3 finger drumming techniques explained (and ranked a little bit)
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- Опубліковано 3 вер 2019
- ►► Learn all the basics of Finger Drumming for FREE on → questforgroove.com
In this video I'll break down 3 commonly used styles of finger drumming, explain what's great and not so great about each technique and also give some advice on which method you should use!
Free finger drumming lessons, as wel as tips on what to buy and how to set things up can be found at: questforgroove.com
Cheers,
Robert
►► Learn all the basics of Finger Drumming for FREE on → questforgroove.com
I love getting finger drumming lessons from John Lennon
Hahaha, difference is I would never let my girlfriend break up the band :-)
Probably the nicest comment on UA-cam
Yeah, tweaking the the layout and playing more complex patterns has me working on hand independence. More tutorials on that technique, please.
I now wish I had started with the independent method. I probably would've laid my pads out much differently. Something with kicks and snares all on the left, hats and rides on the right, and toms/percussion mirrored would probably be best for me.
Nice to see you back on UA-cam, Robert. I hope you'll some more videos, they're very interesting to watch.
About the alternating fingers technique, I use the two of my right hand for a flam-ish type of fast triplets. It helps me me accent the right notes and retain more control when going for the triplet feel on the snare or toms.
About the left hand being a bit more clumsy than the right one, I certainly am guilty of that. Just recently, I've started swapping the roles of my hands completely when practicing. Have you tried that? The weirdest feeling ever. :)
Keep up the good work, and show us more of your recording process (like with the cartoon intro you did). People love. Those videos (I sure do).
Good to know! I also tried swapping the hand but it's true for me as well: left is less good :-)
What I also did was do other stuff like cooking with left. That also seriously helps!
Very helpful analysis and advice for a beginner finger drummer. Well organized and clearly explained. Thanks 🙏🏽
This is awesome! I'm just starting to wrap my head around layouts a bit and this gives me some great concepts to play around with.
Thanks for your insight, I've been involved into finger drumming of years and can really appreciate you knowledge.
thanks so much for all this you have made this is such an amazing resource, you are amazing
Been working on the 1st method and learning quickly. Thanks for helping speed up the process Robert!
Great to hear! Good luck and keep me posted on your progress!
Great summary. Thanks😎
Thank you very much! It's interesting to watch you blog!... 8-)
You would use the alternating finger method for metal drumming where u need to play double bass. The alternate finger method will then have to be combined with double hands method
Thanks so much for this. Much appreciated.
Hello, I discovered your UA-cam channel and it seems great, I just got the launchpad x I hope I can upload more tutorials with this instrument, soon I will sign up for the courses on the page while I am learning here
Man I respect and appreciate your work. It’s very useful. And thanks for doing it so detailed. Keep up the good work.
I will! Thanks for the encouraging words.
Great videos, thanks man!
thx , very clear explanations
Oh my your are making a breakthrough with this art congrats. The info is amazing
Thanks! That means a lot Fernando!
Your hair is glorious.
Rob, I've found 1 situation where method 3 is indispensable. It's playing a short roll on snare. Something like "trra". It is something like forschlag - ghost notes before main note. I often hear it in funk or jazz music, not much in rock. I play it with two fingers of the right hand on the snare right pad and one finger of the left hand on the snare left pad (mirror) (xpresspads technique layout). Playing this 3 strokes with alternating hands gives bad dynamics, it doest sound natural. Also I use this technique to play fast triplets on the ride cymbal.
Ah yeah that makes sense! I also do those ghost notes but I use a regular double stroke for it with one finger where I sort of let it bounce. But I do agree that that's an ideal place for two fingers.
That groove at 4:05. Is totally sick love it
You are very very cool player ! I have been respecting you!!
I practice little by little to be like you !! Thank you!!
Thank you so much! Good luck and you can always contact me if you have questions.
Thank you !!
I have some questions.
So I'll send you !!
But I wanna practice independence hands first!! That is one of the answers for my question!! Thank you!!
I thought I need to practice that to be like you! So I'm gonna practice first!!
Thank you !!!
You know when a Musician has talent when it looks and sounds EASY!..................😡👊🏾incredible!
Yeah that's exactly it. It always involves lots if practice!
Now I'm finger drumming with a Novation Launchpad mk2, the first method was the best for me, really nice video!!
