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
Topics: General, drumming technique | No Comments »
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.
Topics: General, Jim McCarthy's critiques and Q&A | No Comments »
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 »
Free Drumming Help and Drum Forum
By Jim | November 12, 2008
Free Drumming Help and Drum Forum
I’m very annoyed today drummers!
Do you want to know why?
It seems that many commercial drumming sites and forums who PRETEND to want to help you - in fact, think you are stupid and just want to sell you something.
To explain better, I’ll tell you the story.
I was recently looking through some drumming forums as I do from time to time, and I came across one where there seemed to be many drummers who really had problems and really needed help - and to make matters worse, there seemed to nobody on the forum who was really expert enough to help them properly. The forum members all seemed like great people - friendly and helpful to one another as much as possible, but just not really expert enough to give definitive answers.
By the way - I’m not in the habit of dissing others, but I’m so angry with this mob’s actions (which I’m getting to) I’m happy to tell you the forum is called drumchat and is linked to the highly commercial chain of sites called drumbum.
There were some posts in particular which really made me feel for the guys because they were talking about getting blisters, cramps, pains and other serious injuries as a result of their drumming. Now those of you who know me, will know that I’ve been a specialist clinician in hand technique for a long time and drumming related injury is a pet subject of mine. So I felt uniquely qualified and moved to help these drummers.
SO…. I joined the forum with the intention of helping these people.
I read the forum rules and regulations - standard stuff - do not use swear words, do not be nasty to other members, and also some stuff about not SPAMMing the forum - in other words, just posting up links all the time with the intention of increasing traffic to another website. The rules stated that you were not allowed to post links to commercial sites with products or services for sale. OK - fair enough - they want to keep the forum relevant, and not just one big advertising area which is of no help to anyone.
Once my membership was approved (manually in fact, which means that an actual person processed it) I started answering some posts to help those in need.
Why did I do this?
Well simply because I genuinely wanted to help them and I don’t like to see drummers go down the wrong path and I LOVE to see drummers go down the RIGHT paths. I’m sure my posts reflected this. I gave some very long and detailed answers to some of the questions.
I think I posted about 5 or 6 posts in my first session, and in about three of them - in addition to my lengthy writings - I included a link to one of the articles on this blog which addressed their specific problems. Some of my blog posts are extremely long and detailed and it’s not practical to re-write all this info in a forum posting.
NOW….. Hands up who thinks this is a commercial Blog site?
This blog is 100% completely FREE and is there simply for the benefit of the drumming community! Sure - there are links to OTHER websites on the blog which sell drumming products, but the blog itself could in no way be called commercial. You will note that there is a small link to the Stick Technique website at the bottom of most entries (including this one) which sells my book. Does this make these articles commercial or mean that my blog is selling you something? Well I don’t think so. Certainly the spirit of it is that you get all this stuff for free, and I’m not pushing you to buy anything - in fact you CAN’T buy anything directly from this website.
So had I broken the forum rules?
Well as far as I could see - technically NO!
What about morally though?
Well it was pretty obvious by my detailed and helpful postings that morally I was in the right spirit of the forum as well. HALF of my postings didn’t have any links at all - just solid information.
Well drumming friends - you have probably guessed where this story is going by now….
That’s right - within 2 hours - faster than the time it took to approve my membership in the first place - ALL my posts were deleted and my membership deleted as well. No contact or anything - just gone!
“GOSH!” I thought - these guys must have gotten the wrong idea about me and thought I was trying to spam the forum!
SO… I wrote them a very polite email explaining the situation - saying how I didn’t think I’d broken any rules and was certainly just trying to help people in the correct spirit of the forum. I explained that I could understand if they didn’t want links to my blog even if it didn’t seem to me to break the rules, and that I would promise to include no links at all in any future posts, or even mention it at all. I explained in short that I just wanted to help their members and could they maybe please give me my membership back.
That was quite a while back now, and not a single word in reply or change in the situation. COMPLETELY RUDE of them, and they have with their silence SPOKEN.
So what’s going on? Are these guys really just trying to protect their forum members from spamming morons and give them the best possible service? Well obviously not because that’s clearly what I was offering them. In fact the forum itself is part of the giant drumbum network of highly commercial sites completely geared towards selling you stuff - THEIR stuff - and the forum itself is even littered with drumbum link backs.
So back to my original statement - clearly these guys are primarily interested in selling you their stuff, and in fact put that way above actually helping you or any other drummers. They think you are stupid enough to buy their stuff even if you don’t want it just because it is the only thing right in front of your face.
You guys are SMART! You can work out what drumming products have value to you all by yourself! If you want their stuff you will buy it, and if you need something they don’t offer I’m sure you will go in search of it rather than just buy something completely different from them.
Or maybe I’m wrong - maybe they figure their forum members are smart enough to realize that there is more to learn on this blog than on the forum and will gradually find their way to buying my stuff rather than theirs.
Well just to reassure you all….. This site is FREE and for YOUR benefit, and I give you the content because my primary motivation in life is to help YOU - my drumming friends.
Some of you may have purchased my products or those I recommend - some of you might do so in the future - but I’m never going to give you the hard sell or push you to buy. The stuff is there - buy it if you want - don’t if you don’t - it’s completely up to you, and I’ll keep giving you free info, articles, and service right here on this website whichever way..
Happy drumming friends!
Sincerely
Jim McCarthy
P.S. Just to keep my promise and turn this post into a blatant insanely over the top commercial selling machine… the link to the Stick Technique website is: www.sticktechnique.com - your #1 guide to drumming technique
You can even spend more money if you like by visiting the recommended products part of this blog - link in title section at top of page.
Topics: General | 6 Comments »
Essential Drum Rudiments - Making double strokes even.
By Jim | November 3, 2008
Here’s an important question from one of my Customers in the UK.
“I’ve been told the real secret to good double strokes is accenting the last stroke, is this right?”
Jim Replies:- I know what you mean about accenting the second note of doubles, but I would be careful thinking about it that way - it tends to lead to too much upward bending of the wrist and no proper use of rebound. That advice is meant to help with the issue of a fading second note causing unevenness. The real secret to fast doubles is in the fingers and using rebound. The very fastest can only use passive finger control which tends to sacrifice the second note abit depending on the skill of the drummer. A good strong active finger controlled double is what we will want in most situations - and the key to THAT is NOT using the fingers to drive the first note. Wrist or arm (arm is actually better as the muscles used are different to the fingers) for the first note - then fingers only for the second. Unfortunately it’s Natural to want to use the fingers in both notes, but that is the challenge - to relax them for the first note and let the stroke rebound push the fingers away from the palm.
Simply put - fingers PLUS wrist or arm will always be louder than fingers alone - so rather than working at increasing the second, instead work on not overplaying the first!
A great exercise for actually working on double stroke evenness is inverted doubles with the metronome. We need the metronome because otherwise it becomes too easy to simply fool ourselves and think of the first note as on the beat. There is nothing PHYSICALLY different between doubles and inverted doubles - it is just our PERCEPTION of where the beat is. That is useful though, because our musical brain habitually emphasizes the notes on the beat.
Hope that is of some use to you…
As 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: Jim McCarthy's critiques and Q&A, drumming technique | No Comments »