After setting up your drum set, you’ll obviously feel the urge to play on it immediately. Before you do so, we encourage you to watch this free drum lesson to learn how to hold the drumsticks properly. In it, Jared Falk discusses and teaches very important concepts regarding hand technique, like proper hand angle, how to build a fulcrum, and how to wrap the fingers around the drumsticks. It’s important to build a correct grip since day one, because it will help you avoid injuries, and play and practice accurately.
The way you grip the drumsticks will affect your speed around the drum set. The sound quality you’ll get from whatever instrument you hit, control over what you play, and most importantly of all, your health, are all conditioned by drumstick grip as well. Drumstick grip is the most important and fundamental aspect of hand technique that you’ll ever learn.
What works for one drummer may not work for you, for the sound you’re trying to achieve, or to what you are trying to communicate while you play. So think critically when dealing with technique, and always stay relaxed no matter what technique you choose to use. Holding the sticks too tightly may cause stress related injuries like blisters, calluses, tendinitis, and carpel tunnel syndrome.
After you’ve been through this free drum lesson on essential aspects of hand technique, we encourage you to watch the free drum lessons “Essential Bass Drum Techniques” and “Developing The Left Foot” to learn all about essential bass drum and hi-hat foot techniques.
Knowing how to read and write sheet music is an important asset for any drummer. Having these abilities will allow you to read and understand all the beats, fills, and exercises featured on this website – or on any other drumming resource – as well as let you write your own. Learning about basic music theory and drum notation is not as hard as people make it out to be. We encourage you to start learning about drum theory and notation by watching the lesson “How To Count Quarter Notes“. You’ll learn how to count, read, and write quarter notes through some basic beats and fills.
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I want to know how to drum very well
I want to know hw to play strokes in drums
How many type of beat we have?
Good teacher
Hey! Thanks so much for this, I have a question about matched grip drumstick technique for beginners. Do you recommend that a beginner grips the drumstick tightly or do you think starting off with a looser grip is better? I was taught to first hold onto my sticks and learn how to properly control them before venturing into looser grips and rebound strokes. I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂
Nice! 🙂
I need drum stick
all these years of play and now i know how to hold them the proper way
how did you hold it pls teach me
after all this years still dont know how to hold a drum stick,but today i actually know it…..thanks folk…
Whenever i hit the snare the stick always goes to the left or right. what am i doing wrong?
i have a 3 year old who is crazy about drums, is he too young to start learning?
I think you are doing great work Jared, and, as you said, any particular grip is not compulsory but rather a guide and tool to be used and experimented with. My right hand stick is often held so loose it can easily drop or be pulled out of my hand.
I’ve messed about with putting the sticks between my first & middle finger and use all fingers to motivate the stick. I don’t have much control but a lot of rebound speed. Thumbs don’t even come into play.
I believe Carmine appiice uses this technique? Much harder to drop a stick.
Graeme.
Nice lessons,i really learn alot,keep it up!
I used to play this way too. I still do for certain things, but what is your opinion about the the fulcrum being moved more to the second finger? I learned it from the late Murray Spivack. Dave Weckl really makes a case for it on his instructional video, “Natural Evolution.” When you analyze it, it seems the natural way to play. Most obviously and importantly the stick is not restricted in rebound, whereas the index finger/thumb fulcrum carries an inherent tension. Another great result of the thumb/second finger fulcrum is a much better stick resonance. It’s quite eye opening when comparing these two techniques (without getting into other techniques). Would really like your thoughts on this….thanks.
i need a drum lesson? Am a begininer
I really think the standards of grips are changing. I go with hybrid grip. I hold my sticks with the grip being between my two middle fingers. My pinky and my pointer don’t grip the stick at all. The pointer smewhat guides it, and the pinky just loosely wraps around it. This let’s me play with clean powerful strokes with a lot of forearm. When I have to play fast paced music, like punk rock, my grip changed to my pointer and middle finger, and the last two just wrap loosely around the stick. At this point my strokes come entirely from my wrists. This is just the way I’ve always played, and it feels natural to me.
Please stop sending drum lesson to my facebood because I already buy the DVD
regard
Verapol