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7 Simple Ways You Can Turn A Bad Grip Into A Good One

Last part in the grip series

By now you know why your grip is important, you know which grip you should be using, you know which part of your grip you have been overlooking and now... you can put all this information into action and turn your current grip into a new one that will allow you to take over the world (seriously).

So the first thing you need to do to change your bad grip into a good one is:

1. Learn

Make sure you have at least read my other articles in this series. But don't stop there. Look around for videos of your favourite drummers, go and see bands play live, ask questions to other drummers on Twitter. That's what I do. But my personal favourite is to get a teacher. Not only do you get to see their grip and technique but you can ask them specific questions and get coaching on how best to improve your grip.

2. Practise

So once you know what your grip should be like you need to work on it. Really work on it. You have new things to learn; new inputs to write into your system; new movements to hack. Ultimately, it's how many hours you are willing to put in on your practice pad that will dictate the speed of your progress and set you apart from other drummers.

3. Focus

Try and be as present as you can while you are practising. What I mean by that is pay attention to what you are doing; how much pressure you are applying; how the sticks are feeling. Really focus on what's going on and don't let your mind wander. Everytime it does bring it back to how the sticks feel in your hands. It's up to you to make yourself pay attention.

4. Wait

It's not easy to completely change your grip. Especially if you have been playing with a poor grip for a while and you've stumbled into bad habits. Don't be hard on yourself if your don't see results instantly. Just remember that if you work on this for long enough, results are guaranteed.

5. Slow down

You have so much to think about here so don't rush your practise. The faster you play with your new grip, the more difficult it will be for your brain to take the new information on board and remember. It's like when someone talks to you. The faster they talk, the more difficult they are to understand. So give yourself a break and take your time!

6. Check

The best way to hack new movements is on your practice pad with easy, slow patterns. It's much easier to focus that way. But while you're just jamming by yourself, playing to music or playing with your band check your grip from time to time and make sure that things are still looking like how they did on your practice pad. Don't over analyse yourself or you'll kill the music! It's enough to just notice what you're doing every now and again.

7. Compare

Comparing yourself to other drummers is a great way to assess how you're getting on and what you need to be working on but if you do it constantly you'll feel like you are making no progress at all. In the same way, don't compare your left hand to your right too much. You left will always feel a little worse than your right (or vice-versa for left handers). So, when you do compare, it's more useful to compare yourself to how you were last year (not Taylor Hawkins) and compare your left to how it was last year (not your right).

I hope this helps you on your never-ending journey as a drummer!

Oh and did I mention practise?

Alexander

What do you think? Are these tips helpful? Maybe you have some of your own to add?

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