good point. My teacher also suggested useing my left hand more in everyday life. Anyone eer have success with this towards weak hand and drumming?

I use to have this problem. The way I fixed it was kinda simple I worked very hard & put alot of thought into playing my right hand parts with my left & my left parts with my right. So set up your kit for a lefty for a little while! It's weird at first BUT i think it helped. Just my 2 cents!

Dom Famularo, a great teacher said the same thing about brushing teeth washing dishes, door, everything left handed, or off handed to get a sense of feel for doing things. You may also get his book, The Weaker Side and give it a look.

Great post! As a brand new drummer, I can already tell my left hand is a lot weaker than my right and is going to take some extra work. Just trying to play doubles my left hand can't always keep up with the right. I like the idea of trying to do more everyday things with my left hand...I'll give it a try.

Hopefully I won't punch myself in the mouth trying to brush my teeth left-handed!

The Dom Famularo book "The Weaker Side" is fantastic. Also, look at "Open Handed Playing" by Claus Hesser and Dom Famularo if you are interested in learning how to lead with your left hand (it will force development).

-sheldon

I second the recommendation of "The Weaker Side". It is very challenging but totally worth the effort.

I have studied with Dom for years and as a result have spent much time developing my weaker hand. I have found that working excusively with the weaker hand is not so productive for me. I think the brain is much more flexible than we think normally. What heppens to me if I work only my weaker hand is that is gets very good very qiockly while my stronger hand seems to sort of weaken a little. When I try to put them together it still doesn't feel right.

So from my experience the Weaker Side regime, with a varying mix of weak and strong hand, is the right way to go. I have developed many exercises to help with this goal and I always have both hands in there, just skewed more or less heavily toward weak hand playing.

Casper

DrumEatDrum said:

There are stories (and I don't know how true they all are) that Gene Krupa was so concerned about his hands being equal he taught himself how to open doors and brush his teeth with his left hand.

Their may be something to that. I don't know. I can't brush my teeth with my left hand to save my life.

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I heard he started jerking with the left hand haha

I'd go as far as to say that the worlds best drummers have equal ability with either hand. As drummers, this is a definite goal to shoot for. Try playing a jazz ride pattern, spang spang a-lang, doubled with both hands, one on the hat, one on the ride. (at a nice clip) Try doing a Texas shuffle with your weak hand on the snare, while doing rimshots on 2 and 4.

Those are hard beats for me to do, but invaluable weak hand hardeners
Gotta challenge your corpus collasum.

I agree with a lot of whats been said here.I write left handed but do almost everything else right handed (right hand Dominant.)I taught myself to shoot guns and archery with both hands and it has helped with my "hand confusion".Ringo has said he has the same problem.So I make make myself do things as ambidexterously as I can and my left has gotten better,but I still can't write with my right hand.My openhanded playing has gotten better also.In theory,as drummers,to be playing techniquely correct,we have to train ourselves to be truly ambidexterous.Just my 2 cents.

Steve B

DrumEatDrum said:

There are stories (and I don't know how true they all are) that Gene Krupa was so concerned about his hands being equal he taught himself how to open doors and brush his teeth with his left hand.

Their may be something to that. I don't know. I can't brush my teeth with my left hand to save my life.

Click to expand...

I used to do that. I stopped doing teeth left-handed just to make sure I was cleaning them properly. I also learnt to use chopsticks with my left hand. It's an interesting idea, I recommend it for opening the mind a little.

I third the Weaker Side. Just start using your left hand in your playing more. Start to use it on the hi hat, learn to play open handed or something. I can tell you one thing for sure though, you'll see absolutely no improvement in only a week. If you're looking for slight improvement, work at it for a month or so. If you want drastic improvement, a year. Nothing comes fast; remember how long it took to get your right hand where it is.