Absolutely the most thoughtful commentary on the subject, and Thomas is comes across as so friendly and humble!

I'm so glad someone finally put this tradition under logical scrutiny. For years those of us who played matched have been criticized for no good reason. In fact, it is healthier and more natural.

I’m not a “trained” drummer, so I never developed my traditional grip. I play around with it when practicing some rudiments sometimes, but Thomas is absolutely right. There isn’t a practical reason for traditional grip anymore. HOWEVER…the traditional grip CAN add textures and ghost notes that matched doesn’t do for me. It feels correct to play jazz with a traditional grip to allow the softer touch to come through with all kinds of little goodies and textures. But ultimately, matched grip is the best for an overall drumming utility. Excellent discussion, Thomas!!

I don’t play drums at all but I watched the entire thing and enjoyed every second. Really insightful stuff from the history to the thought processes and dedication to the craft.

Best description of the drumming grips I've seen, no nonsense.

There`s just one thing about traditional grip that made me pick it over a matched one - it looks WAY cooler)))

When I started in 1983, I didn't know any better, so I started with match grip. After a 20 year layoff, I played match again, but I felt the tug to play traditional grip. I have found that traditional grip is useful when playing more rudimental patterns. Its certainly fun to switch between the two.

I remember Neil Peart going from matched to traditional grip, but he also changed back again due to the limitation it put on him especially with regard to power. Great to hear such a logical explanation... thanks 👍

Wow! Pretty wild that I had this video pop up on my U-Tube recommends cause I am seriously thinking about changing to matched grip...AGAIN! I played traditional grip for 8 years, then went to matched grip for 20 years and then back to traditional grip for the last 22. So here I am after playing 50 years looking at Jack DeJohnette playing only matched and now Thomas saying all of the right things here to make me believe it may be time to go matched again. Very cool explanation and of course, he is a wonderful musician who can do far more than play drums.

When I first started learning rudiments on my Slingerland snare drum back in 1963 , my drum teacher taught me using trad grip as that is what he used . In 1964, I switched to matched grip and have been using it ever since. Although I can still play very well with trad grip I have always believed that matched grip is a far better and faster way of learning to control the bounce and rebound of the sticks which are more evenly spaced across from each other on the pad or drum compared to trad.

What a tutor, great deep knowledge and when he demos what he's talking about, wow. Top educator, master player.

The most thorough explanation of traditional vs matched grip. Thank you, sir 👍

For me a great benefit of traditional grip is, that the stick is not controlled behind the fulcrum but before or at the fulcrum. That´s extremely useful for playing soft. I think it's no coincidence that the traditional grip lastet very long in classical jazz styles, because swing comping requires exactely that.

Knew the story of the marching drummers and the traditional grip,but what a great explanation from one of the best in the world.

For the most part it is true. I have played for 30+ years always matched. That being said, there are times when something seems easier or more effective with traditional. Take playing a rhythm on the hi hat and snare. Especially if there is a lot of ghosting and or syncopation, there is a benefit to not raising the left(traditional) hand into the right(matched) hand. Also, after playing almost completely matched my whole life, somehow I get a quicker double stroke from a traditional grip in my left hand. All that being said, when Thomas Lang speaks, I (and every other drummer should) listen. Truly one of the greatest technicians to grace the drumset. Thanks for the lesson.

What a great explanation by a great drummer. I attended one of his clinics once, during which he played a five stroke roll on the bassdrum. I was blown away so I asked him how he did it. He didn't hear me or misunderstood and started playing paradiddles or something on the kicks, like it was nothing. " No the five stroke roll" I said, and he went oh right, prrrap prrrrap prrrap prrrrap. A supersolid 5stroke roll with his bloody feet. Absolutly insane.

I switched to traditional grip when I was 25 after playing matched grip for 13 years... simply because I liked the challenge. Now 27 years later I got it to a place where I am happy with it. ;)

Thomas is a good teacher. This is very interesting and insightful. The discussion will continue forever.

