What happened to matched grip?

[Slow Adam]

For the record I prefer snare lines to play with traditional grip for the reason I stated above - It looks better.

[Gaddabout]

In my experience, you have to train the right hand just as much as you train the left, matched or traditional. If anyone really took the time to look at what is going on with matched grip, you'd find there's nothing matched about it. Nobody has the same left and right arms, just like one foot is always bigger than the other. And the arms and wrists move differently too.

I have found its much harder to get, two, three, or more drummers to have a similar motion and range on both hands with matched grip than with traditional. That's my opinion and experience in 45 years of drumming and teaching. However, when teaching a drummer fresh out of the box, matched gets them up to speed very quickly compared to traditional.

In the sense that most kids show up at camp with different interpretations of matched grip, I'll give you that. And if all of them are at the same base level of traditional grip, you can teach them to avoid bad habits. But 20 kids showing up with their own home-grown interpretations of traditional grip, I think you have more or less the same challenge as matched grip.

And from what I can tell, that's what's going on today, because traditional grip has experienced a massive revival in modern culture beyond DCI.

[sarnia sam]

I don't think this is true. If it were really an issue of discrepancies in human anatomy, why not have both hands play with an underhand grip, or have left handed drummers play in a "reversed traditional" grip?

I will continue to assert that the prevalence of traditional grip in the marching community has everything to do with how it looks, and nothing to do with anatomy, playability or anything else.

Like I said Adam, if you really take a hard look you'll see the differences within the individiual. Now multiply that by the number of players. Back when I marched and it mattered that each person in the line adhere striclty to the style, believe me when I say a lot of time was spent on motion and range being symetrical right to left.

Today I see all kinds of tenor players in even the first place drum lines that have differnences right to left in how the hands and sticks move, and there is no where near as much sameness across the section.

And there are people who do play reverse traditional, heck when I was a puppy I played reverse tradtitional.

Regards,

John

[K-Swiss]

So traditional grip left hand usually requires some extra sweating because you end up training muscles to move in a way they've never moved before.

If the left hand wasn't supposed to rotate like it does in traditional grip, why are there muscles allowing it to? Just pointing out a flaw in your reasoning.

[tommyfromhowardst]

If one is to be a true membranophonist, one should be proficient at both matched and traditional grip. Not really seeing the big deal here, but yeah, traditional looks cooler!! It would look a bit dorky playing bass drum though.

Edited August 26, 2009 by tommyfromhowardst

[Jim Nevermann]

I can tell you there's no mechanical advantage to traditional grip.

I agree. It's strictly a style preference.

That said, traditional grip looks more interesting than matched because it's a visually asymmetrical element in the otherwise bilateral symmetry (oooh... tasty little phrase there!) of the player & drum. And although less dynamic, the same principal can be demonstrated in uniform design. For instance, a traditional satin blouse with an offset or diagonal stripe looks more interesting than the same blouse without a stripe. Likewise, Han Solo's Millennium Falcon wouldn't look quite as distinctive if her cockpit was centered on the fuselage instead of off to one side.

The overall concept may be thought of as "(small) asymmetry within (larger) symmetry".

Edited August 26, 2009 by Jim Nevermann

[Gaddabout]

If the left hand wasn't supposed to rotate like it does in traditional grip, why are there muscles allowing it to? Just pointing out a flaw in your reasoning.

I never said the left hand wasn't *supposed* to rotate like that, I said the muscle development isn't there the way it is for matched. Ask any 4-year-old to pick up sticks and they pick them up matched. It's universal, because that's the most natural way for the muscles to work with the hands. Flip the same kid's left hand over and the left hand doesn't know how to rotate. The starting point for the left hand is further back than for matched grip.

[K-Swiss]

I never said the left hand wasn't *supposed* to rotate like that,

And I never meant to imply that you did

in a way they've never moved before.

That gave me the impression that I got, and which i stated in my last post. I'm not putting words in your mouth.

[FlamMan]

I can tell you this debate has been equally divisive in the drum set world. Traditional is seen as the "educated" grip, because so many session masters use it, whereas match is the instinctive or "caveman" grip. What's funny is most traditional grip guys use both, including the masters -- Gadd, Weckl, Colaiuta, etc. Weckl said it's an emotional choice for him. Matched grip is also viewed as "anti-swing," yet I defy anyone to listen to Ari Hoenig and tell me that guy can't swing.

Having left the DCI culture a long time ago and studied under grip gurus, I can tell you there's no mechanical advantage to traditional grip. If you're wanting to use fingers (and I hope everyone who plays the drum set does), matched grip has numerous advantages.

And having spent some time teaching grip to friends who've developed injuries like carpal tunnel, I can tell you grip is far less important than mechanics (i.e. maintaining a proper fulcrum, allowing the stick to pivot freely, etc.).

I always had a better "feel" playing traditional grip. Jazz & swing on a drum set felt better with traditional grip too.

[MarimbasaurusRex]

I'll add 2 cents here based on what I was taught by some old school grip gurus that makes a little sense. Since the left hand is naturally weaker for many (most) people being right handed, the whipping action of traditional grip gives the left hand a little more zip and power, supposedly helping to balance the left with the right. Problem is, the mechanics of traditional left hand grip have been so grossly perverted over the years (even in DCI, see palm up, a very inefficient approach which was not the original intent of the grip) that it ends up being weaker anyway.

Does it really look cooler than matched or is it more dorky? You can either play or you can't. Grip is just a means to an end. Only a grip nerd really cares. If you hold the sticks upside down it doesn't matter as long as the sound coming off the drum is killer. Was Dizzy a bad trumpet player because he puffed his cheeks? Was Hendrix a guitar technician? It's all about the sound.