5 Drumming Technique Tips

Welcome to my new weekly blog series — “5 Drumming Technique Tips”.

This series will run parallel to all the other free stuff at drum-clinic.com and I’m aiming to get a new five tips out every single week! (ok there might be a few missing from time to time but I AM aiming!)

One of the questions I get asked a great deal is “How do I get my left hand as good as my right?” (or other way around for lefties) There are just so many things you can do and over the years I’ve come up with heaps of ideas. So the first series of “Technique Tips” I’m running is called:

“5 tips for building up the weaker hand”

Let’s see how many weeks I can keep it going before I run out of ideas! PS. Feel free to email any weak hand building tips of your own — I’ll give you the credit if I list it!

You will see from this first list of tips, that I’m following a formula and grouping the tips into different categories which will be adhered to every week.

Tip 1 — Tip for traditional grip users

Users of traditional grip face an extra challenge when trying to keep the fulcrum whilst playing because there is nothing much to help out with gripping the stick. There are none of the little cheats that the right-hand grip can use like using the fingers under the stick to briefly grip — either to give us a rest or just while we make adjustments. Also some users of traditional grip (particularly from the Scottish traditions) use the thumb itself as the power source for finger control which forces the fulcrum to remain quite loose. (Actually this can be done with matched grip as well although I don’t recommend it — the difference is that it’s not required)

This means that it is absolutely vital to find the absolutely perfect balance point of the stick to place in the left hand fulcrum. Try this: Don’t grip the left stick at all. Using your basic traditional grip hand position, simply balance the stick on the extended index finger and use the right hand to bounce the tip of the stick like a basketball on the drum or pad. By adjusting the spot on the stick where it contacts the finger you will soon find where it works best. Too far forward and the stick will tend to jump off your finger — too far back and the stick will not rebound very well and tend to slide forwards off the finger.

Once you have the perfect spot, place this in the fulcrum at the base of the thumb and bounce the stick whilst loosely holding it there — letting the thumb follow the top of the stick down and back. Now try alternating one bounce with the right hand and one bounce using the thumb power. You will soon learn to keep the balance point firmly in the fulcrum without applying excess tension!

Tip 2 — Tip not involving drumming

It’s true that most of us favor one hand soon after birth, but much of our dominant handedness is also a matter of practice like everything else. There is a chain reaction going on. It’s easier with our strong hand so we do it with our strong hand which makes that hand even stronger and more skilled. This tends to be with everything you do in your life, so the “tip 2s” will be things outside drumming that you might try with the left hand instead of the right.

Get a scrap piece of timber, a wood screw and a screwdriver (no cheating with an electric screwdriver! — although you can drill a small guide hole if you like) Use your left hand to screw the screw into the wood and back out again. Do this a few times a day as a 2 minute exercise for a couple of weeks just to build the twisting action skill. This tip is actually another one particularly well suited to users of traditional grip as that twisting of the forearm is the primary motion. It’s still a good one for matched grippers though.

Tip 3 — Tip for evenness and matching the hands

This tip is really simple. USE A MIRROR! Set up a practise pad in front of a mirror and do some simple exercises while watching yourself carefully. The idea is to notice any differences in the way your two hands are working and correct them. Making those hands use the same action is the single very best way you can start to get an even sound. This tip is primarily for matched grip users but not only. Things like the height of the strokes are important for either grip, and need to be the same on each hand. You might even like to try making some horizontal lines on your mirror (even with soap if you are in the bathroom!) which will make it very easy to compare stroke heights.

Tip 4 — Playing more notes with the weak hand, or leading with the weak hand

A sure fire way to get the weak hand catching up to the strong one, is to play exercises that use more weak hand notes or have less rest for the weak hand. Another thing we are not so used to is “leading” with the weaker hand. That means starting patterns with the weak hand and putting it on the beat. A right hander for example tends to play with the right hand on the beat a great deal, and starts most rudiments and rolls especially with the right hand given the chance. Here’s this week’s exercise to get the weak hand leading and starting rolls. If you are a left-hander, reverse the sticking.

Tip 5 — General weak-hand skill exercise

This week’s exercise is one of my favorite rudiments — the paradiddlediddle. Like most of us, I am way better at it on my right hand, so practicing it a lot with the left is in order. Remember the paradiddlediddle is one of those rudiments which does not swap hands with every repetition so it starts on the left today, and stays on the left! (or right if you are a lefty)

This is a really good weak hand exercise because the strong hand just plays soft notes while the weak hand has to continuously use the arm to change between loud (the accent) and soft. Listen carefully and critically. You DON’T want to hear loud, soft, medium, medium, soft, soft as your pattern. It should be loud, soft, soft, soft, soft, soft.