House of Drumming.com

Hey,

Regarding traditional grip, I've heard that some traditional grip players like Virgil and Weckl were having some bad problems from playing that grip. I've heard that Weckl needed a cortisone shot in the shoulder before playing. Same thing for Thomas Lang. This might not be true but I was just curious to know if you had ever heard about these informations.

renardvert wrote:Hey,

Regarding traditional grip, I've heard that some traditional grip players like Virgil and Weckl were having some bad problems from playing that grip. I've heard that Weckl needed a cortisone shot in the shoulder before playing. Same thing for Thomas Lang. This might not be true but I was just curious to know if you had ever heard about these informations.

Not true regarding Virgil. I don't know about the others. I've never heard of Weckl having
those kind of issues.

I've seen such rumors rise among drummers who wanted to play trad, but didn't have the
stamina to put in the practice it involved, and went back to matched.

Yeah, I've sadly seen the same thing happen.

Morgenthaler wrote:

renardvert wrote:Hey,

Regarding traditional grip, I've heard that some traditional grip players like Virgil and Weckl were having some bad problems from playing that grip. I've heard that Weckl needed a cortisone shot in the shoulder before playing. Same thing for Thomas Lang. This might not be true but I was just curious to know if you had ever heard about these informations.

Not true regarding Virgil. I don't know about the others. I've never heard of Weckl having
those kind of issues.

I've seen such rumors rise among drummers who wanted to play trad, but didn't have the
stamina to put in the practice it involved, and went back to matched.

renardvert wrote:Hey,

Regarding traditional grip, I've heard that some traditional grip players like Virgil and Weckl were having some bad problems from playing that grip

Weckl's grip in the 80s was nothing to emulate. He was all wrist. That's all I know.

Been playing trad now for about..... um 20 years I think (man I am getting on a bit) and the only issue I have is that if I really want to slam the snare harder than usual I might be a little tender the next day or 2. Of course this can be avoided by switching to match grip.

Traditional grip (TRAAAAADITIONALLLL GRIIIIPPP!!!!!!!) has always and will always facinate me to now end, learn it correctly and you will have no problems.

My 2c, up to about a $1.40 now I think

On a recent vid Beck talked about Vinnie having some kind of finger problems...

bananajou wrote:http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=3052

He mentions that he changed grip, but that is his right hand in those pix, right?
It seems he had a general problem with both hands; nothing to do with trad grip specifically.

Like with smoking & cancer,nutrition & health, noise & tinnitus etc. it's a question of
many factors. There's a lot you can do to prevent the illnesses, but some guys can do all the
wrong things and still be healthy.

I've only been playing drums for 2-3 years. I play all day most days, use traditional grip 99% of the time and never had any issue what so ever with my hands except the first few months when working on my accents and still figuring out how to do things correctly(I still do that offcourse, but you get my point).

It takes a bit more time to get consistent rim shots, but it's no biggie. I play a traditional kit, which to me sort of lends itself to using traditional grip.

I like it.

IMO If you truly get hurt, your doing something wrong, not warming up properly or something like that. Plenty of simple exercises on can do to avoid ever having to deal with CTS. Lots of stuff you can do with your diet to never really get any kind of inflammation as well.

My $0.02 on this is what it always is...get JoJo Mayer's Secret Weapons vid and go no further than the basic stuff...both hands because the techniques need to be equally developed. Get comfortable blowing those basic Gladstone and Moeller strokes slowly and work them up gradually. Don't get hung up on silly shit like "where should my index finger be" and all that crap. It has to feel natural and be very relaxed. A lot of it has to do with just allowing nature to do the work. Don't try to rush it...take your time. And most importantly, don't over-analyze it. Trad is no big mystery. If developed naturally from the start you should have no problems eventually playing with plenty of dynamic range and control.

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I go like this."
Doctor: "Then don't go like that."