A Weird Way to Fix Your Weak Hand...
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- čas přidán 23. 11. 2017
- Any drummer who isn’t perfectly ambidextrous has at some point or another experienced the frustration of a “weak hand.” - that hand that just won’t play as smoothly, cleanly, and accurately as the other. We practice with it constantly, and even after all the repetitive motion we still find it lacking in skill compared to our dominate hand. Believe it or not, the issue might not be one that is easily solved by simply practicing. We may need to reach deeper and rewire our brains. Thankfully that’s actually pretty simple. In today’s video I provide just a few simple tips on how to improve your brain’s communication with your weak hand. This will all translate directly to your playing, and I’m sure you’ll find that weak hand to be much less frustrating as a result.
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Started doing my exam with my left... Did not pass
.
.
.
cause i didn't study
😂
*watching this on mobile phone*
"Try using your phone with your weak hand"
*switches hand*
Heh, Im too lazy to add my left index print...
Been brushing my teeth left handed for the past 4 months, and already notice huge improvements. Very tricky at first
Carrotyfungus chokes on toothbrush....
There's a good one!
I brush my teeth with the left hand and stand on one foot at the same time. Shaving with th e left hand too.
I tried brushing my teeth with my left hand but I ended up shoving the toothbrush through the back of my neck. I also tried switching my PC mouse to left handed and got fired from my job. Probably need to practice more.
You really need to brush your teeth with your weaker hand to become a drummer..😊
*immediately tries to eat cheerios with left hand*
Wow it's like I'm a baby
How’d it go?
No kidding! I'll be the first to admit that when I try to use a spoon with my weak hand, my hand-to-mouth coordination suddenly deteriorates. So for the sake of transparency here, we'll say THAT'S what I'm working on haha.
For some reason I could always eat with either hand. My wife is jealous of me lol.
One weird trick the stick companies dont want you to know
Haha true that!
@@sccdrum93 my daughter is emudexterous that's why she good at playing drummer
Great tip I hadn't thought of that before
I have,,,had both armes broke at dinfrent times
I can attest to this. I started doing this early on in my drumming, and it helped me overcome early hurdles. Brushing your teeth (way hard), opening doors, preparing meals, eating... It's extremely difficult to start doing but is worth it. Your brain physically restructures itself (brain elasticity if you're curious) when you learn new skills, especially motor skills, so it takes time for your brain to alter its shape and composition (also look up myelination if you think brains are cool). Make sure you are sleeping enough while practicing life-ing with your weak hand, or you won't get as good of returns as you want.
Your "weak hand" writing is better than my dominant hand writing.
I was intently focusing and concentrating really hard when I filmed that shot. 😉 Probably not representative of my regular hand writing. But you know, gotta give you guys my best!
My strategy thus far has been to practice all of my rudiments left hand lead, try to intentionally use my left hand for writing, eating, etc, and even playing guitar hero drums on lefty mode.
Good call buddy especially the left hand lead. Over time you will notice a missive new confidence in both hands. Keep at it!
Awesome! You are well on your way down the right track. 👍
Stephen, I'm new to drumming and I'm watching all your videos diligently with a lot of focus. I must admit that you are a great teacher and your patience and calmness show in your drumming.
I'm VERY new to the drums and I just want to say that your videos are excellent and very helpful. I appreciate them very much!
Stephen, I really appreciate your lessons. They go way deeper than the regular stuff we learn and they are really helping a lot. Thanks!
In a weird way I kinda picked up on this even before finding this video ( which is strange cause Ive been watching your channel for a while) and honestly I do think it's really helped.
Theres just a certain amount of fine tuned muscles that are not developed; nor the memory to control them in comparison to the many many years of using the other dominant hand for various other fine motor funtions.
It really makes so much sense.
