Flying Fingers

Contents

The Flying Fingers technique is a staple for all blast beating drummers. I have seen plenty of drummers try to play super fast using a combination of their wrist and arms. I must confess that I also used to play this way. But after learning to let my fingers do the flying, I haven’t looked back. Below are a few pictures showing you how to hold the drum sticks as well as a video demonstrating the correct and incorrect ways of “flying”.

Palm Down

I prefer to use the palm down hold. Let the stick rest on however many fingers, feels right. Play around with it a little and see what feels natural.

With your fingers out, let the butt of the stick drop like you are getting ready to strike the drum. This method uses a combination of gravity and the drum head to produce quick, springy, movement.

Use your fingers to bring the stick up against the fatty part of your thumb. Basically what you will be doing is bouncing it off of your thumb and then lifting it back up with your fingers. The video below will demonstrate this more clearly.

Palm Out

In this hold you will be relying more on the drum head bounce than on gravity. With your palm sideways, hold the stick between your thumb and two or three fingers.

Instead of using your fingers to bring the butt of the stick up, you will lightly rock it back and forth between your thumb and fingers. The rebound from the tip hitting the snare head will make it easier to perform.

To make this method a little easier, I would recommend a fairly tight snare drum head. The tighter it is, the quicker and more forceful the rebound will be. This means less stress on your body and quicker “flying”.