The Weight Room: Get Left

This post is for @danikamercier. Thanks for being awesome!

It is said that any team is only as good as the weakest member, and in drumming, the left hand is usually the weaker teammate, sometimes even if you're left-handed. So, what can we do to bring Ol' Lefty up to speed?

Before we get started, here's a basic concept that has helped me develop consistent technique between the hands. Whenever you play any exercise or excerpt, focus on making the two hands sound, feel, look and move the same. This includes grip, where on the stick you're holding, path and travel, stick height, velocity, etc.

Some of what I'm going to suggest will push your endurance, so be very careful not to overdo your practicing. Listen to your body, take breaks, stretch, etc. Remember that there's a difference between the "burn" of pushing yourself to develop endurance and strength and the pain of damage or injury.

Stop at the first sign of pain! Don't risk an injury by trying to play through! And if it hurts, reexamine your technique to make sure that you are relaxed and holding/moving the stick properly. Good technique shouldn't ever hurt.

Now, on to a few good exercises.

First, good old "Eight On A Hand." Honestly, this is one of THE best exercises to work on basic stick technique. Again, work on getting the hands the same in terms of technique, then vary your stick height, dynamic and tempo. Beyond that, go for at least a few minutes at a time. I do mine to a favorite track or two (Foo Fighters are my current flava!), and really try to stay focused on getting the technique and sound consistent.

Second, take Eight On A Hand to the next level. Make it "Sixteen On A Hand," and play it as a measure of 16th notes on each hand. Again, try to make each note sound the same and carry the same "weight." If someone were to be in the next room and only hear you (not see you switching hands), they should hear it as if it were just the same hand forever. Same sound. You get the idea.

With both Eight and Sixteen, try to play for at least a few minutes at a time. Then, you can move around the drum kit, with and without foot patterns, to increase not only your speed, endurance and strength vertically, but laterally (around the kit) as well. Pick a pattern or improvise, but don't sacrifice your technique or sound quality for anything!

Next, take the Stick Control book and get serious about it. Even if you just practice the first section, get serious about making each stroke the same and work up to insane levels of speed. I also use these exercises around the kit with jazz, samba and other foot patterns. Not only do you get great hand workouts, you start to develop linear fills, grooves and solo ideas, not to mention filling your tool bag with great, rhythmically sound improvisation ideas.

Lastly, let musical integrity guide all that you do practice-wise. Don't ever sacrifice quality of sound, clarity or clean playing for speed or anything else.


Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Hands and Feet

Alright, if you've read this blog with any regularity you already know that I suggest that you can apply any exercises for your hands to your feet, as well.

Today, let's apply a simple exercise that uses hands and feet at the same time.

Here's the basic Stick Control or Slow-Fast template:

Of course, you can apply any sticking pattern to this rhythm and play it any tempo.

For this example, we'll use paradiddles (R L R R - L R L L). And instead of using two hands, we'll use the left hand (LH) on snare drum and right foot (RF) on kick drum.

It looks like this:

Again, start slow and make sure you're playing relaxed and controlled. Make sure each stroke sounds even and that the kick and snare are balanced. If you're feeling adventurous, alternate every snare drum stroke (and kick drum stroke, too, if you're playing double bass).

When this gets comfortable, throw on your favorite click sound (okay, okay - or a great rock or funk track), and try grooving it like this:

Of course, this is just one application of this concept. Using the Slow-Fast template - or anything else that works for you - try splitting up your favorite patterns between hands and feet. Then apply it to the music that you love. 

Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Advanced Slow-Fast

At a certain point you'll work one of the Slow-Fast exercises up to an obscene speed. What do you do at this point?

It's simple: turn the click down to half of its tempo, and instead of 8ths and 16ths, play 16ths and 32nds.

It looks like this.

Or think of it like cut time. You're still playing slow fast, but the click is now on the half note.

It looks like this.

So now, with the click at a manageable tempo, you can keep working faster and faster. Just remember to keep it under control, relaxed and clean.

Sorry to use the P word, but, uh, happy practicing!

The Weight Room: Triple Stick Control

That title sounds pretty amazing, right? "Triple Stick Control!" What I mean is that we're applying the "Slow-Fast" stick control exercise to triple subdivision - triplets (slow) and sextuplets (fast).

Here's the exercise:

As with the first version of Slow-Fast, the exercise should be repeated for a full minute at any given tempo to demonstrate mastery. So, click on the metronome at a very slow tempo - 50 to 60 beats per minute - and master the exercise with an alternate sticking, either R L R L R L or L R L R L R.

Once you've got it mastered, that's where the fun begins! Try some of these patterns, then make up your own.

1. R L R-L R L
2. L R L-R L R
3. R R L-R R L
4. L L R-L L R
5. R L L-R L L
6. L R R-L R R

There are endless possibilities, so have fun with it. 

If you want to take it to the next level, try it with "jazz feet." (Kick very lightly on all four counts, hi-hat very crisply on 2 and 4.)

Happy drumming!

Slow-Fast Workout

The way our brains work is really interesting, especially when we're learning to do something new with our hands.

Since music is a language, we want to be able to "speak" without fumbling or having to think about what words we're going to use. The Slow-Fast workout gives your brain a way to have a lot of repetitions on one specific thing, alternating from slow (like spelling or sounding out a word) to fast (like saying it normally). It looks like this:

You can use any sticking pattern. I use the patterns from the first section of Stick Control, but you really can put any sticking in. Just make sure it's the same in both measures(but twice as many times in the second measure).

Remember to start as slowly as you need to in order to play the whole thing with no mistakes. Then, gradually speed up (one or two clicks at a time) until you reach your goal tempo.

In order to master a pattern, I play for a full minute at a given tempo with no stops or mistakes. If you can go for a full minute, you can be pretty sure the pattern is mastered at that tempo. Then, speed it up again!