Alternating Drum Stroke Tips

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Part of the video series: Beginner Drum Lessons

Speeding Up Double Stroke Drum H...

Tips on Gripping Drum Sticks

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Summary: Do you want to be a drummer? Watch this free video clip on alternating drum strokes and let our expert help get you there.

Views: 547 | Tags: bass, drum, set, snare, beats, instruments, musical, rhythms, toms

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About the Expert

Jason Kay Jason Kay has been playing drums for over 30 years. He's traveled throughout America, Asia and Europe, playing with Blues, Rock, and Country bands. Jason has ... read more

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Video Transcript

Alternating Drum Stroke Tips

In this segment, we're going to discuss alternating strokes. Anytime you hit a drum, we call that a stroke. Alternating obviously means going from one hand to the other, hand to hand, Right, left, right, left. Left, right, left, right. One of the first rudiments that you're going to learn are called single strokes. Single meaning you're hitting once with each stick. So, what we want to do is get proficient at alternating. So what I want you to do is, hold the sticks any way you're comfortable now, either traditional or match grip. I'm going to hold match for this one. And I'm going to show you what we do. We start like this, one stick up, one stick lower. Notice where my sticks are, really close to the head. You want to stay down here by the drum. You don't want to wave up in the air like this. There's nothing up here but air to hit, so we want to stay down here. Alternating, start with the right, left, right, left, and notice how as my right stick comes down, my left is coming up, and vise versa. We're alternating. Right, left, right, left. And notice how I don't dig. I let the stick bounce up and I stop it right above the head. Alternating strokes.