Exerscises to relieve pain

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Polska_77

Polska_77

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Funny enough a band wants me to play drums for them...:eek:

My problem is: when i attempt to play fast 16'th notes on the Hi-hat, my wrist starts to hurt like a sonfabitch. I can pullem off for about a verse, but no longer.
Any of you guys know any exercises to help this. I hold my sticks with something that looks like American grip.

Oh and when i play the ride I usually end up playing with the thumb up and it doesn't seem to hurt as much, kinda.
 
Thumb up is improper technique. I would reccommend doing some research to find out what a proper matched grip is. If you feel any pain while playing, you are too tight. Everything should be loose and relaxed even when playing fast.

Your fingers should wrap all the way around the stick. Your thumb should always be on the side of the stick. There shouldn't be any space between your thumb and index finger.

Hope this helps
 
Do you mean 8th notes? I don't think you're playing songs slow enough to fit 16ths in there.

I play a lot of Ramones-style fast 8ths on the hats and ride. I'm good for about 210-220 bpm. Anything faster than that and I fall apart. It just takes practice. I try to use a technique I learned from watching Marky Ramone - who fucking rules at playing fast one-handed 8ths on the hat. He holds his arm very still, and all of the stick movement comes from pivoting the stick between his thumb and index fingers. He then uses a combo of a wrsit twitch and his other fingers to flop the stick up and down. You have to see it to understand. It takes tons of practice. If you can keep your arm out of the movement and work from the wrist, you will last longer. Look up some Marky Ramone vids on youtube and see if you can see what I'm talking about.
 
Oh and... If you do this you shouldn't have any pain. If you get any pain it should be in your forearm...That is normal and it's called "building chops."

Anyway, get a practice pad and play the "8 on a hand" exercise with a metronome. Increase the speed as you go.

In 4/4: 8 eighth notes on right hand, 8 eighth notes on left hand, 16 eighth notes on right hand. 8 eight notes on left hand, 8 on right, 16 on left, etc.
 
thx for the replies so far.

Yes i meant 8ths i suck at music theory :)

michigan~ Yeah i looked up lots of videos and stuff on stick grip, and that has helped a ton, and i figured the wrist pain must be me doing something wrong.


Greg_L yeah that Ramones Hi hat is what i want to play. These fuckers i play with thankfully have only two songs that require the fast HIhat playing, and they are about 195 - 200ish on the tempo. I'll see what Marky does to play the fast stuff.
 
Polska_77 said:
thx for the replies so far.

Yes i meant 8ths i suck at music theory :)

michigan~ Yeah i looked up lots of videos and stuff on stick grip, and that has helped a ton, and i figured the wrist pain must be me doing something wrong.


Greg_L yeah that Ramones Hi hat is what i want to play. These fuckers i play with thankfully have only two songs that require the fast HIhat playing, and they are about 195 - 200ish on the tempo. I'll see what Marky does to play the fast stuff.
Click to expand...

Most of the Ramones' faster stuff live is around 240-250 bpm. Marky throws down 8ths on the hat like they're nothing. Dig up one of their better quality live recordings from late in their career like "Loco Live" or "We're Outta Here". they play very fast and you can hear the hat pretty clearly. If you can keep up with that, you're doing damn good. Also try to find the "extra stuff" from the "End of the Century" DVD on youtube. Marky does a little drum demo in one of those extra clips that shows pretty clearly how he does the hi-hat.
 
I'd say the best (only???) way to get stronger and gain endurance is to get a practice pad and a metronome, and play 8th notes. Find a speed that you can sustain them for a FULL MINUTE. Once you can maintain them for a minute at that speed, increase the speed slightly next practice...and so on and so on......
 
OOps...I just saw that I repeated exactly what MICHIGAN said. Good advice, dude.
 
michigan~ said:
Thumb up is improper technique.
Your thumb should always be on the side of the stick.
Click to expand...

:confused: :confused: :confused:

You will find that there will never be one singular grip that applies to everything you're doing on the kit...

In matched grip, you might find that you need to work with more finesse and speed and, therefore, turn your thumb up and control the stick more with your fingers (French), or sometimes you might need more punch and power and turn the thumb to the side and work more with wrists (German) or need a combination of power and finesse and use both wrists and fingers depending on the music (American).

This guy has some pretty good videos for drumset techniques, including the various matched grip techniques:

Frank Favacho

:)
 
Sometimes it is hard to see what you are doing wrong if your technique is a little off, it might be worth getting a drum teacher or something or at least have someone look at your drumming who knows a lot about drums to help you.
 
Thx for replies everyone. I think ill end up asking someone to help, cause when i practice on my pad it's a ton easier than on the Hats, so I must be doing something wrong:o
 
Switch to 32nd or 64th notes. Soon playing 16th notes will be easy.

/wipes hands on pants/
 
michigan~ said:
Thumb up is improper technique. I would reccommend doing some research to find out what a proper matched grip is. If you feel any pain while playing, you are too tight. Everything should be loose and relaxed even when playing fast.

Your fingers should wrap all the way around the stick. Your thumb should always be on the side of the stick. There shouldn't be any space between your thumb and index finger.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...


I would have to disagree. Thumb up is a French Grip, and it is good for very fast single strokes as well as really laying into the drum (think of holding a hammer - thumb is on the back of the hammer, or in this case - the stick). A lot of drummers have played with a French Grip - Bonham used it on his snare hand. Billy Cobham has been known to play with a French Grip.

It's just a matter of what's more comfortable to you and what you are trying to accomplish. I switch between Matched or German Grip and Traditional.

Probably 90% of the guys out there who played Traditional Grip during the 80's and 90's were holding the stick wrong....but they still played that way because it worked for them.


There's a decent essay here on French and German grips - scroll down to the third article. http://www.drum-clinic.com/



Tim
 
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