Wrist Cramping?

WhereDoEaglesDare?

Junior Member
Hey all, i've been having a bit of diffculty with my right hand lately and i thought someone here might have some useful advice.

basically when i play at band practice and im playing fast with my right hand it starts to cramp up and clenches. when this happens it becomes really hard to hold/control the stick and it starts to get looser and looser in my hand. Oddly i don't really have this problem when im just using a practice pad.

I'm assuming this is a problem with technique, but im not excatly sure what it is. I thought it may be because the stick was just slippery but that doesnt explain the wrist cramps right?

Anyways if anyone has any recommendations about what to do about this that would be great. Could it have to do with stick size? i use 5bs. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
How long have you been drumming?
 
Try a thinner stick, do you still lock up? I'd say you probably do. You're working your hands past your cut-off point, needing more energy to play every stroke, creating more lactic acid in the muscles. You're training your hands to failure and just going too fast than what you can do at the moment, which is why it's harder to hold the stick.

Just your right hand? Try the left and see what you can do. I think it's just a bit of bad technique if you've been at drums for some time now, or insufficient practice (or both!) if you're quite new to the drums.
 
sometimes that happens to me during shows, but rarely during solo practice sessions. the reason is that i get a little nervous at shows and play with too much tension. i find if i think about relaxing and loosening my grip, i don't have such a problem with cramping.
 
I sometimes get that when playing live.

My advice would be bring your pad to practice / gig.

Take 15-20 minutes before the show and find a quiet corner and warm up.

I usually start with 1 bar singles / 1 bar doubles / 1 bar paradiddles and work up the speed.

Then I work on 1 bar 16th notes with my right hand then 1 bar 16th notes with my left and work up the speed.

Follow that with wrist stretches and hand and finger stretches. Work some heat into your hands.

You warm up before working out, you should warm up before drumming.

My band opened for Black Stone Cherry back in December at a Sold Out show. If I hadn't done these excersises my hands would have seized up with nerves. Relax, enjoy and warm up.

Ryan
www.myspace.com/inchhigh
 
Hi
From your post..it seems like you are use way too much wrist in your stroke!!!!!!!!! The drum stroke involves back,shoulder,arm,wrist and fingers. Depending on what you are doing it's a combination of these body parts.
Most likely you need to use more forearm it some of your strokes....vs what maybe a pure wrist stoke.
Find a local instructor.
My arm stroke(french or German grip) accounts for 90% of my playing...the remaining 10% is what I call the inside game..using wrist and a little bit of fingers for real speed.I have found this approach places very abuse on my body(45 years of playing...at 55 can still do 2- 4 set gigs in a single day....moving the equipment is the problem!).
Find a good instructor.
Denis
 
All good advice here. Bad technique, not holding stick properly, warm-up, etc. Something else you should check is your kit set-up. Make sure it's comfortable for both hands (and feet!).
 
Back
Top