How to Play a Drum Roll with a Match Grip

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Shaun Schaefer on behalf of Expert Village. Today, we're going to be learning to play a drum roll. So in learning how to play a drum roll, the first thing we need to know how to do, no it's not how to play, it's actually how to hold the drumsticks. So the first thing we're going to do, we're going to start off with the right hand. And extend your right hand like you are going to shake someone's hand. And go ahead and pick up the stick, and just go ahead and place it right into the palm of your hand with about an inch or so of the butt of the stick sticking out at the bottom. And go ahead, wrap your fingers around like that, and then with your thumb, you don't want to put it on the top or underneath. You want to put it on the side of the stick. Like so. Also this is your fulcrum, right here and some people say keep it closed. I keep it open a little bit because I like to hold the sticks very loose. And that's kind of the key to playing a drum roll, is well you have to play. You have to be really loose. If you're really tight, you'll never ever be able to play a drum roll ever. So I like to, you know it's pretty loose. I'm just pulling it out with nothing. So you do that, and then you do the exact same thing with your left hand. And thumb on the side, and the fingers underneath the stick. And then about an inch or so of the butt of the stick sticking out at the bottom. Now, this is called Match Grip. There are two ways to hold drumsticks. Match Grip, which is this way, which is what we're going to use today. And then the other grip is Traditional Grip, which is like this. And we're not going to get into that too much. But this is primarily, you use it for all different genres. But I associate it mostly with Jazz drumming. But today, we are going to stick with the Match Grip to learn how to play a drum roll. So let's take a look at the next step."