Re: The rudiments of rudiments

On Dec 24, 8:33 pm, TD <topper.dog...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Disclaimer: I'm new to (proper) drumming.

I've got a copy of Stick Control, a pair of 2Bs, and a practice pad.  That was
the easy bit.

1) The book says repeat each one 20 times.  This wouldn't be a problem if the
counting up to 20 wasn't putting me off on the more complicated ones.  Am I
going too fast?  It's like, I need to concentrate hard enough to not *** up,
and the counting is pushing me over the edge.

Make it somewhat easy on yourself. Diverge from the written pattern
slightly. The rhythms on page 5-15 are written in cut time, but you
can just count the whole exercise as 4 with the half note getting the
beat and keeping track of the first beat..
1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, 4-2-3-4, 5-2-3-4. This will still work if
you're also counting the "e and a" of the eighths in cut time.

2) I'm trying to hit from the wrist, with a rebound of maybe 2" or so.  Is
this the right way to practice, at least for a beginner?

Relax the wrist and let the sticks bounce on the pad. Have the stick
tips trace an "arc" path through the air, but don't kill it. (Your
hand will move up and down from the wrist.) Think about it like
dribbling a basketball in that the harder you try, the crazier the
ball moves. A nice relaxed "dribble" is your aim.

3) When I grip the sticks, it's as if the main grip is between my thumb and
index / middle fingers.  I'm conscious of gripping too tight, so I'm a bit
loose with my ring and little fingers, as I feel this lets the stick "breathe"
more.  Is this bad news, should I tighten the ring / little fingers enough to
stop the stick moving relative to my hand?

Hard to tell without seeing it, but a little 'wiggle' isn't harmful by
any stretch of the imagination, it's probably healthy.

Hope this makes sense, any constructive advice appreciated.

I repeat the above line.

.

Loading