Trad. grip players check in ....

90% traditional, 10% matched grip, but it varies. I was taught more than fifty years ago to set my kits up with the snare drum tilting away from me and to this day that's the most comfortable and playable condition for me personally. I was also taught that the traditional grip was the only way to grip a stick, but there are exceptions to the rules.

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Dennis
 
Part time traditional gripper here.

When I was in high school I was asked to join the jazz band so I thought I'd start messing around with traditional for fun. Now I'was never that good at all the nuances of jazz, but I at least looked the part.

I play for two churches, and I play traditional grip exclusively for Sunday mornings. However, my loud rock band is 95% matched with a couple traditional passages mixed in for feel.

Practice is probably 60/40 traditional, and sometimes I tilt my snare with the right side lower than the left for rimshots.
 
70% trad player checking in...

As I don't have a band and have less than 2 years of drumming the reason why I'm practicing more trad than matched is... to learn it ;-) But learning/spending time with trad, I fell in love with this grip (after some initial time of trad just feeling weird). With matched, both hands feel the same (kinda boring) - with trad they don't, haha. When practicing I would switch between both grips every few minutes, just for the hell of it.

That trad-matched ratio might shift in the future (if I were in an extreme band I'm not sure I'd use trad), but 70% - that's the situation for now.

Snare is flat, and relatively high. Not exactly the optimum position for any of those grips (if playing one of them exclusively) but one which works for both in an acceptable way.
 
I don't feel like I can say I'm checking in as I use trad grip so little.

When I saw Thomas Lang playing as loud as he does and Virgil Donati with trad I seriously considered making the switch to trad being my main grip but, it just does not feel as comfortable as it should for me and to he honest I just don't think I have it up to scratch.
I feel I can play everything better matched but I think differently in trad. I just need more practise but, with me being in so few situations to use and benefit from it it comes pretty low on my long list of practise priorities.

It's annoying as I love the grip, lets face it, it's the coolest looking grip! even if at times I question the point these days in playing an instrument as consistently as possible with a grip that instantly put you at odds.

Maybe I can steal some inspiration and ideas feom you guys. My left hand feels weak in trad. any tips?
 
:(
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70/30 with traditional as the main constituent. I'm happy to change mid-song and it just depends how I'm feeling. Some things I can do better in traditional, some better in matched.

I usually have my snare tilted away. I can play it quite happily this way in either grip.

I've been playing ten years and I've been playing traditional for eight and a half of those. It was certainly a novelty to all the people I knew at the time (I was at school) who had never seen it used and all used matched. They knew it was me playing before they could even see my face!
 
Im occasional. It just seems so right sometimes. Then I try a paraddiddle and Im flippin that stuff around.
 
I play trad because that's what I like. It just feels natural. I practice a bit matched every day because you never know and it's probably good for my hands' health to switch things around now and then.
 
I played matched for years (probably close to 40!) without even considering traditional. Over the last 8-10 years I have started playing a lot of traditional grip. When just groving, I play tradtional probably 75% now. If I want to do a lot of shuffles or quick/fast rolls around the kit, I go back to matched.
I have never really taken the time to develop my finger technique like I should so I am still not as confident with tight fast rolls. I have really come to enjoy playing traditional and wished I would have started much earlier and spent time working on it!
 
Trad grip 95% of the time (only playing small group jazz these days and I can do things
like one handed bounce rolls (left hand only) easier with trad grip.) Tilt snare always so I can
still get left and right hand rim shots
 
I play matched 98% of the time, but switch over to trad (or open handed playing) whenever I feel like my groove needs to check in. Something about trad grip forces my feel into a comfy place and it isn't just because I've handicapped myself.
 
Trad with brushes for sweeping. Otherwise matched.

Apologies to the regulars but you know it's "traditional" for me to post this whenever the topic comes up:

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love it Grea
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Cheers Anthony. You'll probably tire of it after the next couple of trad/matched threads :)

One day I wondered about trad grip and thought about "who's tradition?" and "how far do we go back?". So I maintain that matched grip IS traditional ... or at least it was at some time and place ... so don't frown, Larry!

(for the pedants: comment discounts orchestral / tuned percussion)
 
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