Due to popular demand, I am re-posting my video "Buddy's Left Hand". To see more, or to request a Skype drum lesson, go to my website at metrodrumschool....
Back in the late 60's and early 70's I was fortunate enough to see Buddy at Lenny's on the Turnpike north of Boston about 10 times and one time, I was fortunate enough to be seated on the left and to the side of the piano, right smack dab in perfect sight of Buddy's right side and saw the man do stuff that no man should have been able to do on drums. The most amazing thing to me was how he blended his fantastic bass kicks which brings to mind how no one ever mentions his foot work! Simply amazing!
I am a huge BR fan; I saw him 50 times over the years. He was my idol of course. This is the real deal on what buddy was working on. He never perfected stuff he liked to be the best at it but he liked to play what he wanted to play, I love that man. He launched my career at 11 years of age. I am now 67. Thank you for this. It's the first time I have heard anyone actually sound like Buddy while demonstrating some of his thinking in playing.
A great example of this technique is when Buddy performed it on the chart Three Day Sucker. He keeps a steady single stroke roll for a while all the while filling it in with bass drum beats and cymbal crashes. Just incredible.
Probably one the best videos that explains Buddy’s technique and the one handed roll. I have watched countless videos of Buddy’s playing and this explanation is spot on.
I met Buddy Rich after a show in Toronto at Ontario Place Forum in June 1982. I had happened to see his the same week only days earlier at another show in Toronto. In the audience I had a view behind and slightly to the side of Buddy's drum kit and was in awe of what I consider the best drummer that existed. I commented how great his show was earlier in the week and that this show was almost as good as the Minkler show. Buddy looked at me and said, "Oh, so you could hear a difference in my playing between the two shows"? I stood there not knowing what to say and he patted me on the shoulder and said, "it's ok, I know what you meant, thanks". Buddy was standing outside his tour bus after playing the Ontario Place Forum which was an outdoor show. Of course, knowing he was in town and that I had tickets for both shows, the earlier one at MInkler Auditorium in Toronto, I brought my brother's Remo practice pad hoping Buddy would sign it if I met him. He did, so my brush with drumming greatness happened that day. I've been to countless drum clinics, Billy Cobham, Bill Brufford, Ed Thigpen, Lenny White and more. Meeting Buddy Rich was the pinacle and he didn't flinch when I asked him to sign the pad which he saw me holding the whole time so he knew I would ask. Great left hand control. I don't have the capability at least not yet. Buddy's playing was so fast that you would have to literally watch in slo mo playback to see the stick control. So watching this video is very interesting and is all about technique.
Back in the day you would have needed a Sony video recorder that cost 250K to tape it and "slow it down" to see the brilliance of his singles to doubles moment.
Excellent! Very talented! I saw Buddy once and got his autograph and shook hands with him in 1974. I was hoping that the "magic" would rub off - lol. I am starting off again trying to learn the one-handed roll and this time I am going to get it. I stopped trying after a while the first time and that is why I have not learned it yet. Keep up the good work and thanks for your time and effort in helping those of us out who need help and direction! NeddyRich
Very cool. I like seeing how others explain Buddy's technique. I also notice on a lot of video of him, he holds the left stick very close to the middle of the stick. Closer than I've seen demonstrated. He was just awesome.
My Great Uncle Benny was a drummer and friend with Buddy and what he shared with me when I was young and learning almost exactly what Buddy focused on. Seeing this made me feel young again working with my Uncle. Huge thank you for the lesson/ memories .Great vid loved it.
Excellent video. There's some great footage of BR using this technique for about 30 seconds during a solo for anyone interested. Search for: Buddy Rich Big Band - Montreal Jazz Fest Pt 2, and watch from 10:39 to 11:09.
Joe Morello taught how you flipped your hand over and used the two top fingers. Joe was such a great teacher for drum camps. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we had drum and small band camps instead of school. All through life.
Well explained!This is a reason why the drum grip is perfect for Jazz as opposed to the matched grip. The stick between the ring and middle finger lift the stick and take advantage of the bounce. the only trick is that the middle and ring finger must move alternatively back and forth.Using your wrist you change the attack to the skin (or the hi-hat - nice hi-hat solo you can do this way) and that is the basic,as MetroD explains experiment with thumb & index My teacher called this a "buzz roll"
Rating somebody the best in the world is an impossible task. There are so many that are so good at their own style of play. But I would also agree that Buddy Rich is the best of all time behind the kit. That we know of.
I experimented with the military style grip Buddy used for awhile, but I found there was little I could do with it that I couldn't do with the matched grip. That left hand style was originally developed for marching drummers with a snare slung to the left. When the trap set became popular that grip seemed to migrate to it, possibly because former military drummers were the ones playing. Interesting the way it has survived and become the "jazz grip" today, and is still preferred by some drummers.
Very good! spot on the flam tap is in my opinion the best way to develop the technique quickly. Once you pass the finger blistering during development practice which a small strip of masking or a band-aid can assist in relief is fine.
My dad was a HUGE Buddy Rich Fan (R.I.P.) I have his old drum set from the 40's and myself are a drummer....I've been practicing/messing around with some Rich ...until I've seen this...I've been doing it between my thumb and index finger and just Bouncing it ...it worked but, took too much energy and straining! This seems way easier!
Will do! I'll tag it in this thread...as soon as I get the kit from my Uncle's place...I'm guessing it's going to need newer Cymbals...as the original ones were what they called "Garbage lids" (shitty). I'll throw on some some skins etc..keeping the original bass skin (still good) The snare just needs some adjusting...my uncle is more of a guitarist, than a drummer..and EFFED it up! See ya soon guys!
