Drum Technique Lessons

• Ambidextrous Drumming: Getting Past the Confusion to Become a "Drummer of the Future"-

  by Matt Ritter

  About 4 and a half years ago, I made a decision that has ended up revolutionizing my entire approach to drumming; I decided to play drums open-handed. The term “open-handed” simply means drumming without crossing the arms. On a standard kit, like the one that I play, this means playing the hi-hat with the left hand.

• How to Play the Flam on Drums-

  The flam is a distinct sound created by two successive drum strikes made by the two sticks. It is essentially a way to embellish any given note and play it in a "fancier" fashion.

  The flam consists of a main note, made by the second stick that hits the drum, and a preceding grace note that's played right before it. The main and grace notes must be played a small fraction of a second apart, or they will sound like two separate notes. They must also not be played too close together or both sticks will essentially strike the drum at the same time resulting in an ugly, choked sound.

• Bass Pedal Technique-

  It is only natural to have less control and precision in the feet than in the hands. Therefore, proper bass pedal technique is extremely important for playing the bass drum effectively. Good technique on the bass pedal will help you play faster and with more power.

• One Handed Drum Roll - Discover the Key to This Vital Technique-

  Performing a fast one handed drum roll is not very difficult with the right technique and practice. There are two techniques commonly referred to as "one handed roll," and should not be confused. The first uses the drum's rim to lift the stick up so that the tip hits the drum-head both on the hand's up swing and down swing. This technique has limited use, and I won't elaborate on it because this type of one-handed drum roll is not what this page is about. The second type of roll uses the fingers' ability to move quickly enough to enable you to play a roll with one hand. And this is what we will be learning here.

• Fast Stick Drumming Techniques-

  Good drumming techniques will make you a fast and efficient drummer like nothing else. You can practice for days on end with wrong technique and still not be able to do what one hour of practice with proper techniques will let you accomplish in terms of speed and efficiency. (By efficiency I mean using the least amount of muscle energy as possible.)

  This lesson depends on drumming techniques discussed in the previous drum lesson. Therefore, you might want to review it first if you haven't done so already.

• Learn How to Play Drums Using the Matched Grip for Volume, Speed, and Accuracy-

  This page describes how to play drums using the matched grip. If you need to review the matched grip, go to the matched grip drumsticks lesson.

  The previous lesson discussed how to hold a drumstick, and here we'll be moving into actually hitting a drum. As the title suggests, the purpose of this lesson is to learn how to play drums louder, faster, and more accurately. And all this while using less energy and muscle power. That's a double benefit!

• Learn About Drum Sticks Balance-

  The first thing anyone should learn about playing with drum sticks is stick bounce and balance. This is essentially drum sticks 101, and is the basis of some of the other drum stick technique discussions on this site. Therefore, we must first explore this topic here.