Page 1 of 2

YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:11 pm
by juancho
Am not too sure if this has been posted here or anywhere else before but thought it would be interesting anyway specially for us beginners.

http://www.lpmusic.com/Play_Like_A_Pro/ ... hands.html

Lord Bless

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 7:31 pm
by Mike
Maybe I am not playing "enough" (what is enough..?),
but the line in that article
It is inevitable, you will develop blisters!

was a bit astounding to me as I have never developed blisters.
I am a rather careful and quiet player as it were, so that might be the reason.
Neither have I ever had much of a callous from playing at any part of my hand.
Again, I do not claim to be a professional player at all, it is just the pure fun
that drives me to play as much as I can. BTW I like my main drum tuned up not too high,
if it were tuned up high that would another source of hand (or skin) injury I guess.

Of course the tips on how to take care of your hands by Rasmussen are really
worth being published because they are useful - even if there are
many more secret recipes out there on skin maintenance...

Just my 2 cents

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:44 am
by OLSONGO
Over 30 years of playing , no callouses or blisters...poped a few veins in my time all due to not paying attention. Mind over matter.
Learn how to hit the drum correctly and get the right tones. On most pro gigs there are mikes , so if you want to sound loud , tell the sound men to turn you up.. no need to kill your hands, you need them for the next day and the day after.

Peace
Olsongo

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:22 am
by tigre77
[ [/quote]
was a bit astounding to me as I have never developed blisters.
[/quote]

In 6 months of slapping skin almost daily no blisters for me either

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:47 am
by Psych1
When I was a wise-ass pot-smoking punk kid playing all night down by the river - Was that really me??? - I seem to remember bloody and messed up hands. But, that was a lifetime ago. Hands like a baby now. Well, like a tough working baby anyway.

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:02 am
by bongosnotbombs
No blisters here either. A few callouses though.

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:01 am
by juancho
All I got is thicker hands and fingers !!!!! Wife's happy too lmao !!!!

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 3:15 pm
by thomas newton
All I can say is that the best player I know, my teacher, has soft hands and so do I. There are no heroism medals for beating your hands up in our rumba.

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:52 pm
by pavloconga
"Hell Yes, It Hurts!
It is inevitable, you will develop blisters!"


That's just weird. I never had blisters.
If it hurts when you play or you develop blisters– you're doing it wrong.

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:30 am
by KING CONGA
No blisters here either :P .

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:01 pm
by JohnnyConga
What you will get from continued playing is 'callouses' it's inevitable and has nothing to do with technique it's a 'skin on skin' thing, over time...i have never gotten a blister while playing but callouses yes...and if u dont have any(and Giovanni, Paoli and others like my self do have) I would believe your not hitting hard enough or not playing as often, and has nothing to do with technique..."JC" Johnny Conga

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 3:40 pm
by juancho
All I got from playing bongos is like mentioned before thicker hands and fingers and probably a hit a nerve which I had to take a break for a couple of days from playing but nothing else.

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:02 am
by OLSONGO
Well my technique, a technique thought to me by a martial artist in becoming one with the surface to be hit and after many hours of hitting an iron slab you get the picture. Such in that it has prevented me from developing heavy thick callouses to the point where fingers rip at the middle of the joints, then bleeding ... as i have seen on others , calling for a bunch of tape that I personally hate. .My hands aren't soft nor are they super rough , there is a slight roughness , but no thick build up . And when i play I don't take no prisoners . 8 hour + rumbas , long rehearsals, back to back gigs playing on cow, bull, mule, goat skin heads etc. and at 53 up to the challenge playing mostly Latin Jazz.
Peace
Olsongo

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:35 pm
by JohnnyConga
I too studied Martial Arts but it doesn't stop u from having calloused hands...yea technique is everything but you really cant control how your hands react to 'skin on skin' especially if your a heavy player like myself...I mean that to say I play everyday and when i do I dont fool around with the drum...not that i don't sometimes. but i have to recreate playing on stage for an hour and a half in my home studio...to stay in shape...that is always part of my practice...Im 62 and have learned to pace myself with the drum..so here are my hands today..just as calloused as they want to be...
MY HANDS.jpg

Re: YOUR HANDS: THE COMPLETE OWNERS MANUAL

PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:09 am
by pcastag
When I hung out with puntillas group, Pepe, his itotole player came over to our house for dinner. His hands were so caloused he couldn't bend them at the wrist. Apparantly his hands were so hard he slapped a punk in NYC and opened his face like a cantaloupe , Skip ( brinquito) told me thay had to call an ambulance. In cuba his schtick was to challenge people to smack a brick wall harder than him. Never seen hands like that before!