I think I changed my way of holding my sticks...

[DrummerBoy95]

Hey guys,

I recently joined a Metalcore band, something I'd never done before; I usually don't listen to that type of music, but I thought it'd be a new experience so I figured I'd try it.
Everything's going fine, but theres one little "problem": I seem to be getting lots of blisters lately, something that never happened to me in 9 years of playing intensively; can this be due to the fact that the music demands more from me (speed) and that I have adapted my grip to faster playing? I really feel the sticks in my hands the same way, but I am getting many blisters, and I'd like to know if anyone has had that problem before.

[Amesema]

I briefly recall having some issues with blisters on my hands in the first year or so when I started playing. The main issue is that youre gripping the sticks too hard when trying to play fast. As your grip is so tight, the sticks rubbing back and forth at such a fast rate is going to give you blisters.

The thing I find, and that most experienced drummers tend to say, is that the key to playing fast is relaxation and control. You need to be able to get those notes out with a simple flick of a finger or turn of a wrist so that you can pump out fast notes for long periods of time with relatively little effort. Learning the moellar technique really helped me with this in particular. Of course, achieving this takes a lot of practice, and of course I'm no master myself.

Hope some of this helps.