In defense of traditional grip!.

I remember Tony Williams said that he likes having a left hand <u>and</u> a right hand. Meaning, it's nice to have 2 different personalities behind the sticks(traditional).
I used predominately traditional grip unless I have to really hit hard for some rock gigs or if i'm playing more latin based grooves/solos. Timbale players I have checked out in the past don't really use traditional rudiments (maybe they do now ?) If i'm not playing a lot of doubles or rudimental things on the drums, then matched feels as good.
I like to play certain grooves with the traditional because it just feels good. I like the feeling of having that left elbow up against my side. It just feels right and funky.
Lately though, I've been using the matched grip because I'm playing much louder music.
It's all good. I think it 's good to have both happening as opposed to being dogmatic (black and white) about it. Bill Stewart plays matched but to me it doesn't sound as greasy as the trad players and I miss that. Hope he doesn't read this... GULP !

<center>Gregg's(Bissonette) point, grip REALLY doesn't matter that much. Stevie (Wonder) didn't care about his grip and he could groove like </center>crazy.


I missed reading this reply.
Well, groove is one thing. Elvin's traditional grip looks like a mess and what a feel he has. Some of my favorite drummers are non-drummers. Billy Mintz, the drummer who wrote the book "Different Drummers" sounds amazing. His grip is wacked. ?
Feel is internalized first I believe, so it doesn't matter until the drummer wants to play with a huge dynamic range and with a bigger technical vocabulary. That's when technique will get in the way if it's not nurtured.