What a comprehensive overview... Very informative. Thanks Thomas!

Hi Thomas! We met 10 years ago in Finale Emilia, Italy, where you did a great clinic (video on YT). I drove you there from Modena train station. Thank you for coming and for this most accurate explanation.

I'm not a drummer and probably never will play the drums but this was so interesting that I had to watch to the very end of this video. Amazing!!!

Thomas, thank you for a very thoughtfully presented topic for Drummers. As a 70 YO, retiree, who returned to playing drums , solely for enjoyment as a pastime in retirement, after over a 50 Year Hiatus, I have been watching instructional YT Videos for a couple of years now. This is one of the Best I've seen. I learned the Traditional Grip in exactly the way you described: First lesson in 1966, "here's how you hold the sticks"... But in accordance to this info, when I returned to the drums in 2019, although I may have started using the Traditional grip, but quickly gravitated to the Matched Grip. Everybody's body mechanics vary, and for me, notice that I am better able to roll my forearm to play trad grip on the snare (I think that although I have Not been able to play Golf for a few years now due to spinal issues that forced my retirement, I would "roll" my left arm and wrist which caused me to Slice my drives and even Iron Shots), but with 3 Rack Toms on my set ( Thomas used the old term drum Set, not rum Kit), it is much more difficult to play around the kit using a Trad grip. Thomas' reference to Buddy Rich were very interesting, as Buddy Rich played with Superhuman speed. Never seen anything like it. Do yourself a favor, if you have not seen Buddy Rich play , watch his performances on The Tonight Show with Johnnie Carson... Holy Sh*t...

By the way, this was the best video I have ever seen on the subject. Great insight from a great drummer!

Excellent commentary and review of the pros and cons of traditional vs matched grip. I started playing drums when I was 14. I’m now 71 and still playing. I think the reason for that is that I switched from traditional grip to matched grip about 5 years after I first started to play and was taught using traditional grip. After years of struggling to just become proficient with traditional grip, I just decided (on my own) to switch to matched grip. It made all the difference in my drumming life. I instantly felt freed up to play freely with a grip that felt good and natural. In my early days of drumming, matched grip was frowned upon. But I didn’t care. I was done with trying to play like Buddy Rich and his distain of traditional grip did not deter me - thank goodness. By switching to matched grip, I could now ‘copy’ my right hand technique to my left hand. This made learning rudiments much easier and faster. But making the switch didn’t come without lots of practice. I really had to relearn how to use my left hand after years of using traditional grip, even though the traditional grip motion is so much more natural. Thank you Thomas for your commentary and inspiring play. Long live matched grip!

I love how you explain the difference between the grips ,I also love the way you sound with the strokes, i would love to be able to play like you.

Very well explained Thomas, thank you . I watched this and really enjoyed your explanation of the differences and how it would ( makes perfect sense) affect your musical decisions. Bravo!

Like you, I feel really comfortable with traditional because that's how I came up. Now that I'm getting back into it after years away, I see the logic of match grip and that's what I'll focus on. You make a comprehensive and strong case for gripping both sticks the same. Thank you!

This video was very insightful and made points I didn’t even realize consciously about the traditional grip. Thanks for this!

The only thing missing is the concept. Comprehend that the traditional grip is an art form, not related only with speed, power or control. We should listen to the old masters and the way they approached to Music, not only to technique, in order to understand the meaning of each stroke related to music. My admiration to Thomas, a great player. It’s just a new point of view 🙏🏼

I play matched grip and I love it. Thank you so much Thomas for this great explanation, everything that you said makes sense. It’s a relief.

I was involved with a Colonial reenactment group and I never heard of the drum on the side. The sling (rope in very early times), put the drum at an angle and therefore traditional grip happened. The drumset started late 1890s. Those drummers studied with military veterans. Gene Krupa studied with Sanford Moller.

The best stick technique observations by far.Stuff that no one dared to question.

Hello Thomas Lang. I'm Allan Loayza, I wanted to thank you because your techniques are very useful to me. Greetings from Lima -Peru

Never knew the history of traditional grip! Thanks for sharing this knowledge! Cheers!

