How to Hold the Drumsticks for Paradiddles

Series Summary

The drum is perhaps the oldest known musical instrument and its basic design has not changed in thousands of years. Far from today’s uses as a percussive foundation for pop music or for fueling marching band excitement, drumming has a more profound history as a method of communication, and as an implement of religious symbolism.

In this free video series, our expert Shaun Schaefer will teach you how to do paradiddles on the drums. He'll teach you how to hold the drumsticks, talk about drum rudiments, and tell you how to read the time signatures 4/4, 2/4, and even 6/8. He'll also teach you how to play 16th notes, single and double paradiddles, how to use paradiddles in drumming, and even go over some common problems playing paradiddles. He'll even teach you the paradiddle diddle, and the paradiddle drag.

Video Transcript

" In this clip, the first thing we need to do is learn how to hold the drumsticks. We can't play paradiddles unless we know how to hold the sticks. So, let's take a look at how we do that. The first thing we need to do in learning how to hold the sticks is extend your right hand like your going to shake someone else's hand. Take the stick, place it in the palm of your hand, and leave about an inch or so of the butt of the stick sticking out. This is the butt and up here is the tip, and this is just the shaft. So, have it like this and wrap your fingers around and then put your thumb on the side. It doesn't go underneath and it doesn't go above. It goes on the side and you can see this is our fulcrum area; this is where we get all of our power from the wrist. So, you hold the stick like this wrist parallel to the ceiling or the floor. Then you just do the same thing with the left hand, wrap the fingers around, thumb on the side, and that is how you hold the sticks with a match grip. Now there is another way to hold the sticks and its called Traditional. Right hand stays the same, but you take your left hand and extend like your going to shake someone's hand and put the stick across the top of the hand like this. Instead of only having an inch stick out, you let a lot more stick out like two inches. Then you curl your ring finger underneath, you rest the stick right on your fingernail and tuck the pinkie in Your thumb is here, touch your thumb and your forefinger and your middle finger just rest right there. This is called a Traditional grip."