Posture

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

I teach a lot of drummers and one of the thing that consistently crops up as a block to musical development on the drums is BAD POSTURE.

I myself have had to work on my posture a lot over the last few years (If you look at the older videos on my site compared to new ones like 'Harvest...' and 'Bollywood' you can see how it has changed, I now sit higher and my back is straighter)

So I'd thought I'd pass on some of the stuff I've observed in my own playing and others and some of the things that I have picked up from other drummers.

I shall list them as 'tips' and start from the ground up starting with the feet.

1) Feet
Try an make the distance from the stool to each foot the same. Actually move your stool away from the kit and find where your feet would naturally go. Try and form a tripod between your feet and the stool and try to 'grip' the floor.
Now get a friend (or enemy...) to try and push you off the stool. Where ever your feet end up is probably where you pedals should be.

2) Stool Height.
Your legs don't want to work against gravity. When you play your pedals check to make sure your knees don't come up higher than your pelvis. If you play heel up make sure that you check this when your heel is lifted as high as it can go. So when you are sitting correctly your thighs should slope downwards. Raising my stool has made a big difference to my playing (I did a clinic with Thomas Lang once and I asked him to try out my pedals. As he sat on my kit he turned around and said 'You sit too low' I took it on board...)

3) Balance.
This is SO IMPORTANT. Your back should be straight (not hunched) and should be as vertical as possible. If you lean forward or back when you play if you try and perform fast footwork your lack of balance will impair this. One way to remedy this is to make sure your snare drum is waist height. All you hunchers may find you hit the rim when you do this. But instead of dropping your snare just straighten your back instead. I promise within a few weeks your back will have straightened, Your drum sound will have improved and your speed around the kit and with your feet will have increased.Try and make sure your shoulders are back as well.

4) Hitting the **** snare!!!
Now you are sat correctly make the shape of a slice of pizza on the snare facing you (ie. right stick is at 4 o'clock and the left at 8 o'clock) Your sticks should not be parallel!
Try not to grip the stick too tight when you strike. Grip at the back third of the stick. Now hold the stick vertical and grip with all fingers. Strike the drum. As you approach the drum release your grip so that when you make contact the stick bounces MANY times.(at the point of impact you holding just between the thumb and first finger. If it does not bounce try and loosen the grip between finger and thumb) Once you have mastered that lift the stick out after the first hit and back to vertical, gripped.
If that gets boring try letting it bounce twice and then lift out (and you have the beginnings of a double stroke...)

5) For heel uppers...
Make sure you are not lifting you leg from your groin. Lift your leg as though you are standing on your toes. As you lift your leg beater should be buried. As you drop you leg to hit the bass drum your heel should drop to the back of the foot plate as well. One way to work on this movement is to bury the beater and try and move your heel up and down with out making a sound. Try and keep your leg as loose as possible.

Hope thats of help. I thought this was important to share as this stuff as it can stop injuries

Any others tips, comments or questions are welcomed

Andy

[alexi2]

This is very very apreciated. You can't imagine how much research I have done on posture. I have had (and still but not as bas as back then) pretty painfull back problems and never found a good posture. Lately it is better though.

I know Damo will agree 100% with the balance part. Balance is so important...

Nice tips on throne hight and nice exercise for the heel-uppers too!

Thx a lot!

edit: I do wonder why many double bass books advice to lean backwards a little bit when playing double bass :confused:

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

I do think this is a bit of an overlooked subject. Nearly every student that walks into my place goes 'uhh, the snares to high' then drops it to down by their ankles!

You will find if you sit a little higher and raise your snare so your back has to be straight your back will be a lot better.
If you are hunched you may find your spine needs stretching out a bit. Try rolling a towel up (about 2-3" wide), placing it on the floor and lying on it so it runs down your spine. Try to stretch as well. Grip your hands behind your back and gently raise your hands behind you. Also grip your hands together behind your head and put your elbows together. Gently arch your back and push your head back...

[Shu]

yea thats why i sit soo high.. my posture is dead from past pastimes (uber gamer).

Andy, is there a point where u are sitting to high?

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Ergonomically I would say the optimum height is when your thighs gently slope down.
But having a straight, vertical back is perhaps more important...

