Teeth - drum kits in your head

Nope, never do it. My biggest issues are biting my bottom lip while playing or opening my mouth as though I'm catching flies. I also tend to grunt in intense passages - sexy huh?


More than you could possibly imagine Polly. You get more irresistable by the day...
 
Fortunately my drum teachers taught me to "relax" when playing live and practicing and I do not grind my teeth while playing.
 
Yep...sad thing is I play better with my teeth than on real drums....
 
Again, I thought it was just me who did this! I've done it for a very long time, longer than i've been playing the drums. The main disadvantage I can see from it is a habitually tense jaw, which tends to communicate tension to the rest of the body in the same way the neck does. I will endeavour to correct this.
 
What a great topic! I always thought it was just a weird thing that I do. I've been doing it forever it seems, playing patterns and licks by sort of lightly clicking my teeth together while moving my jaw back and forth. It doesn't cause my jaw to tense up at all, instead it actually relaxes it. You need to let your jaw remain relaxed and flexible when doing teeth drumming.

I'm doing it now, in fact. I wonder what it's done to my teeth after all those years.
 
It doesn't cause my jaw to tense up at all, instead it actually relaxes it. You need to let your jaw remain relaxed and flexible when doing teeth drumming.

I'm doing it now, in fact. I wonder what it's done to my teeth after all those years.

That's because you are applying proper technique to your teeth clicking.

Kids, take note: if you practice your tooth rudiments under the guidance of a trained tooth drummer, then you too can get your teeth chattering with the ease and grace of Uncle Jay.
 
That's because you are applying proper technique to your teeth clicking.

Kids, take note: if you practice your tooth rudiments under the guidance of a trained tooth drummer, then you too can get your teeth chattering with the ease and grace of Uncle Jay.

Thank you, Polly. I have a DVD in the works.
 
Its sad really...my teeth are better than my hands....I can go faster and come up with better sounding rudiments with my teeth...and i've had no formal tooth drum training...I too thought I was the only one who did this...awesome thread
 
Better with your teeth? I'm assuming that you're only playing single strokes (single clicks?). How about doubles ... paradiddles ... flams ... ruffs (haha). Or how about tooth independence - being able to hold down a kick pattern with your molars while overlaying other rhythms with your incisors?

If you could control your farts you could lay down a bass groove and jam over the top with your teeth :)

And if your toothing is tense and limited, you could refer to Jay's DVD (with Stan as technical consultant) that would inevitably be titled, Cut the Chatter and Just Click, for Goodness Sake!
 
I do it all the time as well. And I thought I was the only one. My wife gets mad sometimes when I do it. I've tried to stop for a couple days, but I just can't. It has a relaxing effect on me. I've worked out drum parts with it also.
 
Better with your teeth? I'm assuming that you're only playing single strokes (single clicks?). How about doubles ... paradiddles ... flams ... ruffs (haha). Or how about tooth independence - being able to hold down a kick pattern with your molars while overlaying other rhythms with your incisors?

If you could control your farts you could lay down a bass groove and jam over the top with your teeth :)

And if your toothing is tense and limited, you could refer to Jay's DVD (with Stan as technical consultant) that would inevitably be titled, Cut the Chatter and Just Click, for Goodness Sake!

Yup all of that. Like construct said its more of a jaw movement..not chomping up or down or grinding...its more the flexing of your jaw to enable different areas of teeth to...well to play? I do a lot of triplets and doubles. and just cool funk beats...its hard to explain...I have had my wife try to listen but she cant hear it...I can only hear it in my head....an no I am not crazy...
 
I've been doing it since I was about 13 or so. It's one of the reasons I decided (a few years after I first noticed myself doing it) to become a drummer. I had originally wanted to be a bass player, being influenced (like everyone else in the 60s) by the Beatles and Paul in particular. But my teeth drumming and a few other factors convinced me that I was meant to play drums instead.

I remember the first time I really noticed that I was doing it. I was in 7th grade, having just started my first year in junior high. I didn't know anyone at the school yet, but one morning I saw this guy in gym class that was doing the same tooth drumming as I was. So I struck up a conversation and we became friends. He was a drummer, and took me over to his house to see his drums. That was the first time ever I was able to sit down at a kit and play. I was hooked. I got my first kit the next Christmas and never looked back.

(Btw, his kit was a Camco in aqua moire. Like this: http://www.camcodrummer.com/oaksetam1.htm
I often wonder what ever became of Dean and his Camcos. I would kill for a kit like that!)

So yeah, since as long back as I can remember, I ALWAYS have a beat or a song going in my head. ALWAYS. And lots of times I find myself playing along with my teeth. It's amazing, but you can duplicate a complete kit as well as assorted percussion with your teeth. When I'm around people I try to mellow it out. Not that they can necessarily hear it, but if you're playing all over the teeth, your jaw looks funny moving in all different directions. People that see you doing that might not realize that you're harmless, "just a drummer". They might mistake you for some kid of nut job. So all you other teeth drummers, a word of advice: keep it discreet!
 
Dave Grohl admits to doing this in the latest MD.
 
Ok we've exposed all the teeth chatterers, now what about the beat boxers? I kinda of use my tongue and throat to make beats all the time, it must be similar to a beat boxer I'd imagine. Luckily you can keep it virtually silent to everyone else, though it does like I'm chewing on something when I do it.
 
I do the exact same thing with my teeth! Mainly when people get mad at me for tapping my foot or my pencil, lol
 
Happily found this as I was in fact doing it. Though I haven't seen anyone mentioning this specifically, so I'll throw it in: using the tongue as the kick? Backbeat from a mild click of the teeth (I grind my teeth all the time, so as a precaution I try and either have gum or my retainers to cushion this) and a whack to the inside of the bottom row of teeth with the tongue makes a great sounding bass.

I will be ecstatic when I can blastbeat on my kit as well as I can in my little jaw gig
 
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