holding your sticks upside down

im your dog

Junior Member
does anybody else do this??

i've been doing this for the past year and feel very comfortable when playing, even more so than holding them the proper way...to the point of where it feels awkward going back to the regular way of holding a drumstick
 
Only when I want to beat the pants off the bell of my ride.

You've gotten used to playing that way, so of course it will feel weird going back. When I first started playing I used those really light wood brush type things (whatever theyre called) to dampen the sound a bit and it took a while to get used to playing with regular sticks.
 
when i was younger i broke so many sticks i finally just started playing with them backwards all the time. then i found some sticks that had no tips and used those for a while. (i wonder if they still make those?) i'm not as violent as i used to be, so i don't play with sticks backward as much anymore. besides, they're usually all raw and full of splinters at the business end of them so if you turn them around they're not all that comfortable.
 
I'll occasionally flip a stick round if I'm doing rimshots/cross stick patterns, but I don't play with them upside down generally for two reasons. First, I feel like I can be a little more precise with my sticking because of the narrowed point, and secondly, the weight of the stick is always at the butt-end, making stick rebound easier. This usually makes the session less strenuous as you would tend to use less energy
 
sometimes when i wana get fat snare sound
 
I played with the sticks turned around playing bars in the 80s when the band was cranked up. I had to because I'm nowhere near as strong as most drummers and didn't have the technique to make up for it. But you have to use the tips in not-so-loud numbers to get a civilised sound from your hats and ride.

These days I don't turn the sticks at all and I'm too lazy to even do it when cross-sticking. I should pull my finger out because it has a richer tone that way.
 
No no no. This is absolutely and completely wrong!!!

Not only will the ghosts of Dawson and Chapin come and spank you about the face & neck with large tympani mallets if they ever find out, but you could be in serious trouble with the Big Drum Major upstairs, who might strike you down with a reverse lighting flam!!!

holding sticks upside down!!??......sheeesh. Just not done, bud.
 
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I'll occasionally flip a stick round if I'm doing rimshots/cross stick patterns

Same here. Not always but occasionally for added dynamics. Other than that, sticks held normally gets my vote. As KnockOut mentioned, it only feels weird changing back because you are used to this way now. If it's bothering you, change back, keep practising and in no time the normal position will feel just as comfortable.
 
Tell that to Bernard Purdie, who's held his left stick "backwards" for many years and played on more records than any of us probably will in our lifetimes!

Yeah, but see he only gets the half-time shuffle gigs. Now if was was holding the right end of the sticks, heck, he'd be full time
 
does anybody else do this??

i've been doing this for the past year and feel very comfortable when playing, even more so than holding them the proper way...to the point of where it feels awkward going back to the regular way of holding a drumstick


I'm not quite following

"upside down" how?

like as in using the butt end of the stick as the striking end?

Or something like where your hand is rotated palm-up match, palm-down trad ??
 
Tell that to Bernard Purdie, who's held his left stick "backwards" for many years and played on more records than any of us probably will in our lifetimes!

I got him on the phone, but he couldn't talk just then as he had recently been beaten about the face and neck with drum mallets

don't know why
 
Isn't Bernard Purdie one of the most recorded drummers in history? He must've been doing something right playing that way. And I've seen countless clips on youtube of Steve Gadd playing with his signature sticks using the butt end on the head. I don't like playing that way, but to each their own.

Also, I would think tympani mallets would hurt more, you can really wind up with those things. But that's just me.
 
Steve Ferrone of The Heart Breakers plays his left hand with the butt of the stick hitting the snare. I sat 10 feet away and it was loud.
 
OK, so it sounds like the cnsensus is we are talking about the butt end (as opposed to some strange hand oreintation)

hey Im a dog, i too remembered blunted "rock sticks from the late 80s maybe they are still made and you've always got the option of timbale sticks which are traditionally uptapered and untipped
 
Steve Ferrone of The Heart Breakers plays his left hand with the butt of the stick hitting the snare. I sat 10 feet away and it was loud.

OK I gotta ask since it's been your new avatar for a while now.. .. why do you have the hot-chick avatar. I just want her to take that sports bra off.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I gotta know.

BTW, when I saw Tom Petty, Ferrone was doing the same thing. Heavy heavy backbeats with his stick turned around. I thought it was loud (too loud?) also.
 
Aydee, I'm surprised to see you, of all people, imposing rules on which way the stick should be held! Have you passed your advice on to Bernard Purdie yet? :)

If I decided to lose weight by joining a Rage Against the Machine type group instead of my wimpy, dull grownup music band (hmm, tempting) I would almost certainly play with the sticks turned around - and wear ear protection. No need in the heavy stuff for a refined 'chick' sound from the hats or 'ping' from the ride.
 
I'm reading Aydee's post more as a tongue-in-cheek thing (hence the extreme and silly things that could happen)

"about the face and neck" is classic!!!
 
Well, I've heard Billy Ward was arrested ( and fingerprinted ) after his Modern Drummer Festival performance for playing a beautiful 4 piece DW drumkit with his hands...he stuck a shaker in his shoe too..

Cant get too soft on rules ...give em an inch and they take a mile.
 
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