Thomas Pridgen - Finger Technique 

Besides being a sick drummer, this dude seems super chill. Wish he was my teacher!

6:34 open substitle and see what happen

I like his attitude. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and is an amazing player.

Nice lesson. It's amazing how many small techniques professionals work to develop.

Drummer is super good. But I gotta give props to the host for having such chill and positive vibe!

So it's after last call at a little club in Oakland.. we get kicked out a little after 2am and as we are all ready to leave some random dude yells "EVERYONE. BBQ AT MY HOUSE" and gives a street address. We are now hanging out at this complete strangers house into the early hours of the morning, drinking beer, eating BBQ, and taking hits from the cartoonishly sized bong on the table. Eventually I pull the dude aside to thank him & shoot the shit. He tells me he's a musician, but never goes into much detail. Later some dude pulls me aside, probably noticing my glassy bloodshot eyes, and says "Dude, you're at Thomas Pridgens house!"

What a wonderfully honest and open person. It's no suprise he is so talented - it always comes down to attitude.

Thomas is completely an amazing drummer all around. Seems like a such a nice guy too. Dennis Chambers as well as Thomas and a lot of other drummers probably originally learned this technique from Tony Williams. He was the first one I can think of who did it effortlessly on a regular basis with the finger technique. Not enough people give Tony Williams the props for passing these down. Not to mention the Big Sticks in his overall power, as well as innovation , as a musician. Not just a drummer......

Weckl is a master of finger control. Thomas is just a BEAST on drums.

Just discovering you young man. INCREDIBLE. NDUGU and I were soul mates on the drums until his last day. May he Rest In Peace. Thanks you have given me the key to speed. The best lesson I have seen in my 82 years of playing. Blessings and a long life of sharing knowledge. Washington Rucker. Drums.

Thomas Pridgen is the truth. Dude is super chill in real life and still plays underground gigs all the time

From the hood to Arrow to Mars Volta.. this guy has real life experience. He drums for the passion rather than the paycheck it seems like. That’s what I like about his drumming. He can just be a pocket drummer or technical. He has some of the best footwork I’ve seen on a bass pedal.

These Thomas Pridgen lessons are so cool. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

"Thomas Pridgen- Blast Beat Techniques"

Great lesson!! Billy Cobham is also a great example of great "finger" drummer.

Thank You. Finally a simple explanation. Makes sense and also a way to save your wrists.

Thomas is one of my favorite drummers, definitely my favorite Volta drummer, he had the most feel/groove.

I love it when great drummers explain things in a way its easy to see

One of the top Young Drummers.I was in love with his drumming, from the time I heard him on an Eric Gales record..He Rocks ,Swings and He will church you too, THE Gospel..

The greatest are always the most humble.

thx Thomas for your simplicity. Great Drummer !

Took a lesson with Dennis Chambers back 1991. $40/hr at Long Island Drum Ctr. in Nyack, NY. He doesn't read. Loves David Garibaldi. And it's funny, at a Mars Music Store clinic he did in SLC, UT in 2000 I asked him if he hit rimshots on the tom's with those fast single birage rolls down the Tom's like he does on the snare. He said "Yes". So Thomas is right. He plays palms down (German Grip) or palms halfway down (American grip) when he plays fast loud rolls in order to play rimshot 32nd notes or rimshot sextuplet notes around the kit. Like at the end of his solos. But he also said he used to duct tape phonebooks to his forearms and play for hours. I think that helped.

Love his playing ,passion and skill .

I learn something every time I check out a Thomas Pridgen video.

Humble talent. Silliness is an added plus. Chambers is a BEAST too!!

Gifted and humble 👍

Excellent finger technique description! Kudos to an awesome percussionist.

Woow Thomas is a beast! The best of the best 👍👍👍😉🇮🇹

Super nice man! Down to earth, light hearted, super cool! Thank you!! Great instruction/demonstration!

Miss Mars Volta, Miss Morials... Excelent tips master, greetings from Brazil.

