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Archive for category Techniques

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

Feb 16

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 2 Comments

Key to the world. Source: azrainman

Key to the world. Source: azrainman

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 Read the rest of this entry »

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The Most Overlooked Part Of Your Grip

Feb 12

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 2 Comments

Notice that pinky. Source: Sonny Side Up!

Notice that pinky. Source: Sonny Side Up!

I use this phrase a lot but…

This changed everything for me and it affected so many parts of my playing:

  • Increased endurance
  • More power
  • Faster singles
  • Less tension
  • More control
  • Less aches and pains
  • No more blisters

So far in my series on Drumstick Grip, we have talked about why your grip is impoartant, and you also which of the two grips you should use. Now its time to Read the rest of this entry »

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Should You Use French Or German Grip?

Feb 11

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 8 Comments

French and German Drumstick Grip

French and German Drumstick Grip

There’s only one way to find out

In the previous part to this series on grip, we talked about Why Your Drumstick Grip Is So Important. Now we’re going to look at what type of grip you should be using.

To know which grip is best for you, you’re going to have to spend a bit of time with each one, discover the benefits and use the one that works best for you.

I’ll give you my personal recommendations in this article but everyone is different so what works best for me may not be what works best for you.

Before you go any further Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Your Drumstick Grip Is So Important

Feb 9

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 3 Comments

Grip is important. Source: beeto456

Grip is important. Source: beeto456

Drums are a weird instrument

With most other instruments you have to hold them or at least touch them in order to play them eg. guitar, saxophone, trumpet, harp, violin etc. But with drums (and percussion instruments in general) you don’t actually touch them. On a drum kit you’re either hitting things with sticks or pushing pedals with your feet. But you never come into contact with the drums or cymbals themselves.

So the main point of contact that you have with your instrument is your sticks. If you have a bad grip on your sticks then you’ll play badly. This is why so many drummers recommend that you practise for hours on a pad because once you get control over your sticks then playing drums becomes so much easier.

Nick (one of my Facebook friends) suggested that I make holding drumsticks a blog topic. He rightly pointed out that Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Get A Louder, Fuller Snare Sound - The Rimshot

Jan 19

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 5 Comments

Evidence of rimshots

Evidence of rimshots

If you want it, you’ve got work for it

Getting the sound you really want isn’t just a matter of hitting your drums as loud as possible and hoping for the best. You need to learn different techniques to give you the best sound.

In this article, we’re not just talking about techniques though. We are going to hack into the actual physics of your snare drum in order to get the best possible sound out of it.

The physics of your snare

Normally when you play your snare, you hit the drum head (also called the drum skin) with the tip of your stick. This makes the drum head flex downwards which in turn pushes the air inside your drum down towards the Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Play Wrist Technique

Dec 23

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 4 Comments

The human body is not made to play drums

But with a bit of practice you can hack into its natural movements and exploit them for your own ends. Namely, drumming.

Take that inefficient human body!

In this post I will show you a great hack for improving your hand speed, power and sound.

The Hack

Try this:Find a table and place your forearm flat on it so that the pads of your fingers, palm of your hand, underside of your forearm and your elbow are on the table. Now move your arm so that your fingers and the palm of your hand are off the table. Done that? If you relax your wrist and hand it will flop down, your fingers will extend and point to the ground. When you pull your hand up with your wrist, your fingers will Read the rest of this entry »

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A Simple Way To Increase Your Hand Speed

Nov 27

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | 3 Comments

ninja

Photo credit: R’eyes’

You know the one about the Ninja and the corn right?

Jumping was one of the most prized skills a Ninja could develop. They had to be able very agile in order to sneak into buildings without detection and avoid slashing attacks from swords and spears on the battlefield. So from a young age Ninjas were trained how to jump high.

Legend has it that when a young Ninja began his training he had to first plant a corn stalk in the ground. Then every day for the rest of his training he had to jump over the corn stalk. As you can imagine it was very easy in the beginning but as the corn grew, the Ninja had to keep jumping over it even if grew taller than he was. Their training was so strict that if he ever failed to jump over it Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Splash Your Hi-Hats

Nov 26

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | No Comments

“Wow, I didn’t know it could do that!”

This was my reaction the first time that I ever saw someone use this technique. I’d never heard anything like this coming out of the hi-hats before. It made me realise that if you’re looking for new sounds to add to your drumming you don’t always need to spend money on buying new gear. If you’re creative enough you can find ways to get new sounds out of the gear that you already have.

This post continues my series on hi-hats. We’ve looked at Read the rest of this entry »

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10 Things That Will Explode Your Drumming - Your Fingers

Nov 13

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | No Comments

finger-technique

Photo credit: said&done

Your fingers are very important.

The front of your grip is formed when you pinch the stick between your index finger and thumb. The back of your grip is formed when you close your other 3 fingers (middle, third and pinky) around the stick. These fingers help guide the stick and make sure it doesn’t fly off in any unwanted direction.

Taking these fingers off the stick is the surest way to lose control of what you’re doing. If your other 3 fingers are not on the stick, then you get half the control over the stick that you should be getting. Half the control! Thats like Read the rest of this entry »

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3 Simple Techniques to Increase the Speed and Quality of your Double Stroke Roll

Sep 8

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Techniques | No Comments


The three techniques I use are:

1. Bounce
Starting with your wrist in the 90 degree position you need to throw the stick at the pad with some power and make sure it bounces right back up to where you threw it down from. You need to extend your fingers to allow the stick the room to move in order to bounce back. Notice in the video how Read the rest of this entry »

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