JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Bass and Drum Forum A question for drummers

What do they call the technique when you play with one hand knuckles down and one hand knuckles up, as opposed to both up? While we're at it, which do you prefer and why? This old bass player is going to start messing around with drums and I'd like to begin with good habits.

"Ringo is holding his sticks wrong"--replyed my first drum teacher when I asked a similar question. Ringo was certainly one of the most famous drummers to use, what has since become known as, the "matched grip" (both hands knuckle down}. My instructor taught "traditional grip" (one hand knuckle up)as did most teachers at the time viewing matched grip as an uneducated outlaw grip to be frowned upon unless employed with tuned percussion.

During the 70's this view altered somewhat in "legit" percussion cirles thanks to innovations by drummers like Billy Cobham and Lenny White, who bumped matched grip from "outlaw" to "alternative" status (not to mention all the great rock drummers who could care less about the "legit" debate. They simply enjoyed the additional backbeat power and mobility matched grip brought to the game).

AT one point, early on, I decided I would switch to strickly matched grip and that was that. After a fashion I realized there were some things that my tradional grip training brought to the table that that I could'nt set aside. For me the debate was over--I use both.

Was Ringo holding his sticks wrong? I say he was holding them different and it worked for him. I became aware of my love affair for rhythm and drums at age nine--I know now that there are no "rules" only bad habits. What's best for you?--Next time we work a session together I'll show you the basics of both grips--

The Drumsliger

Thanks Fred,

That helps clear it up for me. I hope we get to play together again real soon. (Maybe we'll get to play "Together Again" real soon?)

Mike

Mike,

I believe the reason that drummers have been traditionally taught (until lately perhaps) to play left hand "knuckles down" can be traced back a few hundred years to when drumming was developed for the military - marching into battle and such. The drum was tied to the left leg and angled so that with a "knuckle up" grip in the left hand you would have had to actually reach over top to play in an awkward position. Though this style was precipitated soley because of the slant of the drum head in marching position, it just became traditional, so that when drumming later expanded beyond that to concert drums and, later still, drum kits, it was just carried over for no good reason. (sort of like why women still give birth in "stirups" instead of a more comfortable position, because "King Louis the whatever" had a sick fascination with wanting to watch births from the best possible viewpoint)

I took up drumming way back in the late 60's and that's how everyone was still instructed back then. In more recent times, I tried to switch to the matching grip but found that my left wrist simply wouldn't respond with the same "fast twitch" because it hadn't been developed to play in that direction. I think the matched grip makes a little more sense in getting around on the drum set, especially when you are using both hands on the high hat, but other than that there's not a whole lot of difference.

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the explanation. Intersting stuff. I'll be trying the matched grip.

All the Best,
Mike

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Mike Dunbar Music

Since I was trained in the early '60s' with traditional or conventional left hand knuckles down method I tended to stay with it for along while. But since changing to match grip I find both styles useful. Matchgrip does enable a more powerful upbeat and adds more independance while traditional seems to give me a better buzz roll. Plus it's easier to flick around on the symbols with both hands using matchgrrip

ok - out of curiosity, does anyone play without sticks?
I'm not a kit drummer, but I like hand percussion, and have a few ethnic beauties. I prefer my hands directly on the instruments - I feel there's a better connection. I don't use a pick when I play most string instruments either. I likes them fingers against the instrument.

Am I way off base asking if anyone just plays with their hands?

I've always preferred matched grip.

Hi Tom

I'm a Hand drummer - I'm TRing to Learn to use sticks...

Tom,

I've worked with several drummers who will use hands on their kit drums. Tom Cerone, who played on "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies and on Monkees hits used to do it a lot. Pat McInerney who works with Nanci Griffith and has recorded with Doc Watson and Hootie and the Blowfish often uses hands on his kit drums and sticks on his hand drums. I believe I've seen Fred Satterfield, who posted above, using hands on his kit drums, I know he's played a lot of hand drum (Fred's worked and recorded with the Oak Ridge Boys for years and records with several stars).

I've been messing around with the matched grip, it feels a lot better to me than traditional, but I just don't practice enough

Yeah Tom,
I play hand drums all the time. Don't you remember seeing me do it?
That's probably how most if not all drummers started being a nuisance in grade school. Hand drums have been the beginning of many killer rhythms,especially Latin. Many a night I fell asleep tapping beats on the mattress. Oh my, how can she stand it! I also tend to go through the 26 rudiments to keep them fresh, using my fingers and hands. Always loved sticking though, but too noisy.

So, keep on tappin Tom.