stengthening left hand

[198dsradio]

i've been working on building up my chops for a while now, and i'm at a crossroad with my left hand. it's alright, it's just not as open as my right. any suggestions on how to better this?

[Zeta]

have you tried playing your kit open handed? you should tried to be able to play all of the same stuff open and closed.

[danielfreeman]

As boring as it sounds, practise rudiments.. and when you think youve done enough, do them again! People skip these, but they are really important and will help your playing improve tremendously!

[pastor_bob]

I agree with Daniel. I am doing sticking patterns and rudiment as my main focus right now, and even though the work is repititious, and I really want to just sit at my kit and play, I do notice that when I do play, I am unconsciously doing thing that i couldn't do before. It just takes time and practice (I think I've heard that somewhere before).

[danielfreeman]

Honestly, i had terrible problems with my hands. Ive got a muscle problem with my right hand where im missing a muscle near my thumb, and my bone is twisted naturally. So its took alot of practise to learn how to play but rudiments are the way forward!

I recommend this book to by Jim Chaplin - Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer

[danielfreeman]

ive been working on my double tap roll for a while now, its getting to the stage where i use it without thinking of using it! rudiements really do help you play things you never thought you could, their great for speed and for freeing you body up! plus if your used to playing at higher speeds, you dont look like your 'pushing one out' when you have to play at 200bpm

[DLDante]

Being lefty, I have the opposite issue (need to strengthen my right hand). I have a DW Practice Pad set that I'm going to set up right-handed so I can get comfortable using my off-hand to play. Rudiments are a great necessity, but I find that, for me, it still doesn't make up for the fact that I use the left hand significantly more during regular play.

[bloodylipp]

remember, the hand that plays the hats will always bejust a bit faster or better. there will be a couple odd balls out there that are even, but most of us will always have a semi weaker hand.

[danielfreeman]

i dont cross over at all, my left hand hits the hi-hat but my right uses the ride.. took a bit of practise but it works :D

[DLDante]

remember, the hand that plays the hats will always bejust a bit faster or better. there will be a couple odd balls out there that are even, but most of us will always have a semi weaker hand.

My old drum teacher was one of those "odd balls". He had a lefty kit and a right kit and could play both and sound exactly the same. Could play them both cross-handed and open-handed. It was awesome.

[bloodylipp]

My old drum teacher was one of those "odd balls". He had a lefty kit and a right kit and could play both and sound exactly the same. Could play them both cross-handed and open-handed. It was awesome.

what a freak

[xsabers]

remember, the hand that plays the hats will always bejust a bit faster or better. there will be a couple odd balls out there that are even, but most of us will always have a semi weaker hand.

I, for one, am equally weak with both hands...er, I mean...

[k1ngsk1n]

Rudiments are the way forward always making sure you lead from both right and left hand.

A nice thing I like to do with my students as a way of breaking it up and not making it hell is to try this,

Play triplets but as RLL or LRR if your a lefty and play it as a beat between the hats and snare either common time or cut or combine the both if you like and then use the same sticking for fills.

So the idea is to jam out some beats and fills and the only rule is that you have to RLL as your sticking. Meaning you can use ideas like this,

R L L = One Trip Let

A beat would play Hss Hss Sss Hss
.........................1TL 2TL 3 TL 4TL
H= Hihat
S= Snare

or

RLLR LLRL LRLL RLRL = 1E+A 2E+A 3E+A 4E+A

With this you can also play 16th note as RLLF (F=FOOT, Either hi hat or kick)

Hope this helps buddy and doesn't just look like insanity and stupidity!