This is what I have had to work on

Here is me in 2000 (at Simon Phillips clinic) Look at the way my back is hunched.

http://www.andyedwardsmusic.com/images/clinic_simon_phillips.jpg

Here I am at Drumfest this year (my back is a lot straighter and my centre of gravity is passing down through the stool....

http://www.mikedolbear.com/Images/Andy_edwards_drumfest05.jpg

All I had to do to achieve that was bring up my snare to waist height and it will pretty quickly coreect itself.

[ThugsRook]

very good advice http://users.adelphia.net/~d2rook/pics/thumbs.gif

[Drumass]

yea. the first thing my teacher ever tought me was posture...it took me so long to get it right lol

[abandonthetruth]

Great advice Andy, thanks!!

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Also, If you check out those two photos you can see how much your hair will grow when you get your posture correct...

Thanks chaps, any questions just ask...

[MXboy]

Are you married..?

[abandonthetruth]

Hahahaha .. thats awesome MX

[Tim]

great stuff andy. im gonna go check everything right now.

[tapioca]

good post as always, but what about using French grip? you rather play in a 5 and 7 o'clock position if you use it. so I'd suggest adding "a depends on grip" remark there, as long as you don't disagree with me, of course.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

I play French a lot of the time. I wasn't being exact with the time...as long as they are not parallel, that is the main thing.

MX Boy...Is that a proposition? if so I am very flattered but I'm not that way inclined, not that I have anything against it...

btw. I have had some really strange questions on clinics including...

How tall are you?
Where did you get your shoes? (at Drumfest...)
What is your favorite cheese?
How old are you?
Have you got a girlfriend?
Where do babies come from (my favorite...use it at the next clinic you go to...love to see Weckl answer that)
Where did you meet your girlfriend?

[Win A Rabbit]

thanks andy, i've been working alot on my posture (i have a naturally terrible back, genetic) but i always catch myself slunched a bit after a few minutes of playing. i'll try raising my snare, hope that helps.

and about the feet, i was always told that a 90 degree knee angle was the best. but now i'm thinking it's better to be more than 90 degrees?

thanks for the tips though.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

sic...

If you make sure your snare is at waist height and straighten up everytime you hie the rim your back will very quickly correct itself.

90 degrees sounds to much to me. Just think that byou are trying to create the best grip between you and the floor.

[Win A Rabbit]

that makes alot of sense, but i always heard that more than 90 degrees loses a great deal of power in your strokes, since it will be more ankle movement (which is good for faster playing) but it will be alot harder to use the rest of your leg, for slower playing. so i heard that 90 was the best because you get the best of both worlds, so to say.

but then again, i've been playing for like 2 years, no teacher. what do i know? i'll go try raising my throne in a little while when my parents leave.

[Josiah]

Great stuff Andy!

I've found that posture has been the source of uncountable problems.

For myself (long ago) and any current students, I recomend a "reminder". I used to right "GPJ" on my snare drum - Good Posture Josiah. I'd see it constently and thus...

Practicing with a full length mirror so you can watch your posture is golden as well.

[rockindrummer]

Awsome stuff andy. It was very helpfull thanks man :thumb:

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Thanks chaps...

I think something to bear in mind is that we are all built different so stuff like the 90 degree thing can only be a guidline. It is important IMHO to understand the principles of what you are trying to achieve.

Also, because not everything on your kit can be placed in exactly the right place it will always be a compromise. I'm playing six pedals at the moment and so some of the stuff I'm playing I am a bit off balance. But because i my back is straight and I'm at the right height, lifting my leg correctly (I hope) my balance will hopefully be at an optimum.

Josiah...I use a mirror too, good tip there. I also look at my set up and if your posture is good the set up looks good (hope this makes sense)

Also remember that kits are designed to be played properly! When you get your posture right your sound will improve dramatically. Also you will be able to set your kit up a lot easier as drums are really designed to go into the correct place. if you are having difficulty positioning your snare or hihat etc your posture is probably wrong...

[Starship]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to type this!

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

No worries, This is important stuff and it doesn't get talked about enough.
233 people have read this so far! Thats like a clinic for me and I was born to get this stuff out there, I love doing it! Hopefully I've saved a few backs; thats good enough for me...

