Hand speed

[Adam]

One of the most impressing, and brilliant things about hearing those Buddy Rich drum solos was that he did all that will mostly his hands. That's unbelievable hand speed/endurance. I was wondering....what would it take to get that type of endurance? Is it mental or more of a just "do it every day" type of thing? Also if anyone has any sheet music available with any helpfull excersises that would rock! thank you!

[peter]

Adam,

Buddy was real fast and he had incredible control.

There are a lot of fast drummers out there. There
are not as many that can control it like Buddy did.
Remember that when a lot of us saw him, he was
later in his life, having all the experience of playing
behind him, all contributing to that certainty that
he could anything he attempted. There's a lot to
be said for experience.

Did you notice that he played German-Grip on his
right hand, while, of course, hold his left traditional?

Many drummers differ about which of these is best
for speed and control. I'll give you my two cents
here and say that German (palm down) gives you
better control, French (palm to the side) give you
better speed.

When I studied with Tony, he wanted me to go all
German. For years, I tried to approach the drums
this way and while it was OK, I felt that there were
things that French had that I wanted too. An example
of the French technique on drums is Billy Cobham.

Now, I hear a lot of people talk about Billy that
have never seen him live and up close and let me
tell you, Billy has some of the best hands ever.
EVERY FINGER is as facile as the next. He gets
tremendous speed and almost all of it can come
from just those fingers.

Virgil is German. Carl palmer is German. Dennis is
a combination.

A number of years ago, I decided to started leaning
back to the French side and now, I have a kind of
mix of the two:

www.thediametrixletter.com/1-2flam2-1.wmv

You can improve your speed. First, decide to approach
it from the angle that it can be done, if it's taken up
incrementally.

[peter]

Adam,

Why don't you try working this a little.

Remember that hand-speed has not to
do with one but BOTH of your hands. If
you are right-handed, your left-hand is
going to hold back your speed. Build it
up and you can do this in different ways.

I think one of the best ways to do it is
through accenting.

Check out these videos:

www.thediametrixletter.com/adam-1.wmv
www.thediametrixletter.com/adam2-1.wmv

Like I said, Virgil's POWER DRUMMING
video has great applications for the left
hand, especially in the isolated examples,
moving from drum to drum.

[Adam]

Wowee! Thanks a lot Pete! I wasn't expecting such thourough replies :) hehe.

[Adam]

I've learnt my grips...recently switching to traditional (I'm about 80% caught up to how I was with matched). I use German grip because (and it's all opinion) it has the better benifits for myself I find. Billy Cobham's definetly one of the top (if not already the top) french grip drummers out there. I'm a big fan of his.

This being said, I couldn't get the videos to work very well. I'll upgrade wmp? maybe.

[peter]

I am not using a camcorder, so my
videos are not going to approach the
quality of the other guys here, especially
Steve Holmes. However, you should get
the idea.

Upgrade to Windows Media Player 9.

Whether you use French or not, your
goal is still the same.

As for traditional, I'm surprised that
you are going to it from matched,
especially when Virgil (the best "trad"
I have ever seen) has indicated that
matched is likely the best choice.

What specifically are the benefits of
trad for you?

Again, the goals are the same.
Whatever your reason, the idea is to
be the best you can be and I would
like to encourage you to do that.

I hope I did.

[peter]

Of course, there are many trad players that
are extremely facile on the kit, including the
subject of this board (the finest I have ever
seen) and the great Carl Palmer, among
others. You'd think it would keep them from
getting around the kit but like Buddy, it
doesn't stop them at all.

[Adam]

The honest reason I switched?? This might sound stupid but I switched because traditional looks cooler and to watch someone use it is far more impressive (in my opinion). I also feel that it's more comfortable for some reason. The stick just rests in my hand...I know that matched probably has the better benifits...but if guys like Virgil and Weckl can do what they do with trad then I believe it's possible to be good with it. I have yet to see anybody do what those great traditional guys can do with matched, save maybe the odd guy like Cobham.

[peter]

Billy played reverse-trad for a while.

Hey, listen...

He'd tell you himself: "What feels comfortable
for you is what you should be doing."

If trad is that, that's fine. Play on!

I switched from trad to matched because I
wanted more power, control and agility.

One later development is that I needed the
ability to ride with my left hand equally.

That's me, though. You're you and I'm sure,
a fine drummer.

[peter]

Whatever the grip you use, you want
to get to the point, where you can do
single-strokes at about this speed and
as relaxed. Then, you can build on this.

www.thediametrixletter.com/doodle7-1.wmv

Focus on control and relaxing. By control,
I don't mean a tight grip, either.

This can be done, Adam. You can do it.

[alencore]

that old vid of Weckl [Back to Basic]and Steve Gadd shows some really good exercises to develop the hands and that amazing finger control.

Buddy Rich was such a gifted drummer since he was already drumming during childhood. Traps, they call him then if I'm correct. He was also very hyper that's why drums suits him just fine. The man has tremendous amount of stamina by default.

[peter]

Dave is a great player. I am not that
familiar with his techniques but love his
linear contributions and especially his
single-kick work.

Buddy was the man who held the torch,
before Virgil, in terms of physical command
of the trad method, in my opinion. I had seen
him multiple times. While not the greatest
person, he was one of the very greatest
drummers of all time.

[alencore]

yeah Buddy had a a crazy reputation amongts his fellow musicians. i'm still reading little by little this book i bought about him. hehe, lots of funny stories showing Buddy's terrifying but humorous wit.

[peter]

Is it the one by Mel Torme, the great
jazz singer AND drummer? That one is
THE book to real on Buddy!

[jimi]

Is it true Buddy practised as little as possible??

[peter]

He was just working all the time.
He practiced on the gig.

[alencore]

Originally posted by peter
Is it the one by Mel Torme, the great
jazz singer AND drummer? That one is
THE book to real on Buddy!

I was looking for that one also but this one came a lot sooner.
"Mister, I Am The Band! Buddy Rich - His Life and His Travel" by Doug Meriwether.
It's a huge book with tons of discography and some pics.
I only read it when there is power failure, hehe. May be once I reach 40 I'll finish it.

[peter]

Carl Palmer also has great
traditional technique and some
of the best hands out there.