Not a drummer myself but always fancied having a go, and I imagined to get a good roll going I'd also hold the sticks (both hands) via the thumb and middle finger and getting a good bounce rhythm going. Weird to see I'm not the only one that would do it like that. I watched a few BR videos and saw the left hand grip and thought I'm way off in thinking that's the way to do it. Seems like I'm not terribly far off. Now I just need to have a go somewhere :)
Also had one of Buddy's old sets which my father used in the forties and fifties. Was pretty beat up when I got it in the sixties. Father got set in NY decades ago. He knew Buddy well enough to loan him money for lunch once back in the day - some deli near NY musicians local.
@@HankFinkle11 I really like how you put that. I've never heard better either. But there is always someone out there that we will never hear about who is phenomenal
@@markgill7138 very true. I remember being in New Orleans many years ago and watching a guy in a dive bar that blew me away, just as Rich did. Buddy never said he was the “best,” only that he could hold his own with the best.
Very nice demo sir. Buddy had an interesting Paradiddle thing. Left hand on snare. Right hand on Floor Tom. Then he would toss in the bass drum on the 'and' of the 16th note combinations. It took me years to figure out, then one day, there is was! You can see it on one of Buddys old videos when he filled in summers for Jackie Gleason on Away We Go.
GREAT! Whether it is EXACTLY like Buddy did it is not as important as how you demonstrate YOUR beautiful technique and mastery of traditional grip! YOU cook! I had the opportunity to take lessons from a rudimental master that had developed snare technique much like Buddy's. His name was Howard Gilbert and was a principal percussionist with The Seattle Symphony Orchestra in the early and mid '60's. Very thankful I studied with him! George Clark Drummer
I switched to traditional grip a couple of years ago. I love having to work on something so simple as grip. It really smacks your ego right back down. I constantly work on it everywhere I sit. When I drive, and at my desk, and in front of the tv. It's tough, but I can see improvement. My grip is getting stronger, but I think it's going to take longer than I expected. These videos are great.
Paul Robson - The Ontario College of Percussion - Toronto. People from all over the world come to learn how to play drums good and proper, the real thing. it is still going strong today and better than ever. When I attended so long ago I was taught along the same lines as is put forth in this video. This is a form of the Henry Adler technique being put forth here. Technique without interfering with natural musical talent was a big part of the instruction provided. Real good stuff on this vid, man. Its a big compliment, man!
good stuff man! Thanks! I am a guitar player, but a drummer at heart. Never had enough time to practice and just messed around on the old beat up kit I have. But, the older I get I am wanting to learn the proper way to play and these tidbits of advice are golden nuggets! Thanks again.
That's some fantastic technique you've got there. I studied with Joe Morello and was always amazed by his ability to play left-hand triplets at significant speed; this is somewhat similar although in 4.
Wow - that last comment was really hateful! This is actually a very useful video. I am a drummer who is always looking to grow, and this video has certainly been very helpful. In addition, the maker of this video is quite masterful with his technique. The internet is full of trolls! Don't listen to them, and keep up the good work!
Thanks to the guys offering support and advice after my index finger was virtually severed but I'm glad to say I have after 12 months getting enough feeling back to resume my old way of playing,however I've also started using trad.grip and mixing it up ,It's quite a revelation ,I recommend it.Once again thanks.Persistence pays.
Nice hands. I think what you are showing is very close to the Murray Spivack fixed pressure finger control. He was a master of snare drum technique. One of his students Ralph Collier also mastered this technique and went on to teach Bill Wilson who learned and mastered this technique as well. Bill taught and ran Drum City in Hollywood. You may know him.
Great! The 3’s, 5’s and 7’s make what Buddy did almost an illusion that his left hand was cruising right through. But those right hand hits give that left hand just enough rest to come back at it again to sound continuous. This is well done cause Buddy solo’d in this fashion a lot.
Buddy was walking up Charles St. in Baltimore after playing a free outdoor at Charles Center and I met him. I asked him specifically about finger control and his exact response was "it's bullshit and don't do it". I liked your video and I'm very aware that Buddy could say anything on any given day but he looked me straight in the eye and told me that.
FRED GRUBER taught this technique to me years ago he called it the “ CONTRARY MOTION” (technique). As the Top two fingers Move out And away( From the palm), the two bottom Fingers! move down and in towards the Palm and then vice a versa! on the buddy rich live in Montreal Video, he does this on the hi hat It’s funny Freddy wrote the entire instructions for this technique on the inside cover of my stick control book we applied that technique to the exercises in stick control (As well as other studies)! pure genius! I’m talking like 1981/82 somewhere in there.
I am not a drummer but have always loved a great drummer and have played with several throughout my years of playing music. All of the drummers I worked with played traditional style. The best drummer I worked with was college trained and even had a workshop session with Joe Morrelo. With the change in style of music today's drummers use match grip and in my opinion make up for lack of style by how loud they can bang on the drums and cymbals.
Hi, I'm 8 and I viewed this posting. My dad keeps advising me to focus on the left hand technique(s) you clearly illustrate therein. That said, I just wanted to say well done and thanks for the instruction :}
i have played matched grip for years, and dabbled in traditional. now i am changing over to traditional only as i can do more with it. anyway, this is a great instructional video, and thanks for sharing!!
LOL great video...when I first saw Buddy hitting the top high hat with an incredibly fast buzz roll (while hitting the bottom HH with the other hand as it grasped the whole thing I was like WTF??? what is this? I've never seen something like that I was in shock ...Great player perhaps the best ever
You are a professional through and through! Incredible technique, very, if not ludicrously, modest and you have the golden pipes of a 1960s/70s radio man (yes a DJ, but before it got ruined). Wish I lived in Colorado, as I would love to be student:) Down in here in Georgia. Dangit. With the devil and all.
beautiful left hand guy. just beautiful. that's the main reason I quit playing a long time ago never developed a good technique and by the time I realized what was up that you really do need to learn paradiddles ect. to much time has passed me by. good vidio
Although we cannot mimic exactly the finger/palm movement of buddy, But out of all the many "buddy technique" videos, this sticking feel is probably the closest to buddy. Not the perfect robotic accented triple/shuffle as in other videos. For me music is about feel. Good work! I am working hard on it too.
