DRUMMER CAFE

A few weeks back, a friend of mine suggested that I try this exercise to help build finger speed and forearm strength, two things that I'm slightly lacking and haven't quite been building at a rate that pleases me, especially as they're imperative to the style which I play (one of the more extreme forms of "extreme metal.") It's one that I've seen people talk about on the internet before -- basically, with your arms flat on a table, raise and lower your two middle fingers while everything else stays flat. I'm pretty sure that Bart mentioned it in one of his five minute lessons, in fact.

Unfortunately, I'm a pretty little guy and don't have the time to lift weights or anything that would normally build arm strength, so I started doing it wherever I could. I live in New Jersey, so I spend more time driving than I do anything else and realized that I could do this very same exercise on my steering wheel as I drove, usually tapping each finger evenly on the beat. Not only would it work there, but while standing, I found that I could wrap my fingers around my opposite arm and do it there, too. As long as your wrist is straight (don't want to get carpal tunnels!) and your hand is grabbing something to keep your other fingers still, you can do it anywhere. I did it while standing around at work, I did it while I drove, or at meetings, or in movie theaters on my legs -- anywhere I could, really. After a while, my forearms really started to get tight and ache, just like they would if I was lifting weights regularly -- it was a sure sign that this exercise was doing something.

Now, I live in a relatively small townhouse with my parents, so practice time on the full kit is limited. To make matters worse, the band for which I play is in Harrisburg, PA, a full two hours on a good day. I leave my kit there and practice what I can on an electronic kit, but comparing a bottom of the line Hart Prodigy to my real kit is quite a stretch. One thing led to another and my band went about three weeks without a practice, which meant three weeks without an extended session at my kit. That meant that while I could practice a little bit, I didn't get the full effect and couldn't see myself progressing gradually aside from a noticeable increase in speed on the pad.

To try and wrap this story up, I finally practiced with them this past week and the change in my playing as a result of this exercise was outstanding. My endurance was very noticeably improved -- far better than it would have been if I had only been playing on the pad or the electronic kit. After a few hours of grueling practice, neither my hands nor my arms were really tense or sore, which I had come to expect. I'm actually starting to play a bit more to my own expectations, which is extremely exciting.

Of course, I'm not going to claim that this increase in speed, control, and endurance was all because of this exercise, because I did spend a fair amount of time practicing my rudiments and a few other exercises at the e-kit and pad; however, this was a jump in endurance and speed that greatly exceeded what I had come to expect from a few weeks of normal practice.

I don't want this to come off as bragging. I just wanted to share a story about a time when one of those things you hear from a friend or read about on the internet actually paid off in a very big way. This is a great thing to do, especially since you can do it just about anywhere and at any time. I'm really proud of my accomplishments with this and hope that it'll be of use to other drummers with limited time to practice, too!

To slightly modify it, try this: grab your arm with your hand, keeping your wrist straight. Lift the middle two fingers up as high as they'll go without straining too much, then bend them in and hold it for a second, bend them back straight, and bring it back down. Repeat this. You'll feel it in your fingers as much as your arm, which makes for an obviously better workout.

I'm long-winded. Sorry. I just can't write things in a simple way.