Glad to hear it!
We need more videos of you
I'm back and I'll be releasing new videos regularly from now on!
Hi there, Great video, great aproach to the different techniques. I've been thinking about the underdevelopment of the week hand, and perhaps a good idea would be to practice the backbone with your dominant hand, and then practice it with the weaker hand, mirroring the layout of the pads, and using the dominant hand for the fills. The alternating finger technique, could be handy, by combining it with the independant hand technique, so if you're playing the bell pattern with one hand, you could alternate fingers on the other hand for flams or speed on the other hand. it could also be handy for one hand fingerdrumming.
Good insights! I agree with you that those are some great ways to take things next level.
Great lesson! For us using iOS and a Roli lightpad I think the only usable methods are 2 and 3 as the pads are too small for the thumb, so please give use some more lessons on those methods especially now that there are many good drums apps and groove boxes on iOS. Thanks
Alright, yeah I should! I will work on that in the weeks leading up to christmas!
Monstro 💪🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Great to see you back! Question - how do you control velocity when playing several pads with one hand?
If I need to play a loud kick with my thumb and a soft hi-hat with my middle finger, either both sounds are loud or both are soft. I just cannot figure out the technique of such a motion.
Its about the thumb joint. You can move that one separately from the rest of the hand. I talk about this in the new grooving & improving course on questforgroove.com.
It's one if theater lessons, I think section 4!
Robert, your passion for this skill is a gift to us all. I'm using an AKAI LPD8 with your beginner tutorials on your website, and I'm really getting into the idea of finger drumming. It's so fun! But obviously a 2x4 layout leaves little room for growth. I'm not ready to commit to the Mikro Mk3, but would you recommend the Presonus Atom? I've read through your gear recommendations on your site, and I don't remember the Atom getting a mention for a budget 4x4 for those who are testing the waters with finger drumming.
I do recommend the Atom as the budget option at the moment. The pads are not as sensitive as the Maschine mikro, but you can definitely play some nice beats on it and for $150 it's the cheapest reliable device out there. So yes, if money is a problem at the moment, the Atom is your best bet, probably together with the free version of Steven Slate drums.
For the 2 finger technique i have found something usefull; it can be used for fla (2strokes but the first one is louder) this technique also can be employed for to add some ghost note since the second note is quiet. But it's not exactly the same technique has double finger, you just use the gravity (i don't know if i am clear) so you can be fast without using muscle since this is only the weight of you're finger who is used. Cons you don't have so much control but sometime it spice up the groove. Feel free to ask if i am not clear ;)
Yeah that makes sense! I actually used it for snare flams before. i prefer doing those with two hands as well, but sometimes this is not possible and then a flam between index and middle finger is a great solution.
8:46 Hey rob! Thanks for the vids again. Do u know anyway doing this layering thingy in maschine? I don't think I've ever heard of this being done in maschine! It's pretty routine tho using any daw.
Yeah that's such a weird thing about maschine... I dont think you can do this. Not 100% sure but it seems like most machine users dont want different sounds for different velocities.
I love the sound of the samples that you used in the reggae beat.çan I download from your site?thanks❤
It's not really one sample per pad. It's Addictive Drums 2, which uses all of these multi layered sounds, which makes it sound so nice. So you will need Addictive Drums 2 for this. I have a reggae preset that uses the Black Oyster, Fairfax 1 and Funk kits.
do you have any recommendations on how to set up a drum kit with samples or virtual instruments to better approximate a drum set?
I do! They're all in my 100% free beginner course on questforgroove.com !
Thank you for your videos, they are very good, I am now starting with the personus atom (my first and only one) which software do you use because my instruments are in another position for example the kick appears in the first lower left, now there is a possibility to change places?
