Video Exerpts of Live Drum Lessons 4 - paradiddlediddle & diddle-eggs
By Jim | June 18, 2009
Post number 4 in this series of Actual Live drum lessons with real actual beginner drum students. They are off camera and their voices have been removed to protect their privacy, but you can hear their playing and see my teaching.
These clips are not podcasted - I hosted them on youtube only - but you can see them here. If you REALLY want to get into absolute detail with rudimental drumming technique, I suggest you check out www.sticktechnique.com.
This first clip focusses on the paradiddlediddle and the diddle-egg five. A very handy lesson in drumming technique! Here it is below.
This second clip is on the same basic subject, but it is with a different student, and it focusses on the diddle-egg five and the diddle-egg seven.
As usual drummers - Yours for better drumming.
Jim McCarthy - www.sticktechnique.com
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Video Exerpts of Live Drum Lessons 3
By Jim | May 29, 2009
Post number 3 in this series of Actual Live drum lessons with real actual beginner drum students. They are off camera and their voices have been removed to protect their privacy, but you can hear their playing and see my teaching.
This clip is not podcasted - I hosted it on yutube only - but you can see it here.
It describes a cool exercise you can do to develop the strength and control in your fulcrum, and develop your finger technique in general. A very handy lesson in drumming technique! Here it is below.
As usual drummers - Yours for better drumming.
Jim McCarthy - www.sticktechnique.com
Topics: General, drumming technique | 1 Comment »
Video Exerpts of Live Drum Lessons 2
By Jim | May 19, 2009
Post number 2 in this series of Actual Live drum lessons with real actual beginner drum students. They are off camera and their voices have been removed to protect their privacy, but you can hear their playing and see my teaching.
This clip deals with fundamental basic technique. Grip and playing singles and doubles with good rebound. This is a typical start to a lesson going through the famous (with my students anyway 
) “singles to doubles” exercise.
As usual drummers - Yours for better drumming.
Jim McCarthy - www.sticktechnique.com
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Drum Technique Answers on Finger Control and Pivot Points
By Jim | May 15, 2009
A customer who recently purchased the Stick Technique book, emailed me with some questions and comments. I always support drummers wherever I can so of course I emailed back. In this case though I thought the questions and answers would be of interent to many of YOU readers as well, so with the customer’s permission, I’m including the conversation here. To keep his identity private I will not tell you his real name - I’ll just call him “BOB”.
Hello Mr. McCarthy. I have a question about the section of the eBook Stick Technique called Advanced Rudiment Technique: Some Simple Rudiments at Much Higher Speeds! How exactly would you practice getting faster? Especially Paradiddles! I figure that if I know how to practice paradiddles, then all I have to do is just apply the same practice method to the other rudiments. I’m able to relax my arms, wrists, and fingers very easily, but I don’t know how relaxed I should be. I cannot figure out how to get faster while still maintaining absolute control. Whenever I try paradiddles using just my arms and COMPLETELY relaxing my wrists and fingers, all the strokes sound the same and the accent is only barely louder (I practice on a practice pad.) Passive muscle movement and combining all pivot points have been a struggle for me!
Thanks,
BOB.
Hi Bob - good to hear from you.It’s a bit tricky to figure out what’s going on in your particular case without actually seeing it – don’t forget that you always have the option to use your video critique if you want a really in depth look at what’s going on with your technique.
In general, I would say that if really relaxed hands are not performing the notes correctly automatically when playing faster, then they probably have not been sufficiently “programmed” with slower repetition. The idea is to go through a rudiment VERY slowly at first, performing each stroke type exactly and in an exaggerated manner. Even better if you can do it with a metronome. Once you feel PERFECTLY comfortable with the motions at the super slow tempo, take the speed on the metronome up by say 5-10 points. Once again do it for a while till it feels absolutely relaxed. Gradually take the speed up a few points at a time in this manner making sure you spend some time at each speed. Eventually you will be reaching a speed where you max out and even 1 or 2 bpm faster is too much. You don’t want to spend too long at these speeds but you do want to attempt them briefly in order to push yourself. DO the rudiment as a speed doubling exercise (that idea is explained in the Stick Technique book) to help achieve the faster speeds.
The next day, repeat the process – and the next day and the next etc. Each time you will find that you have to “start over” to a certain degree – you won’t be able to just pick straight up at the faster speeds. Over time though, you will find that the faster speeds become more comfortable and that the max speed is increasing.
Once you have done the motions SLOWLY and PERFECTLY enough times your hands become “programmed” – ie they have developed a habit of moving in a certain way even WITHOUT (and this is the important bit) your conscious control. Once you get to this point, you will find that when you relax them and focus only on the greater movements like for example the accents in a paradiddle, they will perform the motion automatically – or at least with minimal conscious effort. The beauty is, that because you are relaxing your hands and grip, you will be able to achieve greater speeds as you are ONE: not interfering with the natural rebound of the stick – and TWO: your muscles are able to move more freely without the tension.
Bob, I hope this helps for now. Remember that great results will only come with effort over time even if you are doing everything perfectly. If this were NOT the case then everybody in the world would be a fantastic drummer! Sometimes even, if you are trying to change from a previous playing technique, the new one will be LESS effective and more uncomfortable at first – such is the power of habits! Over time though, correct habits and technique will ultimately allow faster progress, and a greater upper limit on speed and control WITHOUT the potential to cause RSI type injuries.
Jim McCarthy
Thank you very much for the reply! I am a very quick learner, and practice seemingly all day every day! (I’m 16 and don’t have a job or anything like that) I started learning to play on a drum kit a couple of months ago, but NOT with drum lessons. I’ve pretty much been teaching myself based on things I see on the internet that seems like it makes a lot of sense. I’ve always felt fairly comfortable with the Matched Grip that Jared Falk/Mike Michalkow teaches. However, there was in fact a time period, before then, in which I held the drumsticks JUST LIKE how Stick Technique teaches people to. And so you can imagine how surprised I was to learn that how I used to hold the drumsticks was biologically the best way!