I think this is also why basic rudiments are very useful because it forces you to become consistent with the weak hand the most because you can't speed up too much without making obvious slops in your chops
I’ve gotten confirmation from this lesson that I’ve had the right idea all along. I started deliberately using my left hand for many things years ago. It’s now such a normal part of my life people comment that I seem ambidextrous. In addition, it seems to have improved my overall hand dexterity and hand speed with my left. It’s changed thing far beyond drumming. I still do have a weak hand in percussion, but it’s not nearly as pronounced. I now have faith, that with some focused practice, I can all but eliminate this weakness.
Thanks Stephen!
Heard this tip a *long* time ago, in reference to martial arts. I also happened to be a drummer, and heard it somewhere around the same time from one of the great drummers, just can't remember which one! Like any great tip, it works, so it's still around. I love some of the comments about being _forced_ by life, i.e.: broken collarbone, check; broken wrist, check... the list goes on & on. Another reason it's a great tip is that it reminds you to *consciously* do something you otherwise wouldn't. After awhile it starts to become automatic. Stephen, keep up the fun & cool videos!!!
I had. A thought of this a few months ago when frustrated with my left hand. I thought that maybe it’d help and it did. So as I clicked on this video I expected it to be about working on your weak hand in your daily life. So cheers mate. It’s good advice.
I've been using my weak hand to operate the mouse at work and this really helps my dexterity.
Again very tricky at first but you soon get it. Also it vastly reduces the likelihood of repetitive strain injury. Cheers Davo
Great advise ... I can truly say that doing things with my left-hand helped my drumming to the fullest I could not use my left hand to do nothing, not even to play ghost notes but since doing things like brush my teeth with the left-hand I am far way a better drummer and I keep on improving each day... I have been playing for a year now and I can say doing things with left-hand even things out....
It's awesome to hear that! I'm continually reminded of more of these "tasks" I can work on myself too....whether it's brushing teeth...or eating with a spoon (that's one's the most difficult for some reason haha). But yeah I don't doubt that had a tremendous impact on your left hand grace notes!
I love the advice. Thanks for the idea.
Recently discovered your channel. I'm in a similar situation to you, Stephen. I'm left-handed and play drums right-handed. I do quite a few things right-handed but it's still weak. I'll give this a go. Many thanks. 😊
Very good advices that not only for drumming we can use for so many ! Which I've been doing naturally? For a long time...10 plus years! AND I'm not a drummer! I've watched 3, 4 videos of yours already ! You are very good at teaching!
I did this years ago and it made a huge difference. I can even write and throw lefty okay. Learning to use my weak hand for everyday stuff allowed me to keep working when I broke a finger on my dominant hand and that was huge. I recommend people do this anyway- drummers or not. great video.
I think I posted this on another place but it is apropo here.
The body is a quirky thing. My dominant hand is my right and I always had problems with my left. A teacher taught me to do an exercise with my left hand that consisted in volume/attack . the "notation" was something like
Center loud, (CL)
Rim low (RL)
Left Medium (LM) etc.
The purpose here was to develop muscle memory and independence on my left hand, Weird thing the fingers in my left did improve but wrist/hand did not AT ALL.
Then the teach just suggested I buy a cheap electric keyboard and play triads only with my left , That was a BITCH but somehow my right hand was moving on the melody with NO effort. So that was a bonus and now I compose on the piano. Then it came the "Play the melody with your LEFT" hand" No good, and then the simplest and stupidest of exercises
This can be done anyplace even when driving . with your fingertips start playing a groove . Vary volume and what fingers you use. A Jazz groove is a great place to start. It is like rubbing your belly and tapping your head at the same time.
after a while my LEFT fingers had AWESOME independence (the finger on my left were getting faster than my right) but the wrist and elbow were in "let me think about this fear" As I write this I am doing paradiles on the edge of my keyboard with my left and typing with my hand..
Even though left wrist is still a problem I developed amazing control buzzing the left stick and my bounce fills are pretty acceptable. The moral here is . For some damn reason my left wrist and arm can not go on auto i HAVE to think what I am gonna that and that isn't good.
I failed to mention , I dislocated my left elbow in my "sports" phase,
The "try to use your weak hand as much as possible" WORKS. I instinctively turn off lights, open fridges, close doors and pick ANYTHING with my left hand. BUT man this has been emotionally painful
BTW .... You have a knack for picking topics people seldom talk about and clearly you do it with a sense of commitment that is remarkable. Thanks for all the great stuff.
