Too many hits on snare hoop!

Atl MM

Junior Member
Hello! I am a somewhat beginner on drums and I am having an issue with my technique or drum positions. Everything on my kit feels comfortable, but when I hit the snare, most of the time hitting more hoop than snare head. I have lowered the snare and angled it slightly to reduce this, but it is still happening. I have tried raising and lowering the snare as well as angling the snare from flat to very angled. All of the positions do not feel comfortable to me. When it is angled more I cannot get a decent rim shot and when I slightly angle it forward, I am predominantly hitting the rim. Is this because of my stick position in my hand or do I not have the snare adjusted correctly? One side note, I do find that when I am playing the snare, my left-hand makes quite a bit of contact with my left leg. When I raise the snare, slightly, I hit the rim most of the time. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks
 
Probably a little banal.
Find a position that suits best for you, and then go practice.The whole movement sequence of your left arm, elbow, wrist and fingers isn't fully developed yet.
The better you learn to keep control about your body, the less you miss your target.
And never forget to be patient ;)
 
You definetly want to set up so your leg is not in the way of your hand.

In regards to the snare issue, as with any technique detail on any instrument, this will take a while. Probably years.
 
If you're hitting your leg then I would raise your drum (assuming that your seat is already at a comfortable height). If you are hitting the rim a lot with it raised, then angle it more towards you. I would change the height and/or angle in small increments, then live with it for a few days and see how it feels. It takes time and experimentation to find the best setup for you, don't try to rush it.

The way I personally set my snare drum is to close my eyes, pretend I'm hitting a full stroke, and stop the stick at the bottom. That's where I want the center of the snare batter head to be. Raise or lower the drum accordingly. Hopefully at this height you are not hitting your legs with your hands or the butt of the sticks. If you are, then you'll have to compromise. It depends a lot on your anatomy. If you have longer-than-average arms, then you might need to live with hitting your thigh, or raising the drum higher than optimal. There are some great drummers that hit their legs, so it's not the end of the world if that setup is most comfortable for you.

Once the height is set, I work on the tilt. Again, with eyes closed and a full stroke, I want to hit a rimshot, so I adjust the angle to make that happen. If there's no rimshot, I tilt it away from me slightly to bring the near edge of the hoop higher. If there's too much rim, than I tilt it towards me. I do this with both hands until a natural stroke with either hand results in a clean rimshot.

Now after all of this fine-tuning of snare position, I still occasional get nothing but rim, or "thin" rimshots, because my stroke is not very consistent. That just takes practice. When I practice at home, I try for rimshots as much as possible. Same as with band practice. When I play a gig, I play it safe and don't try for a rimshot on every backbeat, because the audience doesn't like it when they're dancing and they hear a click instead of a snare crack. I suppose that when I can hit 95+ out of 100 attempts, I'll consider that good enough for live work.
 
Probably a little banal.
Find a position that suits best for you, and then go practice.The whole movement sequence of your left arm, elbow, wrist and fingers isn't fully developed yet.
The better you learn to keep control about your body, the less you miss your target.
And never forget to be patient ;)
This is, IMO, right on the money. Sometimes the only real solution to the technique issue we encounter is simply to work on it.

I had a moment where me and some members of the the National Guard band I'm in went to a trumpet clinic/master class. As we were playing through some material as a trumpet ensemble we came upon a section where some double-tonguing was required. The college kid standing next to me said something to the effect of, "I can't do multiple tonguing very well."

I replied, "yet."

Then I went on to say that I had a secret for getting good at multiple tonguing. He was really interested, and this is what I told him:

Practice. Do it a lot - focus on it for a minimum of 10 minute a day, every day. Sometimes the only solution to a technique issue is to really work on it in a very focused way.

He didn't seem to thrilled by my secret. :)

Getting back to the topic, this is one of those things that can be worked out with some careful, diligent practice - focus on correcting that problem so that you really know how it feels, and in no time cracking that rimshot will be second nature.
 
Getting back to the topic, this is one of those things that can be worked out with some careful, diligent practice - focus on correcting that problem so that you really know how it feels, and in no time cracking that rimshot will be second nature.

I agree wholeheartedly. I have a near identical issue to the OP. One out of every dozen rimshots will be an anemic sounding rim-only click with no real snare-meat to it.

When recording pop, I have to mentally discipline myself to pull my head out of my ass for an entire three minute song so that I don't ruin a take with a weenie-snare hit. Unfortunately, dedicating my attention to each/every snare hit takes a toll on other aspects of my performances. I end up loosing a bit of feel, dynamics, or blowing a transition that I was unable to mentally prepare for.

Targeted practice is the only surefire fix, and it's a real PITA for those of us who lack time/patience/discipline/ambition.
 
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