For this online drum lesson I’m going to talk about the full stroke. This is one of the most important elements of drum stick technique. It’s one of the first techniques Dave Divis, one of my early drum teachers taught me. Dave was studying with Joe Morello at the time. He shared lots of stories about Joe Morello with me. I remember him saying at the time, that he would really like to see Buddy Rich do some of the things he’d seen Morello do. He wasn’t sure Buddy could, as amazing as he was.
What I started learning from Dave was that playing fast had a lot to do with efficiency of motion. I learned that you needed to learn to work with the law of physics. You wanted the stick to do half the work for you.
Morello taught Dave that you should be able to bounce the stick off the head no matter how you held the stick. I teach my students that when they’re first learning this technique that they should completely let go of the stick with their index finger and thumb. When learning this technique, these appendages tend to get in the way. You want to throw the stick into the head, letting it bounce back like a ball. When students hold on to the stick with their thumb and index finger like they normally would, they tend to pull the stick back up, rather than letting it bounce.
You want to experiment with your hand position on the stick. The drumstick and hand together work like a fulcrum. Therefore, it makes a big difference where on the stick you place your hand.
Next you want to practice bouncing the stick lightly on the head.
After you get the basic feeling of being able to bounce the stick, raise the stick about 6-8 inches off the head and throw the stick into the drum. Let the stick rebound to its starting position. This is called a half stroke.
After you get comfortable at this level, raise the stick completely perpendicular to the drum. throw the stick into the drum and let it bounce all the way back up to the perpendicular starting position. This is called a full stroke. This loosens up all the muscles in your forearm.
Practice this 5-15 minutes a day, with the metronome on 60-80 bpm. It’s not a speed exercise. It’s more about coordination, strength, and efficiency.
As you become more proficient, gradually bring your fingers back around the stick, while still maintaining the bounce stroke. Eventually, you will develop control, along with strength and speed. this is the purpose of practicing full strokes.
Good luck!
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