Neil Peart did a nice rendition of traditional grip during his solos and I think he used the first technique you showed ( at around 2:09). I always wanted to play that way with my left hand. I can hold the stick with traditional grip but I have no speed control like you show here using traditional grip. I need to practice that more. It looks pretty cool when it's done right!
My Father, Buddy Harman is a famous man through the world. He was with the Nashville Sound, which created The Music City USA.Just look him up on my space, and you can see for yourself. Buddy is the worlds most recorded Drummer, thats a fact.More tham 18 thousand sessions done.
Holy Crap! I took a lesson from this guy in that very room years ago! Good guy, it was free. Some good pointers, and ultimately i still use those pointers today. I just now watched this video, and man what a good description of the left hand technique. Similar to what he showed me for right hand technique. good stuff here.
Just amazing to see an effortless left-handed roll. The traditional grip seems to be great for bouncing. Makes me want to try again at drums. Now I'm curious how the right hand can pull it off!
Been doing drums for a little while now maybe a month or two and with that tutorial and lots of practice i think i may be able to get it quite good, thankyou
Actually I can tell you that in playing the kit, providing that you set up in a way thats conducive to trad. grip, the trad grip offers more possibilities than matched.
This is called I believe the 'Push and Pull- technique'! I've seen the one and only Dave Weckl utilize and explain it and he reffered back to Buddy, so I guess this one comes pretty close ;)
Weckl describes it at a double stroke motion. What Buddy was playing was a rapid series of singles with his left hand. It sounded like a machine gun firing. Weckl plays what he describes as the double stroke motion. Whether or not Rich used it I do not know but I do know that Buddy used and played a rapid series of left handed singles, not doubles. Listen to his solo on the chart Three Day Sucker. Near the end of the song he plays rapid singles with one hand and accents it with cymbal crashes. He also hits the bass drum with his foot accenting cymbals.
Oh man. Sweeet technique, Metro - Tasty all the way 'round. As an ex drummer (injury) and now a guitar jockey you can imagine how much I miss it. It's nice to see real touch being deployed so well. Anyway - thanks for posting, and how about you post some music???
I have been a match grip player for 35 years,I recently severed my left index finger (ouch) I need to learn all over again playing with French grip(trad.) I shall endeavour to master it. BTW surgeons were able to repair it but will never be the same.
Just how I always thought of his technique. Friend in school taught me different hand exercises to improve motor muscles. Different grips. I change my grip as I play. Depends on song. Traditional, matched, and French grip. Faster cymbal work, more fingers. Play hard and loud, tighter grip and use wrist. I also learned to keep sticks in playing position on snare. Not raising sticks real high. Play slower, use a higher rolling motion. Swing the cymbal ride. I cannot stand how many drummers just hit cymbals straight on and hard! You glance them. Too expensive to crack or kill the cymbal sound. Cymbals need technique too. I wish I learned more open stick playing. I am left footed, right handed also. Good tutorial!
They both have there merits. The 2 biggest with the German or French grip is ambidextrous leading off with both hands on any given cymbal without crosshanding and power is the other. The fifer or tradition grip is the grace. Try using brushes relaxed doing figures on the snare using a matched grip it sounds and feels completly different. All Trap drumming revolved around the SNARE early on you either learn Moeller or Gladstone or Stone full stop.
To Domonique Monet (comment below). Yes, traditional grip can be uncomfortable, at first. But, when talking to serious Jazz drummers it seems to be that the majority say traditional grip and Jazz is the best way to go. There is MORE than meets the eye here. Once you progress BEYOND the WRIST and slower playing, it is mainly the FULCRUM, THUMB, INDEX FINGER and the FLIPPING BACK UP of the RING FINGER and LITTLE finger which establishes a UNIQUE FEEL that this grip gives for Jazz playing. Actually, you use ALL of the fingers! (watch this video again real closely!). The FULCRUM with this grip is more capable of the ever more delicate shadings with the sticks and brushes than the MATCHED grip. I play both grips depending on the music. George Clark
For the same reason I can't play lead guitar or piano, my fingers tend to not be so nimble or coordinated so this technique is daunting for me. My grip for both hands is one-quarter up the stick between the length of my thumbs and the sides of my pointer between the first and second knuckles. Yeah, I deal with friction a lot and get callouses but I can't wear gloves because I need to feel the sticks. Anyway, most sticking techniques are beyond my reach because of how I learned to grip but I'll always wish I could achieve the same effect somehow...