Thomas Pridgen is definitely one of the great drum set artists of my generation!! This is an invaluable lesson on technique!! By Thomas explaining Dennis Chambers, now we all know how Tony Williams did it!!

I met that guy at woodstick 2010 in Wa. He did the coolest most powerful solo out of all the pros there. Killer drummer!

Thank you for this lesson

Awesome guy..awesome drummer..thanks for the advice

I met Thomas at a clinic at my local drum store and holy shit does this dude kill it everytime he gets behind those drums bro

Dude. That was an incredible lesson.

Awesome tips thank you

Thank you Thomas!

Gary Chaffee has some great excercises utilizing finger technique. Check out the patterns book series for his rundown on this

This was an amazing tip

Love this drummer- great powerful and fluid also fun to watch

Mmmmm....very cool )!!!!🥁🥁🥁🥁 Nice lesson)! #thomaspridgen крутая школа !!!!

good fundamentals and fun really, thanks

Thank you for this. Subbed!

Aside the lessons, that was just entertaining to watch

He's high as FUCK! Thomas is the man.

Good man ,good explanation .Sometimes you see excellent musicians who are terrible otherwise which puts me off no matter how they play . This guy is really honest ,he doesn't do it for anything else than music .Or music in the first place

Thomas your the man!! Bro hella cool guy!!

Well said Mr Thomas

How cool is humble

great lesson!

I love this guy... Amazing. These are excellent techniques demonstrated beautifully. I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

This is awesome

Awesome!

Awesome shout out to Q-Bert.

Miss him and omar man! What a duo...

Thomas is energetic and happy and a fucking FEROCIOUS player.

Awesome guy.

Verry helpful

Great lesson of what is called commonly "French grip" which is in fact Timpani grip (because you got no rebound with mallets and to have the thumb up is more easy to cross multiple timpanis or toms). Note that you can isolate each finger pulsing, without adding one with another (as described for long in my lesson here: marcdedouvan.com/en/lesson.php?id=6 )

Eita pegaaaa toop lembra-se bateras unidos jamais serão vencidos 🥁

Thomas pridgen toca muito!!!

Great! BTW, that finger exercise from a Gary Chaffee book.

Toca demais.

Sonny Emory is crazy at this😁

he is humble too

i love that he knows about dj qbert

pdxfunk i make your words my own! great lesson

Great technician

I have small hands so my fingers can’t curl around the stick as much...but I’ll keep workin’ exactly as this video shows. Thanks!

What a totally decent dude. 👍

Que legal!!!!

this dude is just blessed

If you can control and handle it you can smoke it. Thomas

I just noticed after 5min that he don’t has the hi-hat!!! 😂

🔥🔥🔥🔥

Thomas! Good job! But please tell me were I can get such a freaky pense like you wear there! Hello from Germany. Axl

Good shit

Thomas the realest drummer in the game

he is cool drummer!

6:38 Badum pst!

Awesome Soul;)

How do I strengthen the grip at the fulcrum? Not only do my sticks go every-which way, but the sticks always slide from the fulcrum...Help!!! Are there exercises to strengthen the fulcrum grip so the sticks don't slide?

That is freakin hard

Carter Mclean is the man with the finger speed. He's insane.

Classic finger yoga!

Love the sound of that floor tom, not so much the snare drum.

so how long does it take to get there?to be fast enough

I sand the varnish off my sticks where i hold them :) and tie para chord to my bass pedal through the seat to the hi hat pedal. :) match grip for the win. but after 40 years drumming classical grip is very bouncy and light with the left hand. Mr.Pridgen is currently my favorite drummer. check out the zildjan show. zomfg :)

So I guess the 15 people who gave this video a 👎 have it all figured out. 😂😂

U awesome

How many hours of practice does it take to be in control of what youre doing??????????

the captions at 6:35 though

my friend who is a drum teacher teaches ppl to do this also

Which sticks do ya use

Thomas Pridgen's Finger Technique. Presented by your host, Mr. Garrison from Southpark.

What snare is he playing on anybody??

Thomas is good too

#BayArea💕

a real cool cat.