Yeah Rob!!! You're doing a fabulous job showing people how to get more volume without sacrificing tone. Your sound is huge, but not harsh on the ears!!!
I have plenty of experience being a weak-footed drummer who eventually caught enough shame from sound guys to seek the truth. I dunno why I was so adamant about playing heel down, but Dave Weckl showed me the light. I remember vividly hearing him say "you use your whole arm when you hit with sticks, why wouldn't you use your whole leg with a pedal?" It honestly changed my life.
Hey Rob, it's great to see you showing younger players (and all of us) that it's never necessary to bash like a caveman in order to achieve high volume levels. I always enjoy your content and your relaxed yet focused manner. Keep on doing what you do. Ww need you.
The reason a whipping motion is so effective is because the momentum you generate with your arm/hand is transferred to the stick. Momentum is mass times velocity. So if the momentum from your arm is transferred to a lighter object, it's velocity will be greater. Therefore, you get more speed in the stick without having to move anywhere near that fast with your actual muscles.
@@mikeZL3XD7029 It's really useful to understand Moeller as a principle in physics that you can apply anyway you want rather than a specific technique. This is why being loose is so hyper important. You need to ensure you conserve momentum down the line. Being tight prevents the energy waves from propagating, and the force is instead directed at your tendons, causing stress and inflammation.
I've been playing 25+ years and never knew about gripping at the back of your stick! I knew about using the middle finger as your fulcrum when you play loud and don't need as much finesse but didn't add the other step that comes with it! Thank you!
I think you also mentioned something about a dynamic/volume threshold in one of the older videos. A lot of drummers end up hitting harder than required on a drum that has already maxed out on its volume cap and end up hurting themselves. Mostly in an unmiked situation. Great videos as always man.
Working on this for two years now. Weight, velocity, and the wrist are still key elements in my experience. Distance, too. Staying relaxed while minimizing how high you let the stick lift off the heads. Relaxing and keeping the movements natural have been the toughest lesson. It's almost like really working on your ghost notes. Heel down is easier to keep quiet on the kick drum, but heel up is more comfortable at faster speeds. A bit like jumping rope. I would be interested in a video on it, too. I'm probably not explaining it well.
Smaller stick size, hit closer to the rim of the drums without rimshotting (especially snare), hold the sticks further up (same deal, not a lot of rebound but much less weight), use LESS whipping moeller stroke and focus on wrists and fingers only, use heal down bass drum technique with foot all the way up. Get used to playing that way and you'll be playing much lighter without needing to change your intensity!
high velocity but low stick heights. You'll still get that same crack and you'll feel the energy more, but with less volume. And just like how Rob said to choke back for more volume, choke way up on the stick to play quieter.
Perfect video, as always! (and I though I was the only drummer that hate seeing those hacking away at their kit 😋). Thanks for everything you do to us Rob!!!
Thanks for the great tips and examples Rob . You have great content for guys like me . I started playing drums again , after not playing for 15 years . You're my go to guy for new insight. Thank you!!
I remember that day I shared my kit during a gig, which was at the time still equipped with it's crappy stock chinese heads. A death metal concert later, my whole set of heads were insanely dented, like they took a shotgun blast... It's then I realised that I wasn't that hard of a hitter...
great Job rob, and definitely word to the wise for sure. Moeller with wrist (whip), half or full with the forearms. Watch Kenny Aronoff, lots of power with this technique
Saying that you play the bass with your leg and not your foot helped me a lot. Thanks bro ! Could you please do a tutorial on Go Go drumming. I’ve asked before but I didn’t get a reply. Do you hate Go Go music ? I’m just asking because it’s a regional genre so a lot of people outside DC don’t like it. Let me know either way. Thanks again !
Besides Velocity and Weight, you added one more important element...I saw it a little bit..."The Stink Face"!! You gotta make the stink face for power! LOL!!
I switched up and forced myself to play left hand lead for a while. All the weakness in my left hand disappeared. (I noticed John Blackwell typically played left hand lead although he is a righty, and his power was intense with both hands.)
At 60 and a total novice in traditional drumming I am so excited about the new journey. I don’t see paradise is a drag, I don’t see practice of single and double strokes to get them really smooth as a drag anymore. Quite the contrary, I find that send moment when it sounds perfect. Although those moments are fleeting right now, I look forward to the day when that’s how I play. Even if you buy 70s! Thank you man network, And thank you Rob “beatdown”!!!
