Forearm Fatigue

During longer harder hitting gigs I sometimes experience forearm fatigue. I always figured that it was because when I started getting tired I relied on arms more than wrists... Anyone have any suggestions?

Work hard on pacing yourself
through your gigs. I cannot
stress this more.

I had this problem, when I gig-
ged 6 of 7 nights and was waving
Quantum 9K's. You have to save
your strength, spreading it out
where needed.

It's worth your time and focus.

One more thing - work with your
sound-person to get your levels
up to a place where you do not
have to kill yourself.

There is a balance that must be
maintained between the audio and
the visual.

[img]wink.gif[/img]

Good luck.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 07, 2003 06:00 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

In addition to what PeterC has shared with us...I'd like to add that breathing evenly and strecthing before,during,and after the show seem to help me relax those drumming muscles....
When the tension hits...It best to mentally just step back and breath in time with the music you are playing ....For me breathing seems to be my best time-keeper and muscle relaxant....

Hope this helps a little...

Right,the best thing to do is pace yourself. Or you could try using one of those standard elbow braces I think they only cost "a few bucks I guess"

If you're getting forearm fatigue, it would seem to me that your fulcrum is too tight and you're gripping the stick rather that guiding or supporting it. Let the stick do the work for you. Always 'accept the rebound' and the stick will dance rather than gripping too tightly and being laid into the drums. Any slight tension in your hands/fingers will affect the whole of your arm, you can clearly see this without a stick being held in your hand: Clench your fist now and see the affect it has on your whole forearm. Now imaging what damage that's doing when you're doing that with a stick in your hand, knocking ten tonnes of sh1t out of a drum!
Another good solution is to transfer the fulcrum point from the thumb/index finger to the back of the hand, with the little finger and the one next to it. This will free up your grip and will allow you to play with more power without tensing and damaging your forearm as the the thumb/index finger will be loose.
I believe someone posted a link to a Jim Chapin video where he explained this technique, although I forget where it was now.

Good luck and RELAX! Never tense up or 'grip' the stick. Think of your fingers as sleeves, guiding and supporting the stick rather than choking it. Let the stick do the work and you shoule never get any tension or problems. It's a falacy to think that one has to gip a stick hard in order to gain power. This can be acheived with the most relaxed and loose grips and STILL be deafening! If it's not a question of power that you're after and instead speed, I would still suggest that you relax more as you will only do yourself damage by choking the stick.
I have seen some great drummers give up after having got tendonitis or RSI. I'm sure it's simply due to tension and not having a relaxed, controlled grip where the stick is allowed to dance and move in the hand rather than being forced.

great suggestions PTRACK, DAZZLER and PC...

one other aspect which has helped me in regards to alleviating tension is to focus on feeling the sticks vibrate upon impact. If you don't feel them vibrating freely, chances are likely that you are restricting them in some manner. when this is focused on, it naturally creates the relaxation response required to allow the wood to "sing". As already stated, the forearm tension is likely due to a gripping of the stick. this mental focus on allowing the vibrations to resonate has helped me loosen up and thereby play really comfortably. just something to try, maybe it will help you too??!!!

BV

I appreciate everyone's posts. The points on relaxing and proper playing technique (i.e. Chapin stuff) are real important. However, if you can't hear yourself, the tendancy is to beat the drums hard enough to hear yourself, regardless if the technique is good or not. Remember, no matter how hard you pound those things, they (the other players) can always play louder, if they have enough watts. And as Dave says, all drums (no matter how expensive or well built) will start to sound like cardboard if you play them hard enough.

So, Peter's point about working with the sound guy to get a good mix is critical in creating a sonically friendly environment where you can relax and do what you do without this crazy struggle to hear yourself and blowing out your chops.

One of my (many) drum instructors (a guy who took a Grammy on his first producing gig) told me that when a gig was getting out-of-control loud that he would just back off and "force" the other players to play at his volume level. Good advice, but it's still tempting to just wail....

Good luck!