[Win A Rabbit]

thanks andy, i tried raising my throne abit, and it definately helped for faster speeds. i felt like i had alot more control (most likely due to better balance now) and my slower playing didn't suffer as much as i thought it would.

[Sam Bredeson]

Also, If you check out those two photos you can see how much your hair will grow when you get your posture correct...

Thanks chaps, any questions just ask...
Dude, your hair kicks my ***.

And those tips, they kick my ***, too.

[lewisniven]

its definately helped me, ive moved everything on my kit up to really straiten me out and it seems to be making a difference, double bass is a little easier due to better balance too. thnx andy.

[Murd_666]

wow I almost had my posture right I had it so my legs were paralell(i heard this somewhere b4) ans my snare was jus some what lower than where it should be, when I get my set i am so trying these tips out

[Drum Phil]

Well ive taken it into account :) ive been trying to work on my posture for a while now

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Hope there is some benefit for you.
Working on posture is one of the few things on drums where you get quick results. Give it a week and then let me know how you have got on.

The problem with having your legs parallel is that when you lift your leg your thighs are now slope up, against gravity ( and you will feel how they are restricted)
If you play heel down however you may get away with parallel thighs. A slope however will also help with your balance

[Drum Phil]

I will do ta :) I guess this means some kit rearranging too.

[italic zero]

I already sit up pretty straight and I sit high enough that my legs slope down because I find it much easier to hit my toms without having them overly angled that way. I raised my snare all the way up to the height of my rack toms; is that too high? I still have no problems with hitting the rim by accident, I just had to raise my hats to give my arms some space.

[Damo]

I make my students flatten their toms and raise them when they first start, so that they HAVE to lift their backs straight to get over the top of them.

Andy, Im also very much an endorsee of the pyramid on the snare when playing Free Strokes. :)

Different to you though - I tend to practise fairly low on my stool. It does sacrifice a little speed, but helps me work my upper thighs a little more and takes the impact off my knees a little more, which has helped me playing longer shows, particularly when its cold.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Thats really interesting Damo

Look at how low Vinnie sits! I think stool height is the most subject here. I've just lowered mine too to accomadate for this new pedal set up I'm using.
As long as nobody is lifting the leg from the groin, thats the main thing.

[officer doofy]

thanks for this man, I really need to work on my posture

[J0llyhunter]

i have to sit low, if i sit high then i get back pains, which is weird. i swear, i sit up straight! ah, i guess whichever is more comfortable to you

[Double Bass Jim]

Posture is deffinelty one of the things people neglect the most, it's VITAL to healthy playing.

[Aaron]

yeah i'd rather appear "uncool" than have a L4/5 fusion!

[DxRocker]

Practicing with a full length mirror so you can watch your posture is golden as well.

My teacher always tells me to use that... I really should look into it.

This thread is some good stuff

[RichHunt]

5) For heel uppers...
Make sure you are not lifting you leg from your groin. Lift your leg as though you are standing on your toes. As you lift your leg beater should be buried. As you drop you leg to hit the bass drum your heel should drop to the back of the foot plate as well. One way to work on this movement is to bury the beater and try and move your heel up and down with out making a sound. Try and keep your leg as loose as possible.


I've been trying to explain that to friends for ages. You wrote it really well. The example of "standing on your toes" is a great one. I shall use that next time I need to explain this technique.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Yes, it's all good stuff...

It's amazing that when you stand on your toes you can lift your whole body weight and yet some drummers still lift their leg using the tiny muscles in the groin which in the end can really hurt...

J0llyhunter...ifyou bring your stool up remember the whole kit needs to come up.
Where are your back pains? in your upper back between your shoulder blades or at the base of your spine? If upper back you may be sitting hunched, If lower you may be sitting to low...

later tonight I'm going to put some stuff up about signals travel from the brain via the nerves to your hands with an interesting tip from Thomas Lang, watch this space...

[Josiah]

To jollyhunter..

If you are having back pain, you need to have a doctor and/or a good instructor watch and check out whats going on.

While even the best of the world can post here, it's only text and not reactive to actually seeing you.

Back pain is no joke. Back injuries are no joke. The spine is one of the places you just don't want to mess around with for any reason. It's a very very very complicated system and can be damaged fairly easily from repetive strains, or RSI's.

