Illegal drumming helps you become a unique, amazing drummer. Learn a new science of drumming developed by drummer John Hvasta, a master Jazz drummer who studied and mentored with many of the greatest Jazz drummers, including Jim Chapin, Joe Morello, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, and Eddie Gladden. We post new videos every week, including long-form drum lessons, exemplary master drum solos, brief tips, special features, and wide-ranging discussions meant to deepen your knowledge of Jazz drumming and get you thinking more about how to become a more creative, skilled, and unique drummer. All our videos are created to help you find your true voice on the drums rather than imitating others so you'll stand out, be sought out, and carve out your own contributive space in the lineage of Jazz drumming, whether you want to be a pro or not. If this peaks your interest, subscribe to the channel, and also head over to www.johnhvastadrums.com for more info on John, lessons, and such.
You gotta strengthen your forearm! And make sure you employ your thumb in moving and controlling the stick. Like any work out, if it's unproductive pain, rest and come back to it. But sometimes fatigue is best worked through. Only you know the difference since it's your arm. I suggest setting up some lessons to make sure you have the right approach to gaining the strength and mastering the proper forms of movement. email to set up a lesson: johnghvasta@gmail.com
Buddy moved in several different ways through his singles. I haven't seen him do drop singles, but he did something similar that people mistake for push pull. Somewhere out there on the RU-vid there's a nice video about it with Lombardo and Freddie Gruber where they do a slow mo of it.
The video is corrupted somehow, I see only green digital corrupted garbage on the screen. Strangely, the thumbnails when scrolling the video work fine.
Drumline's a whole different approach. Everyone's gotta find their own voice and the hand and foot forms and techniques that sing it! "Unique flavor" - good words! We're not here to imitate but to create.
Grab/tap, not accent followed by tap, but when you grab it creates an accent. Important to think of the technique here, the grab/tap, though, not the accent. There are many ways to accent. On the cymbal, the drop singles don't engage the fingers to move the stick, so, yes, after drop singles are done you close the fingers. But it's not a push/pull motion. Be careful when you close the fingers that you're moving the stick with your whole hand, not just the fingers. Watch the video as much as you need to get it. The movements are all shown. Great questions!
….somehow just looking at it over and over records better in the mind than too much verbal explanation. OK. Out then In…is a start. Very motivating video…..excellent….thank you -I must now focus on thumb and fingers……
So glad you're so involved in the lessons! The kind of detailed viewing and questions you bring show you're serious about mastery, and that's phenomenal! Yes, definitely focus on the thumb! It's overlooked too often, and it's an amazing and versatile lever for so much! Keep at it and you'll get it!
It can be helpful for that. We're just saying that Stick Control is part of a larger obsession with things related to military drumming dating to the American Civil War and that there's a way it cuts off the creative spirit the drum set can open you to. Plus, Stick Control won't substitute for gaining a dip understanding of how to approach body mechanics, grip(s), dynamic expression. It's far more important to understand how to use your hands, digits, arms, shoulders, and core, not to mention your legs, ankles, heals, feet, and toes, than it is to learn how to play even figures with perfect metronomic control but no expressive agility. The more you dive into your body mechanics and relate it to the sticks and pedals and what you want to play and the sound you want to get from each drum and cymbal, the more you open up drumming greatness. If Stick Control is part of your journey, great, but don't forget these other things. You ain't back in 1862 trying to play military drums. You're trying to express your uniqueness as a drummer.
Thiis was what I was looking for! Could you do another video explaining the wiggle, the walk very slowly and when you go out and in? Thank you so much.
Hey John, I noticed a picture on you wall, how long did it take to reel in that gigantic fish ? 25 years ive been waiting for something like illegal. i took lessons 25 years ago at music den in Hopatcong. you used to come to my house and give me lessons.Miss it very much my ole friend !
