Wrist Angle - flying fingers blast

Goreliscious

Senior Member
Finally bothering to learn flying fingers on my left side as well as my right. I setup a mirror infront of a practice pad to see how my sides compare, noticed my left wrist bending up whereas my right wrist is pretty damn straight to my forearm which to me makes ergonomic sense!

Did a bit of YouTubing, these guys obviously make it work for them but their arm shapes look damn uncomfortable to me and I would have thought they're wasting a fair bit of energy with their wrists bent, elbows up/out, shoulders bunched...
Any thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaGDS0bDh0
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9naPTdujHs
 
Slight differences in hand position are not uncommon even for advanced drummers. I'd try to get the right/left positions as close as possible though. What works for one guy doesn't necessarily works for you or feels comfy, the fast guys needed years to get there, and years of practicing gives enough opportunity for (often unconsciously) developing variations in technique/grip etc.

Lord Drako's technique is probably the most common, but as you said, the angle needn't be that great. I think it's very important to optimize the spot where the thumb sits in relation to the first finger, for optimum fulcrum effect. You really need the fulcrum point for finger technique. Don't go for speed at the beginning, the feel/technique have to be there before speeding up. (The finger technique is somewhat hard at lower tempo though.) Also try to get the motions down with only thumb & first finger, then gradually involving more fingers, thumb & 1+2, thumb & 1+2+3, finally thumb & 1+2+3+4. Some drummers avoid the thumb & 1+2+3+4 method, but at least theoretically this gives you the most power and endurance as all the fingers are contributing to the motion. Also don't forget to stay relaxed.

Experiment with any finger style you find and eventually stick to what works best for you. Even with good technique the left hand will be the weaker one, regardless of technique so you might want to focus on your left hand when practicing finger technique also.

IMO you can't really judge whether a motion/angle is a waste of energy without being able to play it yourself - often times things look simple but are hard to do or vice versa.
 
IMO you can't really judge whether a motion/angle is a waste of energy without being able to play it yourself

I'd mostly agree with that, but at the same time I don't believe that locking your wrist/forearm/elbow/shoulder into a position that they don't naturally hang in can save you any energy. Nice idea about starting with thumb and 1st finger...you see so many ppl saying "here's how to do the flying finger technique" then they just do it without explaining how to build upon the technique or at most say "you use your fingers and not your forearm" and "you just gotta practice it". No shit Sherlock.
 
that second video looks very dangerous. He looks like he could really damage his wrists if he keeps playing like that.
 
Yep, it might look strange, but this technique surely works for that guy - he looks very relaxed and experienced, no need to worry. Might not be the best way for you though.
 
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