Yes in most cases you can, but you have to change the sounds inside the software that produces the sound. The notes of the pads on the atom cannot be changed. So wat you have to do in for example my favourite drum plugin Addictive Drums 2, is you have to 'map' the right pad to the right sound. In AD2 you can do this by using midi learn. You go into the settings of the plugin, click "midi learn" next to the sound you want to assign and then you hit the pad on your atom that you want to assign to that sound. Then, Addictive Drums will have "learned" what sound it should produce when you hit a certain pad. You're not changing anything on the atom itself, but you're changing how the software interprets it when you hit a certain pad. I have a 100% free setup guide in my beginner course on questforgroove.com over here. (you need an account, but it's 100% free) >> questforgroove.com/course/beginnercourse/device-specific-setup-guides/presonus-atom/
@@TheQuestforGroove
Thank you very much, you gave me a great help, as I have seen in your presentations, I am also a guitarist and I only intend to use the pad to record drums, but I was getting frustrated !! thank you very much, i will consult your guide as soon as i finish writing here :)
Very interesting video with an interesting timing :) I've messed around with these techniques just these past few days and your video just brought some more clarity and structure. Thanks! My conclusion for the 3rd "alternating fingers" method was similar to yours, I'd just like to add that we might be able to use it for drags or fast off-beat trills and stuff. Good to see you back!
You're welcome! I see a lot of people on the internet alternating their fingers but so far I could always play what they were playing with the other techniques and it would feel more solid. So it's not unusable, it just seems like an unnecessary step ina lot of situations. It does look sort of cool though... I guess that's also a thing in music :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove I agree. Well, it could be that, once we have trained our fingers and knuckles well enough, we could do some spectacular things, but it doesn't really seem that apealing, at least not to me :) and like you said, we can probably already do those things with the other 2 techniques.
@@TheJoyofFingerDrumming I secretly also always look at David Haynes because he's such an insane player. I've actually seen him use multiple fingers, but he does it very very rarely and he plays the most insane stuff ever. I think he basically only uses independent hand technique.
@@TheQuestforGroove I like his older videos with the insane finger drumming, yes. His new stuff with the sampling I'm not a big fan of, but the old stuff yes, spectacular indeed. I'm guessing he's found the best technique to emulate his real drum playing onto the pads. Plus, he's had a lot of time to practice LOL in a recent interview he said he's been doing finger drumming since the drum machines of the 80s. I just had a realization yesterday, just before you posted your video, which is why I mentioned above that the timing was interesting: I was listening to a beat from Addictive Drums 2 on repeat (just a simple 4/4 beat, but it sounded really groovy and I liked it a lot). I looked at the MIDI data to see how it was played and I saw that the 16th note hi-hat hits were alternated between closed hi-hat edge and hi-hat shaft which gave it a lot of the groovyness. But at the end there was a fill, it was 7 8th notes snare hits played simultaneously with 7 descending toms 8th notes. I can do the beat very nicely on my xpresspads layout and alternating hands, but the fill at the end seems very awkward to do with alternating hands, which is why I tried imagining what a real life drummer would play: he would probably do all 7 snare hits with his left hand, and the descending toms with his right hand. I didn't practice last night, but I intend to try this tonight, to do the snares with my dominant hand and the toms with the other hand. I think the secret to good finger drumming probably lies in using whichever technique is best for the given groove/feel/section, while at the same time trying to figure out how that would be played on a real drum kit with sticks and use this to figure out the right technique to use. Really interesting chat, man!
@@TheJoyofFingerDrumming yeah I think you're on the right track! My advice would be: accept that this journey will take many years and keep expanding your horizon and your skills! :-)
I want to get started on finger drumming. I need a compact pad with built in presets. Any gear recommendations?
If you need built in sounds as well I don't know of anything good. For any normal midi controller, here's my up to date list. questforgroove.com/gear-recommendations/
I like how you display your pad controllers on an angle - do you find this also limits dust accumulating on your devices and getting in the gaps?
Haven't done it for long enough... it's mainly for having a nice backdrop in my videos, but it might help with the dust... I'll keep an eye on it :-)
Hi! I just got into finger drumming! thanks for your channel, lot of help! Do you know if there's a mini pad controller with internal memory, 16 pads or so? I mean I just want to connect direct to a PA or amplifier, I just got the nanoPAD2, really cool one but need the computer or ipad or so! thanks!! (Y)
Hey! Internal memory controllers are very rare. Basically Akai has the MPC live and MPC one. Both pretty expensive. Maybe something like www.roland.com/nl/products/sp-404/ that would be a good idea, but i cannot vouch for the quality of the pads and it will not sound like realistic drums! The only way to do that is throughh a laptop :-(
wow! that one looks awesome but pretty $, thanks for your help and videos! I'm hook into finger drumming now!! (Y)
Hi Robert. One issue for some people is of course that they would like to play drum beats but really don't have any good idea of basic drum patterns and suitable arrangement of kits. I know that experimentation can be the answer but perhaps this is something you could cover as part of your finger drumming topic? It's refreshing to watch a UA-cam channel that is calmly and professionally presented, with good content and straight to the point. So many people think we need to listened to their often dubious choice of loud "background music" whilst waffling for minutes before getting to the subject. I'm keeping an eye on your content from now on :-)
Hey Paul, thank you so much for your kind words and feedback! My goal is to help people with all the stuff you describe. If you haven't checked out the free beginner course on questforgroove.com that might also answer a lot of those initial questions. Hope this helped!
