Switched back to trad for a minute...

bermuda

bermuda

Drummerworld Pro Drummer - Administrator
Staff member
I've played matched grip from most of my drumming life (except for occasional rudiments and some orchestral work where I need to do closed rolls.) Tonight's gig was a little fatiguing for no apparent reason, and my left hand was cramping from just playing 2 & 4. So for a few songs, I flipped the stick around to trad. grip, and played the songs that way.

What a strange experience! My hand hasn't worked that way playing a kit since I first started lessons close to 60 years ago!

I immediately noticed that I couldn't catch the rim like I normally do, so the sound and feel was different. Not a detriment mind you, I'm just used to the rim for a bit more attack so I don't play as hard to cut through. Of course the action/motion was different, I found my self really focused on my left hand as if the stick might do something I didn't want it to. And because of the motion difference, my timing felt off, maybe a bit lazy.

I don't think the other players noticed as I switched back & forth a few times for a little relief, but I was super aware of the difference and a little surprised that something so natural at one time - granted, 55+ years ago - felt so foreign and sorta uncomfortable now. Not that I can't do stuff with traditional grip, it's just been forever since I played a kit like that.

By the third set I was 'warmed up' and played matched thru the end. But I think I need to work a bit on my traditional set playing. 😮
 
I learned trad as a kid as well, and I just can’t do it anymore except in short doses. For some reason it’s peainful for me. Don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I just decided to skip it.
 
Chris Whitten said:
Playing matched grip rimshots I have the snare slightly angled towards me. I've noticed trad players have the snare angled away, with the highest side where your left hand strikes the drum.
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That's interesting. I play both matched and traditional grip and prefer to have my snare angled very slightly (highest side to my left) for both. I was originally taught to play traditional grip when I started out taking lessons as a kid, and played that way all through high school. I only started playing matched grip in my adult years when I was having problems with blisters on my left hand. I can play faster with matched grip but prefer traditional grip for rolls/rudiments and ghost notes. I sometimes get strange looks from younger drummers when they see what appears to them to be a very unordinary grip.
 
I play probably 90% traditional grip since most my playing is shuffles, ghost notes, or comping. I have my snare flat, around navel height.

I also feel my hands are more even playing traditional. When using matched grip, my left sounds (and is) stronger than my right. Getting my hands to sound even, regardless of grip, is a constant practice routine.


Bermuda, isn't it interesting how our bodies adjust to changes? (Sort of like riding a bicycle, how the body position can be so different from a road bike vs mountain bike, but after a while we adjust and "remember" how to ride. I even have a couple recumbent bikes that feel really weird at first but after a mile or so, it all comes back.) So, at your gig, did you ever not think about your grip when using traditional? Was it ever automatic?

Also...I would love to hear Weird Al take on a record of jazz standards!! Maybe then, you'll get paid to work on your trad grip!!
 
bermuda said:
I immediately noticed that I couldn't catch the rim like I normally do,
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5 minutes you would have adjusted and got at that rim
etc. the snare more level etc.
a snare position that allows for both grips-

"changing" around joints and bones at our age is sometimes a good thing
as things "wear" 😁
I have changed in my little "show" from matched to a whole eve of trad and note no change in sound, rim shot, sometimes more powerful, (too powerful too) or anything else
except the muscles/wrist finger/joints that get used (warmed)
Nice to change up
and hit the "warm" spot with either 😁

long as you're not "sitting" in the warm spot
 
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bermuda said:
By the third set I was 'warmed up' and played matched thru the end.
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I think this is the main data here. The older I get (62 now), the more important warm up is for all activities I do.

In addition to drumming, I'm a pretty active guy (weekly running, hiking, wake & snow boarding, mountain biking). I've had an issue lately in my right achilles. Not to an injury level but it's "talking" to me on a 1-2 out of 10. Been seeing physical therapist and finding warm up really helps or prevents it. Tendons get less elastic as you age especially starting cold. Warm up activities gets blood flowing and the tendons into a more stretchy state needed for activity.

After a month of physical therapy and focus, it's much better and I'm pretty certain that the achilles issue is coming from my bass drum activity. There's a LOT of constant right foot necessary in my country band. (Eleven gigs in October brought on the problem.) I'm realizing my foot technique is too "clinched" up with my calf and lower leg and I need to relax my leg more. This helps a lot when I play.

And so does warm up. Walking if I have time, but also active stretching, exercises and moving of my legs and ankles.

My 2 cents. Sorry for length.
 
Not learning traditional was not an option for me as my early instructors mandated it. I'm grateful they did. The late great Tony Williams said it best. 'I like having a left hand and a right.' Ever since about the 9th grade I just naturally gravitated to a mixed grip approach. I don't even consciously switch - it just comes naturally as I use what feels best for the part.

One thing to remember. Stretching prior to playing. You use 4 muscles in the arm playing matched and 9 playing traditional. Speaks volumes to me...
 
As someone who has been taking a deeper dive into matched vs trad technique lately, I can attest to the fact that they can feel very different on the kit.

My result is kind of the opposite of yours, Bermuda. When I play the kit trad the feel is much lighter and quicker and feels less lazy. Maybe lazy isn't the right name for my matched playing - maybe it's less agile, at least on the snare.

I still love traditional grip and use it a lot, but I have started having some pain in the tendon at the outside of the wrist, so I wanted to have improved matched abilities to give the wrist some relief.

As for snare angle, a lot of the older jazz players angled the snare away and higher on the left because that replicates the angle of an old rope tensioned marching drum (which, in itself, spurred the development of traditional grip). Fewer drummers do that now, and it's not really necessary. You can find a height and angle that works for both grips.

I hope you enjoy switching back and forth! It can be quite fun.
 
I'll switch back to trad. grip every now and then while playing but I can't seem to regain the ability I had with it growing up and taking lessons.
I practice using it regularly but always end up back on matched.

However, practicing open handed w/trad. feels good using the right hand (I play lefty kit) on the hi hat.
 
Every now and then, my guitar player points out that I'm holding the sticks in the traditional grip. I honestly don't notice that I do that when I first pick up the sticks, probably because it was the original way I learned how to play. Old habits and all that. I do play trad occasionally, just to break up the monotony.

How strangely our brains are wired(well, mine, anyway)!


Dan
 
bermuda said:
By the third set I was 'warmed up' and played matched thru the end.
Click to expand...
For me, changing grips helps a lot with hand fatigue.
Another anti-fatigue grip I like is the one shown in Moeller's book.
 
100% trad here since around 2006 and I'm still working on improvement. Where to hold the stick, whether to use wrist or thumb or fingers. Single stroke rolls, double stroke rolls and shuffles all use a different technique. I started in junior high playing trad but occasionally flipped to match grip. After a 5-yr hiatus, I put a stick in my left hand and realized I wanted to re-evaluate my technique. That's been my quest since.

Some resource material on YouTube:
 
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