View Full Version : traditional grip
Well , i'm adding this to my playing and i really love it , only 1 problem.
I can only do it with my left hand ( Wich is my leading cuz i play open handed).
I see no difference in my grip off the stick in the left , or the right hand , so now i'm really confused about what i'm doing wrong.
Does anyone of you have any exercises , tips , techniques , what ever to build up my right hand for traditional grip , any pictures of a stick hold in traditional grip would be help full to. Thnx :p
cjcdrums
11-30-2005, 08:01 AM
A big "aha!" moment for me with traditional grip is when I realized that in order to play faster diddles / buzz rolls / whatever I needed to squeeze harder in the webbing of my thumb and index finger. The rest of my hand is almost always very loose, but right there at the fulcrum you have to squeeze just like with your right hand in matched.
That's weird :confused: lol cuz the harder i sqeeuze the lesser i can play buzz rolls....
cjcdrums
11-30-2005, 10:18 AM
I couldn't ever get them smooth without gripping the stick at least moderately hard. I don't kill the stick; far from it! But I'm holding on to it more than I would with most rudiments. With most things I play my grip is pretty loose though.
firefoxzero
11-30-2005, 12:26 PM
I can only do it with my left hand ( Wich is my leading cuz i play open handed).
I don't think you're supposed to play traditional with right anyway (if you're right handed). I remember when I was getting taught in my first year and did traditional grip with my right and my teacher was like wtf:confused: .
I play OPEN HANDED :D
This means i play the snare with my right hand ( tough i can play both ways open and crossed ). so yes i do need it
dpakman91
11-30-2005, 01:04 PM
i am lefty and play open handed on a righty kit...i've also messed around with traditional grip, but i am relaly only koay with it playing the snare with my left hand trad grip...which is not how i normalyl play. i'm not relaly sure how to incorporate trad grip into my playing because of this.
I use trad grip with my left hand and match grip with my ride when i do cymbal effects . For some reason , i can change between match and trad lightning fast while playing , i tried it once and it just work so fast =D. ( your grand children will be learning my technique)
anyways i can go really fast playing with 1 hand trad and 1 hand match , i think thats cool to get high speeds on rides at the end of songs
Hmm traditional is just that, the traditional way of playing drums.
Carter uses a trad grip in his right hand as he plays open, you may want to look around for some videos of him to check that out.
cjcdrums
11-30-2005, 01:27 PM
Yeah, there's a spot on his DVD where he talks a little about that. It looks pretty odd...
spirit
11-30-2005, 01:33 PM
I can play trad grip easily with my right hand. However, I play crossed arms. On a right handed kit. I suffer the same problem as you.
tidge88
11-30-2005, 02:43 PM
The fact is, you cant play open handed traditional..... I play traditional, but i only play it with my rudiments and on the snare. When i'm on the drumset i just use matched grip.
kevbud187
11-30-2005, 10:33 PM
The fact is, you cant play open handed traditional..... I play traditional, but i only play it with my rudiments and on the snare. When i'm on the drumset i just use matched grip.
Yes you can...You're just utilizing different muscles to play so it feels really weird at first. If you learn to play open handed traditional correctly you'll never go back.
If a person was left handed, back in the day that is, then they would sling the drum the other way. If that person sat down on a "right handed" kit.. they would be playing traditional open.
Ah ha!
innerlo2
12-01-2005, 12:44 PM
^ Not true, they would learn to play like everyone else. When things like this were used it was military and such, you didn't do what felt better, you did what you were told and what looked right in the lines. Drumcorps don't (to my knowledge) march people in a line with 1 left handed guy holding his sticks reversed. Same ideals.
Well that would be true... except DCI didn't exist in the those times. I've seen plenty enough Civil War pictures of kids with a trad grip in their right hand, or the drum slung the other way to know it occured. I've also seen pictures of nearly flat mounted snares with matched grip being used. As well the "ideals" of DCi and modern drumlines didn't exist, because they didn't exist. Show lines are relitively modern compared to the age of the snare drummer.
Remember the marching drum wasn't there for show purposes, it actually had a job to do. Being seen wasn't the job, it was being heard. As well it was very often there was only 1 or 2.
There wouldn't have been a line, because again, the job of the snare drummer was not making music or looking nice. It was war. Pre-radio days. Abled bodies were given guns. There were very few "lines" and no matter what, they looked like crap, along with everything and everyone else. There was no music director, drums were rope tensioned and uniforms were pieced together. A metronome was a luxury item for the very very wealthy (non existent inotherwords) and matching drumsticks were unheard of.
The average age of a snare drummer was 13 and they tended to get shot. They were also required to play while observing some pretty horrific things, like people being blown apart.
That's the start of drumming in the US, least marching anyway. Fancy uniforms, stick tricks, formations and general appearence weren't really a factor. A commander giving an order and a drummer boy playing the corrisponding cadence so the men on the battle field could know that order... that's ALL that mattered.
Here is a civil war era picture of two younger civil war drummer boys. Interesting to note the boy with the sticks is holding trad in both hands, also quit a bit different looking trad then you see in modern times. Obviouslly technique and RSI's weren't of an issue at the time.. then again, they didn't really have rebound either.
http://www.janeellen.com/images/drummerboys.jpg
kevbud187
12-02-2005, 12:33 AM
^ Not true, they would learn to play like everyone else. When things like this were used it was military and such, you didn't do what felt better, you did what you were told and what looked right in the lines. Drumcorps don't (to my knowledge) march people in a line with 1 left handed guy holding his sticks reversed. Same ideals.
unless you want to get 37th in precussion, you march level snares. And lefty snare drummers play traditional right handed like everyone else.
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