Part ONE: The Hands Behind the Groove: An overview of Drumming Technique, Touch, and Control
Drum Technique - The Hands
One of the most hotly covered topics in drumming has to be technique, especially as we’re engaging every limb just to play the simplest of grooves. After over twenty years of drumming, and ten years of teaching, I’ve gone down my own path of self-development and helped many others improve their economy of motion and longevity both on stage and in the rehearsal room. Hopefully today my brief overview will offer you some exciting new insights.
What is good technique?
Jojo Mayer once said in his (then cult) DVD Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer, a guide to hand technique, that if the sound he wanted from his drum was the sound of it being thrown off a five-storey building, then an underarm rugby throw of your Supraphonic snare would technically be the correct technique. Jokes aside, the point is a valid one. Technique is, first and foremost, a means of achieving the sound we’re aiming for. But beyond that, the real question becomes: How easy is it to achieve this sound? Is it replicable? Will it allow me to play with longevity and without injury?
Summed up in a line: Good technique should economise energy and motion, and facilitate the consistent production of the sound, timbre, or articulation you’re aiming for.
The Hands
Drum technique is usually split into two subheadings: hands and feet. The fantastic DVD I just mentioned has a sequel that does exactly that, Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer II: A Guide to Foot Technique. In fact, if you take nothing from this blog but those DVD titles, you’ll already be on the way to finding performance-enhancing tweaks for your playing.
The hands are, of course, at the end of the appendage we call the arm but everything from the shoulder down plays a role in modern drum technique. Around the early 2000s, the “gear system” analogy became popular. It likens the arm’s mechanics to a car's gearbox, each joint acting as a different gear. The shoulder is the biggest “gear,” a ball-and-socket joint allowing nearly 360° of rotation. It’s the least-used for direct playing but is crucial for big positional moves, floor tom to crash, or snare to ride with a single arm. Next is the elbow, essentially a hinge joint, like what you’d find on a door. But the human arm also includes clever rotational mechanics thanks to the radius and ulna in the forearm. (Don’t worry, this isn’t a biology lecture.) The point is: the elbow gives us both bend and rotational movement. Then comes the wrist, arguably the most significant hinge in terms of control and finesse, followed by the fingers, which are the final link in the chain of command and crucial for the upper speeds.
Hey presto, you’re a brilliantly designed kinematic chain. (If you’ve never heard that term, why would you? It means an interconnected mechanical system of joints and segments that work together to produce complex motion.)
Now that we have a working taxonomy for the upper limbs, let’s talk about grip.
Grip is absolutely foundational to having solid, dependable technique. By far the best teacher on this topic is the legendary Murray Spivack. I highly recommend looking him up on YouTube interviews, clinics, anything. My approach to grip has been heavily adapted from his methods.
Fulcrum
If you’ve never thought about the balance point on your stick before, now’s the time. Without establishing a fulcrum, basically a pivot point, you can’t make use of the free rebound energy that comes from striking the drum. If you're not using rebound, you're likely absorbing unnecessary shock and overexerting yourself.
Murray taught that the fulcrum should sit on the first knuckle of the middle finger. I’ve made a little diagram to walk you through the grip, so let’s get into it...
Forget the index finger; the middle finger is where it’s at. Why? Simple: it’s in the middle, giving you better balance, support, and symmetry. This way frees up your index to guide the stick, while your thumb anchors the other side, providing extra control.
First, let's get acquainted with the fulcrum.
With your palms facing downward, cradle the
stick at its optimal balance point, just over 1/3 up the stick, resting it in the first knuckle of your middle finger.
The ring and pinky fingers gently wrap around the butt of the stick, providing subtle support to the predominantly three-fingered grip at the front.
The stick finally rests against the soft, spongy part of your palm-technically known as the Hypothenar Eminence.
From a worm's-eye view, observe the middle finger cradling the stick from underneath. Now, apply the pad of your thumb and the edge of your index finger, securing a balanced and controlled grip.
After establishing the stick’s fulcrum and points of contact with the fingers, we return to observing our hand from our own perspective. There are several key elements to maintain:
Butt End Visibility - A small portion of the stick’s butt should be visible, jutting out from the hypothenar.
Stick Alignment - The stick should remain approximately parallel to your forearm, better allowing the stick to act like an extension of the arm.
Keep your hand relaxed to allow a clear channel for stick rebound - this space exists between your thumb and index finger. If it's closed, movement is restricted, and bad technique follows.
