left hand issue

[zephyr_f]

naturally being a rightie, getting the left hand to work like the right takes practice,practice and more practice but hell it's hard.been working on my stick grip but my double strokes are nowhere near acceptable.slowly but surely really does not seem promising right now.any advice other than practice?

 

[hafiz]

hey zephyr_f. How long have u been playing drums? i'm not the best person behind the drumkit but i hope this helps. there are some weaker hand exercise which can help develop ur weaker hand. I'll try to help u to find some links with these exercises. And other than practice, u HAVE to b patient. great drummers dont happen over nite. but there's no shortcuts. Practice makes Perfect

 

[Magnimas]

Hi hafiz u are right. For me i wouldnt even call myself just a righty.. i would call myself a right-hand DOMINANT.. i rely on my right hand dam lot, so naturally my left hand was alot weaker den my right.. and guess how long it took me to get a near perfect double stroke with my right hand ( not even perfect yet!).. nearly half a year.. wad i do in my free time is juz train up my left hand.. Im a student, so in class i juz hold pens and whack.. and on the kit, my warmup is done by using my left hand on the hats, and right on the snare.. to strengthen my left..

Hope this helps. =)

 

[kazuki]

one tip is to practice with a mirror, since your right hand better/more dominant, let the left hand learn from it. Mimic and copy it, providing that your right hand is having proper technique of court.

it might feel weird for the left hand at first, like hard to control or feels weird, but as long as your are practicing with correct technique, it will surely get more control. its like riding a bicycle, when u cant ride u totally can never understand or feel how it is to ride, but once u get better like having more balance,cycling further u will start to'seethe light'

hope i dont sound blur > <

 

[zephyr_f]

i'm still more like in the learning stages..hv been increasing the number of lessons trying to perfect my double strokes as i don't have access to a kit but it's really frustrating when i can't get that smooth rebound.my instructor did advice me to practice with a mirror but there's still no improvement.i just can't seem to get my right to mirror my left.

 

[kazuki]

do u have a practice pad? a rebonding surface like one which the practice pad have makes the learning curve better. focus on the aim of attaining equal sounding from both left and right hand while gradually correct the technique.

Dont worry if they are not 100 percent symetrical as its not meant to be perfect in terms of looking symetrical. but they should vary too much,like one hand have much bigger movements than the other.

just keep trying, watch videos, as, observe and u will gradually get it =)

 

[zephyr_f]

am actually looking for a practice pad.i like the feel of the HQ pad but unfortunately Yamaha does not seem to have them anymore.all they have are pro-marks.not having any luck in the buy/sell section so what would be the next best choice?i've tried a remo but it's rather loud

 

[hafiz]

dere's the ones at ranking. they cost around 40. not sure how 2 describe it though. but it's cheap n durable. anyways, do u noe how 2 read drum notes?

 

[zephyr_f]

oh gosh! drum notes??i can only read the hi hats notes on top and bass drum notes below on a staff. i get intimidated once the snare drum and the toms toms notes comes in...am more of a play by ear.

 

[alvinthedrummer]

I think increasing the number of lessons won't do much help. Rather, you should check your routine. You need to spend 80% of your time practicing slow (I mean really slow) and try to practice a holding a rudiment for at least 1-2 minutes non-stop. Short spurts will get you no where (endurance practice is the way to go for a start). Then rest for 30 secs...then play again for 1-2 minutes non- stop, then rest for 30 secs then try again for another 1-2 minutes. But for the last set, you can try to increase your speed a little. But if you start to fumble half-way through after increasing your speed, do not stop, slow it back down and try to correct it and fulfill the 1-2 minute drill.

You can also try to practice isolating each hand so that you can spend more focused time studying each hand....eg. RRRR LLLL or RRRRRRRR LLLLLLLL or RLL RLL RLL RLL or LRR LRR LRR LRR etc....