Great advice. Will Calhoun of Living Color told us the same thing in Chicago 2017 at Drum Fantasy Camp.
using your weak hand , never thought of it but a great idea. Iam also a lefty in right handed world but for whatever reason I gravitated toward setting up as a righty...weird...
Same here about setting up righty... For some reason as a kid I was playing drum parts right handed in my head before even sitting down at a kit. I guess as I watched other drummers I saw the way they set up and didn't think twice about it. I did have a tendency to play certain things left hand lead when I started out, and I'm very thankful now that my first teacher made me play fills right hand lead. Going through that process as a lefty really helped balance things out for me, then taking the additional steps I talked about here just helped further with "fine tuning."
I never had that tendency to lead with my left hand or set up left handed , I just did for whatever reason. I have tried to play "lefty" but seems very weird although Iam a "lefty". another strange thing (or not) my right hand is stronger than my left being a lefty I figured it would be stronger but no dice...thats kimmda weird to. But I dont really question just gld I CAN play!!!!
I can't find any reason to set up any instrument left handed... guitar requires more skill in the left hand, and who wants a left-handed piano? :) However, one of the reasons Carter Beauford is such a great drummer is that he set up his kit left-handed to mirror the drummers he saw on TV, changed to right-handed once he got older. I'd love to get good enough to sit in on my friend Steve's left handed kit.
_"guitar requires more skill in the left hand"_
Not sure if I agree with that. I think the picking hand movement is actually more complex (it's more comparable to using the mouse on your computer, whereas the fretting hand is more comparable to using the keyboard), and it is also in control of your rhythm so it needs to be really precise. Moving your fingers fast is easy, but using your wrist is pretty difficult on your weaker hand. And this is why you want your dominant hand to be your picking hand, so that it becomes automatic and you don't have to pay attention to it, and you can focus more on what notes you are playing. The picking hand is what makes your playing sound accurate and "feel" right. Sloppy playing is mostly about inaccurate rhythm.
So I think there's a reason why guitar is played the way it's played.
On piano the right hand is the hand that plays melody, so having that as your dominant hand has its advantages. Then again, left handed players are probably better at playing complex basslines, and this may lead to a different approach on the instrument. I'm pretty sure digital keyboards can be "reversed". The piano (and actually most instruments) would probably be reversed if being left handed was more common than being right handed was.
Am Also A Left Handed Guy ! But I Dont Want To Start Drums As Left Handed Cause The Amount Of Difficult I Have Suffered Being A Left Handed Guitarist Is Enough 😂.
Old school advice still works first time I heard this suggestion was in a modern drummer mag back in 1987
I built the Mike Mangini D.T.kit so 6in.tom in the center in front of my snare then 8 on the left 10 on the right 12 on left 13 on the right 16 left 18 right, with hi hats and rides on both sides. Now I play open handed. Left hand on left hihat and so on. Rewiring your brain is exactly right. Creating new neural pathways. However I'm still working on fluid double-stroke rolls. Thanks for the tips very helpful
What a great idea. Thanks for posting.
I was drinking coffee using my strong hand hand watching this video, you made me switch right away.
Seriously, at some point I will switch my whole kit, relearn at least the basics and see if it improves my weak hand.
Interesting approach, for several years I´ve done some part of you´ve said in your video, to make both hands play at the same time and to see the differences and to focus on them, but never got any good results. Will try your idea, thanks for the video!
Cool! Let me know how it goes. I bet you'll see a lot of improvement. The trick is holding yourself to it. You'll have to stop and tell yourself "oh wait - I meant to use my other hand for that!" Keep it up though! 👍
Good stuff. I'm starting to use these tips today. My left hand is pretty bad so I'm definitely motivated to get it into better shape.
Give it a go! I'm gonna have to make a follow up video later just to get feedback from you guys on how this works for you. 👍
Love these great tips. Thank you!
