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Hi guys! I'm Silvano Del Pesce
With this video we start a series of lessons about learning how to play drums!
Today we start with the snare that is the heart of the drums.
First we need to understand how to place the snare.
You reach the right position when the snare skin it's at the same height of your lower abdomen.
Let's now talk about the correct position for playing the snare...
To maintain the proper position we have to place our arms as if we were carrying a trayÉ
That's the correct position, it's important to be as relaxed as we can.
You don't want your arms to be tense when you play.
You wrist must be placed as if you wanted to slap the skin of the snare.
Just like that...
You have to hold the drum stick at a third of it's length
creating a grommet with your thumb and your index finger
never squeezing to much.
By doing this your fingers have become the fulcrum of a lever...
We have to say that there are many methods of holding drum sticks...
The one that we'll use during this video-series it's called "matched grip"
because of the exact same position of the two hands.
This kind of method it's also called "German grip"
and that's because there's another one called "Matched Grip French"
and also another one called "Matched Grip American".
In many videos and concerts you probably have seen also this way of holding the drum sticks
that were introduced in marching bands, where the drum player needs to play and march
without moving the drum with his legs.
To prevent the drummer to keep his shoulder always raised
someone thought that was better to hold the stick in this position...
In this series we'll use the "German Matched Grip" because it's more practical for beginners.
The first thing to do, it's learn how to hit the snare
and how to master the bounce of the stick on the skin.
The first technique we need to master it's called "full stroke".
that consists in hitting the skin by using only your wrist motion.
To hit the snare properly we're not going to use only the wrist motion
but also our fingers's and our arm's too (our arm's when we need to hit with more strength).
Let's get back to the "full stroke" technique...
We need to start with the stick perpendicular to the floor, just like that...
then we hit the snare once and we return in the starting positionÉ.
Remember to keep always the correct position that we've discussed before in this video
To simplify that, try to remember that it's like you're carrying a tray with your handsÉ
Try to hit the snare by using only the wrist motion...
We need to do the same exact thing with the other hand...
For the most of us the left hand it's weaker of the twoÉ
so try to practice until the two hands produce the same sound.
When you practice try not to push the head of the stick on the snare's skin.
That's what you don't want to happen...
You'll hear the difference by the vibrato produced by the pressure of the stick on the skin.
Remember to return in the starting position after hitting the skin.
Pay attention on the regularity of the two hands
and try to care about the quality of the sound.
I'll repeat this all along this series: the quality of the stroke it's important, not the speed.
That means practicing on the quality of the sound, and on keeping the right position.
Speed will come with time and hard practice.
Practicing with the metronome will be very helpful...
Start with a low speed and play in unison with the metronome click...
always trying to care about regularity and quality of your strokes.
When you have mastered this motion with the two hands...
you can start to alternate the two hands...
Try to play with the same intensity and volume with both the two sticks.
To practice on that you can use some strokes sequences
that you can download from the dedicated area on MusicOff.com
You'll find sequences with 3 strokes with the left and 3 with the right
4/4, 6/6 and 8/8.
Obviously in a sequence of 8 strokes, you need to care more about intensity
because they have to sound the same with the left hand as with the right.
For now that's all guys! In the next video I'll show other techniques
that involve your fingers' motion and your arm's movement too.
Good luck with your practice. See you on the next video!