I'm just finding this out NOW?!!!!!

I form a loop with my thumb and forefinger. It resides right at the fulcrum, and I utilize my 3rd and 4th fingers to manipulate the stick. Depending on the amount of control I need on the stick (buzz for example), I can pinch the stick between the thumb and forefinger without changing my grip one bit. My thumb and forefinger never separate as far as I've noticed.
 
I think the message here is that there are many ways to hold sticks depending on what sounds/feel you are going for. Just never hold them too tightly.
I read about Civil War era drummers holding the stick with palm and back two fingers, kinda cool feel.
 
nolibos said:
I read about Civil War era drummers holding the stick with palm and back two fingers, kinda cool feel.
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When you’re using extra-long sticks and playing on a 16x16 rope drum, trying to make your playing heard through the general noise of battle, then every little bit of leverage helps. And they weren’t playing anything especially intricate or fast, it was about sheer volume. Especially since they often had to choose young boys as young as 10 to play the drum. The other side tended to shoot your drummer first, otherwise.
 
Push pull stroke said:
I still hold a grudge against all the teachers I had early in who taught me to grip the stick between the index finger and thumb. Yes, it can work if you’re doing everything else right, but so what? It’s not helpful in any sense, in my humble opinion. And I’m not going to sit here and argue with anybody over it, and that’s that.
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There is new drummer at church who was taught to grip at the thumb and index finger. He took it extremely literally and the middle, ring, and pinky never touched the stick. Thus, letting the stick flop around.

I was like, "dude, who told you to hold a stick like that?"
 
My 2¢

I would recommend doing BillB's hands makeover at-least once. I've worked through it twice in the last 5 years and it has been really good for me.
 
KamaK said:
My 2¢

I would recommend doing BillB's hands makeover at-least once. I've worked through it twice in the last 5 years and it has been really good for me.
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I joined his site at the end of February, and I've been going through the Extreme Hands Makeover slowly (one step every two weeks). I signed up for a specific reason, and it's been the best thing I've done for my hand technique. Highly recommended!
 
+1 on the Bachman EHM. Speaking to the op's "I just found this out now", I skyped some lessons with Bill and he dropped the names of some very well known drummers that "teach" yet had to go the route of injections and surgery, multiple surgeries in some cases, to fix the results of their improper grip. I was mad as h-e-double hockey sticks learning of the deceit of these guys. I will not repeat the names as it is heresay evidence for me to do so BUT - these guys ought to come clean about their self-induced injuries.
 
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But I think every grip demands decent wrist strength and control of the downward motion of the sticks. At some point that control allows looser grip for bounce control. You don’t want your fingers to be searching for the stick on the rebound!
 
beatdat said:
That was a great article, thanks for posting it.

Have you checked out Bill Bachman's site? He has some free videos on there that are helpful, and, if you're interested in making sure you have your technique down pat, his Extreme Hands Makeover is great for that.
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I have not checked it out yet. But I definitely will. (y)
 
60's Drummer said:
+1 on the Bachman EHM. Speaking to the op's "I just found this out now", I skyped some lessons with Bill and he dropped the names of some very well known drummers that "teach" yet had to go the route of injections and surgery, multiple surgeries in some cases, to fix the results of their improper grip. I was mad as h-e-double hockey sticks learning of the deceit of these guys. I will not repeat the names as it is heresay evidence for me to do so BUT - these guys ought to come clean about their self-induced injuries.
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Max Weinberg has had MANY surgeries. It wouldn’t shock me if this is true of quite a few big names. The amount of practice and gigging you have to do in order to get that good would bring out even the smallest flaws in technique, etc..

These kinds of problems are pretty common in classical musicians too. Especially string players and classical guitarists.
 
Some of the biggest names in conga drumming, with instructional videos and signature product lines, have hands that are completely crippled. Meeting a few of them in person is what convinced me to switch from hand drums to traps; and the very first priority I set for myself was studying relaxed hand technique.
 
MrPockets said:
He looked stiff as hell in the 60s/70s.
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He still does. I’d be madder at him for showing off with that awful, anti-ergonomic technique if it wasn’t actually so completely awful. It’s SO bad that nobody would be dumb enough to emulate it. The drumming public is safe from him BECAUSE he’s so bad. Even today. Or at least the last time I saw him abusing his wrists on Conan’s show.
 
Vapor Trail said:
Was in snareline in my college marching band. A pretty high level band with many DCI players in the mix. We were taught to use the thumb/first finger fulcrum method. I never had lessons before the drumline and adopted the technique, figuring they knew what was best. Have to say, it worked in that setting.

But for last several years, I've had episodes of pretty bad pain at base of thumb (first carpometacarpal joint) that I have to attribute to a too-tight fulcrum.

So, reading this is a breath of fresh air. Knowing I can intentionally relax and adjust that fulcrum may help with my issue. Really appreciated the Wittet link.

Good stuff!
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Most drumline cats I’ve seen have big ass sausage fingers to squeeze those big sausage sticks to bounce on the table top Kevlar heads at 1200bpm ?
 
TJK said:
Most drumline cats I’ve seen have big ass sausage fingers to squeeze those big sausage sticks to bounce on the table top Kevlar heads at 1200bpm ?
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The teacher that pushed that grip the most with me had VERY thick fingers and a beefy build. My fingers are on the thin side, and I’m pretty slim. Trying to make some 80-pound 6th-grader (with tiny hands, in some cases) play Vic Firth SD1’s with that grip is just unacceptable.
 
Push pull stroke said:
The teacher that pushed that grip the most with me had VERY thick fingers and a beefy build. My fingers are on the thin side, and I’m pretty slim. Trying to make some 80-pound 6th-grader (with tiny hands, in some cases) play Vic Firth SD1’s with that grip is just unacceptable.
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When I started drumming as a kid, my instructor assigned me a pair of Promark 2S sticks. They were baseball bats. I had no issues with them. They seemed to build my wrist strength very quickly. Playing with lighter sticks was a breeze later on.

I'm taking a different approach with my six-year-old son. He's using 5As right now. They're a tad big for him, but he wields them well.
 
C.M. Jones said:
When I started drumming as a kid, my instructor assigned me a pair of Promark 2S sticks. They were baseball bats. I had no issues with them. They seemed to build my wrist strength very quickly. Playing with lighter sticks was a breeze later on.

I'm taking a different approach with my six-year-old son. He's using 5As right now. They're a tad big for him, but he wields them well.
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Jojo Mayer makes a solid point in his DVD about training with light versus heavy sticks. Heavy sticks do build strength, but light sticks train speed. Musclebound weightlifters aren’t winning races. But there’s a balance in there somewhere, probably.
 
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