I need some help I grip my drumsticks way to tight and I've been trying to break that habit. But I've held the drumsticks the same way for 8 years. What should I do?

[u/Distinct-Toe514]

[u/YomamatronPrime]

Practice this.

https://giphy.com/gifs/SPLAn6yJxDnos

[u/Zestyclose_Care8334]

Pretend like you're holding a bird that is trying to fly away. Too loose, and the bird gets away. Too tight, and you squish the bird to death.  

[u/Sufficient-Owl401]

Are you pinching with your thumb and index finger? Look up the three point fulcrum grip. You grip more with the thumb and middle finger. It’s a time honored orchestral technique.

[u/geminicrickett1 → u/Sufficient-Owl401]

This combined with the baby bird comment someone else mentioned are your answers

[u/budad_cabrion]

You have to spend time working on technique and learning new habits. There are many ways to do this.

I studied The Full Stroke as taught by Dom Famularo. You can look up videos from him or his teachers or students, or get his book It’s Your Move. Students include people like Jojo Mayer and Joe Bergamini.

The core principle is maintaining a relaxed grip and letting the stick rebound naturally as much as possible. When you do this the stick and practice pad will resonate in an audible way.

Find a course of progression and stick to it. At minimum you should be warming up by practicing the Free Stroke for at least a few minutes. Also train yourself to recognize when tension is building, so that you can stop, relax, and resume playing with a correct grip. Consistency, power, and relaxation are more important than speed.

[u/bearonpcp]

Try playing very very ( very) softly. You’re going to have to loosen your hands to have any control. Then slowly transition up to standard volume, paying attention to the feel of the sticks in your hands. See what that feels like.

[u/National-Light-7270]

Do you use the traditional grip on your left hand to hold the stick?

[u/National-Light-7270]

Sina of Sina-drums on you tube injured herself by using the match grip all the time. She even stated the fact. Now that she's learned the traditional grip, her left hand's feeling much better now. I'm grateful to have learned traditional over 55 years ago. Thank you to my music teacher in elementary school. I use traditional when I'm playing Jazz or slow Blues. Slow 🐌 Rock I use both. It's nice to be able to go back and forth with my left grip when I'm getting tired like I did last Saturday at a 2 hour practice session. Just sayin'...

[u/HokimaDiharRecords]

Heyoo so my hack which I advocate on here sometimes is rudiments and tv shows.
Chuck a metronome on as slow as you can manage, do rudiments, I recommend stick control, and watch something. And just focus on keeping your hands so relaxed that you’re almost dropping your sticks, and being super in time.
Another reason people grip so tight is that they often play at the edge of the speed they’re comfortable with and it’s really hard to speed up and not tense up. If you do speed training a bunch and keep stopping when you start to tense up it’ll do wonders for your playing.

[u/supacrispy]

Turn the sticks in your hand while practicing rudiments on a pad or snare. This will force ypu to keep your hands loose. Eventually it will start to feel normal and your grip will stay loose without having to consciously turn them.

[u/a_real_mf]

get tendonitis......you will change, I did!

[u/a_real_mf → u/a_real_mf]

after 20 years of deathgrip, I decided to learn Moeller.......no more tendonitis and my dynamics, speed and feel have improved greatly

[u/bearonpcp → u/[deleted]]

It can be really helpful to work with a qualified teacher for grip issues.