How To Hold Your Drum Sticks

Contents


For this lesson you will need:

  • A pair of drum sticks.
  • Something to hit (practice pad, snare, pillow etc...). A practice pad or snare is preferable as we will also be discussing where to hit a drum.

In this introductory lesson we are going to cover how to correctly hold your sticks and how to move your arms and hands whilst playing. This is generally referred to as Technique and is a really important aspect of playing that is often overlooked. It is very important to get these ideas firmly lodged in your head early on as bad habits are easily developed but very hard to get out of.

There are several different methods of holding the stick when playing and in this article we are covering 'Matched Grip'. I prefer this grip as I believe it is more suited to the modern drum set, but there are many different opinions on this.

Our aim is to get a firm hold on the stick whilst allowing it to loosely move within the hand, creating a very easy and relaxed movement when playing. Any excessive effort in your strokes needs to be eliminated as it can be a massive drain on stamina and generally makes your playing more difficult. You will read or hear me say throughout all Drumscore lessons to make sure your grip and technique are correct, so you may want to come back and review this article often.

We are going to start off by putting your first and second fingers together on either hand. It doesn't matter which as both hands are going to end up the same. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

Take a stick and place it horizontally on the top knuckles of your first and second fingers, about a third of the way up the stick. The top of the stick should be pointing the same side as your thumb. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

Press your thumb onto the stick. The point of contact between the thumb and first finger is where we 'grip' the stick. There should be enough pressure there to stop the stick from falling out of your hand, but not so much that it can't move freely within the grip. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

Gently wrap your remaining two fingers around the stick. The job of these fingers is to support the stick and stop it moving too loosely when playing. The stick should now be gently pressed against the palm of your hand, gripped with the thumb and first finger then supported by the rest. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

Repeat the above steps with your other hand.

Now we have the sticks correctly in your hands we will discuss how to correctly strike a drum.


The first and most important thing to remember is that the backs of your hands will always face upwards. Put your hands out in front of you superman style and relax, that will roughly show you how your hands should be positioned. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

Come out of your superman pose and sit at your drum or practice pad. At all times try and keep relaxed, paying particular attention to your shoulders. Take a deep breathe in, then let it out and try and retain that end shoulder position whilst playing. If your muscles are overly tense it is creating extra resistance when playing, which means each stroke requires far more effort than is needed. I suggest to focus on your shoulders as relaxing here usually sorts your arms out too.

Place the tips of your sticks into the centre of the drum/pad, making sure you are using the grip and hand position described above. When done correctly your sticks will make an upside down 'V' shape, with the point in the centre of the drum/pad. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

Lift your right stick up in the air, using only your wrist. We will always play from the wrist where ever possible as it requires far less effort than lifting from the elbow. Try and get a nice big movement, get the stick to point as close to straight upwards as you can. Like this:

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

How to hold you sticks

Bring the stick back down to hit the drum. Once it has hit you should be back in your original position.

This downwards motion is almost more of a 'let the stick drop' than a 'push the stick into the drum'. When your strike hits, don't force the stick into the drum head. Because it is a hard surface there will be some rebound, like when you throw a ball at a wall. We can use that rebound to make our life much easier. (More on that concept later!)

Try the same with your left hand.

Keep repeating these movements until you are comfortable with this method. You don't need to worry about playing anything particularly rhythmic at the moment, just keep hitting one hand at a time.

When you are comfortable with your grip I would trying our difficulty level 1 Single Stroke Roll lesson series. It is a very easy exercise that is great for developing your technique without being overly complicated.


In summary, to hold your sticks:

  • Place the stick on the top knuckles of the first and second finger, about a third of the way up the stick.
  • Grip the stick with the thumb, tight enough to not drop it but loose enough to allow it to move.
  • Place the third and fourth finger around the stick to prevent it moving too much when playing.

When playing:

  • The backs of your hands should always face upwards.
  • Your arms and shoulders should be relaxed.
  • Your sticks will make an upside down 'V' with the point in the centre of the drum.
  • Always play from your wrists wherever possible.
  • Don't force the stick into the drum.

I know that is a lot of information to simply hold a stick and hit something. Whilst you can just go sit at your kit and bash it till you're exhausted, if you learn to control your technique properly it will make your playing much easier and will make you sound loads better.

Lessons

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