Lesson 3 // Finger Strength
Welcome to Lesson 3!
Thanks for tuning in and I hope that you find this helpful and informative! This lesson is definitely crucial for your development as a drummer/percussionist as it transcends one specific type of drumming. It can be applied to drumset, marching, latin, and even mallet percussion.
We're talking about finger strength.
Every percussionist/drummer needs strong fingers; it's the only way to fully utilize the hand and the stick. We all know that we need a strong wrist (that is how we turn and move the stick). However, what a lot of people do not know, is that in order to really maximize the motion in our wrist, we need strong fingers as support.
A lot of young drummers have difficulty maximizing two different heights (and sounds). Here is a picture of a basic Accent/Tap exercise:
The issue with this exercise is that young drummers (a lot of the time) do not have the strength to play a down stroke AND keep the stick down to play the taps. What happens is, the group will start playing this exercise and the instructor (and the listener) will hear this exercise as one similar sound.
Instead of hearing:
DUT dun DUT dun
We hear:
DUT dun DUT dun
Hear (and see) the difference?
Being drummers, what we want is hear two different sounds. This is a basic element of syncopation and rhythm, two fundamental things that make drumming awesome. Also, this is what our listeners want. They want to hear and feel a groove. However, without finger strength, this is nearly impossible.
This exercise is meant to take your hands through a somewhat strenuous workout so that, when you emerge victorious on the other side, you can look at your hand and say, "Whoa, that feels different."
****Make sure to have the sheet music downloaded! You can get it from the LESSONS page on our website!
The video demonstration will provide most of the visual cues for you, however, we still want you to know what you're doing and why you're doing it.
"Finger Strength" starts with the right hand in FRENCH grip.
Now wait just a minute.
What in the heck is FRENCH grip?
I thought there were only Matched and Traditional grip?
You're not wrong. However, french grip is simply just a different way to play the drum. FG utilizes your fingers for softer passages in whatever music you might be playing. If you have ever been around Orchestras or Wind Ensembles, you will normally see timpanists utilizing French Grip. Also, drumset players tend to use this grip because of the ability to play lighter and faster.
A couple other grip options are GERMAN and AMERICAN. German grip is used for power at it relies on the entire hand rather than the fingers. American grip (The most commonly used in modern rudimental drumming) is a combination of the two as it has the best of both worlds, finesse and power. In this lesson we will be mainly focusing on AMERICAN and FRENCH grip.
The Three Grips:
French
American
German
These three grips refer to the position of your fulcrum. As you can see in the images above, in FG, the thumb is on top of the stick. In GG, the thumb is parallel to the drum. In AG, the thumb is directly between FG and GG.
These are separate from MATCHED and TRADITIONAL grip (terms you may be familiar with). Matched Grip simply refers to your hands holding the stick the same way. You can have matched FG, GG, or AG. In modern rudimental drumming, most drummers that play with a matched grip use Matched American Grip.
Traditional grip is just an entire different can of worms... but don't worry, we'll cover it in detail.
Back to the exercise // "Finger Strength" starts with French Grip and has you alternating between "All Fingers" and "Wrist Only". After this, you will turn your hand to American Grip and proceed from there starting with your Wrist and going down the line working out all your fingers. The RH portion ends once you work your way all the way back up to "RH French, All Fingers". Of course, if you are a MATCHED grip player, repeat this portion with your LEFT hand.
The second portion of "Finger Strength" is meant solely for those crazy people who play Traditional Grip (every Marching Snare drummer should be raising their hands). This portion will have you work your left hand starting from "Wrist Only". From that point on, you will be adding fingers until you reach "All Fingers" (obviously). However, it is important to note, once you finish the measure titled "Thumb Only", you can use your wrist from that point on as you start to add your other fingers into the mix.
Traditional Grip, as mentioned before, is a completely different can of worms than any other grip. We will be discussing the grip in DETAIL later this week, but for now, start with these finger exercises and use the images below AS WELL AS the video to see how your left hand should look while using Traditional grip.
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Happy Drumming Everyone!
- End Snare Percussion