Just hate to see a drummer go out of commission from a posture releated injury. I've seen it happen, and it's just no fun for anyone involved.

[Aaron]

^123.
On a vaguely related tangent, drumming helped my back. When i started i had accute scholiosis, however and luckily, my teacher new correct posture and it helped me correct it; still there, but the back gets a natural workout from just sitting there upright and at attention.

[PrinceOfDarkness]

hi andy,

first of all, thanks for the advice.

personally, i'm struggling to find an ideal set-up in terms of throne, hi-hat, and snare position and height. it dramatically effects the quality of my playing depending on how comfortable i feel - i move my kit around often but have never felt 100% at ease, and sometimes i actually feel uncomfortable.


i'm going to take your advice on throne hight, feet positioning, and snare height. but one major problem i have is snare positioning in comparison to hi-hat positioning i.e. my sticks often collide when hitting the snare and hi-hat, and sometimes i hit my right hand with my left stick - which is painful. how much space would you recommend in terms of height and positioning between the snare and hi-hat? would you have the snare closer or the hi-hat closer? etc

Please see attached image

Thanks

EDIT: my attachment doesn't appear to be visible, not sure why

[Drum Phil]

Well i just realised i already play with my legs slanting down anyway, i raised my stool and snare a bit and already find myself straightening up a bit :) Cheers for the advice dude.

Just outta interest, where abouts in uk are you based?

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Oh wow, you've got an invisible attachment too...just dust around it with talcum powder...

I usually have my hihat about 8" above my snare but what is also important is the way the sticks crossover each other and how you lift the sticks. When you sit at the kit position both hands at the snare and hihat and the slowly lift them so stick points vertical and then from vertical drop the sticks and strike the hihat and snare. They should both be able to travel all the way without hitting each other. Now the next problem is when they are accenting oppositionally

Position your hands on the hiaht and snare again.

Now play this slowly. RlrLrlRlrLrl etc (upper case-accents, lower case- unaccents)
You may find you have a problem, esp when playing the left hand accents.

There are two ways of approaching this. One is to cross your hands over each other ( so hands are on top of each other rather than the sticks) and try and play accents from your wrist (good for funky and jazz playing) or move your right hand away from yourself so that the sticks form a T shape and your left hand is free to strike (good for louder playing)

[Josiah]

move your right hand away from yourself so that the sticks form a T shape and your left hand is free to strike (good for louder playing)


Long ago i shifted my hats forward a touch, brought my right hand out a touch.. what a world of difference that made..


Good stuff from andy here, hope some of the people are saving these gems...

[PrinceOfDarkness]

...or move your right hand away from yourself so that the sticks form a T shape and your left hand is free to strike (good for louder playing)
cool - that is what I have been doing naturally, but thought I may be using a bad technique - thanks andy!

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Hand Pain.

Pain in your hands or you forearms is most likely caused by holding the sticks to tight which can be remedied with some of the exercises described above.

If you are playing and you hands start to hurt here are some alternative grips that may get you out of a tight spot.

Basically you are most likely gripping the stick between you forefinger and thumb to tight and you need to give this a rest.
A lot of the time when I am just playing a straight beat I play...

SECOND FINGER PIVOT

Rather than grip between forefinger and thumb I grip between second finger and thumb and I let my first finger half point down the stick (it sort curves over the stick then points down)
If you look at the grip from underneath the fingertips of your thumb and first an second finger form a triangle. This is good for plaing fast hihat and ride patterns.

GRIPPING AT THE BACK.

I have seen this used by a load of drummers including John Bonham and I got to see it up close with Kenny Aronoff.

Basically you don't grip the stick with your thumb or first and second fingers but hold it in place at the back with your third and fourth fingers gently wrapped around the back of the stick. The thumb and first/second fingers are around the stick but don't actually grip it. This is good for really hard playing esp. left hand striking the snare.

[Chrysostom]

This stuff is gold! Thanks Andy! I just hope I remember enough of it ready for when I come home from uni. Blasted degree getting in the way of my drumming :(

[J0llyhunter]

thanks josiah and andy, the pain is right between my shoulder blades. it doesnt only come from drumming. it also comes from playing violin, and standing up straight for more than an hour, so i can't really hike. im not sure what the reason is, maybe im sitting hunched, but im thinking maybe my arms are too long/heavy, and everytime i stand for more than an hour, my shoulder suffers. crossing my arms make me feel better.