Dr. SamE I will agree most drummers play cymbals too loud. I like to use both extremes, in terms of dynamic contrast. While some music calls for loud, I like when people I play with comment that they could feel me more than hear me.
LOL! "....without hitting hard." is exactly my issue! I've broken actually broken mounting hardware. Kick pedal chains and even hinges. Heads and cymbals pretty often, but not so often in recent years. (after I moved down to 7s) I have a problem playing less volume.
As always Sir, fantastic work ! I aways struggle with ergonomics and height of the throne in relationship to power. As you know I had major knee surgery and it still drives me nuts today. I also wanted to know if there are any good drum shoes the will allow your foot to slide better on the bass drum pedal? Any help?
I used to actually hit hard. I’d smash cymbals. Damaged myself doing it that way too. Had 10 years off after having an operation on my hand. Technique is most definitely what it is. Not smashing the crap out of it. The right sticks. Holding it right. Holding it wrong is what caused me to get CTS.
I know off topic of the video, but I figured the best way to reach you was a recent vid. I’ve seen the traditional grip lesson you have, and I’m doing the warmups, but I just can seem to get all 3 essential fingers to work together well? I can work them independently, but when I put them together, it’s like my hand looses anything I’ve learned. Any suggestions?
Great video. Could you one day explain in depth the meat & potatoes back-beats using traditional grip (Without ripping my thumb off)..? I prefer traditional grip in every way, but I'm killing my left hand when I use the rim on 2 & 4 stuff. I've tried zeroing in on technique, but I'm not finding any good results on my own.
From my experience, I would say first, work on accuracy. If you are hitting nice meaty rimshots, dead on (hitting head and rim exactly the same time.) they will almost never hurt. And for the love of God, LOOSEN YOUR GRIP! If your squeezing like it's no tommorow, its gonna h u r t to hit hard. :)
@@jakegreene4313 I've got a super relaxed grip; just enough to not drop the stick. Whenever I do rim shots using traditional grip there is a load of pressure on the joint that connects my thumb to my hand. I use technique over force, so I'm not hitting too hard by any stretch. It's really irritated me, because I had to take time to get my left hand caught up to my right hand using matched grip so I can still have strong back beats with the same level of speed and finesse as my traditional grip; which kind of sucked as I never used match grip for anything, and I use finger control for everything. I basically had to start over from scratch on my left hand.
@@legacyShredder1 for what it's worth that's exactly where I am. My problem is my right hand has millions and millions of hits in its muscle memory, playing American grip, and my left hand has almost that many playing trad grip .. nowhere near that number in matched grip. It's struggling to catch up in matched grip. I suspect there's nothing for it but getting the hours in. Trying at the same time to master push-pull, which I never used to play: it has a strangely levelling effect as it's a learning experience for both hands.
@@harrysmart6236 Here is what got my left hand equal to my right : Simple triplets- (Right left left) Use triplets in say a 4/4 drum beat, using the left hand for ghosting on the snare, and also the 2 & 4 on the snare. Paradiddlediddle using left hand lead. (Play as 2 sets of triplets) Six Stroke Roll left hand lead. (Play as 2 sets of triplets) Combining the two rudiments while left hand lead. Six stroke Roll into Paradiddlediddle: L r r l l R L r l l r r (Again 4 sets of triplets) (I use basic rudiments as hi-hat beats. As with a paradiddle- (on the hats) L r l l R l rr; Next left is a Snare hit, followed by the rest of the hits on the hats.) Buddy Rich uses this one all the time, so I figured I should abuse it myself: R L R L R R L L, and the left hand lead version L R L R L L R R Do all of these with rebound, without rebound, play variations with all accents, play variations without accents, again with and without rebound. Use fingers only, use wrist only, use arm only, and of course use combinations of all three. Also just play your normal routine using the left hand as a dominant. Any technique that you do on the right, learn on the left, and then lead with the left. (Something I realized after a little while; I was over gripping with my left hand while over compensating for a lack of muscle memory. My left hand was constantly getting worn down and exhausted due to over squeezing/gripping, making me believe that I didn't have the same strength with that hand. Once I relaxed my grip everything started falling into place a lot faster.)