Anyways, it’s not so much the pivot points that trouble me. Exaggerating them definitely works a bunch! Combining them at higher speeds is the tricky part for me. The main problem I have is using PASSIVE finger control. Active finger control is easy for me to adapt to, but when it comes to passive finger control, I cannot completely control how fast or how slow the diddles come out. I know HOW to perform and control them at different speeds, but I’m not used to it yet. Also, you mention in your ebook that wrist movement combined with the arms can produce a whip-like motion that is dangerous in the long-run. How exactly would you combine those pivot points (wrist & elbow) while keeping proper, safe technique?
Your description of how to learn the rudiments using a metronome is one I see all the time. You being the one prescribing it makes a big difference because I know you’re the real deal! “Once you feel PERFECTLY comfortable with the motions at the super slow tempo, take the speed on the metronome up by say 5-10points.” This is what I tell myself all the time, and is exactly how I perform drumming exercises using a metronome, but now I know I must be even more patient when it comes to learning rudiments!
I can’t wait to buy your Begin Drumming System course! I have to save up for it, but it hopefully won’t take too long ;]
Thanks a million!
BOB
OK – to your issue with passive finger control. Well you are probably correct in your assertion that you are simply not used to it yet. The fact that you feel comfortable with active finger control suggests that there has probably been a bit of an imbalance in the way you have previously worked at it. Usually I would encourage students to develop passive control before working much on active finger techniques. At this point for you – most likely you need to work more on ISOLATING your muscle groups. Try making the basic stroke from your elbows – no wrist bend at all. This is not the way you should aim to play, it is just an exercise to help develop the idea mentally. Elbow pivot uses only the upper arm muscles so this will leave the forearm muscles completely free to do nothing but control the rebounded passive strokes. You can simply “set and forget” the position and pressure of your fingers as the forearms are not engaged in wrist pivot also. A tip is to try working through the pages on the buzz roll. Developing the buzz roll before a passively controlled double stroke will discourage any “active” tendencies you might have during the passive technique development.
On the “whip like motion” – yes you do need to be careful when combining arm and wrist movement. What many people do is end up basically hitting the drum way harder than they really need to – way past the point where increased velocity of the stick tip actually creates any increase in volume from the drum. Of course the harder you hit the drum the more impact shock gets transmitted to the joints and tendons etc which all can be quite damaging to those parts of your body over years of playing. There are many ways to minimize the effect of the impact – relaxed grip and using more rebound etc – but SOME effect is unavoidable – after all we are hitting stuff! The trick is to not just employ all the effect minimizing techniques, but to simply avoid hitting the drum harder than is needed to produce the sound we are after – which is exactly what the elbow/wrist combination has the potential to do if not developed carefully.
A good example of where this combination MUST be employed, is in rudiments like the triple paradiddle. At faster tempos it becomes really difficult to produce those three accents in a row if the movement comes purely from the elbow. If there was no down stroke and just a continuous run of accents with one hand, then we would never dream of pivoting from the elbow only. We would certainly use more wrist and fingers and allow as much passive rebound as possible as it is much more efficient and faster not to mention less effort. The issue with doing this within a parradiddle rudiment is that there IS a down stroke eventually and your ability to control the rebound and obtain a genuinely soft tap stroke with good wrist angle is severely hampered if the wrist and fingers are also playing the accents. As I always say – it’s like trying to select ONE tool to knock down a brick wall then use the same tool to adjust your wrist watch. No matter what tool you choose it won’t be very effective for one of those tasks. You will either end up with a smashed watch or a wall which is still standing. SO…. What you end up doing is using as much elboy pivot as possible for rudiments like the triple paradiddle, but as the speed increases you try to bleed a little of the big accent motion into the wrist. Focus on making sure the wrist is straight at the point of contact – particularly on the last accent / down stroke. Then Try to use a little of the rebound from the down stroke to create the double stroke passively in the fingers rather than stop the accent dead then play two wrist only taps. This idea of using rebound in the paradiddles is discussed pretty well in both the Stick Technique book and one of the bonus vids, so you should be pretty familiar with what I’m talking about.
Jim McCarthy.
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Video Exerpts of Live Drum Lessons
By Jim | May 12, 2009
Hi all - I’m back again after SUCH a long break. My apologies to all those subscribers who have been waiting - No, I haven’t abandoned you - In fact I’ve just been really hard at work creating new stuff for you guys to get stuck into for 2009.
Today I have something which you may find cool and useful - it’s some video clip bits from a live lesson I’m giving to one of my beginner students. There is no particular reason for choosing this particular session - it’s just a peek into a real life lesson. I plan to do a few more of these in the coming months so you should all find a good nugget or two to use in your own drumming.
The videos all appear at the bottom of this post.
Video 1. - Some tips on hand position and grip at the drum kit.
Video 2. - This video goes takes the student (off camera) through a exercise from the Begin Drumming book. It’s an exercise in using semiquaver rests and the suggested sticking patterns. So you can follow the logic of what I’m saying, I’ve included a picture of the exercise below.
Video 3. - A look at some paradiddle exercises, and paradiddle technique.
Hand Position & Stick Grip at the Drum Kit: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Using Semiquaver Rests - Drumming Worksheet: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Paradiddle exercises and Tips: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadAs usual Drummers…
Yours for better drumming…
Jim McCarthy
P.S. For more detailed info on drumming technique, check out the book “Stick Technique” at www.sticktechnique.com.
Topics: General, Jim McCarthy's critiques and Q&A, drum kit, drumming technique | 1 Comment »