Damndest (most killer) drumming I've ever seen. I've seen no one except the late Tony Williams, be able to hold the strokes for so long. He used a different technique, BUT I think your method is less physically demanding, and this possibly achievable. I'm currently recovering from surgery, which at this point, due to results of surgery, is forcing me to play left hand traditional. Weight lifting injury leading to a partial Four Corner Arhrodesis with a Scaphoidectomy. Yeah, not fun. I'm going to study this video and your upcoming videos. Thank you for sharing these techniques. Do you have a Patreon I can contribute to?
Wow, Cameron, I'm so glad this vid and method is so helpful and inspiring for you! That's a dream come true! We're going to be putting out a lot more on traditional grip and the "weak" hand moving forward, as that's what folks are telling us they want more of. We'll be getting a Patreon together in the next month or so and will make an announcement. Super appreciate you asking! Good luck with your surgery recovery! Let us know if any questions come up along your road with recovery on the drumming front.
Sir thanks for uploading this video and sharing your knowledge about drumming in this unique way. I recommend you putting sheet's of the said exercises in your video descriptons. It would be way too much easier for us to practise that way.
As someone that comes from more of a punk and hardcore background, i really got into jazz and more extreme versions of jazz at the same time i was listening to hardcore punk, thrashcore and power violence like John Zorn's Naked City project (which is an amalgamation of hardcore punk and jazz, plus 10 more genres at least, I highly recommend their whole catalog) for example where the drummer, Joey Baron, would play blast beats and all kinds of crazy fills with traditional grip, when you watch them live it's a trip! I knew the traditional grip from like Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, Max Roach and Billy Cobham (who all at one time certainly used it while playing) but have started experimenting with the grip you show here (traditional) while playing basic backbeats and it's clear my left hand isn't up to snuff, while it can do the basic 4/4, 3/4 beats and even a little faster tempos, i really want to adopt the traditional grip as I've played matched for a little more than 3 years, as i want to adopt the grip for acquiring a more jazz inflected vocabulary while drumming, meaning more interdependence between hands (with the left hand playing more notes and breaking the dependence of the 2 and the 4 when playing the hi hat and the snare) and more ghost notes with my left hand, which is just a fantasy for me at this point, I really can't do it. Other than this one, do you have are you planning on making more videos about left hand (in most cases the weaker hand) playing and technique? Thanks in advance.
Milovan, welcome to the channel! Glad to have you here. We were in New York when Naked City was happening. It hugely influenced the hole scene there. With your desire to adapt into traditional grip, don't worry right now about those goals you have (which are great). Your entire arm platform, from shoulder, upper arm, forearm, wrist, and hand, has got to get reoriented first. Very importantly, so too does your brain, as it's different circuits being used since it's going from a symmetrical movement between the arms to an asymmetrical one. What you should do daily now is at a slow to medium tempo just practice repeating quarter notes with each of the techniques in the video, one technique at a time. Observe your left hand as you do this to make sure it's doing what the video shows. Additionally, strengthen your thumb and forearm connection by playing repeated full strokes with an open hand with the stick in the thumb hinge (fulcrum). Rotate from the forearm. That exercise is the beginning of trad grip. Yes, we'll be putting out more on the left hand. Stay with us. Our philosophy is our weekly videos add up to an infinite video drum technique "book".
Does this fantastic teacher give any 1 on 1 lessons on these Concepts? Been watching for a while even tho I dont play straight ahead jazz the Concepts and technical facility really speaks to me. Thanks 🙏👌
Hi Robin. Yes, John gives 1 on 1 lessons. Reach out to him to set lessons up at his email JohnGHvasta@gmail.com. I can vouch for his fantastic teaching. I started studying with him in 1986, and his teaching was life changing then and continues to be now. Applies to a lot more than Jazz as well.
Interesting. Playing the drum set is not playing one drum, obviously; even a four pieces kit needs you to find the freer mechanics you can for playing in different positions and angle approaches. That's why the study on the mechanics made on the pad/snare drum is necessary but not sufficient.
hey! i really loved your 9 traditional grip techniques video and i’d love to set up a an hour-long lesson with you sometime this upcoming week so we can go through each technique clearly and concisely and so you can critique my left hand. whenever you’re available, please let me know your email so we can set it up. thanks!