Yes - I've already found it! I should have checked before commenting!
@@TheQuestforGroove Thank you
welcome back ;)
It's good to be back and 'see' some familiar faces.
What do you find is the best midi drum controller under 400 that allows me to add swing and quantize on the fly? I was looking into the Nektar Aura. Does that have that feature?
Adding swing option is there. Haven't seen an instant quantize option though...
Not long ago I was wondering when you would make another video..apparently you can read minds;) i was forced to use the 2. Technique when i had the mpc 500..(only 8 thin pads ) but i asked myself the same question which technique is better.. for me it makes sense to use the 1. Technique when i want it to sound like a real drum kit.. but lately I'm mostly using the 2. Technique, which is better for hip hop beats in my opinion .. anyway nice to have you back !
Hey thanks man, it's good to know someone has been thinking about me :-) I just moved to this other house and I didn't have my studio properly set up for a long time because of all the IKEA closets I had to build and stuff like that. But now I'm back!
Also, yeah I agree about those two fingers and hip hop. As soon as stuff gets more sample based the multiple fingers start to become handy.
Have you try with midi pedal coupled with the pad? It's great too!
You mean for sustain?
@@TheQuestforGroove I use bass drum on it. Sort of cheat :p
@@phosphore7991 if it works, it works!!
well....i think playing with fingers will be very beneficial....but I'm just starting... will help on playing piano and on typing....I don´t have the pads yet just the keys....And i've been praticing with fingers...and I remember when studied piano that even on the same key you should use two fingers...never the same... but ok drummers play with wrist/arm.... so I will try everything...I will let you know
The one thing I can see alternating fingers being good for is when thrown in with the wrist movements of the other two patterns in order to get 32nd notes. like you'd hit with both fingers alternating for each downward wrist movement.
Yeah that's possible and I do see people do that sometimes! I can get 32nd notes in at around 90bpm just using my two hands alternating or using rudiments like RRLLRRLL or something. I don't really know where the limit is but is does feel like I'm getting close. At that point some finger roll is probably the only way to go :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove Yeah, that's what I was doing as well. Your video here just gave me a new way to look at it, and in the day or so I've been drilling it, I gotta say incorporating the alternating fingers into my regular alternating hands has started to feel better. A perk is that you maintain the same 16th rhythm with your two wrists and only subdivide that with your fingers, making it easier to scale to faster tempo. An downside so far is that my alternating fingers are still unpredictably swingy, but that's potentially just because I haven't trained it enough.
What drum machine do you use? And also is the drum have usb to connect to my computer
This is presonus atom. My favorite controller atm is Maschine mikro mk3. And yes, they're all usb controllers and the sounds come from your computer. In this case Addictive Drums 2.
so far i think the only use i've found for that alternating fingers method is for triplets (RLL as a right hand hit and then 2 individual fingers from left hand) but even then it only seems useful if you're playing really fast
Ah yes that makes sense! I now do that with a fast double tap, which can also be played very quickly.
@@TheQuestforGroove that’s exactly what I thought too, and the double tap seems a bit easier to control.. things aren’t looking good for the alternating fingers gang 😂😂
Is there a direct way to ask you some questions about how you use Maschine?
Yes!
- Just send your questions to rob@questforgroove.com and I'll answer them.
- I do a monthly livestream for all patrons on the first sunday of every month. In the morning and in the evening and there I answer questions live on the spot that people ask in he chat.
- For skype calls and other video chat stuff I actually charge money, since those are the equivalent of private lessons. But if that's not a problem that can also be arranged!
Nice to see ya back...
When do we do a versus?
Good to see you too! I dont now what versus means :-)
A competition...