I like this advice , very intitutive Stephen, I never would have thought of this
Suscribed from France ! Thanks for the lessons and for your tone that permits me to understand everything :)
Thanks for subscribing, and welcome! I hope my videos continue to help you out.
Right now I have this problem. Thanks for telling solution.
Good stuff! I’m pretty sure there’s some solid science behind this too
I'm pretty sure you're right. This video was very "experience-based," but there are definitely scientific reasons why this method works. It all comes down to the "left brain versus right brain" discussion.
...of course use the left hand if possible but if carrying 2 or more items always put the bulk of weight on weak side...groceries etc...a broken collarbone on dominat arm and a few weeks of that life did the trick...brushing teeth etc...
Nothing like being forced to use your weak hand!
Deric' Anslum hahaha funny cause I also broke my collarbone on my dominant hand... and I'm a drummer lol
Carlos U ...yeah man...about 80% displaced...need to get back on it as I'm starting to feel the imbalance again recently...
i broke my wirst on my dominant had just last year
This might prove helpful in seperation too. Thank you
Gorgeous simplicity! )
I changed my grip to American per your suggestion and I've seen a crazy improvement after just 3 or 4 hours of practice. Now I have my doubles down cold, although I feel like my weak hand triplets sometimes drag. But stretching seems to help. Maintaining the spacing between my thumb and forefinger seems difficult when I'm trying to keep my notes sharp and controlled. Especially when I really want to fly, it feels like the stick is going to end up actually flying, across the room that is. But I'm definitely going to reteach my brain with that advice, as I'm writing this comment with my weak hand for starters.
Tudo de bom pra você ! Saúde , sucesso e muita música !
Great idea and worth a go
Good idea, i will practice it :)
This has helped me out too. I've been doing this for couple of months and it works! Thanks!
That's awesome! Keep it up! 👍
Aaron MacCabe nice
thank you! practicing hasn't helped me as much as i wish it would when it comes to my left hands strength and cleanness in my playing
Well give this a try and let me know how it goes! In a way this is all about habit-forming... and constantly reminding yourself to keep using your weak hand as often as possible.
This brings us to... "The stranger"... You begin with sitting on your weak hand until it starts to go numb and tingly... Wait, what? This isn't that type of video?
Great advice
great concepts!!! many thaks!!!
Thanks for watching!! I hope these tips help you out!
Wow.. My teacher talked w me about this, about a week ago, so iv'e just started doing it ;) nice tip
For double pedal practice, I played normal single-pedal songs with my left foot and i tried to play more with my left foot in general like in jam sessions etc, it really worked, since my left foot had years of catching up to do lol.
I'm doing the exact same thing. I've made some progress.
That's great! I remember doing a little of that when I first bought a double pedal in high school. My left foot had serious catching up to do (regardless of my being a lefty).
I don't even play drums and this is working great!
my section leader in marching band, also the best of the 15 of us, was the only left handed guy on the line, in the jazz band, or the concert band. having him needing the kit 'backwards' all the time made it a fun challenge for the rest of us to try left handed playing. most of us would just play open handed with our left foot on the kick and right on the hats, but eventually a few of us would play more traditionally, left hand crossed over right. this actually opened up my playing alot. it woke up my left foot for hihat work and double kick, as well as my left hand for lead. using your weak side in everyday tasks helps way more than most people think. even typing on a keyboard helps the finger dexterity out. find ways to practice, even when you're not practicing.
Absolutely! Even the technical side of drumming as a strong "mental" coordination aspect. We can totally practice that away from the kit. As for the lefty setup...that's gotta be the fastest way to train your left foot. We could probably all log a little more time on a lefty kit, for sure.
Brilliant.
I really like your videos, keep it up!
Thanks! I appreciate it. I'll keep 'em coming 👍
This was really helpful. Thanks!
Agreed. Some great points!
So glad it helped you out!