A great education on the grip for sure. I do recall Dave Weckl mention one benefit he likes about traditional was the angle of the stick that can be achieved. The stick butt can be raised and enables a different angle to generate a different sound. I am a matched player and just use traditional for fun, it looks cool :)!

Excellent explanation ! Best I've ever heard regarding the issue! ✅👍🍀

A great lesson! ... Thank you so much Thomas

Such a great Influencer you are, and a great instructor! Thanks 👍

This is such a nice video. Thomas is one of these people who are so advanced they know the journey is not over. How can you not love the guy's playing and personality.

I have been playing traditional grip all my life. I started at age 8 and am now 66. I took 30 years off and came back to playing and got it back fairly quickly however I now want to switch to matched. Thomas clarified my thinking on the physical aspect of it (It never occurred to me that the grip changes the way you think about playing but I knew that technique was different from watching good matched drummers). My reason for wanting to switch is that I found that my left hand was much harder to get back into shape after so many years away from playing. My body is old and definitely needs more recuperation time after playing. I have felt that matched grip made more sense. You use the same technique and exercises to develop each hand, you have no limitations on how you move around the kit, you can more easily learn to lead with the weaker hand, you can play left handed much easier (when I am hitting my hats with my left hand with traditional grip it feels odd). I play progressive rock and dabble in jazz, latin and r&b. The challenge is to find a way to make myself used matched grip when it feels like a fish out of water compares to switching back to traditional and I can sound so good that way. But I want to get that good with matched for all the reasons I've stated but I feel like I'm back in 1st grade drumming again. Anyone have this problem? I also bought a double peddle and have been putting a lot of time into that... wow, what a different feel. It is starting to feel natural to me and it seems to work better with matched grip. All four limbs tend to work better together that way. I guess I will just have to go back to hard work on rudiments again to get that left hand to change.

Wow. That's some great analysis of the traditional grip.

Very interesting and thorough look on the subject. I have to say that I personally find two benefits of traditional grip, but that could be subjective: One is that it gives you a different feel and this does affect the groove and a s a result as well what you end up playing in the same musical context. And two - it is so much better at low dynamics. Probably this is why the vast majority of jazz players use it. You can be really delicate and quick at the same time. Best is to know both and use them accordingly, but, of course, that really depends on what kind of music you play.

Quando dice "focusing", il fuoco della telecamera cambia. Incredibilis!

I Love his technique and playing

Great lesson,,super thanks Thomas

Absolutely the best explanation.

Didn't know some of the details of the reason why marchers stopped traditional grip. Thanks!

bravo! finally someone! great thx! its kind of feel like release for that guy ..

He's such a brilliant man.

The idea of traditional inspiring asymmetrical thinking/playing makes a lot of sense. But as a new drummer I find it way more comfortable to play with matched. Nice lesson!

Magistral enseñanza y explicacion. Saludos desde Lima,Perú.

Buddy played matched grip once in a while, especialy in tom tom soloing. I think a lot af drummers uses traditionel grip because og tradition, and as you mention, it may make the drummer "think" different regarding the musical situation he/she is in.

My first 5 years playing was in Orchestra and Marching band. I was taught traditional. I then began playing with Rock Bands that required more volume then dynamics and switched over to match grip like some of my hero’s. I immediately found it easier to play the higher toms with more ease and consistency. But between the low tunings and change of grip, some of the bounce was taken out of my step so to speak and as a result my new technique forced me to relearn simple rudiments again. Ghost notes which were natural for me, had to be practiced again. Some hurdles 4 sure. Ultimately I started switching grips seamlessly and use both to this day. If I could do it all over it would be matched grip all the way.

I watched nearly all of this and get your point, but. Seeing as most people are right handed it seems apt that using your left hand in a different way works for coordinating the sticks. Steve Gad, Vinnie, etc both use the traditional grip as well as Buddy. I have been playing for 45 years and when I need total control I use traditional grip, when I want rock power I use matched grip, or timpani grip. I think all drummers should learn both.

