I haven't been playing drums 'properly' for long, and I'm concentrating on rolls using the Moeller technique.

I have pretty strong hands (my job involves heavy lifting) but I find that the muscles at the base of my thumb get extremely sore after practice. Is this simply a question of getting used to the technique/grip or am I doing something wrong?

You're doing it wrong, I'm afraid.

First rule of learning Moeller is that the second you feel tension STOP! The whole idea of Moeller is that you can play without any tension or stress in the muscles.

Take your time learning the motion at frustrating slow speeds. You need to understand exactly how your shoulders/elbows/wrists/fingers move to execute this technique efficiently. Most people will develop their own take on Moeller with out even realising it, so if you've been playing a long time then carefully analyze your own technique to make sure your not making unnecessary changes.

By the way, are you a matched or traditional grip player, as Moeller really requires a teacher if you're a trad grip person to help you to understand the motion and to analyze your execution of the technique in your trad grip arm/hand.

If you have any questions then fire away and I'll see if I can help.

Adam I wrote:I haven't been playing drums 'properly' for long, and I'm concentrating on rolls using the Moeller technique.

I have pretty strong hands (my job involves heavy lifting) but I find that the muscles at the base of my thumb get extremely sore after practice. Is this simply a question of getting used to the technique/grip or am I doing something wrong?

You should be able to slide the stick out of your hand with minimal effort - like an infant could pull the stick out of your hand. Jerking off with no lube kind of pressure. If you're into having your dick all scabby, then ignore that last one. Hand strength should be irrelevant.

I think I've been doing this without knowing what it's called since I started playing.

I think that proper technique will evolve for most players if they just let it. Listen to your hands, and LISTEN TO THE DRUMS.

Some time before I was aware of what I was doing, I apparently developed a whip-crack technique with my snare drum, where I am already starting to raise my left hand when the stick hits the drum. I saw myself doing this on videos of my old band and thought "WTF? When did I start doing that?"

You don't have to choke the stick to play loud. Let the stick and physics do some of the work.

It's much easier for persons with breasts to figure out if they're doing this right, interestingly. If they're getting a lot of boob shakeage, then they're trying to control too much from the shoulder and elbow. Let the wrist be supple.

This comment was not meant to be sexy.

dontfeartheringo wrote:This comment was not meant to be sexy.

wasn't meant to be, but totally was.

that damned fly wrote:

dontfeartheringo wrote:This comment was not meant to be sexy.

wasn't meant to be, but totally was.

Man-boobed drummers - hotttt!

dontfeartheringo wrote:Some time before I was aware of what I was doing, I apparently developed a whip-crack technique with my snare drum, where I am already starting to raise my left hand when the stick hits the drum. I saw myself doing this on videos of my old band and thought "WTF? When did I start doing that?"

I think I'm having the same problem with my left hand(snare hand). I still haven't found the right height for my snare. So right now it's placed a little bit below my left knee, so if I'm hitting regularly my hand is always hitting my thigh first. If I'm placing the snare above my legs, I always hit the rim instead of the snare itself, that can probably be solved if I take the hihat higher, so my hands don't collide.. Problem is that my hihat stand is limited in height so I can't take it higher than it is right now.
Now when I hit the snare, instead of really raising my wrist and smacking the snare, I raise my wrist a little bit, turn my palm around, then turn it back and to hit the snare. It looks as if I'm looking to see what the time is on my watch(if I had one and if I wrote it upside down, so the side with the display is on the wrong side of my wrist, hope I explained it correctly).

Do you think taking the hihat higher will solve it?

sorry adam for hijacking your thread.

This is going to sound like a weird question, but are you wearing boots when you play?

The only time I hit my thigh any more is when I am wearing cowboy boots with a heel on them. This raises my thigh just enough.

If you raise your seat, it decreases the angle of the fold of your body, putting your thigh naturally lower and also raising you up high enough over the snare that you won't be catching rim all the time. I found that sitting a little higher made a lot of little problems go away and also increased my speed at getting around the kit.

by the way, I don't consider the whip-crack thing a problem. It makes the WHACK that much louder without having to drive the stick through the head.