Wow, I just came back from my drum lesson and I needed this video more than ever ;b
👍 I hope this helps you out a lot! I do believe this method will greatly reduce any frustration you've got with that weak hand :)
I’m only in eighth grade. I’ve played percussion since sixth but I’ve never played a drum set. Many good drummers seem to have started at a very young age so I thought maybe i should start playing a drum set now so it won’t be too late. I heard the song wipeout and I’ve tried to play it (I’m playing on air as if the drum set is in front of me since I don’t have one and who knows if my parents will buy me one) but my left hand isn’t as fast or comfortable as my right hand so I’m going to try these exercises and see if I improve
This is how i learned how to play open-handed. That and practiced playing easy to difficult songs with the kit swapped with my weak hand on the high-hat
I play left handed and my right is my weak one. I’ve been doing this method for three years. My right hand is much better than it was, but my diddles are still lacking because of control I’m guessing? Did you learn playing on a right handed set, or did you switch later? Thanks in advance! Great video man!
My teacher taught me this when I was younger too! One of the weirdest but most helpful ones was pouring milk in my cereal with my left hand (or boiling water into my tea if I was feeling super brave! 😂)
Good video mate, and really good lesson! It definitely works! 👍🏻
I am a lefty and ambi as well. I can attest to this method. I work construction, so there are a LOT of reasons to get good with both hands. Funny thing though, is that when I write right handed, it actually is MORE readable. I wrote a twepve page paper once and on the last two pages, I wrote with my right hand. My teacher wanted to know who I con'd into writing the rest of my paper for me, because at least he had better form. HA
Hi stephen, you have been touching certain critical aspects of drumming apart from the mundane rudiments. I discovered some of my flaws going thru your sessions, and am busy rectifying those...😊
Hey there! I've been playing the drums on and off for about 10 years and I've never found any way to deal with my weak hand (left hand). The annoying part is that I am left handed, but I'm drumming like a right handed. So in my every day life my dominant hand is the left one, for the most part. But as soon as I'm drumming, I seriously get right handed.
Do you have any suggestions on how I could go about to fix my weak hand, or as my drum teacher called it "the dead fish"?
Great tips! I also recommend the book "the weaker side" by don famulero
Oh cool! Just looked that up when you mentioned it. Looks like a great book!
I tried all of this, because I was a lefty drummer who played righty. It helps, but my best solution was to play entirely left-handed. After 2 years, my feel/playing is stronger than ever. I would recommend the big switch. You will unlock your full potential.
great!! I m right handed and decided to play open handed about a month ago! it's been really fun and challenging! and apart form leading with my left when playing im also doing all the every day activities with my left! eating, brushing my teeth, opening doors,!!! :) :) :)
Good for you! That's awesome! 👍 There's a drummer named Claus Hessler who is a big endorser of the open-handed approach. He has a lot of great reasons for it as well, and it makes a lot more logistical sense.
This is what I’ve been doing for a long time, and it really made my left hand a beast!
Awesome! 👍
I like it. Must say I already did this but not with this idea behind it. I'm kinda cross handed, mean that I write left on paper, but right on a white board and using tools both hands too. Only with kicking (a ball, not the drum..) my right leg is really weaker. Eating I can do either way.
For drumming, what I also like to do is doing something with both hands at once. Found out that the weaker hand (depending on what I do it's either left or right..) likes to mirror the stronger. That way I feel better how it should feel. Sadly a real left hand lead can't be accomplished that way because that's more brain work imo.
Hey man same here my weak hand is the right hand and I'm playing drums and guitar like a right handed. I'm going to try out this advice but maaan it'll be hard to remember using my right hand for stuff
was just working on this... nice
Cool! Keep it up 👍
I broke my left arm and wrist on two separate occasions before I even began playing, so my weak hand has always been absolute shit. I've been playing on and off since I started college in 2013 and just recently started logging several hours of practice daily on a pad. I've noticed that when I play single stroke rolls, I mainly use a finger technique for my right and a wrist for my left which makes it difficult to maintain control. I'll definitely have to try this though. It seems so simple and useful that it's too easily overlooked. Thanks!