+Deuce Loosely This is a lengthy reply, but I hope you will try to read it. I'm a guitar player and I got my first guitar at the age of eight. I didn't get lessons, but nonetheless played the thing relentlessly for five years before getting into a band with adults, who then took my improper self-taught techniques and put them to the task of playing the guitar parts to a bunch of other peoples's songs. I completely built a system of bad playing habits in my brain and reinforced them daily, because I was so obsessed. It is still a difficult thing in my early sixties, to be replacing those habits with proper methods of using each of my hands, and the old habits always emerge when I'm under pressure to play a little faster, a little more creatively, or for a longer period of time. I'll get right to the point. A person like you or me will be happy with the results of their early efforts, but in time (such as where we are today), the bad habits will take them to many different doors, but leave them stranded at the threshold with no way to proceed any farther. The only hope we have is to meticulously study proper techniques, even if that means starting them from the very beginning. This means doing them very slowly at first, and it will test our patience when we are anticipating that rewarding feeling of making more progress. We can too easily go back to using our old methods when frustration & impatience get the better of us, but the reward then merely stays the same as what we achieved when we used our old methods at their peak of utility. But so long as we keep trying to embrace & develop the proper technique, there comes a time when the results surpass the old bad ways. This is definitely a most satisfying reward, when we are finally outperforming our old selves. Don't make the mistake of giving up on yourself too easily. Chances are, you can get a lot better in not too much time. Forget anything somebody once wrote about the lucky few who have natural talent. That doesn't have any real meaning. What's meaningful is that talent is actually the predictable outcome of about 10,000 hours of practice. You may have a struggle ahead, so the way to deal with the struggle effectively is to take a good long look at where you are with your ability right now, and then decide on a few things that you want to achieve. Start with smaller, more immediate goals, and don't make them so difficult that you give up in a cloud of disappointment or resignation. Read up on one simple, basic thing you can learn to do, and focus, concentrate, & relax. Give the new technique some time, to become familiar with how it works, and keep referring back to your educational resources, such as video tutorials. Find a half dozen of them and listen carefully to the explanations. Don't let yourself mentally contradict the instructors, but consider what they are trying to explain, and in a while, you'll be able to get a mental grasp of the general idea. Don't try to tackle extremely advanced techniques right off the bat, you'll only be setting yourself up for despair and crushing feelings of inadequacy. Stay with only a few relatively simple things that you can spend an hour or so on, and switch it up when you sense that you're reaching the max amount of improvement for the practice period. In other words, do the actual practice at an easy, relaxed pace. This relaxation is your zone, and by getting too far ahead of that, you risk teaching yourself to become that tense, nervous, inadequate player, for years to come. In time, you can learn a technique well enough so that you begin to understand how you work it, and you'll start fine-tuning it to attain the highest level of comfort & endurance. The idea is to practice a new method by repetition, and the moment you feel yourself tense up or get tired, stop immediately and let your limbs rest, then start up again. This is crucial, since you are now trying to teach yourself to be relaxed at all times when you play. You need to avoid playing any strokes when you feel tired or tense. If you do these things, and do them in a way that feels pleasant and relaxed, you will eventually revisit all those locked doors and kick them down, opening up many worlds of potential. Most importantly of all, don't push yourself to the point of taking the fun out of it. No music was ever created for the purpose of making anyone miserable. Okay, maybe Justin Beiber. But you should do it for your own enjoyment, because if you enjoy what you do, then that is exactly what will make you an enjoyable musician to listen to.
Just pick a tempo you are comfortable with, say 72 BPM and stay with it for weeks singing the quarter note while you play. If it takes you months to get to 96 bpm, so what! You just keep moving it along as you are able.
I mix the double stroke with the buz roll so I may be doing a double stroke and I change one hand (usually left) to buzz after you get proficient at this swap it produces interesting results by either speeding up or slowing the hand "buzzing" or the hand that's doubling buzzing FAST with your left while doing a slow double on the rim is particularly interesting. I dont have a name for this technique. :)
Back in the late 60's and early 70's I was fortunate enough to see Buddy at Lenny's on the Turnpike north of Boston about 10 times and one time, I was fortunate enough to be seated on the left and to the side of the piano, right smack dab in perfect sight of Buddy's right side and saw the man do stuff that no man should have been able to do on drums. The most amazing thing to me was how he blended his fantastic bass kicks which brings to mind how no one ever mentions his foot work! Simply amazing!
That was fantastic, I have never heard it demonstrated and explained so clearly.. Thank you very much for sharing this..
I am a huge BR fan; I saw him 50 times over the years. He was my idol of course. This is the real deal on what buddy was working on. He never perfected stuff he liked to be the best at it but he liked to play what he wanted to play, I love that man. He launched my career at 11 years of age. I am now 67. Thank you for this. It's the first time I have heard anyone actually sound like Buddy while demonstrating some of his thinking in playing.
Henry Adler wanted Buddy to play the vibes and thought he would be a genius at it. He tried but said: I can't play this thing ... and quit!
A great example of this technique is when Buddy performed it on the chart Three Day Sucker. He keeps a steady single stroke roll for a while all the while filling it in with bass drum beats and cymbal crashes. Just incredible.
Ever hear his brush work? That's a TREAT.
Stanis Louse Buddy did terrific brush work. Agreed!!
Very, very informative video. You can hear the Buddy licks in this video.
maybe its his dog.
Probably one the best videos that explains Buddy’s technique and the one handed roll. I have watched countless videos of Buddy’s playing and this explanation is spot on.
I met Buddy Rich after a show in Toronto at Ontario Place Forum in June 1982. I had happened to see his the same week only days earlier at another show in Toronto. In the audience I had a view behind and slightly to the side of Buddy's drum kit and was in awe of what I consider the best drummer that existed. I commented how great his show was earlier in the week and that this show was almost as good as the Minkler show. Buddy looked at me and said, "Oh, so you could hear a difference in my playing between the two shows"? I stood there not knowing what to say and he patted me on the shoulder and said, "it's ok, I know what you meant, thanks".
Buddy was standing outside his tour bus after playing the Ontario Place Forum which was an outdoor show. Of course, knowing he was in town and that I had tickets for both shows, the earlier one at MInkler Auditorium in Toronto, I brought my brother's Remo practice pad hoping Buddy would sign it if I met him. He did, so my brush with drumming greatness happened that day. I've been to countless drum clinics, Billy Cobham, Bill Brufford, Ed Thigpen, Lenny White and more. Meeting Buddy Rich was the pinacle and he didn't flinch when I asked him to sign the pad which he saw me holding the whole time so he knew I would ask.
