One of the fundamentals of playing the drums is learning the proper stick grips.

Traditional Grip

The traditional grip is one of the most common grips used today. It is taught by the majority of books and teachers as the primary grip. It was first used as a grip by marching band drummers.

Let’s begin with the right hand. You will grip the drum stick as if you were holding a hammer striking a nail. First of all hold your drumstick similar to the way you hold a pencil except for an important difference.. Now you must position your first two fingers on the top of the shaft and two fingers below the shaft. Allow the drumstick to rest between your first finger and your thumb.

Match Grip

The match grip is the accepted way of playing the drums for most modern players. The match grip is named so because the both of you hands will hold the drumsticks the same way. The trick is to hold the drumsticks just like you were using a hammer to strike nails.

When you first start learning the drums it is best to stick with one of these two grips. Once you start to improve and you progress to an intermediate level you may want to start experimenting with different grips besides the two mentioned above.

Left Handed Drummers

If you are new to the drums and you are just learning the grips I would recommend sticking with the Match Grip instead of attempting to reverse the Traditional Grip.

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