Open-handed, matched grip or traditional grip

[Anatomyofadrumsolo]

hey fellow drum enthusiasts, just wanna know whether you are a matched or traditional grip player. or do you play the drums open-handed.

well ill start, i use the traditional grip. mainly because i have jazz influence and background.

 

[blurred]

hey man, all 3 ways of playing have their positive and negative sides. although i can't really think of one for open handed. do ur research into things, find out why trad players use trad and match players use match. sometimes it how they were taught and sometimes its because they feel it best suits their playing some do it cause their idols play tht way.

 

[Anatomyofadrumsolo]

yeah..

Traditional Grip - It originated from the very beginning, when military snare drummers went into "drumming". Those military drummers had their drums slung in front of their chest's in a 45 degree angle. With that, they can not hold the drumsticks with the matched grip as it would make their left hands in an akward position.

So some genius came up with a new way of holding the sticks. It still kept the fulcrum point, but it change the way of holding it and abit of the wrist action. This was called the Traditional Grip.

And so when these drummers came to drumming, they brought along their style of holding the sticks. So that is why drummers like the Great Buddy Rich has his snare tilted to one side, its to have his left-hand stick parallel to the side of the drum.

Yeah.. this is the story behind the traditional grip. =)

 

[sidmontu]

it's a little emotional to me when i using diff grips. i use matched for most jams, mostly rock or funk. i switch to traditional when i'm playin jazz or swing sorta music. for traditional grip, i find my ghost notes are the softer and tryin to accent with traditional grip produces a different crack for me. i'm still new to traditional, so whatever i do with traditional, i can do it with matched. i'm jus usin it more often now to try and get a proper hang of it. most drummers say it's an emotional difference between the two, and i kinda have a small picture of it atm.

open hand, only played for fun..

 

[Jugman]

i started out matched. but now i'm trying to learn both open and traditional. and i guess they can probably help my hands to be more in sync.
still waiting for results though.
practice makes perfect

 

[evident]

i used to think i used the match grip. then i realized i was doing it wrong. i was simply holding the sticks...

but after i took up lessons again, i now can proudly say i use the proper matched grip (though it's tough switching over). sometimes i play with traditional grip for the fun of it..

open-handed is way out of my league..maybe i'll try it when i train my left side of the body..LOL. i envy carter beauford..his open handed style makes his playing sound BEAU-tiful because you can ride the hats whilst doing a fill-in.

 

[Phlemingo]

hey all, actually i realized i use traditional because of very practical reasons - when you play things like funk or jazz i find it very handy to be able to comp the sizzling hat and your toms with your left hand while you ride or tinker about with your right. traditional makes the pivot much easier for me, uses very little energy, feels very fluid and natural. this is opposed to moving your entire arm (in my case) in a somewhat awkward position to hit the hihat at the side closest to the snare drum.

speaking of hihat, my hihat's really close to my snare too, so somehow match grip makes my sticks err, tangle. another practicality.

and, in such improvisatory music where your repertoire of timbre plays a large part in your solos, the traditional grip lets left hand stick flipping to play with the butt become an easy motion that you can move to and fro from using the help of a rebound.

oh and i think it looks cool, do you think so? haha!

 

[chrisxtremes]

I would say is up to individual. Some jazz drummers use match grip too right? As long as he's comfortable with it and the sound sounds as he wanted, is good enough. Would be advisable to maser one 1st before learning another one. Again is up to individual. Hehe

Cheers

 

[caijunlong]

I play open handed matched grip.

Blurred, there are cons for using open handed. I was playing at some pub with the ride cymbal on the right. The platform for the drumset is too small for the ride to be shifted. So I had to use my right hand to play on the ride which don't sound as good.

 

[pacifusion]

i use both!

usually traditional,
match grip for heavier music when i gotta hit the cymbals more with my left hand as well.

but i find the traditional grip providing me with better stick control.

weird thing: using different grips makes me play very differently

some times i try using traditional grip in punk songs and

it gives the song a more ehh.. funk sound

so go ahead and try diff grips and find the one that suits you/the piece bestt~

 

[xenOgenesis]

i play matched grip most of the time...but there are also 3 different ways of using the matched grip. the french grip, german grip and the american grip.

the french grip, both palms are facing each other when playing, the german grip, both palms are parallel to the drum surface, the american grip, which is a combination of both the french and german grips, both hands tilted 45 degrees while playing.

generally i think most people would be using the american grips as it offers much more mobility compared to just sticking to one.

i switch between french and german grips during playing...to prevent the exhaustion of my wrist muscles.

hope that helps, my friend..

 

[ryuxdragonx]

I play more of 80's rock, american hard rock and a bit of punk and metal, so I use matched grip. I started out with matched anyway, but as soon as I got used to trad grip, I realise I can't play matched as god as before

The minute I pick up my stick, I will go into trad grip. Well, I still play matched on the kit though. But trad grip is fun to play, and personally I think trad grip is much better for showmanship than matched, kinda like duh

Both have it advantages and disadvantages

For right-handed drummers like me, I think it will be really good if we can learn the open-handed style, which will improve in our flexibility in creating new beats and different sound

 

[metzalx]

It would depend on what I need for the song...Control - Trad grip, Power - Matched grip. But I'm not good at trad grip though...Lack of practice, so I use matched grip most of the time. I used to play open-handed when I first started drumming, but I switched to cross and I lost my open-handed touch...Seems like a good time to get it back again

 

[HeyJoeILoveYourSis]

Traditional grip FTW!

Joe