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Thread: How to practice the Stick Control book

  1. #1

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    Default How to practice the Stick Control book

    My son is starting to practice with the Stick Control book by George Lawrence Stone. How would you say is the best way to approach it,would you do so many lines over and over or would you do a whole page.Plus how long do you stay on each page and would you do every page?Any help or tips would be great,thanks.

    Stick Control

  2. #2

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    I use that book in my warm up routine. I play each line 20 times. So, as an example, Monday warm up - Pg. 1 I'll play each line 20 times. Tuesday - Pg. 2, play each line 20 times, etc. You get the idea.

  3. #3

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    is that a good book for that?

  4. #4

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    I use it just to get my wrists and fingers loosened up.

    ETA: Also, my drum teacher tells me Stick Control is good practice.
    Last edited by Markadiddle; 09-13-2012 at 02:20 PM.

  5. #5

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    How old is your son and is he taking lessons?

  6. #6

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    Some people practice it religiously, others just use it as a foundation for good technique. I'd tell your son that if he wants to be a great player and grow to his maximum ability, that he should atleast practice with it 10+ minutes a day. If he gets really into it and enjoys his improvement, maybe that amount will increase, more power to him. He may be a bit reluctant to practice the exercises, everyone agrees that they tend to be the boring side to practicing, but encourage him to do so, it's the only way he can really get great. Of course after a while he can find new ways to practice the same exercises, get new books, or use the book only sparingly.

    In terms of what pages and how many times he should do each exercises, it's really up to him. Maybe he'll do all the exercises on page 1 a couple times for a warmup, and then move on to a later page to work on new concepts afterwards. Just my two cents, the other guys here will probably have better practice methods.

    Oh and although this isn't necessary, it would be very helpful for his future in drumming if he practiced to a metronome, at a comfortable speed of course. You may even be able to get one on your phone/computer that sounds like a fun instrument or has music to it also, definitely makes things more exciting.

  7. #7

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    The Amazon reviews of this book were really good. Drummers reviewed them so I'm adding to my repertoire of pratice books. Plus I have some young men who are trying to learn too asking for guidance.

    Glad I saw this thread.

  8. #8

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    My son is 11 and is having lessons.His teacher recommended this book and his hands are already improved.

  9. #9

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    It's not necessary for him to work on the whole book. It is so chock full of helpful exercises even on the first few pages that that alone will keep him busy for a long time. Like the drum rudiments, once you have a handful of these down, the rest will be a lot easier. I'm a proponent for doing one line over and over again before moving on. I think the repetitiveness of that is more beneficial personally. And I don't think a strict amount of time is necessary. The exercises can be a bit boring sometimes. With younger students, I like to keep a regimine but also let them enjoy their childhood. As long as their getting some practice in on the fundamentals, I let them play around on the drumset quite a bit and especially work in those Stone exercises on the kit sooner than later.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by drummer View Post
    It's not necessary for him to work on the whole book. It is so chock full of helpful exercises even on the first few pages that that alone will keep him busy for a long time. Like the drum rudiments, once you have a handful of these down, the rest will be a lot easier. I'm a proponent for doing one line over and over again before moving on. I think the repetitiveness of that is more beneficial personally. And I don't think a strict amount of time is necessary. The exercises can be a bit boring sometimes. With younger students, I like to keep a regimine but also let them enjoy their childhood. As long as their getting some practice in on the fundamentals, I let them play around on the drumset quite a bit and especially work in those Stone exercises on the kit sooner than later.
    Good advice. When I was a beginner taking lessons my drum teacher was a guy who had a shop, a band, a studio and had played with some names in jazz. He was big on starting with the boring stick exercises while he needled me about my posture, sticking, etc. but it created a habit of warming up and then pushing a bit to keep improving my hand control and strength. Then it was "Okay Meathead let's see what you did on your syncopation exercises last week."