[FL3P]

Since I have the day off it looks like I have some experimenting to do.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

J0llyhunter

I'm no expert but you may find when you stand your head falls forward. When this happens you are supporting your head using the wrong muscles in between your shoulder blades and they hurt. Sometimes they will get strained to. Swimming may help

BUT...

I would really go and see someone and get it checked out.

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

Long ago i shifted my hats forward a touch, brought my right hand out a touch.. what a world of difference that made..


Good stuff from andy here, hope some of the people are saving these gems...

Cheers Josiah

I got this from Bobby Arechiga, an LA drummer that now lives in the UK. He really knows a lot more about this stuff than me. He has been shown stuff by a load of drummers, Jim Chapin, Carmine Appice and Buddy Rich off the top of my head.

I'm doing some clinics soon and I always like to have a theme. This summer it was the history of drumming, next it will be posture and I set this thread up to see what interest there is in this subject (which on the surface seems a bit boring) but I'm really pleased with the response.

When I get home tonight I shall post up some stuff about nerves which has helped me a lot this year...

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

I got time now...

Last year I developed a problem. When I played hard my third and fourth fingers went numb. Although I could still play it felt really weird. I went to see an osteopath and talked to some other drum clinicians and this is what I learnt.

When you play messages are sent from your brain to your hands via nerves.
Your hands are fed messages by three nerves, the Radial, Median and Ulnar nerves:

http://www.cmki.org/images/HWAS4.gif

As I was playing the ulnar nerve was being restricted. The nerve itself leaves the spinal chord and travels down to arm. It begins this journey in the upper back. This is why sitting hunched can restrict this area and restrict your nerves.

FOR FINGER NUMBNESS (Only try this if you are having this problem)

Here are a few of exercises to remedy this. The first was to place your hand at the back of your head and gently push your elbow out and back. Repeat this ten times or so. Remember I said GENTLY.
Now gently place you fingertips on your chin and GENTLY push your head an chin in. Hold for a moment and release.
The second was to try and open out your back by lying on a hard floor on a rolled up towel which is running down the top part of your spine.
Also when you are sat at your kit don't let your head fall forward as this will place strain on that part of your back.

These exercise remedied this problem and shows how important stretching is before you play.

I was also shown a very useful exercise by Thomas Lang if your fingers go numb while you are playing. Firstly stop using that hand (easy if you are Thomas) and just drop you hand down to the floor nice and relaxed.

Here is another method that has really worked for me.

Place your arm on a table with your palm facing up. Relax your fingers. Now with your other arm gently apply pressure to your forearm at the fattest part.
You will see your fingers bend towards you (don't press hard)
How keeping the pressure on slowly straighten your fingers out and away from yourself. All this should be done VERY GENTLY

This is a good way of stretching out your nerves and tendons.

[trysthedrummer]

I'm, very impressed. All I can say is thankyou for sharing this with us all. I for one will try this out, after watching myself in a mirror I can say my posture isn't great. Il have a re move around!]

:)

Thanks again mate. & btw your history of drumming was minted.

[Elmo McCheese]

Thanks, dude.

I can only imagine how terrible my posture and technique is.

[Chippy569]

Any others tips, comments or questions are welcomed

I do seriously think that this is too hard a topic to explain simply with words... maybe even with video. it's something that needs to be corrected personally.

therefore... whenever you come to the 'states, and more specifically MN, you are invited to my place for dinner in exchange for a 30min lesson? :D

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

That sounds good Chippy...trouble is I'm English and I don't know where MN is...

Hope that this has been a help to you all...

Next time I get a day off I may do this again as it's been really fun! What topic could we do next...'drumming and attracting the opposite sex' Now that would be a thread...

[Kosmos Tree]

Your thoughts about posture are very welcome, it's really a topic drummers should take more care about :thumb:

[RushHourSoul]

Thanks for the advice, A few months ago I went over a lot of this kind of stuff because I was constantly getting aches and pains when playing, not to mention getting tired quickly. However I've sorted it out now and I think my posture is ok, mainly from raising the snare and sitting a little bit further back..