You play a couple of grooves and i will try to replicate them with the iPad, and viceversa...
@@AsakuraTetsuoFolco aha, a battle!!! ☠
Sure. You could try to copy the grooves in this video and otherwise I'll copy something you send me!
@@TheQuestforGroove I'll try.
it seems that "someone" (Rob) has been playing with note mapper to be able to take his template to the Atom pad controller 😆😆😆 anyway I'm glad to see that you are back, greetings from the crooked lands of Spain
Haha, thanks man great to be back! Lots more videos will follow!
@@TheQuestforGroove Nice!!!
Alternative fingers is really useful for trap hi-hats triplets! It really simplifies them. Otherwise I don't see other utilities of this technique yup
You can check JBlack beats, he is using the independent fingers technique perfectly
Yeah! He does it very nicely. I'll do a trap video soon and I'll see what I can use. Thanks!
still awesome
Do you use addictive drums for you drum sounds?
Yes! Mostly black oyster, fairfax 1 and funk kits
The Quest for Groove thanks, do you recommend this for beginner or go straight to maschine?
The machine mikro mk3 is the best 4x4 controller for the money right now. In midi mode it can be used with addictive drums 2. Thats my favorite combo right now that I recommend for beginners and advanced player actually.
Hi Robert, I'm Premium member of Quest for Groove. Where do I find a Beat that uses independente technique in the plataforme for me practice and understand it better?
In the bossa nova course its all about that! Even if you don't like the style its a perfect independence exercise. Step by step buildup.
@@TheQuestforGroove the main part right? I made it! I liked a lot. But the bonus part, with alternating hands I couldn't speed up until the Samba BPM. Was to difficult for me.
@@brunolacerda4611 ah yes, well that fast part is not necessary actually. The other course that really helps inproving your hands dexterity is 'building fills'.
What method is suit for person have acoustic drum background??
The first method is the best to start with and to play most things with!
Hi, did you already seen new maschine?
Yes! ua-cam.com/users/postUgyt3ZyVEkbJL4an7XN4AaABCQ?lc=UgwqHGhjca2Tc08iPJx4AaABAg
The 3rd method could also possibly be used for metal drumming potentially I would have thought.
Yeah, especially if you set your blast kicks at a fixed velocity.
atom vs black korg padkontrol and i use the no hands method
Any tips for someone who uses 4 pads for drums and the other 12 for melodies
Yeah, i would basically set up 1 row with kick snare and hihat and then one open hihat pad next to the hihat. Thats 4. And then you have your core kit and all the other pads for music stuff!
Thank you for the response but I meant more along the lines of exercises to practice different patterns with that set up
The Quest for Groove thank you for the response but I meant more along the lines of exercises to practice some different grooves with that set up*
@@claffmatic ok! Then this video is the best I can do right now: ua-cam.com/video/bvabP_QRY_4/v-deo.html
You are appreciated thanks
Hey, I was checking out your layout. It's similar to the x press pads finger drumming layout. I noticed they don't have a position for rim shots on theirs.
What advantages do you feel you get from using your layout over their method.
I actually never used the Xpress pads layout. I got this one in a simplified symmetrical form from a guy named Brandon Murphey. It felt very natural to have the core of the kit in the middle and by making it not 100% symmetrical I could put more sounds on it and actually make certain combos easier to hit. All combos with open hihat for example are super efficient. No idea if its better than the Xpresspads layout... my guess is that that is personal and for some people a certain layout will feel more "natural" .
@@TheQuestforGroove Yeah it does make more sense to be playing the kick with the thumb too. I feel like you would need more articulations than what the xpress pads one has too, so it seems pretty ideal :)
Hi :) The atom is compatible with cubase??
Yes!
The Quest for Groove thanks :) Can i map it to play VST percussion instrument ?
@@fedeeiconees well... you can but you cannot change the notes of the pads in atom. So you have to setup a drum map in cubase to route the pads to the right sounds or use midi learn inside your software instrument if that's available.
The Quest for Groove thanks very much 👍🏻🎵😊
What is the best method to play bossa or any Latin rhythm? Thank you in advance.
Also the first method. I have to work on a video about Latin. Will do that soon!
Im a bassist and i use a lot of two fingers alternation.
I can see why some could use such technique for control and speed purposes.
