Well, as we all know, a 'good' reason is always arguable.  So with that, my reason for switching to traditional to matched a few years ago, was because I made the decision to 'start from scratch'.  I was at a point in my playing career where I just wasn't happy with my technique and finally became honest with myself that my stick control was horrendous.  

Thus, I sought out a teacher and explained that I wanted to start all over again as if I'd never played before.  With that, I was presented with the question of "what grip do you want to use?"  Well, I chose traditional because this was also part of my 'starting over' mentality of doing it 'right'.  

Well, to become a 'real drummer' this is what I felt I needed to do.  It's as simple as that.  Besides, it was something I thought hard about for a while and also took into consideration what kind of grip some of the drummers I admired used (most were traditional grip players or used both).  In addition, I considered myself a drumming failure, which at the time included matched grip.  Finally, I wanted to study brushes and my teacher did recommend using traditional, which I had also had not so very good results with my brush playing matched grip previously.  

So for me, I guess it was all a mental thing and I don't really have any other reason to justify switching except out of personal preference.

Bottom line for me currently, is that matched is still preferable for rock or beat-oriented applications and traditional is preferred for more technical and dynamic applications.  Fortunately, like Mr. A mentioned, I do have a regular rock gig two to three times a week where I do use matched.  My fills are terrible, but the beats are consistent.  I have a jazz gig (100% brushes and hand drumming) as well where I use traditional.  Then, when I practice, I practice traditional.  

In light of what's been stated in this thread and what B-man stated in his last post, it seems that drummers who use both probably have a primary grip they prefer/practice with and then simply use the secondary/other grip(s) 'on the job' as it applies.  What I can do from now on, is rather than practice everything with both grips, start practicing those things that I'm currently using matched for (the grooves and those associated fills).  

This just gives me an even greater respect for these guys who use both grips well.  I could never imagine having THAT much talent.  

Scott - thanks for the good explanation of your choice. Here's a series of exercises to work on with BOTH grips - each is aimed at strengthening the left hand in a practical way, developing its ability to add subtlelty to your groove through dynamic stick control.

(The rhythm for each of these is straight 16ths. Capital letters are accents. IMPORTANT: Make as big a difference between accents and non-accents as you can - for example, try to make the non-accents sound like ghost notes, and play the accents as rimshots at your normal backbeat volume)


L r r l   L r r l   L r r l   L r r l (work this up to a full roll tempo)

r l L l    r l L l    r l L l    r l L l   (also play it as: L l r l    L l r l    L l r l    L l r l)

L l l r    L l l r    L l l r    L l l r

R l r l    L l r L    r l l r    L l r l (be careful on sticking and accents on this)

R l L r    L l r L    r l l R    L l r l (ditto)


Hope you have fun with these...

I was always taught matched.  I toyed with traditional for awhile but I just can't get into it.  I have to tell myself that it is ok I can't play traditional over and over.

LOL, then you're probably one of the best plumbing drummers around!

Kind of brings a whole new meaning to the crack of a drum, eh?

"Yessire, I'd like a nice plumber's crack sound from my snare drum."  

I don't know about America of course but if Mr Acrolite was "really" made for plumbing (and lived in the Czech Republic) what I do know for certain is that he would  be a damned sight richer.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins

Glad you're enjoying them. I use that second pattern a lot on gigs.

Play that exercise as 8th notes, with the left hand on the snare and the right on the hihat, playing the hat half open. Add right hand quarter notes on 2 and 4 (where the left is accented), add kick drum on 1 and 3, and you've got a great uptempo rock groove ala Bonham's Rock and Roll. Tighten up the hat and the groove sounds great on country-oriented "train" songs like Clapton's Lay Down Sally, or Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, etc. The groove sounds cool, and the left hand gets a major workout.

Also, try playing the left hand part of that pattern as a shuffle instead of as evenly spaced 8th notes, adding quarter notes on the ride and on the bass drum. Keep the left hand accent strong, and try the shuffle at a variety of tempos.

Try a "loose" shuffle - where the feel is triplet-oriented, and also try it "tighter" - with more of a dotted-8th followed by a 16th feel (if that makes sense).