Playing With the Traditional Snare Grip

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Frank, in this clip we’re going to look at traditional grip. Two fingers, these two are for down; the thumb also pushes down. These two fingers are for pushing up, so these three are the grip that push down and these two push up; you don’t need your pinky, don’t cut it off, but you just don’t use it very much. Some people for effect pull it all the way back. There are different variations, but over simplified that’s the grip. What we don’t do with traditional grip is use the arm a lot going up and down; if you went to shake somebody’s hand, you would do this, that is not the grip, however if you went to go grab a door knob and turn it, that’s the motion. In junior high school, when I first started drums with lessons, I remember meeting in the cafetorium on stage, where the instructor had me sit down in front of a practice pad like this one and just rotate, as if I was turning a door knob, that’s the motion. It’s not a lot of power, so I added these two fingers and that’s the power, notice that I’m not coming up and down, so that’s traditional grip. The right hand stays matched…if you want to add just a little power, add some more."