I'd say yes, but there's a lot of settings for increasing the volume on your e drums, and also I'd say it also depends where you hit it (sensors and stuff)
Yes it applies to electronic drums all the same. And if you use electronic drums as a practice tool to be a better drummer on acoustic drums, i don't recommend you use "easy" settings on your e-drum... Quite the opposite actually. Have settings that kinda work "against" you (making you hit the shells harder (by lowering their volume), and the cymbals softer (by raising their volume), and having loose skin tension), and when you will play on an acoustic kit, you will fly and sound great !
great stuff .. do you also have a video on how to play quietly? Would make a good companion piece to this. For acoustic gigs / small venues.
and after that maybe a video about how to apply dynamics by combining the two?
Yeah Rob!!! You're doing a fabulous job showing people how to get more volume without sacrificing tone. Your sound is huge, but not harsh on the ears!!!
Professional brick layer would make for a great shirt. Your channel is awesome. Thank you for what you do!
I have plenty of experience being a weak-footed drummer who eventually caught enough shame from sound guys to seek the truth. I dunno why I was so adamant about playing heel down, but Dave Weckl showed me the light. I remember vividly hearing him say "you use your whole arm when you hit with sticks, why wouldn't you use your whole leg with a pedal?" It honestly changed my life.
Hey Rob, it's great to see you showing younger players (and all of us) that it's never necessary to bash like a caveman in order to achieve high volume levels.
I always enjoy your content and your relaxed yet focused manner. Keep on doing what you do. Ww need you.
The reason a whipping motion is so effective is because the momentum you generate with your arm/hand is transferred to the stick. Momentum is mass times velocity. So if the momentum from your arm is transferred to a lighter object, it's velocity will be greater. Therefore, you get more speed in the stick without having to move anywhere near that fast with your actual muscles.
@@mikeZL3XD7029 It's really useful to understand Moeller as a principle in physics that you can apply anyway you want rather than a specific technique. This is why being loose is so hyper important. You need to ensure you conserve momentum down the line. Being tight prevents the energy waves from propagating, and the force is instead directed at your tendons, causing stress and inflammation.
Another REAL DRUM LIFE video I can put to the gig! Thank you Rob!
I've been playing 25+ years and never knew about gripping at the back of your stick! I knew about using the middle finger as your fulcrum when you play loud and don't need as much finesse but didn't add the other step that comes with it! Thank you!
Love the solid advice! It was a good reminder of what I need to target as soon as I get my weak hand built back up! Thanks for another awesome video.
Excellent lesson very helpful. Thank you.
Great tips Rob. Thanks
Thank you Rob best class ever!!!
I think you also mentioned something about a dynamic/volume threshold in one of the older videos. A lot of drummers end up hitting harder than required on a drum that has already maxed out on its volume cap and end up hurting themselves. Mostly in an unmiked situation.
Great videos as always man.
I would love a lesson on playing less loud, but still with energy and intensity in a band situation.
Working on this for two years now. Weight, velocity, and the wrist are still key elements in my experience. Distance, too. Staying relaxed while minimizing how high you let the stick lift off the heads. Relaxing and keeping the movements natural have been the toughest lesson. It's almost like really working on your ghost notes. Heel down is easier to keep quiet on the kick drum, but heel up is more comfortable at faster speeds. A bit like jumping rope. I would be interested in a video on it, too. I'm probably not explaining it well.
An insta fix is tightening your grip at lower dynamics. Don’t death grip it but definitely tighten it a lot. Always worked for me
Smaller stick size, hit closer to the rim of the drums without rimshotting (especially snare), hold the sticks further up (same deal, not a lot of rebound but much less weight), use LESS whipping moeller stroke and focus on wrists and fingers only, use heal down bass drum technique with foot all the way up. Get used to playing that way and you'll be playing much lighter without needing to change your intensity!
high velocity but low stick heights. You'll still get that same crack and you'll feel the energy more, but with less volume. And just like how Rob said to choke back for more volume, choke way up on the stick to play quieter.
This was simple, informative and excellent. Thanks, Rob.
Perfect video, as always! (and I though I was the only drummer that hate seeing those hacking away at their kit 😋). Thanks for everything you do to us Rob!!!
Thanks for the great tips and examples Rob . You have great content for guys like me . I started playing drums again , after not playing for 15 years . You're my go to guy for new insight. Thank you!!