I play both grips and use them according to what I’m playing and feeling You playing swing you using traditional It allows ghost notes and nuances that I feel match grip don’t give naturally You playing rock and riding concert toms you use match for power and control It’s nice to have both grips as you may need This is my take You got guys like Virgil who plays hard and can ride his toms incredible and he uses traditional grip There can be exceptions plus he is a sick man when it comes to his playing 😂Thomas Lang is an alien by the way from planet drums just an extraordinary player teacher clinician and too humble

Really insightful, thank you 😊

Really fantastic information and it's really about what's happening now than in the past fantastic

What a privilege that i can see a awesome lesson with an incredible teacher like Thomas Lang here in youtube. Thanks a lot for sharing this!

Very thorough and accurate.

I think that some drummers can utilize the traditional grip to great success like Joe Morello, but your right, it takes a lot of technique to NOT get carpal tunnel syndrome using that grip.

Thanks for the lesson Thomas. I think there's one advantage of using traditional grip: it makes you think different, and as result, you will sound different

Thank you, Thomas, for this interesting and thought-provoking essay... ☝️😎

Brilliant explanation. I've been saying and teaching the same thing for years. Thomas is an absolute world class player. If anyone is qualified to settle this debate as far as I'm concerned it's him.

Spot on!

I soooooooo love traditional grip. I admit one reason is it LOOKS SOOOOOOOO COOL

Only time I ever play traditional grip is when I’m playing light jazzy stuff. It just feels better and there’s that shuffle/bounce thing that seems easier with the left hand for the fast swing stuff. Check out “rotten kid” by Buddy rich for an example of the left hand bouncing ghost thing. I’m sure there’s a better term for it! Great video 😁😎

excellent comparison from a master

The history behind both grips is very interesting.

I'm with Thomas on this. And I've done both. The planes have to change on the set between matched and trad. I was always taught not to be a "one-sided" drummer. But in the end the left NEVER sounds the same on the drum only because of the way the stick is held. And because of that, you practice what sounds better in the end by changing the patterns favoring one side in the legit world of classical performance. So all the years of asymmetrical playing (practice) is thrown in the garbage for the sound in the end; which I thought was funny! And that thought came down from one of the highest rated music conservatories in the world. Nice discussion Thomas.Wish you would comment on the tonal aspects of this.

Bill Stewart plays jazz matched grip.

I could listen to Mr. Lang all day. He is truly my biggest inspiration to “get better” and I’m a 53 year old who’s been hitting the skins since age 15. If I had 1/5th of Tom’s talent I’d be 110 percent better than I am now..

I'm a lifelong matched grip player but I've been fussing with traditional grip for a few years now. One thing that never gets as much mention is timing with matched vs trad in the left hand. I have found that my backbeats are different with traditional grip and I think it's that the stick hits just a little more ahead of the beat due to its angle with trad grip. I also suck at rimshots with trad grip so I don't use them, which also may have an effect. Regardless, it is a way I can take advantage of a natural difference with the grip when it makes musical sense. If I had been a long-term trad guy I might have weeded out that tendency, so perhaps it's a benefit of being a noob... It's a different tangent, but one way I've always used trad grip is with brushes. I thought from early on that the differences with that grip would allow for different hand/finger motions, which it does. I think it may be more relaxing with brushes too, as the brush naturally rests on the drum head, where I want it to be most of the time.

Agreed these are true gems!!!

I love this. Trad grip to me has always been snobby. Im right-handed. I fell for the orthodoxy for a while and I really pushed myself on it when I binged on a lot of the tutorial DVDs but eventually thought, this is bs. And having given it a real go, I one day was talking to someone (guitarist) about it with sticks in my hands at the kit and I unknowingly used switched to trad grip on my right hand and it was 20 times better than my left, even though I had literally never used in my life. The most beneficial change I ever made was switching to open-handed; that's where its really at. I'm still useless with my left though 😆 Addendum: when Neil Peart switched to trad I thought then, that there has to be something in but nah, Neil didn't stay with trad for long.

