hey..ive been playing tenors 2 yrs now and seem of myself as an allright type of player.Recently i have watched my grip and seen the my hands tend to seperate and slip off of my stick as i play on my sweeps and differnt playing ways and i cant help it. My drum captain told me it would be fine but i just need to build up my hands but i also find my arms tense up and as somewhat lock when i play.I was just wondering is there any technique or some sort of way i can practice this and what grip should i try. Anything will help.

Thanks

Well the thing is, from what you're saying... it looks to me like you haven't fully built up chops in your arms. And the reason you might be choking up on the sticks is because that you might not be pinching your foulcrome fulcrum (i can't spell - we know this all too well.)all the way...or you're playing with a french grip when you're sweeping. Try playing 25s around the drums go Drum 1, 2 3, 4, spock, 4, 3, 2, 1 for 6 bars at let's say 90 nice slow full wrist turn.

You have to break down your technique all over again. This problem occurs when you learn to "run before you walk." It has happened to me in the past and this is how I fixed it.

Have you ever tryed excersising before you play tenors? I find that my performance is 500% better when ever i decide to stretch first. It also wouldent hurt to put some Grip wax on your sticks for that slipping problem. If you do those 2 things you probobly wont have any of those pesky problems agian! Good luck with that.

Yea... break down your Grip... take it all the way back to your original Fulcrum... 90% of the time the problem can be traced back to your fulcrum... fix that... and mebe the problem will fix itself... as yoru instructor if he has tips for Adjusting your Fulcrum...

In addition to what the good folks above have stated, try to turn up your wrist about 45 degrees, or what ever is a comfortable american grip (don't go all the way for french) for you when you are playing on drums 3 and 4. This is especially helpful when playing scrapes (sweeps).

You do NOT need grip wax - you just need to develop the strength necessary to hold the stick in place. I've gotten to the point where my friends cannot pull a stick out of my hands (unless they turn the stick, forcing me to let go because of the physics involved with turning the wrist).

And who's to say you can't play tenors with a French Grip? Why is that wrong? Certainly playing with flat palms is a correct way to play, so why not the "opposite".

The best thing to do would be to, first, fix your fulcrum (as mentioned) by playing 8's CORRECTLY forever. Once you have the basic stroke down (however your line plays...and if your line doesn't have a specific technique, I would recommend learning a corps technique - just don't get attatched to that one. There is so such thing as "right", only playing how your section leader plays). Once you have a firm stroke on one drum, put it around the drums, first 8 on each drum and practice the proper zones of each drum, then an "around" pattern (it doesn't matter what, there are several rather common ones...make up your own if you feel inclined).

Once you have developed a good strong basic stroke, apply that stroke to doubles. Again, learn to play very strong doubles on one drum, and then move it around. I actually put another step in between, where I would play 8's in a scrape motion, ie. 13131313 24242424, right and left respectively. Then alternate 16th doubles on one drum as your check, and scrapes as your pattern, ie (check) 1322132213221322 (check) 1124112411241124. Repeat this pattern many a time, and with different variations of scrapes and crosses.

(of course, all of this will be in vain if you rush, and don't pay attention to your grip. You have to have a feel for the stick; the stick should never feel like it's out of control - remember, the stick is YOUR tool, you tell it where to go)

Just to throw my piece of mind in here; Don't get the idea that you need to squeeze the hell out of the stick in order to control it. Squeezing the stick will cause tension, and, as you probably know, tension will just cause you problems. All you need is to find the minimum amount of pressure needed to apply to the stick from the fulcrum point in order to keep it under control. So, perhaps you may need to be holding on to the stick more than before, but if you are tensing up when you're playing you are doing something wrong. Like most people said, break it down and make sure you have a correct fulcrum point and build it up one step at a time.

And remember. If it isnt comfortible at first. Just keep at it. I had the same problblm a year ago and now i have no problbm with it and my body became used to the change in grip.