Thanks man! I've been looking for a video like this for ages!
love the kicks
I remember that day I shared my kit during a gig, which was at the time still equipped with it's crappy stock chinese heads. A death metal concert later, my whole set of heads were insanely dented, like they took a shotgun blast... It's then I realised that I wasn't that hard of a hitter...
That groove after #2 was so dope! Funky man!
great Job rob, and definitely word to the wise for sure. Moeller with wrist (whip), half or full with the forearms. Watch Kenny Aronoff, lots of power with this technique
Very nice man
Saying that you play the bass with your leg and not your foot helped me a lot. Thanks bro ! Could you please do a tutorial on Go Go drumming. I’ve asked before but I didn’t get a reply. Do you hate Go Go music ? I’m just asking because it’s a regional genre so a lot of people outside DC don’t like it. Let me know either way. Thanks again !
Besides Velocity and Weight, you added one more important element...I saw it a little bit..."The Stink Face"!! You gotta make the stink face for power! LOL!!
Hey Rob, Great stuff as always. Can you do a drumkit tour sometime soon? Im absolutely love the sound of your kit ♥
Digging your channel so much!! Thank you Rob.
One of your shirts is next!! Still working on my hands - specially that weak ass left hand of mine. Lol
I switched up and forced myself to play left hand lead for a while. All the weakness in my left hand disappeared. (I noticed John Blackwell typically played left hand lead although he is a righty, and his power was intense with both hands.)
At 60 and a total novice in traditional drumming I am so excited about the new journey. I don’t see paradise is a drag, I don’t see practice of single and double strokes to get them really smooth as a drag anymore. Quite the contrary, I find that send moment when it sounds perfect. Although those moments are fleeting right now, I look forward to the day when that’s how I play. Even if you buy 70s! Thank you man network, And thank you Rob “beatdown”!!!
Excellent lesson !
great tone
I Love it how you cross your arms after fi a fill!
And that’s how it’s done, laying bricks without hurting the baby drums! Thx bro!
Great stuff bro. Nice tips. I use these
Rim shots work great for added snare volume. For added cymbal volume, I generally crash my hats or ride along with my crash if needed.
You don't usually need more cymbal volume, most drummer's play cymbals way too loud anyway. That don't sound nice.
Dr. SamE I will agree most drummers play cymbals too loud. I like to use both extremes, in terms of dynamic contrast. While some music calls for loud, I like when people I play with comment that they could feel me more than hear me.
Amazing drummer We'll said brother perfect I play with finesse rudement I let the weight of my stixx with perfect round circle Ball tips do the work
LOL! "....without hitting hard." is exactly my issue! I've broken actually broken mounting hardware. Kick pedal chains and even hinges. Heads and cymbals pretty often, but not so often in recent years. (after I moved down to 7s) I have a problem playing less volume.
Bossa Nova?
As always Sir, fantastic work ! I aways struggle with ergonomics and height of the throne in relationship to power. As you know I had major knee surgery and it still drives me nuts today. I also wanted to know if there are any good drum shoes the will allow your foot to slide better on the bass drum pedal? Any help?
I play in socks. Try it.
Jojo Mayer has a leather sole glued to a Converse All Star pair ;)
I used to actually hit hard.
I’d smash cymbals.
Damaged myself doing it that way too.
Had 10 years off after having an operation on my hand.
Technique is most definitely what it is.
Not smashing the crap out of it.
The right sticks.
Holding it right.
Holding it wrong is what caused me to get CTS.
I know off topic of the video, but I figured the best way to reach you was a recent vid. I’ve seen the traditional grip lesson you have, and I’m doing the warmups, but I just can seem to get all 3 essential fingers to work together well? I can work them independently, but when I put them together, it’s like my hand looses anything I’ve learned. Any suggestions?
So thrue thanks 🥁🥁🥁👏👏👏🇨🇦
I struggle with playing quieter, that could be a cool video! :)
Same principles (plus one):
- velocity (your control)
- weight (stick material and build)
- stiffness/softness (try brushes, hot rods, lighter sticks, dampened drumheads...)
Great video. Could you one day explain in depth the meat & potatoes back-beats using traditional grip (Without ripping my thumb off)..? I prefer traditional grip in every way, but I'm killing my left hand when I use the rim on 2 & 4 stuff. I've tried zeroing in on technique, but I'm not finding any good results on my own.