Litmus Test: Look at your hand. Is there a gap? If not, loosen up!
Your thumb and index finger act as guides—distribute pressure evenly without gripping too tight. Aim for the oblate side of your index to contact the stick, while a large portion of your thumbprint rests on the other side. A slight side-contact with your thumb is fine - just keep it balanced.
It’s worth mentioning that there are other schools of thought on grip; many teach pinching between the index finger and thumb. I think this is largely discarded in most professional environments, and I seldom see industry pros playing that way. That’s not to say it’s wrong, however.
Now that we’re holding our stick properly, it’s time to start hitting stuff!
Moeller Method
The Moeller Method comes from Augustus Sanford Moeller’s analysis of traditional military drumming techniques. He reverse-engineered the motions he observed and published his findings in The Moeller Book. Moeller didn’t invent anything new, he simply described and labelled the logical motions of the arm and wrist in the context of snare solos.
The truth is, most drummers use aspects of Moeller technique unknowingly, but applying it consciously and with intention can drastically improve your consistency and ease of playing over time.
Moeller breaks down strokes into two core types:
Static or dynamic-level strokes:
Tap - dynamically quiet.
Full - dynamically loud.
Transitional strokes:
◦ Down Stroke - loud, finishes low, preparing for a quieter note.
◦ Up Stroke - quiet, moves upwards, preparing for a louder note.
At its most dramatic, Moeller uses the full range of arm motion, a kinetic "whipping" action through all the gears of the arm. In modern practice, this motion is typically scaled down to mainly involve the wrist and forearm. I could literally write a whole book on this technique alone, but I’ll refrain and instead point you to some of its best proponents: Jim Chapin and Claus Hessler. For now, I’ll summarise with this:
Moeller isn’t the be-all and end-all of technique, but it’s definitely the beginning. It’s a proven macro-structure that helps organise your positioning and control for any combination of dynamic strokes.
After a battle with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the revered drummer Thomas Lang stated that he retrained his technique to rely almost exclusively on wrist strokes, essentially full-on Moellerism, and completely rejected finger-based techniques. His claim is that you can play everything you need with wrist strokes alone. But then what about Open-Close technique, Valving, French grip? Where does that all fit in?
Let’s talk about the classic trope of German, American, and French grips. Honestly, this whole idea of assigning a nation-state to your forearm’s degree of rotation makes very little modern sense. I think this whole approach propped up by content creators for easy clicks is a total nothing-burger. In reality, we should all be using all three of these positions fluidly.
For example:
On my ride cymbal, I’ll play French with my right hand.
On my snare, I’ll play German with both hands.
On the high tom, American with both.
On the floor tom, French with my right and German with my left. You get the idea.
From left to right: German, American, French. All three angles cover a 90 degree range of motion.
French grip really is where the rotation of our forearm forces us to use more of our fingers. It certainly makes no sense to play German grip wrist strokes on the ride cymbal, this is where the fingers come into their own. Playing spang-a-lang bebop patterns past 180 BPM is not going to be fun without them!
Open-Close / Push-Pull
Two different names—but is there really a difference? I wouldn’t say so. The best teacher on this subject is by far Gordy Knudtson, though Jojo also does an excellent job in his DVD. This technique uses our finger “gear” to achieve multiple strokes with one hand, most commonly doubles, but it can be used for triples and quads as well. Check out Gordy’s amazingly informative (if graphically dated) YouTube videos!
Fingers: The Question of Traction?
The automotive world seems to be an endless analogy farm when it comes to technique, and for good reason. Drum technique is a mechanical performance at its core.
One of the best ideas I’ve come across relating to finger technique is this:
The fingers should always move symbiotically with the stick.
You should aim for coordinated motion with the butt of the stick with both, yet this is often misinterpreted by students as the fingers generating the stroke themselves. Take the Moeller full stroke as an example: all fingers should maintain contact throughout. It’s still a wrist stroke but the fingers uphold control through traction.
So here’s the analogy:
If I’ve got a car with maximum horsepower and acceleration, it’s almost useless without traction. But give it traction, and all that power and speed can actually go somewhere. Same goes for your fingers. Without their control, all your effort won’t convert into usable speed or dynamic finesse.
Remember this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hand technique; stay tuned for Part Two, where we dive into the mechanics of foot technique and getting the most out of your pedals.
Want to take your technique further with tailored guidance? Book a one-to-one lesson and let’s get to work.