Great left hand control. I don't have the capability at least not yet. Buddy's playing was so fast that you would have to literally watch in slo mo playback to see the stick control. So watching this video is very interesting and is all about technique.
Back in the day you would have needed a Sony video recorder that cost 250K to tape it and "slow it down" to see the brilliance of his singles to doubles moment.
Excellent! Very talented! I saw Buddy once and got his autograph and shook hands with him in 1974. I was hoping that the "magic" would rub off - lol. I am starting off again trying to learn the one-handed roll and this time I am going to get it. I stopped trying after a while the first time and that is why I have not learned it yet. Keep up the good work and thanks for your time and effort in helping those of us out who need help and direction! NeddyRich
Very cool. I like seeing how others explain Buddy's technique. I also notice on a lot of video of him, he holds the left stick very close to the middle of the stick. Closer than I've seen demonstrated. He was just awesome.
I agree with you.
This is arguably the best video out there on Buddy's technique.
Very impressive.
My Great Uncle Benny was a drummer and friend with Buddy and what he shared with me when I was young and learning almost exactly what Buddy focused on. Seeing this made me feel young again working with my Uncle. Huge thank you for the lesson/ memories .Great vid loved it.
Excellent video. There's some great footage of BR using this technique for about 30 seconds during a solo for anyone interested. Search for: Buddy Rich Big Band - Montreal Jazz Fest Pt 2, and watch from 10:39 to 11:09.
Joe Morello taught how you flipped your hand over and used the two top fingers. Joe was such a great teacher for drum camps. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we had drum and small band camps instead of school. All through life.
Joe played violin.
Well explained!This is a reason why the drum grip is perfect for Jazz as opposed to the matched grip. The stick between the ring and middle finger lift the stick and take advantage of the bounce. the only trick is that the middle and ring finger must move alternatively back and forth.Using your wrist you change the attack to the skin (or the hi-hat - nice hi-hat solo you can do this way) and that is the basic,as MetroD explains experiment with thumb & index My teacher called this a "buzz roll"
Rating somebody the best in the world is an impossible task. There are so many that are so good at their own style of play. But I would also agree that Buddy Rich is the best of all time behind the kit. That we know of.
I experimented with the military style grip Buddy used for awhile, but I found there was little I could do with it that I couldn't do with the matched grip. That left hand style was originally developed for marching drummers with a snare slung to the left. When the trap set became popular that grip seemed to migrate to it, possibly because former military drummers were the ones playing. Interesting the way it has survived and become the "jazz grip" today, and is still preferred by some drummers.
Yeah, I can't play the "jazz" grip. Tried... just doesn't work for me. But,great video! I am a Buddy fan!
Very good! spot on the flam tap is in my opinion the best way to develop the technique
quickly. Once you pass the finger blistering during development practice which a small strip of masking or a band-aid can assist in relief is fine.
My dad was a HUGE Buddy Rich Fan (R.I.P.) I have his old drum set from the 40's and myself are a drummer....I've been practicing/messing around with some Rich ...until I've seen this...I've been doing it between my thumb and index finger and just Bouncing it ...it worked but, took too much energy and straining! This seems way easier!
What kind of kit is it? Would love see a video if you have the time to do one! Vintage kits are the best kits :)
Will do! I'll tag it in this thread...as soon as I get the kit from my Uncle's place...I'm guessing it's going to need newer Cymbals...as the original ones were what they called "Garbage lids" (shitty). I'll throw on some some skins etc..keeping the original bass skin (still good) The snare just needs some adjusting...my uncle is more of a guitarist, than a drummer..and EFFED it up! See ya soon guys!
Not a drummer myself but always fancied having a go, and I imagined to get a good roll going I'd also hold the sticks (both hands) via the thumb and middle finger and getting a good bounce rhythm going. Weird to see I'm not the only one that would do it like that. I watched a few BR videos and saw the left hand grip and thought I'm way off in thinking that's the way to do it. Seems like I'm not terribly far off. Now I just need to have a go somewhere :)
Also had one of Buddy's old sets which my father used in the forties and fifties. Was pretty beat up when I got it in the sixties. Father got set in NY decades ago. He knew Buddy well enough to loan him money for lunch once back in the day - some deli near NY musicians local.
Seeing you perfectly replicate the infamous Rich Roll is the craziest thing I've seen today.
Buddy was the best kit player of all time, bar none.
The best is purely subjective, of course, but I’ve never seen anyone “better.”
I thinks so too.
I couldn't agree more.
@@HankFinkle11 I really like how you put that. I've never heard better either. But there is always someone out there that we will never hear about who is phenomenal
@@markgill7138 very true. I remember being in New Orleans many years ago and watching a guy in a dive bar that blew me away, just as Rich did.
Buddy never said he was the “best,” only that he could hold his own with the best.
Very nice demo sir. Buddy had an interesting Paradiddle thing. Left hand on snare. Right hand on Floor Tom. Then he would toss in the bass drum on the 'and' of the 16th note combinations. It took me years to figure out, then one day, there is was! You can see it on one of Buddys old videos when he filled in summers for Jackie Gleason on Away We Go.
GREAT! Whether it is EXACTLY like Buddy did it is not as important as how you demonstrate YOUR beautiful technique and mastery of traditional grip! YOU cook! I had the opportunity to take lessons from a rudimental master that had developed snare technique much like Buddy's. His name was Howard Gilbert and was a principal percussionist with The Seattle Symphony Orchestra in the early and mid '60's. Very thankful I studied with him! George Clark Drummer
I'll second that. This is a unique version. Different than Morello too.
