one handed roll/gravity blast

[Alexisthegreatone]

ive watched alot of videos on different ways to do "one handed rolls" or gravity blasts and to be honest it really has confused me as everyone seems to do it differently. while a mate of mine uses the rim of the snare, holding the sticks normally in match grip, alot of videos show people using their fingers to bounce the stick? could someone please make sense of this and suggest the best way to start learning? alot of youtube videos for example just show people telling you to push the stick down and then pull it up but that really doesnt explain things well enough for me.

[Crazy+Hands]

the gravity blast isn't really that complicated, i used to be so mystified as to how drummers do it. Honestly, its not that practical to use in most settings and once i learned it i found it even less interesting because its just not loud enough to be heard most of the time. Don't waste your time learning it until you've mastered the open/close technique. It takes years to learn it and results will not show up quickly at all because you'll have to completely re-learn how to play your drums....

[scrowder]

have you seen the johnny rabb video? this is the most clear explanation of it there is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw4vMV3EnRw

johnny does it in french grip with the thumbs up, but others, like Mike Mangini for example, have adapted it to their palms-down grips. you don't need to master the "open/close technique" first, and it doesn't take years to learn how to gravity blast. it is hard to make it loud, though, but it is possible. check this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyaFL24Zu8c

go to 7:10 to see some sick gravity blast by Mangini.

[diosdude]

There is a wealth of knowledge on the main DW website.

Excerpt from Jojo's "weapons" dvd:

http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/J...andedroll.html

dammit i hate that guy.

Ha!!! J/K jojo, you are truly a god among drummers.

[Alexisthegreatone]

Cheers for that guys. Do you think its worth working on the open/close technique before or instead of learning to gravity blast then as id like to be able to play one handed rolls around the kit at an audible level and not have to rely on using the rim, e.g if i wanted to play fast on a ride using one hand?

[diosdude]

If you're endeavoring to learn both of them, i'd say it doesn't matter which one you try to master first

[scrowder]

Originally Posted by Alexisthegreatone

Do you think its worth working on the open/close technique before or instead of learning to gravity blast then as id like to be able to play one handed rolls around the kit at an audible level and not have to rely on using the rim, e.g if i wanted to play fast on a ride using one hand?

In that case, you may want to work with the open/close technique, because the gravity blast works well on the snare, but is impractical just about anywhere else. But, if your goal is to learn to gravity blast, you don't need to be able to do the open/close technique first. That's why I mentioned Mangini...he doesn't use any open/close finger technique--he uses essentially wrists only--and he can still do the gravity blast with a palms-down grip.

The thing I don't like about the way Johnny Rabb and Jojo Mayer teach the gravity blast is that the motions they use when they demonstrate the technique slow are completely different from the actual motions they use at a "normal" tempo. It's misleading, because at the higher speeds, they're not actually doing any opening or closing with their fingers at all. Also their sticks never come higher than an inch or two off the drum at the higher speeds like they show in the slow demos.

Watch all 3 Johnny, Jojo, and Mike closely--they're all keeping their hands and fingers in the same shape while moving the stick up and down with a slight arm motion. The arm is really the key to the gravity blast, which is why the grip is irrelevant. Once I realized this, I had a much more successful time learning this move. Hope that helps and happy blasting! :)

[Tim Waterson]

WATCH Johnny Rabb NO ONE has the control of JR
If you want to apply it to a blast by separating the notes.
try this
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=3fDGVg9Ou90&feature=email
Tim

[scrowder]

Cool video, Tim, thanks. I've not seen anyone do that before.

[Unevil]

I have always been interested in the one handed roll that seems to consist of a repeating double stroke roll...is this some version of moeller-double stroke? I believe there is a feature in the Blue Devil's show in 2004...or mayb 2007 XD Not sure that I quite remember. In the show, basically the snare line is doing this constant (pretty fast-ish) double stroke, then they all just lift a hand off of their snare and the roll continues....
anyone know where to find a video of this?

[BrutalKid]

I can't do the one handed roll. Many people put their one handed roll videos on youtube, and some of them explain that it is very EASY to do it. But I can't do it at all! It doesn't sound like a roll at all.
By the way does the one handed roll work on the rim of a Remo weather king practice pad?