As he said, there’s a lot of great drummers out there but in my opinion there’s only one Thomas Lang! He’s the best there is! My thanks to the three drummers I studied most growing up, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Louis Bellson. I believe all three would be in agreement that this gentleman is the best there is. Thank you Thomas for being such an amazing drummer, teacher, and performer. You are a true credit to our craft!🥁

Dois drummers que eu admiro por suas performances, didáticas e mecânica para tocar drums, são Todd Sucherman e Thomas Lang.

Thomas is from other planet. Such a beast. I started with traditional grip just for curious. As a newbie, i can say it becomes easier to develop rebound in your weak hand with traditional.

Totally agree, finally someone said it!

Great vídeo!

This is a great video.

He’s amazing

Thanks!!!

Thanks Thomas!

Nice. Thank you Sir.

The best

Thomas is such a cool dude.

This video is exactly what I needed. I play the bagpipes in a firefighter band but want to learn the drums. But not just the snare, eventually a full kit. The history aspect makes great sense for the traditional way but as a brand new drummer I think matched would be better. Thoughts all?

Just very recently I try to study and learn to play the traditional grip. I play like most drummers with my left hand but I can do a reverse traditional grip where my right hand is playing on the high hat in traditional mode in my left hand in match grip. What I found difficult was trying to do the traditional grip on my left hand when you have three upper toms. I think I’ll stay now with the traditional grip

Buddy Rich often criticized matched grip, but I've seen him "accidentally" play matched grip a couple of times (rare footage). His matched grip playing was just as impressive as his traditional grip, but he still argued against it. Mr. Lang makes some great points about the history and crutch of match grip. I had to switch to match grip because I was a left handed drummer raised on a right handed drum set, which, I think may have been the great Billy Cobham's challenge as well, so I consider myself in good company. :) My feet were "right footed", but my hands were "left handed". Whew, what a mess. Matched grip help me overcome many issues.

I have finally after all these years made the complete transition to double traditional grip. All hail Buddy Rich!

Giant. Thank you.

This is all 100% true. It’s all about what you want to do as a player and how much you want to put into practice. For me, I was ready for a change from match grip in my early 20’s after playing quints in marching band, going to a trap set, for me, it felt better and had more feel to play traditional. It took me a good solid two years to feel comfortable with good technique to have a solid back beat with the left hand. Long story short, any drummer should start match gripped, and later developed traditional, but I can’t emphasize proper technique enough! No short cuts or fast tracks just bc you might think it looks “cool”. I literally tried just to push myself, and in my 40’s, I have all the power in my strokes and feel no handicaps in my playing, but again, is completely based on the preference and proper practice of the player. I’m nothing special, and I do push my traditional grip constantly, but at this point, it feels exactly the same way as my right hand. I’m not having to extra practice for my left vs my right, bc I’m doing all practice with equal leads. I would give all this praise to Virgil Donati from the power drumming approach where everything is equal lead i.e. every exercise is started with the right, and then done with the left lead.

Nice work

I definitely have as much power with traditional grip as I did when I only used matched grip traditional grip gives you much more freedom of movement plus extra power... I do utilize Mirrored Traditional Grip... Traditional in both hands

I was taught traditional originally, and whenever I sit in front of the practice pad, I automatically pick up my sticks like that. That said, when I was first taught, I was told to slant my snare drum to accommodate traditional. Marching snares before racks were used still felt more comfortable traditional. Now sitting behind a drum kit, I don't see the benefit. Snare is he only percussion instrument that uses this grip, every other instrument (timpani, mallet percussion, etc.) uses matched grip. In a jazz situation, traditional is handy if you are changing to cross stick. Interesting take on it, thanks Thomas!

good stuff here, i like it.

I feel so vindicated!! Thank you for explaining this

So auf den Punkt gebracht!

Master!

Rly interesting!