I switched to traditional grip a couple of years ago. I love having to work on something so simple as grip. It really smacks your ego right back down. I constantly work on it everywhere I sit. When I drive, and at my desk, and in front of the tv. It's tough, but I can see improvement. My grip is getting stronger, but I think it's going to take longer than I expected. These videos are great.
Paul Robson - The Ontario College of Percussion - Toronto.
People from all over the world come to learn how to play drums
good and proper, the real thing.
it is still going strong today and better than ever.
When I attended so long ago I was taught along the same lines as
is put forth in this video.
This is a form of the Henry Adler technique being put forth here.
Technique without interfering with natural musical talent
was a big part of the instruction provided.
Real good stuff on this vid, man.
Its a big compliment, man!
Henry was just ok. Not a real player.BUT, if ya want to do Buddy's licks BUY Henry's book. They are direct transcriptions.
good stuff man! Thanks! I am a guitar player, but a drummer at heart. Never had enough time to practice and just messed around on the old beat up kit I have. But, the older I get I am wanting to learn the proper way to play and these tidbits of advice are golden nuggets! Thanks again.
Fantastic demonstration and explanation of some of the techniques Buddy employed. Thanks!
That's some fantastic technique you've got there. I studied with Joe Morello and was always amazed by his ability to play left-hand triplets at significant speed; this is somewhat similar although in 4.
Wow - that last comment was really hateful! This is actually a very useful video. I am a drummer who is always looking to grow, and this video has certainly been very helpful. In addition, the maker of this video is quite masterful with his technique. The internet is full of trolls! Don't listen to them, and keep up the good work!
Wow, wish my left hand was that good! Great job of explaining multiple techniques!
Great explaination of what Buddy actually did.
Great demo! My drum teacher taught me all of that back in 64'! Mastering it took me a lifetime!
Thanks to the guys offering support and advice after my index finger was virtually severed but I'm glad to say I have after 12 months getting enough feeling back to resume my old way of playing,however I've also started using trad.grip and mixing it up ,It's quite a revelation ,I recommend it.Once again thanks.Persistence pays.
Beautiful. Love how drummers figure out how to use as little effort/energy as possible to create rhythm and effortless speed
Nice hands. I think what you are showing is very close to the Murray Spivack fixed pressure finger control. He was a master of snare drum technique. One of his students Ralph Collier also mastered this technique and went on to teach Bill Wilson who learned and mastered this technique as well. Bill taught and ran Drum City in Hollywood. You may know him.
Great! The 3’s, 5’s and 7’s make what Buddy did almost an illusion that his left hand was cruising right through. But those right hand hits give that left hand just enough rest to come back at it again to sound continuous. This is well done cause Buddy solo’d in this fashion a lot.
And this all in one take
Incredible
Hats off
not quite my tempo
This comment exists on every possible path you can take from a Whiplash video.
Javier Aracena LMAO!
@@theoneandonly6741 In my opinion that's pretty good. People are discovering more about jazz and drums.
Buddy was walking up Charles St. in Baltimore after playing a free outdoor at Charles Center and I met him. I asked him specifically about finger control and his exact response was "it's bullshit and don't do it". I liked your video and I'm very aware that Buddy could say anything on any given day but he looked me straight in the eye and told me that.
Yep ... that was Buddy!
FRED GRUBER taught this technique to me years ago he called it the “ CONTRARY MOTION” (technique). As the Top two fingers Move out And away( From the palm), the two bottom Fingers! move down and in towards the Palm and then vice a versa! on the buddy rich live in Montreal Video, he does this on the hi hat
It’s funny Freddy wrote the entire instructions for this technique on the inside cover of my stick control book we applied that technique to the exercises in stick control (As well as other studies)! pure genius! I’m talking like 1981/82 somewhere in there.
Your control is just incredible.
I am not a drummer but have always loved a great drummer and have played with several throughout my years of playing music. All of the drummers I worked with played traditional style. The best drummer I worked with was college trained and even had a workshop session with Joe Morrelo. With the change in style of music today's drummers use match grip and in my opinion make up for lack of style by how loud they can bang on the drums and cymbals.
Spot on where are all the Mitches and Riches.???
Jason Hendrix I'm mitchis
Buddy Rich was pretty loud.
Hi, I'm 8 and I viewed this posting. My dad keeps advising me to focus on the left hand technique(s) you clearly illustrate therein. That said, I just wanted to say well done and thanks for the instruction :}
your 15 now, that's crazy
@@kennyboy1175 And you're still not Ninja, that's crazy. :) lol
i have played matched grip for years, and dabbled in traditional.
now i am changing over to traditional only as i can do more with it.
anyway, this is a great instructional video, and thanks for sharing!!
took me so long to find this technique, my brother showed me it a while back and I hadn't been able to see it since, cheers for the tutorial
It took me years to figure this out. Now, it's priceless in my solos.
Very cool, in the 60's they called this Finger control. Today they call it Push/ Pull. Even so it's still Finger control to Me. Thanks for the Demo!
I love watching the videos of buddy doing the one had roll. He was something else
LOL great video...when I first saw Buddy hitting the top high hat with an incredibly fast buzz roll (while hitting the bottom HH with the other hand as it grasped the whole thing I was like WTF??? what is this? I've never seen something like that I was in shock ...Great player perhaps the best ever
It has taken awhile but, don't stop just keep working on it!
Excellent. This really was one of his main magic ingredients.
Beautiful.... many thanks Drum Brother! Blessings!!!
You are a professional through and through! Incredible technique, very, if not ludicrously, modest and you have the golden pipes of a 1960s/70s radio man (yes a DJ, but before it got ruined). Wish I lived in Colorado, as I would love to be student:) Down in here in Georgia. Dangit. With the devil and all.
