The grip secret for more SPEED & CONTROL 

Thank you, Stephan, all these subtle "inside the hand" skills are critical to developing high levels of hand technique leading to exceptional drumming!

I think most people are under the impression that they need natural talent to be a good drummer. While natural talent is great for starting drummers to progress faster in terms of skill but I’m a self taught drummer. I didn’t have hardly any natural skill or ability. My best friends dad was a music producer who’s main band left their drum set in the studio leaving the ability for me to try and play along with my friend who played guitar well. I really had no skill but I could do some basic things but I loved it so I worked at a car wash all summer when 13 earning enough to buy a cheap 5 piece set. I learned alot playing Green Day it’s a great band to play along and progress as a beginner. I built up my set to have every cymbal and double bass and after a couple of years playing I was becoming much better and played increasingly difficult music to challenge myself. I had to sell my set before moving in 2008 and didn’t play until I bought a used set around 2017. Luckily besides being incredibly rusty I was quickly able to play as wif not better than in 2008. My main point being if you enjoy playing but aren’t really good if you’re looking to learn get a cheap or used set if you live in a place where you can play reasonably often or get an electric set to practice although electric drums are extremely different than playing traditional drums but you can still learn the basics to gain skill. I have to say to beginners or want to be drummers that playing is extremely therapeutic to me personally and I can release anger or play to be happy. Drums are very unique in that sense personally they really have a positive impact on my life and hope others can experience what I have

All your lessons are informative, but this one made so much difference thank you.

Great Videos, Steve. You explain clearly. Could you do some videos on.... 1. 20in. PING vs. Ride cymbals? (more below)... 2. your thoughts on the heaviest/thickest weight THIRTEEN inch hi-hat cymbals one can find..? And-- 3. Imagine a Bass foot pedal at rest. Why a pedal that sits with the beater CLOSER to the Bass-head, but LOOSER, may be better than a beater further back with more tension. 4. SIZZLE cymbals-- why does hardly anyone use more than 3 rivets? And why do we only see very narrow/super-lite-weight rivets on cymbals? Why never anything flatter/wider or more like a Penny? or as wide as a Nickel, maybe from a hardware store? And is it better to have all rivets out at the edge, or "vertically" in a line from edge going inwards to the bell? why? 5. Stick definition. Some drummers use TAPE on the undersides of cymbals. Under what conditions or genres would anyone really want this? why? If yer not using just the bare cymbal itself, wouldn't the tendency in most scenario's of drumming to be to lean more towards a bit of wash and rivets, than to use tape? Thoughts? Thanks. These should be some juicy topics.

Thankyou Stephen. I am suffering tension through my arm (between wrist and elbow). Consequently my right hand (dominant hand) is very tight and I get no smoothness, nor can I actually create a good fulcrum (using my traditional technique). I will try the middle finger fulcrum. Thankyou.

Love the idea of a middle finger fulcrum except I’m missing half the middle finger on my left hand. 😢 I’ll have to adapt everything else to my index finger. Great stuff though.

Im right handed but play hi hat with my left..been trying to learn one handed 16ths with my left and finding my thumb is getting tired or locked up a lot faster than my right, not sure if my technique is putting too much pressure on my thumb or what

Grip right

I hold my drumsticks in the end of sticks,dont feel good on balance point.

Anyone knows if there are flam doubles? Like 2 to flams after another, played through rebound/double strokes? Would be harder than classic doubles, because the sticks are not in sync right (because of the flams which are out of sync...right?😅

skip first 5 minutes to get to the point

I really would appreciate if you could get to the point a little quicker …

I think most people are under the impression that they need natural talent to be a good drummer. While natural talent is great for starting drummers to progress faster in terms of skill but I’m a self taught drummer. I didn’t have hardly any natural skill or ability. My best friends dad was a music producer who’s main band left their drum set in the studio leaving the ability for me to try and play along with my friend who played guitar well. I really had no skill but I could do some basic things but I loved it so I worked at a car wash all summer when 13 earning enough to buy a cheap 5 piece set. I learned alot playing Green Day it’s a great band to play along and progress as a beginner. I built up my set to have every cymbal and double bass and after a couple of years playing I was becoming much better and played increasingly difficult music to challenge myself. I had to sell my set before moving in 2008 and didn’t play until I bought a used set around 2017. Luckily besides being incredibly rusty I was quickly able to play as wif not better than in 2008. My main point being if you enjoy playing but aren’t really good if you’re looking to learn get a cheap or used set if you live in a place where you can play reasonably often or get an electric set to practice although electric drums are extremely different than playing traditional drums but you can still learn the basics to gain skill. I have to say to beginners or want to be drummers that playing is extremely therapeutic to me personally and I can release anger or play to be happy. Drums are very unique in that sense personally they really have a positive impact on my life and hope others can experience what I have