  11. #11

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    jackie is absolutely right about this book being with you always. i bought it years ago and i am still finding new, useful ways to use it to this very day.

    for what it's worth , i've always used the book to suit current needs . an example of this would be , if ,say, i thought that my four-way coordination needed improving , i'd start at pg 5 and then play selected exercises repeatedly between the snare and bass drums ( bass drum takes the rights , lefts on the snare ) and playing various ostinatos on my ride cymbal and adding the hi-hat with my foot. of course there are endless ways to interpret the book using solely this one idea

    another idea i used from the first few pages was to add one rest ,or a bass drum note ,to selected groups of paradiddle stickings - paradiddles grouped in 8 notes ; 1+8=9 - to form 3-beat triplet figures to improve my jazz phrasing , which was , and still is , in need of attention.

    imho , address current needs , look beyond what is written and , most importantly , have fun with it.

  12. #12

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    I've had my copy ever since I started at the age of 16 in high school. It has gaff along the spine keeping it together, dog-eared pages and worn edges. It still gets pulled out and worked on, and each and every student of mine at least gets their fill of photocopies from it's very pages. It's not the only book I get them through (as well as Ted Reed's "Syncopation"), but it certainly is an important one. One really great trick with it is to not only do the exercises with the hands, but say substitute a right or left foot for a right or left hand (depeending whether the student is right or left handed). Another thing is that some drummers who play double kick can sometimes use any of the single stroke exercises to help develop the feet (as well as being more adventurous and perhaps work slowly on the single, double and paradiddle exercises for their feet, even doing some of the flam exercises later in the book).
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  13. #13

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    I found that counting repetitions was annoying so I just sit where I can see a clock with a second hand and do each line for 30 seconds. I like to vary the tempos so sometimes this means doing a line 12 times and sometimes doing it 20.

    I used to read Modern Drummer and invariably the featured drummers would say they used (and still use) Stick Control religiously to get good and stay good.
    Life's too short to play the same solo twice. Improvise!

  14. #14

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    There is nearly an infinite number of ways to play that book.

    Start adding in random accents to the patterns on the first couple pages. Watch it get exponentially more difficult :P

    I'd also suggest getting the Syncopation book by Ted Reed, truly a universal book. Its a book full of just rhythm lines. Play the rhythm lines on your kick drum... or with your left hand, or right hand, or left foot. Use the rhythm lines instead to accent a pattern or really anything you can think of!

    Using the syncopation book mixed with the Stone book is interesting. for instance, take the first pattern on stones book, RLRLRLRLRL etc. Then pick a rhythm in Ted Reeds book, lets say the rhythm is accents on the 1 +. Play the stick control pattern and accent the notes that fall on the ted reed rhythm. You will find plenty of interesting combinations
    Last edited by SpatzST; 10-16-2012 at 02:34 PM.
    Too Much Stuff.

  15. #15

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    Fantastic book. Disciplined practice with it will yield tremendous gains in control and speed, but it takes time.

    What I have been doing is one page per day, repeating each exercise 20 times with both a metronome and a timer.

    I have a PC in my garage which is also my practice room. Both the metronome and timer are PC based and are freeware software.


    What I do is pick the tempo I want to practice at - at the moment I'm up to 105 bpm.

    There are 8 beats in each exercise of stick control, 24 exercises to a page and I'm doing each exercise 20 times, so that's a total of 3840 beats.

    Divide the total number of beats into the tempo (in this case 105 bpm) and you get 36.57 minutes. Divide that by the number of exercises (24) and you get 1.52 minutes, or 91.2 seconds.

    So...what I do is I set the timer for 91 seconds and have it automatically repeat itself at the end of the countdown (it sounds an alarm and resets automatically).

    I then turn on the metronome, start the timer and start my practice. Every 91 seconds the alarm goes off and I know it's time to switch to the next exercise.

    This method keeps you disciplined not only with the tempo you are practicing at (via the metronome) but also with the time you are putting in per exercise - you can't cheat!