So get on a plane and hire him for a couple of hours!
Thanks for wearing the mic. Makes a big diff!
beautiful left hand guy. just beautiful. that's the main reason I quit playing a long time ago never developed a good technique and by the time I realized what was up that you really do need to learn paradiddles ect. to much time has passed me by. good vidio
But you DON'T need to learn paradiddles etc. That is a grave error on your part.
Although we cannot mimic exactly the finger/palm movement of buddy, But out of all the many "buddy technique" videos, this sticking feel is probably the closest to buddy. Not the perfect robotic accented triple/shuffle as in other videos. For me music is about feel. Good work! I am working hard on it too.
Darn. I've been playing match grip too long. I'll give it a try. Thank you for posting this great video!
Neil Peart did a nice rendition of traditional grip during his solos and I think he used the first technique you showed ( at around 2:09). I always wanted to play that way with my left hand. I can hold the stick with traditional grip but I have no speed control like you show here using traditional grip. I need to practice that more. It looks pretty cool when it's done right!
It's not about "looks".
Silky Smooth. Love it from start to finish.
My Father, Buddy Harman is a famous man through the world. He was with the Nashville Sound, which created The Music City USA.Just look him up on my space, and you can see for yourself. Buddy is the worlds most recorded Drummer, thats a fact.More tham 18 thousand sessions done.
Holy Crap! I took a lesson from this guy in that very room years ago! Good guy, it was free. Some good pointers, and ultimately i still use those pointers today. I just now watched this video, and man what a good description of the left hand technique. Similar to what he showed me for right hand technique. good stuff here.
Great left hand technique + great over-all technique
That was one of the best videos I've seen on this technique ... thank you.
THANK YOU SIR.. Great lesson. Thanks for breaking it down. You are so correct in buddy's left hand techniques. Long Live BR.
Just amazing to see an effortless left-handed roll. The traditional grip seems to be great for bouncing. Makes me want to try again at drums. Now I'm curious how the right hand can pull it off!
Awesome video thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise not only on technique but Buddy Rich as well! Added this to my playlist.
Been doing drums for a little while now maybe a month or two and with that tutorial and lots of practice i think i may be able to get it quite good, thankyou
Yes! You are so very good Sir! I have so much to learn...Thanks so much for sharing! xo
excellent production, Cecil would be proud.
metro....damn you got great stick control w/speed and articulation major props to ya !!!!
Actually I can tell you that in playing the kit, providing that you set up in a way thats conducive to trad. grip, the trad grip offers more possibilities than matched.
Excellent demo of Buddy's left hand technique. Thank you.
Well done sir! That is very skillful and makes a lot of sense.
This is called I believe the 'Push and Pull- technique'! I've seen the one and only Dave Weckl utilize and explain it and he reffered back to Buddy, so I guess this one comes pretty close ;)
Weckl describes it at a double stroke motion. What Buddy was playing was a rapid series of singles with his left hand. It sounded like a machine gun firing. Weckl plays what he describes as the double stroke motion.
Whether or not Rich used it I do not know but I do know that Buddy used and played a rapid series of left handed singles, not doubles. Listen to his solo on the chart Three Day Sucker. Near the end of the song he plays rapid singles with one hand and accents it with cymbal crashes. He also hits the bass drum with his foot accenting cymbals.
@@dylangatenby9928 Never very impressed with Weckl.
Very Nice! Amazing technique! Glad to see a fellow Denver guy!
Oh man. Sweeet technique, Metro - Tasty all the way 'round. As an ex drummer (injury) and now a guitar jockey you can imagine how much I miss it. It's nice to see real touch being deployed so well.
Anyway - thanks for posting, and how about you post some music???
Best explanation I have ever seen!! I already play trad grip and I am going to work on that. Thanks for the video!
Just watched this. Thank you for the tutorial. Very inspiring!!
Thanks dude. This completely helped my blast beats become faster. You are awesome and keep up he amazing work.
Now this is drumming, real drumming, thankyou...
WOW man... thank you VERY much ! This Is UNIQUE and impossible to find, thanks and God bless you
What an EXCELLENT video! Great information and such an easy going speaking style!! Thank you for sharing this info!!!
I have been a match grip player for 35 years,I recently severed my left index finger (ouch) I need to learn all over again playing with French grip(trad.) I shall endeavour to master it. BTW surgeons were able to repair it but will never be the same.
Just how I always thought of his technique. Friend in school taught me different hand exercises to improve motor muscles. Different grips. I change my grip as I play. Depends on song. Traditional, matched, and French grip. Faster cymbal work, more fingers. Play hard and loud, tighter grip and use wrist. I also learned to keep sticks in playing position on snare. Not raising sticks real high. Play slower, use a higher rolling motion. Swing the cymbal ride.
I cannot stand how many drummers just hit cymbals straight on and hard! You glance them. Too expensive to crack or kill the cymbal sound. Cymbals need technique too.
I wish I learned more open stick playing. I am left footed, right handed also.
Good tutorial!
Thank you your control and technique is amazing !!!
Buddy Rich practiced beyond belief.....and that's why he played like he did........
Nope, never "practiced".
Awesome chops man can tell uve really put the work in
incredible left hand control sir
They both have there merits. The 2 biggest with the German or French grip is
ambidextrous leading off with both hands on any given cymbal without crosshanding and power is the other. The fifer or tradition grip is the
grace. Try using brushes relaxed doing figures on the snare using a matched grip it sounds and feels completly different. All Trap drumming revolved around the SNARE early on you either learn Moeller or Gladstone or Stone full stop.
