Good point. I think a lot of instructors don't give the 8-on-a-hand speech in high school lines because they assume the kids have been taught this in their first lesson (as it should be). They also have a lot of other things to worry about, such as teaching the show music, the rudiments, other exercises and general musicality. Unfortunately as an instructor you can't dwell on 8s too much in the beginning or the student looses interest. It's a tough balance to achieve. It's something that should be revisited often throughout a players career by every instructor the player has, as well as the player personally, no matter what style or level of playing.

When I stopped playing for a few years then decided to get back into drumming, naturally the first thing I did was 8s. I can't tell you how much better my technique is now over my high school days, especially my left hand traditional, which was never good. Unfortunately too many lines think of 8s as just for stretching when the real benefits of 8s are so much more than that.

Here's a small list of things I look for when doing 8s.

Grip - no pinkies hanging out like your having tea with the queen mum. no gap where the fulcrum should be.thumb and 1st finger never separate on left hand traditional.

prep-stroke - the player is bringing the stick up for the initial attack in a natural, timely manner and not floating it up before it's time or crushing it out at the last second.

Stroke - even and consistent heights on both hands. sticks move in a straight vertical line, no whipping motions.

Control - the last note on each hand freezes about 1-2" above the head to the set position and doesn't just dangle there.

Sound quality - all notes sound the same, hand to hand transitions smooth and even. the player is playing "through the head", not "lifting" the stick but using rebound.

That's kind of a lot for a simple little exercise as the humble old 8 on a hand.

I agree that 8's is one of the most important exercise out there. When I joined the line it was drilled into my head everyday.. Since I didnt do starter band, I improved dramaticly

I've been teaching lessons, and to be honest, I've forgotten how beneficial 8s realy are. I need to get on my students about this (as well as myself, somewhat).

I have to say i appritiate all the points you all are making. they are definetely things i will look for when i do 8's during practice from now on.

Well, I guess I'll just play the devil's advocate for the sake of a good discussion.

I'm going to say that 8 on a hand is overrated. Yes, it is important to have solid fundamentals, but it's impossible to improve if you never challenge yourself. Somebody who practices for 30 minutes on 8 on hand will not improve as fast as someone who works on a challenging solo for 30 minutes. Instead of putting so much emphasis on the actual exercise 8 on a hand, it would be more beneficial to simply have an instructor carefully make sure that fundamentals are not sacrificed when a student is learning challenging music.

Just something to think about. I still do value 8's though, I'm just undermining its value for the sake of a discussion.

8 on a hand is timing, though. If you go right into the challenging so, you'll be flubbing the tempo all over the place without getting the fundamentals down.

8 on a hand should not (In my humble opinion) be held up as the most imporant thing a drummer will ever have. If I had to only pick one excersize as the "Most important" I would take doubles. Lets face it, you use doubles a lot more then legatos. But that is another thread.

With that out of the way, 8 on a hand is important. But it is not everything. You get your legato stroke down, but then: Where do your doubles come from? Where do your chops come from? (Sure, you can push the tempo) Where does the challenge come from? I still hold it as a great warmup, and something great to get the fundamentals down, but it's not everything.

Well doubles are, in theory, two consecutive legato strokes?


In 8's, you get to focus on your stroke. If you perfect your stroke, then only minor adjustments are needed to execute other rudiments/exercises.

You can break down every rudiment and exercise and find one basic thing. A tweaked legato stroke.

8'S FTW!!!!!!!1111!!1!11111one11!11

That's right. If you can play 8 on a hand evenly height-wise (which most can even at a beginner level), you should be able to play 2 perfectly even doubles.

FTW!111111!!!!1!!!!!!!!2 indeed!

But when I think Legato, I think more smooth and connected, a nice even single hit. When you turn up doubles, your hands start to adjust to pull off that second hit. To me it feels diffrent then If I'm just playing legato. So I'm not talking about slow doubles, I mean a faster pace double, like playing one hand of a roll at a medium tempo. When your hands start to adjust.

My point was, in every rudiment (just about) there is some form of playing two consecutive notes on the same hand. Same as your point pretty much, just a diffrent view on the kind of stroke.