Drums My mistake in my kicking technique

[Rad Synner]

Hey everyone!

So I wanted to share today my experience about bad technique and where it leaves me. Before anything, here's a bit of context. I started drums about 3 years ago. I bought a pretty cheap kit from a friend and just started hitting stuff around for fun. Of course, eventually I started taking drums more seriously as I developed my studio and my ambitions for music and so I started to practice more seriously and more consistently.

Unfortunately, I never had a drum lesson and I just sort of went behind the kit and improvised. Went on the internet to check what people advised and I thought I understood what they said about kicking. Using your ankle to push on the pedal and build your muscle and motion from there. Okay, I thought i had it down. And so as disciplined as I am, I was practising everyday but eventually, I started feeling pain in my right knee. Okay, I schedule a meeting with my doctor in February 2021 and we talked about it. I told her about my life style and what could cause the pain and the thing is that, at the time, I was jogging everyday as well so when I said that, she said that jogging might have had a bad effect on my knee. (For more context, I was jogging during winter time with boots on. This is definitely a bad thing that can cause pain). So as per her advice, I stopped jogging thought she said that the repetitive nature of drumming could play a role in that however since she was a general doctor, she had limiting knowledge on drumming. (continued with different workouts though). But the pain didn't go away even months after I stopped. I had to take breaks because the weird pain was annoying. It never was anything that stopped me from walking or anything. It's just that the fact that I was feeling my knee so strongly couldn't be good for the long term.

So I went and saw my doctor again in august and this time, she told me to the an xray of the knee to see what could be there. I did so and my bones were just fine so it must mean that it was the ligaments. And so I kept wondering what to do and what could be the cause of it even though I had a little voice in my head that clearly was telling me what was the cause. The pain came from my right knee and lightly appeared in my left knee. I practice a lot of double kick so it wasn't a surprised but I was still using the right foot to kick more than the left one.

And so a friend drummer and I finally came to the conclusion that I developed simply a bad technique for kicking. I was using my entire leg to press on the pedal instead of doing an ankle motion and so doing this repetitive movement went and caused uncomfortable feelings on my right knee.

So what's left to do? Well, unfortunately to accept my mistake and start over. I have to dismantle everything I knew and used to do and build it back up from the ground which means that that I have to take it all back down in terms of speed. All progress I made will have to be reevaluated and yeah! But this is what has to be done. I made a mistake and now that I properly realized it, I have to go on correct it. Yes it's going to slow down things in the sort term but at the end of the day, by doing this, I put all the chances on my side to be able to play drums properly but also to avoid general physical pain in the long term so yeah, gotta do what I gotta do!

Just wanted to share my story because I highly believe in accepting when we make a mistake and doing something about it. We can't always be perfect and it's all a learning curve. Making mistakes is a part of the process to general betterment. And the next step is to recognize it and then to correct it so, there I go!

Have a great day everyone!

- Rad

 

[Saphyra]

What a story, I wonder to know why the last paragraph seems familiar with my memories
Anyways, that is great that you could improve your drums playing
I hope your knees got better now

Sometimes my hands hurt me also when I plau piano but I don't know if it's me who play badly or if it's because my hands are too small

 

[Rad Synner]

What a story, I wonder to know why the last paragraph seems familiar with my memories
Anyways, that is great that you could improve your drums playing
I hope your knees got better now

Sometimes my hands hurt me also when I plau piano but I don't know if it's me who play badly or if it's because my hands are too small

Yeah, I talked to my drummer friend and he helped me out but I'm starting the change right now so we'll see how it goes but thanks!

And yeah, hopefully it's not a case of bad technique for you but then again, I'm learning piano so I can't say for sure Though usual rule of thumb is that if it hurts, it isn't good

 

[Shawn Lennie]

Kicking technique is something not many drummers really focus on for a long time, and the mechanics change at different tempos. It ends up being a catch up process with hand technique because that is always the main focus when starting out. One of my drum teachers said the best thing he ever did was read up on biomechanics to understand how your limbs move and how to be efficient!

 

[Saphyra]

Yeah, I talked to my drummer friend and he helped me out but I'm starting the change right now so we'll see how it goes but thanks!

And yeah, hopefully it's not a case of bad technique for you but then again, I'm learning piano so I can't say for sure Though usual rule of thumb is that if it hurts, it isn't good

Well normally I should be able to play some pieces but now I am confused now

 

[Rad Synner]

Kicking technique is something not many drummers really focus on for a long time, and the mechanics change at different tempos. It ends up being a catch up process with hand technique because that is always the main focus when starting out. One of my drum teachers said the best thing he ever did was read up on biomechanics to understand how your limbs move and how to be efficient!

Any links you'd have to share with me? I'm really down to dive more into that process!

 

[Rad Synner]

Well normally I should be able to play some pieces but now I am confused now

What do you mean!?

 

[Saphyra]

What do you mean!?

I mean, there are some piece which have some big interval like for example there is a C note in the same time a D note, so I have to play the two notes but I struggle to play it because my hand can't get out of the way and my other hand can't play the D note or C note because it is playing a little more than an octave lower :/

I don't if I explain well

 

[Rad Synner]

I mean, there are some piece which have some big interval like for example there is a C note in the same time a D note, so I have to play the two notes but I struggle to play it because my hand can't get out of the way and my other hand can't play the D note or C note because it is playing a little more than an octave lower :/

I don't if I explain well

Ah yeah okay I see. Yeah I guess that's just practice perhaps or maybe it's just doable if you have the right set of hands!?

 

[Shawn Lennie]

Any links you'd have to share with me? I'm really down to dive more into that process!

