A year in : is my trad grip weird?

end Goat

Active Member

...like Bad Weird or am I ok for now? No discomfort but I can't play jazzy blastbeats on the snare yet.
 
I grew up in a rural setting, and quite like these drum videos out in the middle of the country side.
My question is how long did it take you to hike in and set up...and how many trips....or is that just on the side of a road somewhere?

I am not a trad user but it looks like you're enjoying your journey.
 
Is there another link I'm not getting it..
and nobody's grip is weird we're all individualals
with unique mRna.
 
Ok I got it No your Grips not weird; Sticks seem Pencil thin what are they?
It's Good
 
My question is how long did it take you to hike in
It's about 300 feet from our door. It's actually a field, the part directly behind being ungroomed. The wooded area is a "sugarbush" of maples, there's actually a hill/valley with a creek ("the crick") running through it between the overgrowth behing me and the visible trees, which are quite a ways back.


Is there another link I'm not getting it..
 
Your grip's a bit odd, yes.
The stick generally rests on the medial phalange of the ring finger, while in your case it rests very close to the fingertip.
From this point of view your thumb also seems to tense up a bit when you play more-than-double strokes, though I might well be wrong on that.
You don't seem to have lots of control over the rebound of the stick, as in two instances you seem to try to make the stick bounce repeatedly, but you maybe press down too forcefully or don't let the stick come up after the first hit, so the tip of the stick stays in contact with the batter head even while your head keeps moving, as if trying to make it bounce.

That said, if the grip's comfortable for you and it doesn't get in the way of playing what you want to it's a perfectly good grip regardless of whether it looks very traditional or not.
One better way to judge that from the outside would be to see a video of you playing a specific part, for example from a snare solo book, which would make it possible for us to understand whether something looks or sounds odd because you meant it to look or sound odd, or because your grip gets in the way of your playing.
 
:)
but you maybe press down too forcefully or don't let the stick come up after the first hit, so the tip of the stick stays in contact with the batter head even while your head keeps moving, as if trying to make it bounce.
Yes! Everything about your post was excellent and helpful, thanks so much for giving the video a once over!

I confess that, ahem, I'm unlikely to play a solo out of a snare book, but it makes perfect sense that something of that nature would greatly ease the task of evaluation.
The stick generally rests on the medial phalange of the ring finger, while in your case it rests very close to the fingertip.
Actually just watched a video discussing Buddy Rich's grip and I believe it noted that his grip was closer to his palm. Got me thinking and your post is similar " grist for the mill".
That said, if the grip's comfortable for you and it doesn't get in the way of playing what you want to it's a perfectly good grip regardless of whether it looks very traditional or not.
It's quite comfortable and never feels strained, though I am going to pay attention to tensing my thumb. That said, what you noted about "trying to make the stick bounce repeatedly" is very accurate. I have watched videos of drummers using their thumbs to play fast rolls and that's my biggest goal and this video is about as close as I've gotten thus far. Really, I want to play jazzy blastbeats in a free jazz context. You know, like everyone!

Thanks again for your observations, they were very helpful!
 
Get metronome app, set at 90 BPM and play a few double and single stroke rolls. Move the camera closer to you so we can actually see what you’re doing…
 
That kind of playing is way above my head. What's the context? I can't gather from that 10 second clip. Is it a solo or are you accompanying something?

Don't see anything wrong with how you're hitting the drums though.
 
Get metronome app, set at 90 BPM and play a few double and single stroke rolls.
Will do, might take me a day but will do.
What's the context?
The context was that I was making a quick video to promote an article I'm having published about starting to play the drums. I play improvised music that is probably closest to free jazz. Not really timekeeping, but this sort of playing in the video is relatively for me common when the music calls for it.
Anyway, watching the video I started to wonder about my traditional grip and I knew a helpful online community so here we are :)
 
So, you didn't get a helicopter with your drumset? :oops:
 
Ok, so now I have been playing almost twice as long! Here's a video my partner and I made that has some views of my left hand. The audio doesn't really sync, but you get the idea. Thinking I have made some progress with my trad grip.

 
Ok, so now I have been playing almost twice as long! Here's a video my partner and I made that has some views of my left hand. The audio doesn't really sync, but you get the idea. Thinking I have made some progress with my trad grip.

Nice! What genre do you consider yourselves, avant-garde jazz?
 
I would say so, we have done a lot of "experimental" music, but since adding the drums that seems like the best description. That sort of thing can have quite an air of pretense and, at worst, snobbishness, but we have a lot of fun just being ourselves:

 
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