I might take some photos tomorrow and post them in this thread of me sitting down and if you would be so kind as to say if its ok, since I havn't got round to booking drum lessons and wont be able to till January. Thanks once again for this info (and Josiah).

[Murd_666]

Next time I get a day off I may do this again as it's been really fun! What topic could we do next...'drumming and attracting the opposite sex' Now that would be a thread...Thank you for stealing my idea, pfft...lol :lol:

[RichHunt]

thanks josiah and andy, the pain is right between my shoulder blades. it doesnt only come from drumming. it also comes from playing violin, and standing up straight for more than an hour, so i can't really hike. im not sure what the reason is, maybe im sitting hunched, but im thinking maybe my arms are too long/heavy, and everytime i stand for more than an hour, my shoulder suffers. crossing my arms make me feel better.

That shouldn't be happen. I also play violin and do not have a pain in my shoulder blades. I get pain in my back sometimes but that's from poor posture that I am slowly but surely correcting.

[Plan B.]

Lovely!

I'm in the process of re-arranging my kit tonight, I'll definately consider all your points.

Thanks.

:cool:

[Double Bass Jim]

With pics I hope :cool:

[nametaken]

Cool stuff andy, its very awesome that you take out time to help the forum.

[Plan B.]

Raised my throne, I'm already feeling better about my the way I'm playing, raised my snare with my throne too, so it's at proper height. In turn I had to raise my cymbals too. My pedals are feeling a little distant to me though, I think I need to raise the footboards a little. I'll try messing around with them tomorrow.

It feels really nice to be somewhat "over" my drums, playing down on them. I feel more in control.

[MVSteve]

I read this a little too late. I'm not in bad shape or whatever, I just already randomly fell into using this type of posture.

I do have one question though; hopefully someone can answer it:

Since my recent(maybe about 6 months or so) posture change, I have not noticed this problem, however... at certain points when I was playing on my set, I'd get an extreme shock in my upper shoulder, between the blade and the actual shoulder. I could only imagine that it was a pinched nerve from playing with wrong technique. Has anyone had this happen and/or know what may have happened? (just in case it's not only posture-related and could happen again.)

[kingell]

Cheers mate. This was a good read. I'm going to adjust the stuff when i get home from work. I'd ask you for some lessons if you weren't so far away :(

[Jondur]

I must admit that I've wondered how Steve Gadd can still walk let alone play after 20 years of sitting that hunched. Doesn't seem to have affected his playing though!

[Skin Beater]

Andy, this is a great thread. I think (fear) that I am using my groin muscles to move my leg as you were talking about. I have a bad habit of burying the beater, and when I try not to bury the beater, my body sort of falls forward whenever I lift my leg up. So are you saying that you should use the same sort of motion that you use whenever you stand on your tip toes? That would make sense... please try to elaborate a little more on this. Thanks.

[Killjoy]

dude tanks for the advise

[trysthedrummer]

It's good him coming on here. I remember someone said why does he bother at one point a while back.

:thumb: Cheers. O I have a question. How did you come about coming onto the musicians forums in the first place? Googling/Browsing?

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

trys...

I don't just do this out of the kindness of my heart...

I don't profess to know everthing and my technique is far from perfect so these ideas are in constant development. I want to talk about posture on some of my next clinics and I often use this forum to try out ideas and explanations. I'm only interested in stuff that yields results and it's interesting to to see what works so when I stand up and say this stuff I feel confident that there is thought behind it.

I googled my way here...

Skin beater...

If you are burying the beater as you lift your leg I doubt you are using your groin/leg muscles. I personally keep the beater buried all the time. Some people think this is bad and pop the beater. Simon Phillips is one. When I played his kit I did have problems but his technique is better than mine. But I am sure his beater is buried as his leg comes up but as he makes impact he then pops. I keep mine buried but i do use more dampening than him.
It is important to understand the principle though.

One way to really develop the correct leg lift is to play heel down, then up, then down then up etc. This way the heel up naturally falls into the correct way. Try that...

[Chippy569]

andy- MN is minnesota. come to minneapolis? :D
this is a useful lesson and i don't think it's been covered enough. not that i'd know, because there's never any clinics in minneapolis, but i would imagine it's not as cool to explain as some 32/12 fill or something.

