more stick control help

bigA415

Junior Member
i recently started to practice out of the book stick control, practicing at 8ths at 100bpm for five minutes each exercise crescendo from about 2-3in of stick height up to about 12in every minute. i play at 12in for 4 bars then go back down. iv only been playing the first 7 exercises, adding and removing about 2 every week. iv read a lot about the free stroke and other technical things but i mainly focus on relaxing (with a solid grip) and making sure stick heights are even. i generally use a combination of wrist and fingers. should i start from the top and learn the free stoke or does my technique look fine? also, i find that at a low height i have to bring the stick up a bit as opposed to letting it rebound all the way back up. i dont know if this is worth worrying about. well anyways, tell me what you think. all critique is appreciated. thanks!

oh and for doubles i usually just use the doubling technique instead of wristing out each stroke. (ill post another video if necessary). i am planning on sticking with this routine for a long time so i want to make sure im doing it properly.

heres the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSqjSYwEcXE
 
You sound good keep going at it. I've found over the years that singles and doubles at different tempos and dynamic levels seems to get the job done better then crazy super technical exercises. Good luck with your future studies. And i think with the low dynamic on the singles you are kind of forced to play every stroke or else it would just fall apart.
 
A few observations:

- That's actually a pretty open grip. For this exercise you might try allowing less wobble by closing up your back fingers some.

- You're putting a slight downstroke on every note- you're stopping them lower than they start- and then picking up the stick to make the next note. I would try to eliminate those two wasted moves by ending each note at the same height as it started (except during the cresc/dim), and making each note with a direct downward motion, with no preparatory lift. That's hard for a lot of people- you have to watch your stroke carefully.

- It looks like with your RH you may be using some arm to make the fortissimo notes- I'd check that and try to do them with wrist only.

- A lot of people play very similarly to the way you are here, and do just fine with it, so don't feel it necessary to restrict yourself to "perfecting" moderate-tempo 8th notes before moving on to more challenging things.
 
A few observations:

- That's actually a pretty open grip. For this exercise you might try allowing less wobble by closing up your back fingers some.

- You're putting a slight downstroke on every note- you're stopping them lower than they start- and then picking up the stick to make the next note. I would try to eliminate those two wasted moves by ending each note at the same height as it started (except during the cresc/dim), and making each note with a direct downward motion, with no preparatory lift. That's hard for a lot of people- you have to watch your stroke carefully.

- It looks like with your RH you may be using some arm to make the fortissimo notes- I'd check that and try to do them with wrist only.

- A lot of people play very similarly to the way you are here, and do just fine with it, so don't feel it necessary to restrict yourself to "perfecting" moderate-tempo 8th notes before moving on to more challenging things.

thanks for the advice! i do notice that i have to pick up the stick sometimes, but at a low height i find it rather difficult to get the rebound. any suggestions?
also i have strongly debated on which tempo i should use. and there are 2 reasons why im starting this slowly.
1, because i never started that slow when i started drumming a few years ago and im hoping it will improve my overall foundation. Plus, at that speed you really notice the flaws.

and 2. an exercise like 13 would be rather difficult at higher tempos and i want to make them clean while maintaining a constant tempo for all the exercises.
 
It sounded very uneven to me. Your right hand strokes are heavier then your left hand strokes and sound accented at points. I'd also kick up the tempo.
 
It sounded pretty good to me. I think what you could do with single strokes is to not rely on the rebound as much as your doing. It comes more into play at doubles or even tribble hits. At a pressure roll on the snare, it's just important to always have a drum stick rolling, no breaks between lifts...

At singles I don't think you have to worry about rebound, since I feel that these pads have more rebound than a snare, or a tom. When i hit my snare with what i'd call a pretty decent hit, it normally rebounds 1'' to a maximum of 2½'' but when making those small hits, there's really not enough power from the hit, to lift the sticks weight again.

Good luck with the excercises, but don't get too bored with it!
 
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