    If I have an issue with a particular exercise, I just repeat it for another cycle.

    Since I started doing this about a week ago I've noticed a quantum leap in my playing.

    I also do the same thing for double bass pedals, although currently at a much slower tempo.

    Good luck!
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  16. #16

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    I started with this book. It's great for working on the basics and is a little more exciting than the rudiments, which are also important. There has already been great advice given. I personally warm up to a metronome and play the first 4 pages as it's written, one line to the next. Moving to the next line in time adds a little difficulty and can be challenging. Good book to start out on!

  17. #17

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    After having left drumming for thirty years, its the first book that I reached for when I decided to get back onto the drums. I spent an hour (plus) a day for three weeks working my way around the book on a practice pad and a click. Oddly I'm finding that at 49 years old, my technique is far better than it was when I was 16. Much of it, I attribute to having the discipline to sit down and work my way through the pages. Back in the day it was, "yea, yea...I just want to beat on the drums".
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  18. #18

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    I found myself playing through the first page extremely slow. I just don't get how people memorize all of it and play through at 120bpm. I have no idea until I saw people on YT ripping through the exercises with accents and double rolls. WTH???

    I'm sitting there going left...right...wait pause.. right..left...pause..right..right.

  19. #19

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    There are any number of mutations possible with the book and every drummer and teacher that uses it has their favorites.

    Start by doing the literal interpretation of the book, in other words, playing exactly what is on the page and nothing more. Start with the first combination on the first page and work on it until it's right. Once you have it correct, repeat it until it's committed to your muscle memory, then move on to the next one. Maybe that takes 20 minutes, maybe it takes 20 days, everyone's a little different. Success will come from patient and disciplined practice and correct execution.

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by MattDrums View Post
    There are any number of mutations possible with the book and every drummer and teacher that uses it has their favorites.

    Start by doing the literal interpretation of the book, in other words, playing exactly what is on the page and nothing more. Start with the first combination on the first page and work on it until it's right. Once you have it correct, repeat it until it's committed to your muscle memory, then move on to the next one. Maybe that takes 20 minutes, maybe it takes 20 days, everyone's a little different. Success will come from patient and disciplined practice and correct execution.
    This ^!
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  21. #21

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    I may be really asking a stupid question, but I am having one hell of a time with the triplets. I can no doubt-ably play the 16th notes smoothly and the 8note triplets as smooth, but when conjoining them, I get off tempo and the 16th notes wants to play in triplet form. Does anyone have a video or audio track that demonstrates the flow of these patterns? I just think I cannot hear the routine, so trying to play it makes cacophony.

  22. #22

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    I practice the same exercises until I can play them clean, Stone himself recommended it that way on the introduction.
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  23. #23

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    so how does this book relate to music? Is it any different in the end than playing paradiddles/rudiments back to back at different tempos to warm up? Or maybe it's just the satisfaction of playing every note correctly in the book as laid down by a famous marching, snare drum instructor?
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  24. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by slinglander View Post
    so how does this book relate to music? Is it any different in the end than playing paradiddles/rudiments back to back at different tempos to warm up? Or maybe it's just the satisfaction of playing every note correctly in the book as laid down by a famous marching, snare drum instructor?
    In my opinion, "Stick Control" helps structure a practice discipline to build muscle memory and gain control over the sticks and to improve sight reading. For beginners, the challenge is to keep even, steady sticking patterns while reading notes at varying tempos. For the advance drummer, it's a great way to brush up. This book isn't for everybody but many drummers consider it a "right of passage" to delve into the book at least once in their drumming journey. For me, Stick Control is one tool in the box I can use to practice.

  25. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    For the advance drummer, it's a great way to brush up. This book isn't for everybody but many drummers consider it a "right of passage" to delve into the book at least once in their drumming journey. For me, Stick Control is one tool in the box I can use to practice.
    I work out of that book two to three times per week. I'm not good enough not to.

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