A pick player or a guitarist might not understand.
Yeah that might very well be true! I'm sure a useful technique can be developed. With the new 8x8 launchpad x with smaller pads closer together new opportunities open up as well, so yeah. Curious to see what the future brings!
I love your videos, but I have to disagree with your analysis of the alternating fingers method. The reason being that pianists will use alternating fingers on one hand to extend the dynamic texture of fast passages, while the other hand can concentrate on chords, and other embelisents. It looks to be a very complex method that requires a lot of dedicated practice, but in the long term would provide virtuosic rewards.
Thanks for the passion you have posted in these videos
Hey thanks for sharing! I actually think you're probably right, it's just that I personally haven't managed to get it to sound great myself (yet), mainly with regards to dynamics on the pad controller specifically. So at this point I cannot really help people out with learning this particular technique. But I bet there's a way to get it to sound awesome. Maybe I'll figure it out and hopefully someone else will soon and will also share it :-)
I thought he was going to show us where to program what sound and how to sound the way he sounds. I guess I'm still 101 status.
Hey! This video helps with my pad layout: ua-cam.com/video/z_7Tj0mBB-s/v-deo.html - And to get the sounds, get Addicitve Drums 2 and then the Fairfax 1, Black Oyster and Funk kits. - On questforgroove.com there's so a free beginner course with instructions on what to buy and step by step guides on setting up your controller.
Good luck!
@@TheQuestforGroove thank you so much for everything you do for us. I really want to finger drum as smooth as you do brother. ✌️ Im starting the course now.
How to do a live performance
You can do it in many ways but how I would do it is: bring my laptop and audio interface, plug in the pad controller into the laptop, plug it the audio interface into the laptop, give the sound guy a plug to plug into your audio interface and let him handle the sound in the audience and on stage from.that point on.
@@TheQuestforGroove can you a dedicated video for it plzz
I'll look into it. Biggest problem with that is that everyone has slightly different gear / software. So making a video will only help some people and leave other people still scratching their heads... maybe there's a way to make a guide in more global terms. I'll think about it!!
@@TheQuestforGroove Hi, I thought I'd add some input about finger drumming in live performances. This comment might maybe be a bit unrelated (sort of), but here goes:
I'd love to see finger drumming being used for things like school talent shows (or talent shows in general). UA-cam has dozens or even hundreds of people playing actual drums (you know, like with sticks and the feet and so on) at talent shows, but I'd love to see the day when finger drumming is just as common and just as accepted as playing real drums.
Some performance spaces (like when there's a talent competition at some kind of fairground, for example) have strict policies regarding drums/percussion; if you look at the rules of some fairground talent shows (and I have, just for the fun of it), some of them will say "drums are not aloud" or "we are unable to accommodate drummers".
As for the "drums are not aloud" part... I always ask "why"? Because drums are too loud? Well that's no excuse. Haven't people heard of electronic drums by now? They're generally a lot quieter than acoustic drums; noise complaints would be far less likely!
As for the "we are unable to accommodate drummers" part, that's a bit more valid; acoustic drums need multiple microphones, and it's likely possible the mixing board may not have enough channels to accommodate those microphones (or if it does, there might not be enough microphones, in which case you'd need to bring your own). They also take up space, and honestly even electronic drums can take up a somewhat large amount of room. Some stages just might not be large enough to accommodate that in addition to all the other equipment being used.
But finger drumming seams extremely practical and portable. You could probably fit an entire finger drumming setup (laptop plus pad MIDI controller plus audio interface) straight into a backpack. Then if you prefer to put your pad controller onto a stand when playing, you could carry that in your hand. Even electronic drums don't give that level of portability. Look at a finger drumming setup, like on a Novation launchpad or something, and how little room it takes up; it's practically nothing compared to drums! If you really are short on space, finger drumming might really be the way to go for talent shows and other live performances!
i have been finger drumming for 30 years
Wow, you're one of the first pioneers!
The Quest for Groove I would not say the first but I def was the best ;) I can make a complete beat with keys that’s sounds good ... many years in music stores and live jamming and draw crowds
that only bc you allway only use 16 pads. u dont need alternate on 2 fingers.
The fastest snare and or hat rolls probably possible without clipping is what makes this technique you find not useful useful.
Please you wait ,
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