30 days to get your hands together...

[Julián Fernández]

Hey guys...
I´m happy to say that for the last month I was able to keep my routine of playing 4 hours a day (except for sundays).
The thing that keeps buggin me is my left hand. So many thinks I wanna play and I just can´t because of my weaker hand.
I will continue to play drums 4hr/day but I wanna hear your stories about what you found useful on developing your hands... I just finished playing Wilcoxon´s book and I´m familiar with all 40 PAS rudiments...
Never really tried the pillow thing, and was also wondering about doing short periods of time on the pad but really pushing it, or working for long time aiming for stamina...
Would like to find a plan for the next 30 days and see real improvement to keep inspired doing it...
Anyway, advice is always welcome!
Thanks!

[bclarkio]

One thing that has worked for me is to start doing as many things as possible with my left hand, in effect treating it as the strong hand.

That would include everyday activities like brushing my teeth, shaving, etc., as well as work-related things like using the computer mouse left-handed, using hammers and screw drivers the same way, and in sports shooting/swinging with the left hand.

When I started doing this, I realized that the right hand isn't better than the left at everything. For instance, the left hand is much better at holding things while right is working on them, so you are also training the right hand to do things differently.

On the drums, I would make my left hand do the things I used to do with the right, and make it do most of the work.

For me this works well, because my left hand Talks/Sings better than my right, and my right does things better unconsciously.

After doing this for many years, I found that over all my playing was slower, but I was comfortable with the trade-off, because I felt I was able to be more expressive.

[Gerry]

One thing that has worked for me is to start doing as many things as possible with my left hand, in effect treating it as the strong hand.

That would include everyday activities like brushing my teeth, shaving, etc., as well as work-related things like using the computer mouse left-handed, using hammers and screw drivers the same way, and in sports shooting/swinging with the left hand.

When I started doing this, I realized that the right hand isn't better than the left at everything. For instance, the left hand is much better at holding things while right is working on them, so you are also training the right hand to do things differently.

On the drums, I would make my left hand do the things I used to do with the right, and make it do most of the work.

For me this works well, because my left hand Talks/Sings better than my right, and my right does things better unconsciously.

After doing this for many years, I found that over all my playing was slower, but I was comfortable with the trade-off, because I felt I was able to be more expressive.

Funny you should say this as I recently read the same advice in Jack Parnell's Drum Tutor. It's an old 1950s book and, like many tutor books of that generation (and earlier) there's a strong bias towards developing strength in both hands, so that you don't end up merely a 'one handed drummer' (Max Bacon's term, IIR).

In recent months I've been working from an old 30s book called 'modern tutor for drums and cymbals and accessories'. It all looks pretty simple, but when you start leading with the left-hand it suddenly isn't! Also, the author (Eric Little) liked his flams, so a lot of the rhythmic figures are trickier than they first appear.

I'll have to start watching porn with my left hand...er, did I just type that out aloud??

[langmick]

I've seen my left hand dexterity increase by doing a few things. It's still not the same as my right, for sure.

Weight training regimen, with kettlebells or dumbells, to equalize the strength between your arms.

I used to take notes in my classes with my left hand. Reading them was difficult.

Another thing I found to help is playing with a yo-yo. Surprisingly hard with your less dominant hand, at least to me.

And a big door opened with moeller for sure.

[Matus]

Without getting too much into detail, first you should spend a good ammount of time refining your single stroke mechanics on both hands, making sure both hands are used the same way for the same goals. This includes grip, wrist movement, stroke angles, heights, etc. Once both hands are moving equally, then you should use specific technical routines, always trying to put your limit where your left hand is. Eventually, you'll develop enough stamina and the differences will become less noticeable.
We discussed a whole lot of things in the "single stroke" thread recently but IMO, you might benefit from using a bit of your practice time to polish your single strokes from scratch and see if there's something that's actually holding you back.
And stay away from pillows.

[Yussuf]

Play beats and fills leading with your left hand. That helped me a lot.

[Jim Richman]

Play only with your left hand. Give your right a break. Or play L-L-Rfoot in 16th notes on a left floor tom, while playing an 1/8th note hihat snare backbeat pattern in 4/4 or 6/8 with your right hand.

[Andy Vermiglio]

When I was a student at the Armed Forces School of Music, I decided to switch from matched to traditional grip. A lot of other students thought I was crazy, since if you failed your audition/examnations you were still in the military (just not serving as a musician).

As mentioned previously, I also tried doing as much as possible with my left hand, combing my hair, shaving , lifting, carrying, everything that I normally did with my right I did with my left. I believe this really helped.

Years latter the thing that significantly helped my hands was taking 7 hours of private lessons with Weckl. It was like learning to play all over again. It helped to have someone who had spent his life working on his technique look at my hands. He opened up a whole new way of looking at my hands and my sound. It was frustrating, but after spending a lot of hours on it, I started making some very nice progress.

[Niles]

No pillow...

Practice things slowly with your left. Really get the mechanics down that allow you to pull something off - Moeller, Free Stroke, doubles/singles, whatever - really zero in on what makes the strokes work. Am I using fingers, wrist, arms ...? Go slowly - REALLY slowly - then increase tempo a little bit here and there. If you have a good foundation, then as you speed things up, it will sound cleaner and be easier to execute. You'll notice fine adjustments that you have to make to get different tempos together.

Another thing you can try is playing open handed - especially with the ride cymbal. Playing the ride with your left will make you really think about your touch and technique.

[Julián Fernández]

Nice guys! Keep it coming...
Andy, do you mind sharing the details of what you worked with Dave? Thanks!