[Murd_666]

don't you mean 12/32 which is the same as 3/8

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

When I first started doing clinics I treid to be as complex as possible ( I used to play a track in 27/16 etc) but you realise it goes over most peoples heads. Now I try and do a bit of flash, some groovy stuff, pass on some interesting tips and ideas but most importantly make people feel good about their own playing and want to play, practice and develop themselves more. Music is very very important for the development of mankind. Art develops our abilities to know what is good and bad...thats pretty important and all you musicians are involved in that...

[Murd_666]

When I first started doing clinics I treid to be as complex as possible ( I used to play a track in 27/16 etc) but you realise it goes over most peoples heads. Now I try and do a bit of flash, some groovy stuff, pass on some interesting tips and ideas but most importantly make people feel good about their own playing and want to play, practice and develop themselves more. Music is very very important for the development of mankind. Art develops our abilities to know what is good and bad...thats pretty important and all you musicians are involved in that...I agree on that last little bit, where would we be know without the arts?

[Dex]

Before I stopped getting lessons a few months ago, my teacher always told me to put a small block of wood below the front leg of my throne, he said it would increase my posture alot. Should I leave it there for now on?

Thanks for the advice also, gunna copy it down sometime. :thumb:

[Some Guy24]

dude..this has to be the most hepfil thread that i've ever read...i never knew i had bad posture..i'll have to work on that..thanx 4 the hepl..

[billdrum]

Bump-as this question has been coming up again and it's a great thread. Thanks Andy!

[Japan3gro]

This hasn't been mentioned yet but another key to posture is well....

PUSH-UPS! yes exercise lol. To perform a perfect push-up your back HAS to be straight, no slouching allowed at all. This could benefit your posture in many ways; also it will give you a ripped chest haha.

[Everything_and_Nothing_3:15]

Something I just recently just did to straighten out my back, which I read over the Virgil boards which was recommended by Pete Drummond was I put a 3/4" piece of wood under the 2 back legs of my seat and it totally straighten my back and has made playing much easier. Because now the seat is angled a bit more forward now so my back it straight. Hope that might help.

[Sponer]

Nice post, and thanks.
I'm gonna have to take note of my posture next time I sit down. I think it's good, but I never really pay much attention to it.

About a month of two ago I did raise the throne and snare. I did seem to notice that I think I was playing better and comfier like that.


But with the pedals, so if I play heal up my legs should ALWAYS be bent somewhat downwards? Cause now, I sit with my legs just about parallel to the ground. I always thought it felt kind of weird sitting higher though.

[jiashen]

Thanks alot, billdrum for the referal and of course to Andy for all of this info. Alot of it was really helpful. I have trouble understanding this bit though:


Make sure you are not lifting you leg from your groin. Lift your leg as though you are standing on your toes. As you lift your leg beater should be buried. As you drop you leg to hit the bass drum your heel should drop to the back of the foot plate as well. One way to work on this movement is to bury the beater and try and move your heel up and down with out making a sound. Try and keep your leg as loose as possible.

When you say lift leg like standing on toes and bury beater, does it mean you're striking the bass drum when lifting the leg? My current interpretation is that this lifting of the leg part sounds like the 'toe' part of heel-toe when you're starting from the feet resting on the footboard. So you go toe-heel and you're back at the footboard, having produced two notes. Umm.. is that right? Cos it doesn't seem right.

[trysthedrummer]

trys...I don't just do this out of the kindness of my heart...

I don't profess to know everthing and my technique is far from perfect so these ideas are in constant development. I want to talk about posture on some of my next clinics and I often use this forum to try out ideas and explanations. I'm only interested in stuff that yields results and it's interesting to to see what works so when I stand up and say this stuff I feel confident that there is thought behind it.

I googled my way here... - Ah! That's what I did. I hope you stay on here!

[drumass04]

WOW!!!! Andy thanks a billion times more than I could thank you.
I read this when you first posted and when I was tidying my room the other day I moved my kit so I could clean the carpet properly. I brought it back in and followed what you said.
When I sat down to play I noticed immediatly how much more comfortable things were, my back is now straight and my pedal speed has increased.
Again thanks :thumb:
Tim

[uncleremus]

man , I logged on to find an answer for my problem ( fingers going numb when playing hard) ......... and there is a diagram AND therapy !
Impressive. Thank you.