I've been a drummer for over 32 years now, and nine years ago, I had a bad bout with tendonitis. Two things saved my playing career: a good chiropractor who used a technique called "neuro-muscular re-education" on my arms and hands, and a DVD by famed drummer Steve Smith (Journey, Vital Information, Vital Tech Tones) that was released in 2002 called "Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat."
In this DVD, Smith breaks down the mechanics and motions of both hand and foot technique, right from the ground up, using the Moeller technique. This technique uses very natural motions and takes advantage of your body's mechanics to make playing easier, less stressful on the body, and overall much more musical. (I wish there was a link I could share that would demonstrate what Smith talks about...but copyrighted material is some times more jealously guarded than others.)
Having gotten Greg Howard's technique DVD in the mail on Saturday (thanks, Greg!) and watched a portion of it, I can't help but see a nice parallel between the technique shown by Smith for arm motion and Greg's arm motion technique. They might not be obviously similar to look at, but both make use of arm motion and mass to facilitate playing.
I just thought it was really neat and wanted to share the thought. And I believe that my transition into being a "Stickist" out of being a "drummist" will be made easier because of this technique.

Hi Bergerstick.

Right with you on this topic.

I haven't seen the video you mentioned, but I do use modeller technique as a drum guy, at least in part.

Funny how when I was at a cafe just across from where we had our stick seminar in Melbourne, I spoke to drummer Peter Luscombe (Black Sorrows) and he said that he found himself using Moeller technique more and more as he was getting older.

I could definitely relate to that and coming from a pro like him, it made me think about it some more, not least for the fact that I had begun to find my muscles competing to play either Stick or drums.

It seems to me that making your muscles work in harmony with body mass and gravity is by far the best way to go. I think most drummers play that way, but having a system to relate to can be very helpful. I was always aware however, that technique is personal and made sure I tried the different Moeller techniques without obsessing over endorsing it totally.

Back to Stick: Greg's dvd really does have parallels to Moeller doesn't it...! I now feel that I can greatly accommodate playing drums & Stick as a result of Greg's instruction. There is enough fast twitch going on with drumming when you're really flying.. still... stretch, stretch and more stretching.

My general feeling is that if I ask too much of the tapping with fingers only motion, (bad news), actually this has almost disappeared altogether; then when it comes time to use the general wrist turn of drum playing, the muscles associated with "tired tapping", become rigid and are prone to injury. It even happened to me again on my Saturday drum gig, not a bad one, but I did get a little ping.... So it's just being really aware of what I'm doing throughout the week, heat packs, physio cream, warm ups before Stick and little stretches throughout a practice session.

That's me these days...

Many Stickist regards.

Nice to hear the concepts are resonating with drummers. I've been getting the same reaction from my keyboard-playing students as well. The use of hand and arm motion to help energize the strings connects you body to playing the instrument so much more than a "typing" motion alone.

Now if I could only figure out how to play a second one with my feet at the same time, I could be Dennis Chambers.

I'm also a drummer of 41 years, and I like this correlation. One of Neil Peart's lessons (I think it was on "A Work In Progress"), also talked about letting gravity and natural body motion assist in your drumming technique. I can see how this would directly apply to what Greg has been preaching for years. I just ordered his new DVD, so looking forward to delving deeper into this. Nice association Radkon!

Kris

That's exactly the same stuff Steve Smith covers in his DVD. Both Neil and Steve took lessons on Moeller technique from Freddie Gruber. It's interesting to see two drummers using the same concepts who look and sound so differently from each other; Steve took it in a very "classic jazz" direction, and his playing is just a thing of beauty to watch, let alone hear. Neil took it in a very grandiose, rock direction, and it's great to see. It all makes me unable to wait to hear how I'm eventually going to sound as a Stick player!

Greg, I'm not surprised that you're getting that reaction from your keyboard-oriented students,too. There are just certain principles of physics and motion that are completely natural to the human body, and regardless of the instrument you play, using those principles makes for better playing.

If you're going to try and use your feet, though, I might suggest starting with bottleneck slides on your big toes.

Hi Kris,

I will have to check them out. It would be great to see the parallels.

The biggest challenge for my students so far seems to be playing the downfret motion (down in pitch toward the nut, but physically "up") with the same kind of energy as the upfret motion (up in pitch toward the bridge, but physically "down" toward the floor). So I find I'm recommending that they practice that more to balance things out.

Once you can do both moves with equal confidence and intensity, hand movement is a snap.

A parallel with guitar is alternate picking. I've never learned to play guitar, so this is just speculation, but I imagine it's easier to strike downward on the string than it is to pick up from the bottom at first, but that you soon get used to it.

Relating to drums, I think there must be extensive parallel to tabla playing.

Greg,

I think to answer your question about alternate picking on the guitar, it is certainly easier to hit a down stroke, but the economy of motion is particulary important if you're trying to play any kind of lead lines. But I think like just with anything else, you really have to practice all of those motions to become an efficient player. You have to be able to utilize the upstroke just as well as you do the downstroke, because inherently there are going to be lines that call for that. I think perhaps that's the only parallel I can draw.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbDofgD04dc[/youtube]

Simply incredible, and yes, Greg, you hit the nail right on the head.

Greg,

Could it be that, like guitar, when you're playing down in pitch, you have to simultaneously lift up off the higher pitched fret, as opposed to going up in pitch where you can essentially be lazy with those trailing fingers? I know that I get caught missing notes all the time on both instruments because of this, accidentally muting the strings.

Kris

Hi Kris,

If you don't move your hand very much this can be a problem, but if you truly shift position as the move would indicate, then it's not an issue.

I find people who have a hard time with this are still parking their thumb, and just rotating their hand over the board, rather than actually shifting it.

Thanks for all the resonance, everyone...