Oh yea PD, I like your setup  

Unless you are born ambidextrous (equal facility with either hand) everyone has a weaker hand and in percussion you have to do your best to "equal" and it does not matter what grip we are talking about.  No one can do a snare drum roll without "reasonably" equal hands, matched or traditional.  It just is not possible.

PDrums makes a great point (I sometimes think he is older than I am but then I realise no one is older than I am): we just try to equal them up all our lives.

It's a funny thing: we only ever "try" in my opinion.  Mercifully I do not have to play kits (or sit down drums as they are quaintly referred to in the Czech Republic) but here's a funny thing: if I am left to play a "single" isolated note (which I often am, whether it be timpani, triangle, tambourine or any tuned percussion) I will ALWAYS go for it with my right hand which is my strongest hand

The wisdom of PDrums is to say that you should set up your kit so you can easily play according to your grip.

I know there is an art to setting up kits and there is also an art in "setting up" in opera or ballet pits or for a multi percussion classical piece, whether symphony or show but I guess that's another thread.

The weaker hand is the curse of all percussionists whether snare or timpani or anything else so far as I know (but suspended cymbals are "slightly" more forgiving)  Unfortunately, I suspect PDrums and I just feel more at home with our grip which we think is natural and lots of others think is unnatural-

The "advantage", if there is one, is that WE like it and feel at home with it.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins

I have read that a study was done showing that students who started with a matched grip progressed faster "initially" than those who started with a traditional grip, but later caught up.

I would also point out that when I play traditional grip, I come up with comps and fills that I don't think of when I play matched and vice versa.  Perhapse the different grip that uses different muscles causes the brain to think differently.

Ratamatatt

I still can't see a reason for a competent traditional grip player to go to the extra work of adding matched grip to his or her repertoire. If you start from scratch, you can do it all with traditional grip.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  

Ratt-

I don't want to get into "Grip Wars" - but if a more sensitive touch IS inherent to the left hand when using traditional grip, why not hold BOTH sticks that way?

Whatever works for you, based on your gig, your history, and your physiology. Like I said, I use both.

PS - Travis Barker rools like Ozzy!  (Sorry, but somebody has to say that at least once a week for this to be a reputable drum board...)  

Wouldn't that be the grip where you hold both sticks like the left hand in traditional, the one you see in cartoons drawn by non-drummers (who also draw two floor toms on either side of the bass drum as well as the drummers feet on either side)?  

I'm another guy who started on matched and went to tradtional this past year.  I find my left arm is able to be straighter; I don't have to cock my elbow way backwards.  Plus, what Rat said about the brush technique: hitherto I was using some sort of half-assed swirl with the wrong hand and stroking with that same hand.  I learned better only recently.

Two tongue-in-cheek comments, if I may:

1)  In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "Who are these people?"  

2)  Given the historical origins of the traditional grip, to accommodate the angle of snare drums worn on a sling, I have this image of a "v-shaped" snare drum head that angles down to the middle from either side to accommodate the "double traditional" technique...someone call the North or Trixon drum companies!

But (in the words of Steve Allen), "all seriousness aside..."

I really try to shy away from these sorts of "which grip is better" discussions, because there will never be a resolution - there will never be an article in Percussive Notes, or Modern Drummer, or Drum, or any other publication, where there will be a definitive announcement:  "OUR EDITORIAL STAFF HAS DONE THE MATH, AND ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE BEST GRIP FOR EVERYONE TO USE IS _______!"  (...or, "THIS IS WHEN YOU SHOULD USE TRADITIONAL, AND THIS IS WHEN YOU SHOULD USE MATCHED...")

There are similar discussions in the mallet percussion world:  "Which is better, holding two mallets or four mallets (or six)?"  "Which four mallet grip is best, Burton, Stevens or Traditional?"  While each of these grips has their different strengths and weaknesses (relatively speaking), I'm a firm believer that the common ground (in terms of what is technically possible) between these grips - just like the common ground between matched and traditional snare drum grips - is far greater than the differences.  If one doesn't have good control over soft dynamics using matched grip, then they don't have their chops together.  There is nothing about traditional grip that automatically makes it better for soft playing, or "nuanced" playing, AFAIK.

The time spent developing two different snare drum grips could be better spent, IMHO, really mastering one of them.  Pick one, and get your chops together with that grip.

Travis who?

Ratamatatt

In follow-up to Ratamatatt's post, regarding "matching" the trad left-hand grip:

I was waiting for someone to make this point ( or at least what I take the point to be  . The manner in which drum sets are traditionally"set-up" assumes the unmatched trad grip or the normal matched grip. It wouldn't easily work mechanically if someone used a matched grip in which both hands were the trad left-hand grip. Think about reaching for and playing a ride cymbal on the righthand side of your kit if your righthand was using a trad lefthand grip. Doesn't work for me.

Also, many if not most drummers who play trad left hand angle the snare away from that hand. If both hands used this grip you'd need a V-shaped snare drum !!

Bigbill

I just want to know who is using a traditional grip in timpani?  On either hand.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins