Jay Johnson
Member
Has practicing on pillows helped with your speed or control? Famous drummers known for speed like Buddy Rich, Dick Cully and Dennis Chambers talk about practicing on pillows as a way to increase speed and control.
From what I gather, the basic idea is when one practices on a surface that gives no rebound the arm muscles are worked to raise the stick and push the stick down equally giving the muscles in the arms a more well rounded workout instead of just working on the muscles that control the down stroke, which theoretically may cause an imbalance in the way the arm works because one set of muscles are alot stronger and fine tuned than the others, but this is theory of course.
From what I have read and heard first hand, practicing on pillows allows a drummer to be able to play on any surface regardless of rebound (I was told by Dick Cully that this is why Buddy Rich could fly from drum head to rim to cymbals etc without his chops slowing down).
I wonder what Mike Mangini, Tom Grosset, Art Verdi and Matt Smith would have to say about this type of practice technique.
I know that this theory has a lot of holes in it, but I wanted to get everyones take on it thanks.
One more thing, After practicing for a few weeks on a feather pillow that had no rebound I experienced more control over my strokes and a slight increase in speed.
From what I gather, the basic idea is when one practices on a surface that gives no rebound the arm muscles are worked to raise the stick and push the stick down equally giving the muscles in the arms a more well rounded workout instead of just working on the muscles that control the down stroke, which theoretically may cause an imbalance in the way the arm works because one set of muscles are alot stronger and fine tuned than the others, but this is theory of course.
From what I have read and heard first hand, practicing on pillows allows a drummer to be able to play on any surface regardless of rebound (I was told by Dick Cully that this is why Buddy Rich could fly from drum head to rim to cymbals etc without his chops slowing down).
I wonder what Mike Mangini, Tom Grosset, Art Verdi and Matt Smith would have to say about this type of practice technique.
I know that this theory has a lot of holes in it, but I wanted to get everyones take on it thanks.
One more thing, After practicing for a few weeks on a feather pillow that had no rebound I experienced more control over my strokes and a slight increase in speed.
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