You have to lose THIS in order to gain Speed & Control

There’s something you must lose if you want to gain speed, control, and stability on the drums. Maybe you can relate to this…

But first I have to hijack this email with something else I'm excited about. I hardly ever share personal, family stuff in these emails, but this is something I have to tell you.

My wife and I had a baby this month!

We're thrilled to welcome our new baby girl into the world and to spend less time sleeping and more time changing diapers. :) Life is super busy in a new way right now, but thanks to the modern technology of a digital business the Non Glamorous Drummer can keep humming along as usual. We now have an extra mouth to feed here at the Clark household, so be sure to enroll in my premium courses on the website. ;) Just kidding - This isn't a hard sell, so do what you want to. But if you do want to sign up for a course I won't stop you.

Ok on with today's promised email lesson...

When I was in high school, I had my chops together and I could play as fast as I ever needed to. However, my time wasn’t great and I wasn’t relaxed at the kit. I actually struggled to play anything slowly because I just couldn’t play it precisely without rushing and getting sloppy. I discovered a couple of years later a key truth that proved extremely powerful in my growth as a drummer.

In order to gain control, you must lose it.

I’ve found myself saying this to students a lot lately, because it describes exactly what I went through in high school and early college. It sounds like an oxymoron, making no sense at all. But I like statements like that because they make you think…or rethink, really.

When I was at an ultimate point of frustration, trying to clean up my playing and navigate more smoothly around the kit, it hit me. I’ve got to improve my rebound. I’ve got to let the sticks do the work. But that’s hard to do, because that means letting go (literally). Nobody likes letting go of things. We all have our things in life we try to hold on to - the few things we feel we can actually control and take care of. But if someone told you that the only way to control something important to you was to totally let go of it, what would you say?

I knew this was the necessary next step in my technique. I had to loosen up my grip and try to control the sticks less. That way I’d get a smoother, better rebound, and the sticks would essentially “play themselves.” And guess what? As soon as I started applying this principle to my technique, my singles, doubles, rudiments-in-general, slow grooves, slow fills, fast fills, you name it… got better!

Here’s what I worked on to get there:

1. I practiced slow, alternating singles a lot. These were probably 16ths at 50bpm or slower. Or 8ths around 80-90bpm if you prefer it that way. The key was playing them smoothly with the sticks fully bouncing up each stroke. The motion of the sticks allowed me to play with steady time this slow, since the laws of physics were actually governing my time. I was just putting things into motion, then rebound was taking care of the rest for me. (Think of the pendulum inside a grandfather clock. It has perfect time, governed by gravity and momentum!)
2. I thought more in terms of “play off of the drums rather than into them.” I took this same “bounce approach” to the whole kit, smoothly bouncing my sticks from tom to tom. This makes smooth navigation around the kit way easier, since the stick is already on its way to the next drum as soon as you leave the first one! No more “burying the stick” into a drum or cymbal, which leaves you scrambling to hit the next drum in time during faster playing.
3. Lastly, I learned to relax my hands, arms, and shoulders while playing. This is big. The more relaxed you can be, the less control you’re exerting on your sticks. Therefore the more the laws of physics can play for you. The more relaxed and loose you are, the louder you can play without pain. You can also play faster more easily, which seems counterintuitive. It all comes back to staying loose and relaxed, no matter what.

Think about the grandfather clock again. If a person were sitting there manually swinging the pendulum back and forth, would the clock tick with perfect time? Nuff said. :) Pendulums and drum sticks have more in common than you think they do. Practice exerting less control as you play, and let gravity and rebound do the work for you.

If you’re new to all of this, check out this playlist on the channel all about hand technique. Even if you're not new to this, check it out anyways. :) We all have room for improvement in this department. The first video focuses on singles and getting a smooth stroke full of rebound, then we work our way into learning doubles and paradiddles in the second and third videos.

Learn your basic rudiments the right way right off the bat! Don’t squeeze too tight, and don’t try to control. When you "lose control"...

• You’ll actually gain a whole bunch of speed and dynamic range.
• Your time will improve and your groove will be more stable.
• You’ll work less, and you’ll be less tired at the end of the gig.

That’s exactly what I experienced, and those are benefits worth working toward.

So get on it! Practice this stuff, knowing that you can do it. I have faith in you. Stay non glamorous, everyone.

God Bless, and have a great week!

Stephen