stick technique
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Stick Technique Revisited
Many drum instructors say, “Play naturally.” The problem with that statement is that we naturally hold on to things tightly. Have you ever seen someone pick up a drumstick for the first time and play smooth rebounding strokes? Great technique…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 5: The Moeller Whip Stroke The Moeller whip stroke is named after Sanford “Gus” Moeller, a famous teacher from the early 1900s who became known for teaching a whipping motion used by Civil War drummers. In recent years, “Moeller”…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 4: Alley-Oop The alley-oop technique is what I call a wrist/finger combination used for playing double strokes (diddles) and triple strokes. While it can be likened to the push/pull technique, which is a wrist stroke followed by a finger…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 2: The Free Stroke The free stroke, which is also commonly referred to as the full stroke, rebound stroke, or legato stroke, is the most important technique you should learn, as it’s the foundation for almost every other stroke…
Strictly Technique - Consecutive Flams
In part two of this series, we’re going to take out the taps between the flams so that the flams are adjacent. When you do that, the challenge becomes playing the consecutive flams with consistent grace-note placement and sound quality.…
Strictly Technique - Consecutive Flams part 3: Inverted Motion
In the third installment of this series, we’re going to modify the exercise by removing one tap from the transitions. Instead of using a flam accent to shift from one hand to the next, we’ll use an inverted flam tap.…