Brennan Lundie yup i also broke my left arm and my left wrist always clicks and is not as sturdy as my right... im getting there though.
Trying to play bass drum for marching band this season and my left hand is so weeeeak. I'm gonna start doing this and update after summer!
How did it go?
Stumbled upon this video yesterday... And now my computer mouse is on my left side instead of my right. :D
Any tips on improving a weak foot. This is a problem for me especially because I play double bass.
For the last several years I've been a switch hitter in the bedroom. Alone. You guys probably understand where I'm going with this.
Our dominating hand always have more thin control . The hand called weak is , at least easy to educate . Thaks for your attention and informations .
My drum teacher used to tell me the same thing, do everything you can with your weak hand and with time you won't have any weak hand.
Definitely a great tip ! Took it from RDAVIDR or Rob "Beatdown" Brown on CZcams some time ago, and it helped my drumming and getting ambidextrous in general big time.
Cool! This method has helped a lot of people really even out their hands and balance out their playing. That's pretty funny if rdavidr made a video about this. Sometimes I'll make a video about something he did a while back and not even realize it. His stuff is great though. 😁
I'm left handed as well, but I play drums open handed mostly, unless I'm doing something jazzy on the ride cymbal which I keep to my right side. It's weird though I use my left hand all the time and my right hand is stronger playing. I do however open doors with my right hand, so I'll try my left.
I’m going to try this now! Idk how I never really thought of that
I hadn't either until someone told me!
This idea has merit.
whats really funny is that today i decided to try doing that on a whim until i could get home and watch this video, lo and behold :)
I'm lefthanded but always played drums righthanded also playing sports like tabletennis.
I find that my stick keeps flopping about in my weak hand and I think it is something to do with it obviously being my weak hand but also my fingers don't have as much control on the stick, they don't follow the stick, just wondering if you have any videos or exercises on this? many thanks for your videos :))
Broke my right hand last month so i have been using my left a lot more. And it’s finally healed enough to be able to play. Even if there’s still 2 pins in it
I was in a cast for a couple months and I used my left hand for drumming and that’s probably how I became ambidextrous
One of the best things that happened for my playing was breaking my right hand (dominant) in high school. 7 weeks of doing everything with my weak hand.
Wow......I thought I was alone; being left handed and playing right handed! Since I’ve started watching CZcams I have found quite a few that are the same way.
I'm going to try this to see if it helps me out. I need it for marching band and Smash Bros. 😂
Yeah I’ll try this my left hand is failing at flam taps weird. And I practice lots the Thing I’d I just started noticing it
Writing with my left hand
Starting to use my left hand more day 1 I hope I see a difference.
How long did it take you guys to learn with your least dominant hand I want to know so I can speed the process also what help you guys the most (Btw I’m right hand and using my left hand right now.....no pun intended)
I'm like you a lefty but play lefty and my right hand needs strength, great tip thanks
I used to be crazy good at double bass. I played metal for 20 years and then stopped. I started playing again 3 years ago but different styles: Latin, funk and soul mostly. Now, I can barely do ANY double bass and I practice 2 hours a day and it's extremely frustrating. I started from the beginning by doing slow single foot metronome patterns, but my feet skip beats and they start going faster by themselves!! I don't know what to do at this point.
Omg I need this cause my right hand is amazing and my left hand sucks so when I’m playing paradiddles it is doesn’t work
This actually makes sense....
How can I buy your ebook without doing the whole patreon thing? (I already support a few people and money is tight)
Thanks for a great idea!
Thanks for asking that! I've thought about that, and I'm sure you won't be the only one to ask about making the e-book available separately. I'd like to get a website up and running, and when I do I'll be making some resources available there as well. As I work on these things in the near future, I'll keep you guys posted!
Sérgio from Brasil !
My problem is that my left hand is unable to work independently. My left hand is way too dependent. When i play usually my left tries to copy my right hand. I don't know wehther is it my left hand or my thought process is an issue? How do i assign 2 different tasks to my hands to perform independently?
The hand we use to call weak is really the strogest ( try to put yourself up from the floor using one only hand ) .