Tim Brown
New member
Bruce,
#1: Clean out your mailbox man.
LOL I tried to send you a PM.
The only thing that I can really tell you about multiple stroke roll practicing, is to practice them slowly, and make sure that you actually manipulate each stroke with your fingers.
For example, when I started working on a triple stroke roll again after not even attempting them for at least 10 years, I started really slow, and I actually manipulated the stick with my fingers, so that each strike is just like a single stroke roll. Then slowly begin to raise the tempo of the metronome, and after a couple of weeks you should be able to whip them out. Make sure that you are practicing to a metronome. And I practiced on a piece of extremely soft foam. Look in your phone book for a local foam company, and go get a piece of really soft foam. This way, the stick will sink into the foam. There's no rebound at all, and it will quickly build up your fingers, hands, and wrists. Then begin on a drumpad because you'll have to get used to the difference between the foam absorbing the strike, and then reclaiming the rebound from the pad - this took me a couple of weeks to get used to. Get a GOOD drumpad if you don't have one. Forget those Gladstone types. Get a real pad, the Remo tunable ones aren't bad, but the best I've found is the Real Feel HQ practice pad - I'd go for the double sided one. It's rubber on one side and neoprene on the other. They are about $30 for the 12" one and worth every penny.
http://www.hqpercussion.com/real_feel.htm
For me, this was the best method because it got my fingers back in shape, and I make ever second strike a little louder than the first. (so the third strike I try to make even louder than the second. So think about it this way:
1st strike=80%
2nd strike=90%
3rd strike=100%
This will make sure that your bounces are all clean sounding strikes when you are actually letting the sticks just bounce.
Try practicing both hands striking at the exact same time, it's not quite as easy as it sounds if you haven't been doing it. Make sure that you raise and lower the sticks at the same rate and with the same force. This promotes evenness in your rolls.
For my practice routines I use both the Vic Firth Jeff Queen model sticks, which are a 17" Drumcorps stick, and the Remo DC10 which is a 15.5" indoor competition stick.
If you don't know who Jeff Queen is, you should go to Vic Firth's site, and check out his videos - he is simply incredible!
He is perhaps the best I've ever seen at what he does. His backsticking is simply flawless.
http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/queen.html
Also, for a little inspiration, rent Drumlin. There's some great inspirational playing in that. I watched it and it really inspired me to get serious about working on my hands. I mean, let's face it - after I left HS, my goal was to be a rock star, not necessarily to continue trying to be the best musician I could be. So I simply "took a little break" from all the serious practicing, until the mid to late 90's.
Tim
#1: Clean out your mailbox man.
LOL I tried to send you a PM.The only thing that I can really tell you about multiple stroke roll practicing, is to practice them slowly, and make sure that you actually manipulate each stroke with your fingers.
For example, when I started working on a triple stroke roll again after not even attempting them for at least 10 years, I started really slow, and I actually manipulated the stick with my fingers, so that each strike is just like a single stroke roll. Then slowly begin to raise the tempo of the metronome, and after a couple of weeks you should be able to whip them out. Make sure that you are practicing to a metronome. And I practiced on a piece of extremely soft foam. Look in your phone book for a local foam company, and go get a piece of really soft foam. This way, the stick will sink into the foam. There's no rebound at all, and it will quickly build up your fingers, hands, and wrists. Then begin on a drumpad because you'll have to get used to the difference between the foam absorbing the strike, and then reclaiming the rebound from the pad - this took me a couple of weeks to get used to. Get a GOOD drumpad if you don't have one. Forget those Gladstone types. Get a real pad, the Remo tunable ones aren't bad, but the best I've found is the Real Feel HQ practice pad - I'd go for the double sided one. It's rubber on one side and neoprene on the other. They are about $30 for the 12" one and worth every penny.
http://www.hqpercussion.com/real_feel.htm
For me, this was the best method because it got my fingers back in shape, and I make ever second strike a little louder than the first. (so the third strike I try to make even louder than the second. So think about it this way:
1st strike=80%
2nd strike=90%
3rd strike=100%
This will make sure that your bounces are all clean sounding strikes when you are actually letting the sticks just bounce.
Try practicing both hands striking at the exact same time, it's not quite as easy as it sounds if you haven't been doing it. Make sure that you raise and lower the sticks at the same rate and with the same force. This promotes evenness in your rolls.
For my practice routines I use both the Vic Firth Jeff Queen model sticks, which are a 17" Drumcorps stick, and the Remo DC10 which is a 15.5" indoor competition stick.
If you don't know who Jeff Queen is, you should go to Vic Firth's site, and check out his videos - he is simply incredible!
He is perhaps the best I've ever seen at what he does. His backsticking is simply flawless.
http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/queen.html
Also, for a little inspiration, rent Drumlin.
There's some great inspirational playing in that. I watched it and it really inspired me to get serious about working on my hands. I mean, let's face it - after I left HS, my goal was to be a rock star, not necessarily to continue trying to be the best musician I could be. So I simply "took a little break" from all the serious practicing, until the mid to late 90's.Tim
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