I don't know of any literature, he was just given a bunch of info from his physio to read from having similar pains and stuff. I guess any info on leg mechanics would be easily applied, muscle groupings, function, etc.

 

[Saphyra]

Ah yeah okay I see. Yeah I guess that's just practice perhaps or maybe it's just doable if you have the right set of hands!?

Maybe yes (sorry I thought I replyied you )

 

[Aquamandy]

I can relate so much to that

First of all, I wasn't a high skilled drummer and spent years away from my instrument. So when I got back to playing I already had that natural difficulty of coming back in shape.

Then I started to learn some songs and I noticed I had too much tension and fatigue in my hands and I started to think I was doing something wrong because the songs weren't that difficult to make me tired. After some days of research and study, I discovered that my hand technique was entirely twisted, I barely knew how to hold the stick properly and I didn't have any idea of that before.

In conclusion, I had to step back and relearn everything. Part of me is glad that I figured it out before having any kind of pain or harms, but the other is basically questioning why I didn't figure this out earlier

Just as you, I still am in the process of doing it, and to be 100% honest, sometimes it really sucks because it's not the only thing I need to fix. By the time I stopped playing drums, I had a poor hand technique, but I had great coordination skills. And while I still have the ability to coordinate my limbs, my mind got used to coordinate these wrong techniques and movements I did in the past, so I also had to restart all my coordination work again

One thing makes me happy tho. It's visible how using the right technique can improve someone's playing and how starting to fix it was the right decision for me. I'm far away from where I was one day, but I already feel like I can play better and smoothier. This means that when I do get to the point I left, I'll be basically just flying behind the drumset

Nice thread! I hope this somehow helps other students to watch out their techniques before it's too late (I mean, never is too late but discovering this earlier helps a lot )

 

[Shawn Lennie]

I can relate so much to that

First of all, I wasn't a high skilled drummer and spent years away from my instrument. So when I got back to playing I already had that natural difficulty of coming back in shape.

Then I started to learn some songs and I noticed I had too much tension and fatigue in my hands and I started to think I was doing something wrong because the songs weren't that difficult to make me tired. After some days of research and study, I discovered that my hand technique was entirely twisted, I barely knew how to hold the stick properly and I didn't have any idea of that before.

In conclusion, I had to step back and relearn everything. Part of me is glad that I figured it out before having any kind of pain or harms, but the other is basically questioning why I didn't figure this out earlier

Just as you, I still am in the process of doing it, and to be 100% honestly, sometimes it really sucks because it's not the only thing I need to fix. By the time I stopped playing drums, I had a poor hand technique, but I had great coordination skills. And while I still have the ability to coordinate my limbs, my mind got used to coordinate these wrong techniques and movements I did in the past, so I also had to restart all my coordination work again

One thing makes me happy tho. It's visible how using the right technique can improve someone's playing and how starting to fix it was the right decision for me. I'm far away from where I was one day, but I already feel like I can play better and smoothier. This means that when I do get to the point I left, I'll be basically just flying behind the drumset

Nice thread! I hope this somehow helps other students to watch out their techniques before it's too late (I mean, never is too late but discovering this earlier helps a lot )

My University drum teacher basically had me doing purely hand technique for 6 months "it's just all wrong, start from scratch", it was torture but oh the benefits paid off, feeling like I was relearning how to play all over again then to surpass anything I was capable of before was rewarding!

 

[Ed Seith]

It's funny how doing something slightly wrong, but doing it thousands of times, can take a toll on your body. Funny-strange, not funny-haha. Glad you figured it out!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

100% can see how slamming the entire foot down would do that. That's a lot of force to continually put on your knee let alone the ankle.

 

[Aquamandy]

My University drum teacher basically had me doing purely hand technique for 6 months "it's just all wrong, start from scratch", it was torture but oh the benefits paid off, feeling like I was relearning how to play all over again then to surpass anything I was capable of before was rewarding!

Geez, that must have been tough glad to hear it was rewarding tho

 

[Rad Synner]

I can relate so much to that

First of all, I wasn't a high skilled drummer and spent years away from my instrument. So when I got back to playing I already had that natural difficulty of coming back in shape.

Then I started to learn some songs and I noticed I had too much tension and fatigue in my hands and I started to think I was doing something wrong because the songs weren't that difficult to make me tired. After some days of research and study, I discovered that my hand technique was entirely twisted, I barely knew how to hold the stick properly and I didn't have any idea of that before.

In conclusion, I had to step back and relearn everything. Part of me is glad that I figured it out before having any kind of pain or harms, but the other is basically questioning why I didn't figure this out earlier

Just as you, I still am in the process of doing it, and to be 100% honest, sometimes it really sucks because it's not the only thing I need to fix. By the time I stopped playing drums, I had a poor hand technique, but I had great coordination skills. And while I still have the ability to coordinate my limbs, my mind got used to coordinate these wrong techniques and movements I did in the past, so I also had to restart all my coordination work again

One thing makes me happy tho. It's visible how using the right technique can improve someone's playing and how starting to fix it was the right decision for me. I'm far away from where I was one day, but I already feel like I can play better and smoothier. This means that when I do get to the point I left, I'll be basically just flying behind the drumset

Nice thread! I hope this somehow helps other students to watch out their techniques before it's too late (I mean, never is too late but discovering this earlier helps a lot )

Fuck yeah, thanks for sharing your story with us Mandy! Yah, you get the struggle. It really isn't a good time but it's better to take it slow, correct it and swallow our ego than keeping at it and making it worse over time!

100% can see how slamming the entire foot down would do that. That's a lot of force to continually put on your knee let alone the ankle.

Yes exactly!