Until quite recently I've always thought in the same way most beginner/intermediate drummers do. " What technique is best? Matched or Trad? Heel-up or heel-down? Double bass or single bass? Open-handed or crossed? Fingers vs Wrist" and the answer was usually:"Doesn't matter! You can achieve all you want with either technique!"
I was happy with that answer and went on learning what seemed popular at this moment, matched grip with focus on my fingers combined with heel-toe constant release(!)
Now I feel stupid when I got the realization that ALL techniques are great and they apply the best to different situations. You should if you wanna have the best technique ever actually learn them all. Both heel-down and heel-up, heel-toe and constant release, matched AND traditional, open-handed AND crossed. Just look at Jojo and Weckl. It's not like they chosen only heel-down and matched grip and then became the best using only those techniques...
The real question shouldn't be "which technique is best?"
It should be which technique do i start with? Which techniques are essential to learn and which are really advanced?
I wish I had a guidebook when I was starting out that told me to start practicing traditional grip sooner, using mainly the wrist in the beginning and to only focus only on heel-down in the beginning before moving on to other techniques later on.
I was happy with that answer and went on learning what seemed popular at this moment, matched grip with focus on my fingers combined with heel-toe constant release(!)
Now I feel stupid when I got the realization that ALL techniques are great and they apply the best to different situations. You should if you wanna have the best technique ever actually learn them all. Both heel-down and heel-up, heel-toe and constant release, matched AND traditional, open-handed AND crossed. Just look at Jojo and Weckl. It's not like they chosen only heel-down and matched grip and then became the best using only those techniques...
The real question shouldn't be "which technique is best?"
It should be which technique do i start with? Which techniques are essential to learn and which are really advanced?
I wish I had a guidebook when I was starting out that told me to start practicing traditional grip sooner, using mainly the wrist in the beginning and to only focus only on heel-down in the beginning before moving on to other techniques later on.