To Domonique Monet (comment below). Yes, traditional grip can be uncomfortable, at first. But, when talking to serious Jazz drummers it seems to be that the majority say traditional grip and Jazz is the best way to go. There is MORE than meets the eye here. Once you progress BEYOND the WRIST and slower playing, it is mainly the FULCRUM, THUMB, INDEX FINGER and the FLIPPING BACK UP of the RING FINGER and LITTLE finger which establishes a UNIQUE FEEL that this grip gives for Jazz playing. Actually, you use ALL of the fingers! (watch this video again real closely!). The FULCRUM with this grip is more capable of the ever more delicate shadings with the sticks and brushes than the MATCHED grip. I play both grips depending on the music. George Clark
One word, AMAZING!
I'm not really understanding what you're doing exactly with your left hand. It's driving me crazy and now I must learn this!
Thank you , Man. Nice work. Well presented.
Useful pointers, thanks very much.
For the same reason I can't play lead guitar or piano, my fingers tend to not be so nimble or coordinated so this technique is daunting for me.
My grip for both hands is one-quarter up the stick between the length of my thumbs and the sides of my pointer between the first and second knuckles.
Yeah, I deal with friction a lot and get callouses but I can't wear gloves because I need to feel the sticks.
Anyway, most sticking techniques are beyond my reach because of how I learned to grip but I'll always wish I could achieve the same effect somehow...
+Deuce Loosely This is a lengthy reply, but I hope you will try to read it. I'm a guitar player and I got my first guitar at the age of eight. I didn't get lessons, but nonetheless played the thing relentlessly for five years before getting into a band with adults, who then took my improper self-taught techniques and put them to the task of playing the guitar parts to a bunch of other peoples's songs.
I completely built a system of bad playing habits in my brain and reinforced them daily, because I was so obsessed. It is still a difficult thing in my early sixties, to be replacing those habits with proper methods of using each of my hands, and the old habits always emerge when I'm under pressure to play a little faster, a little more creatively, or for a longer period of time.
I'll get right to the point. A person like you or me will be happy with the results of their early efforts, but in time (such as where we are today), the bad habits will take them to many different doors, but leave them stranded at the threshold with no way to proceed any farther. The only hope we have is to meticulously study proper techniques, even if that means starting them from the very beginning. This means doing them very slowly at first, and it will test our patience when we are anticipating that rewarding feeling of making more progress.
We can too easily go back to using our old methods when frustration & impatience get the better of us, but the reward then merely stays the same as what we achieved when we used our old methods at their peak of utility. But so long as we keep trying to embrace & develop the proper technique, there comes a time when the results surpass the old bad ways. This is definitely a most satisfying reward, when we are finally outperforming our old selves.
Don't make the mistake of giving up on yourself too easily. Chances are, you can get a lot better in not too much time. Forget anything somebody once wrote about the lucky few who have natural talent. That doesn't have any real meaning. What's meaningful is that talent is actually the predictable outcome of about 10,000 hours of practice. You may have a struggle ahead, so the way to deal with the struggle effectively is to take a good long look at where you are with your ability right now, and then decide on a few things that you want to achieve.
Start with smaller, more immediate goals, and don't make them so difficult that you give up in a cloud of disappointment or resignation. Read up on one simple, basic thing you can learn to do, and focus, concentrate, & relax. Give the new technique some time, to become familiar with how it works, and keep referring back to your educational resources, such as video tutorials. Find a half dozen of them and listen carefully to the explanations. Don't let yourself mentally contradict the instructors, but consider what they are trying to explain, and in a while, you'll be able to get a mental grasp of the general idea.
Don't try to tackle extremely advanced techniques right off the bat, you'll only be setting yourself up for despair and crushing feelings of inadequacy. Stay with only a few relatively simple things that you can spend an hour or so on, and switch it up when you sense that you're reaching the max amount of improvement for the practice period. In other words, do the actual practice at an easy, relaxed pace. This relaxation is your zone, and by getting too far ahead of that, you risk teaching yourself to become that tense, nervous, inadequate player, for years to come.
In time, you can learn a technique well enough so that you begin to understand how you work it, and you'll start fine-tuning it to attain the highest level of comfort & endurance. The idea is to practice a new method by repetition, and the moment you feel yourself tense up or get tired, stop immediately and let your limbs rest, then start up again. This is crucial, since you are now trying to teach yourself to be relaxed at all times when you play. You need to avoid playing any strokes when you feel tired or tense.
If you do these things, and do them in a way that feels pleasant and relaxed, you will eventually revisit all those locked doors and kick them down, opening up many worlds of potential. Most importantly of all, don't push yourself to the point of taking the fun out of it. No music was ever created for the purpose of making anyone miserable. Okay, maybe Justin Beiber. But you should do it for your own enjoyment, because if you enjoy what you do, then that is exactly what will make you an enjoyable musician to listen to.
Just pick a tempo you are comfortable with, say 72 BPM and stay with it for weeks singing the quarter note while you play. If it takes you months to get to 96 bpm, so what! You just keep moving it along as you are able.
"Wish" for being in your own Creative Reality.
That's awesome. I couldn't even keep it going for more than a measure or two!
Thanks for that. I have always wondered how anyone could do the things he, and you, have been doing. And, I bet you can't do this with match grip.
Great video, I've been trying like heck to get it but can't yet. Back to the practice pad.
That's awesome! You're incredible
Yes he is, isn't he?
I mix the double stroke with the buz roll so I may be doing a double stroke and I change one hand (usually left) to buzz after you get proficient at this swap it produces interesting results by either speeding up or slowing the hand "buzzing" or the hand that's doubling buzzing FAST with your left while doing a slow double on the rim is particularly interesting. I dont have a name for this technique. :)
Very good lesson, thanks for sharing the technique