From my experience, I would say first, work on accuracy. If you are hitting nice meaty rimshots, dead on (hitting head and rim exactly the same time.) they will almost never hurt. And for the love of God, LOOSEN YOUR GRIP! If your squeezing like it's no tommorow, its gonna h u r t to hit hard. :)
@@jakegreene4313 I've got a super relaxed grip; just enough to not drop the stick. Whenever I do rim shots using traditional grip there is a load of pressure on the joint that connects my thumb to my hand. I use technique over force, so I'm not hitting too hard by any stretch. It's really irritated me, because I had to take time to get my left hand caught up to my right hand using matched grip so I can still have strong back beats with the same level of speed and finesse as my traditional grip; which kind of sucked as I never used match grip for anything, and I use finger control for everything. I basically had to start over from scratch on my left hand.
@@legacyShredder1 for what it's worth that's exactly where I am. My problem is my right hand has millions and millions of hits in its muscle memory, playing American grip, and my left hand has almost that many playing trad grip .. nowhere near that number in matched grip. It's struggling to catch up in matched grip. I suspect there's nothing for it but getting the hours in. Trying at the same time to master push-pull, which I never used to play: it has a strangely levelling effect as it's a learning experience for both hands.
@@harrysmart6236 Here is what got my left hand equal to my right : Simple triplets- (Right left left) Use triplets in say a 4/4 drum beat, using the left hand for ghosting on the snare, and also the 2 & 4 on the snare.
Paradiddlediddle using left hand lead. (Play as 2 sets of triplets)
Six Stroke Roll left hand lead. (Play as 2 sets of triplets)
Combining the two rudiments while left hand lead. Six stroke Roll into Paradiddlediddle: L r r l l R L r l l r r (Again 4 sets of triplets)
(I use basic rudiments as hi-hat beats. As with a paradiddle- (on the hats) L r l l R l rr; Next left is a Snare hit, followed by the rest of the hits on the hats.)
Buddy Rich uses this one all the time, so I figured I should abuse it myself: R L R L R R L L, and the left hand lead version L R L R L L R R
Do all of these with rebound, without rebound, play variations with all accents, play variations without accents, again with and without rebound. Use fingers only, use wrist only, use arm only, and of course use combinations of all three.
Also just play your normal routine using the left hand as a dominant. Any technique that you do on the right, learn on the left, and then lead with the left.
(Something I realized after a little while; I was over gripping with my left hand while over compensating for a lack of muscle memory. My left hand was constantly getting worn down and exhausted due to over squeezing/gripping, making me believe that I didn't have the same strength with that hand. Once I relaxed my grip everything started falling into place a lot faster.)
Ok, I’m off to town to buy RED shoes. What color do I need to play soft ?
those shoes are uncannily wonderful, and I speak as someone who has the paradiddle t-shirt in grey
Rob, what's that cute little snare right where I put my second one? It looks... expensive.
What’s the snare used on the intro...sounds great.
Cool thanks! I think Dave Grohl uses this technique.
Rob, I am wondering what your reasons were for choosing a Yamaha Drum Kit I am looking for a high quality drum kit with really good tone.,
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch is a great sounding, affordable kit. I have one and zero complaints.
Wow great video!! Does this apply to electronic drums ? I have acoustic at home and play electronic drums and church ,
I'd say yes, but there's a lot of settings for increasing the volume on your e drums, and also I'd say it also depends where you hit it (sensors and stuff)
Yes it applies to electronic drums all the same.
And if you use electronic drums as a practice tool to be a better drummer on acoustic drums, i don't recommend you use "easy" settings on your e-drum... Quite the opposite actually.
Have settings that kinda work "against" you (making you hit the shells harder (by lowering their volume), and the cymbals softer (by raising their volume), and having loose skin tension), and when you will play on an acoustic kit, you will fly and sound great !
I'm definitely a bricklayer.
Btw call Quincy lol
The A&F snare is back!!!👍👍
That snare ain’t goin’ NOWHERE 😑⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
@@RobBeatdownBrown Glad to here it!!!
Great tips! I got one more tip.....trigger everything! Lol jk.
So basically using your elbow takes you to eleven!
Exactly👌🏽