Gordy Knudtson - The Hand Whisperer

[@rockwelheim8946]

Gordy is such an amazing player, educator and human. Extremely self aware of himself and everyone around him. Along with his kindness and nurturing nature, he knows how to conduct with extreme purpose. My lessons with him will always be cherished.

[@scsdrummer]

Great interview. Shout out to Gordy from a music tech graduate 1999

[@kyleperez4212]

Nate, This was great man. Gordy is special, ❤

[@pttroe8142]

I saw Gordy's videos about 10 years ago, introducing push-pull to me. And then I saw mr Montagner on drumeo, not so long a go! How this technique has evolved!! Absolutely crazy!! Rock on Gordy!

[@spencermoreau7647]

Gordy is amazing and so underrated as a drummer, he rarely gets mentioned or credited from other drummers.. so it was a pleasant surprise to see this episode with him involved 😊 I watched his online videos regarding open/close technique about 6yrs ago for the first time, and it has completely changed and improved my way of playing! It took a couple years of constant practice to get comfortable with & undo 20years of muscle memory, but I’m so grateful now for understanding his concepts! It would be awesome if you did record a follow up, part 2 video with Gordy!! Thanks Nate for this interview. 👍🏼

[@BrentSteinberg]

I studied with gordy knudtson in 1988. And he was just beginning this technique. Seeing this I'm going to start playing again. It's great

[@AnimalDrumz]

I would love to see a part 2 interview. When I was in high school Gordy visited for a Day of Percussion. I learned a great deal from him that influenced my playing for many years to come. He sat down with me and did a mini jam session/lesson type of thing. Can't tell you how grateful I am he did that.

[@buzdonald]

dude was one of the best teachers ive ever had !

[@paulmason6470]

A superb interview. Thank you for that. 🙏🏻 Gordy is definitely one of our finest thinkers but is also a skilled teacher, two qualities which don’t always appear in tandem.

[@drummingman]

I attended Much Tech in the late 90s and graduated from there in 2000. Gordy was the head of the drum department at the school. He’s truly one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. When I was in school, I went through a severe bout of tendinitis that started while I was in a practice room working on the curriculum and had to have two wrist surgeries and a lot of physical therapy. I sat in classes for months in a sling taking notes until I could play again. Gordy really took me under his wing and helped me immensely to get through that very trying time. Amazing drummer and truly a great guy!

[@DrummingSago]

Had a chance to have some lessons with him because he was the head of the drum department of the music school I went too. (RIP McNally) his push pull technique was integral in my development as a drummer during that time. He also keeps things super real, his wisdom about the music industry rings true still. Excellent interview!

[@brineich]

Definitely MORE Gordy! Such a humble and talented musician! Loved this Nate!!

[@jasondrew6369]

I'm so glad I understand this the way he describes it. Brilliant concept but it's so relatable.

[@billykohler9153]

Wow ! This is going deep . Seems like it’s going off the rails but then comes together as dancing on those rails through a dark tunnel , and popping out into the light . Does that even make sense ? Great interview Nate. Gordy made it easy for ya😊💪🥁😎

[@t3wells]

This is SO great. Years ago you mentioned Gordy on one of your 80/20 episodes. Some time later I had a lesson with him when he came through with SMB IN my lesson with him, I told him that you had mentioned him and he was, surprised. So, just great to see you guys finally connect. The energy is great here. Well done, and thanks.

[@Coastfog]

No waaay, you two together... I've learned *so* much from you guys, thank you, thank you! This is gonna be awesome...

[@WalterdaLima]

I still thank Gordy today for giving me and sending me all the way to Italy his books on the fantastic technique he developed on the open close technique. Even today I continue to study it and I hope to be able to use it one day with the same ease.

[@Themurphyshow7]

Legendary interview

[@matthewguzda4075]

Great guest. Thanks for the vids . I haven't played in 4 yrs but im getting inspiration to play from vids like this cheers

[@MikeWalshDrums]

Really enjoyed this one! Lots of valuable insight here! Thanks for continuing to put out great content!

[@rhythmkeeper]

Very cool. I connected with Gordy around 2017 who helped me hone my O/C skills. It became clear that I had to apply it to Dawson's Rudimental Ritual. Great interview. Gordy gave you ALL the goods!

[@stephenl.griffeth2846]

Gordy, great to see you and miss our lessons during Covid

[@xgreco]

Gordy's so giving and inspirational. Great interview!

[@michaelfishman8784]

Best interview yet.

[@djacobelmer]

Great job Nate. Thank you for this video.

[@thechangeups]

Minnesota Legend! thanks

[@jeffreywegener8841]

Great stuff. About important history & facility . So interesting with the it can happen naturally ( Buddy ) but Bravo to Gordy for his amazing work .

[@AardvaarkTonto]

At 48 ish mins in: I found my left hand wasn't allowing the stick to move back up cleanly. Some anomaly of years of loud bands. (old guy time to rectify bad habits) I found I got round this by holding the stick in trad grip and simply turning the hand over. This left the first two fingers in the perfect position to correct the posture of my hand, I just engaged the back fingers and now getting the left hand in the same attitude as the right. Luckily I have two bands now that play at resonable volumes. All this comes in very handy. Thank you both.

[@dagnasty89]

Gordy is brilliant. "Drum Styles and Independence Techniques" is a great book!

[@johnrobinson8323]

I'm still a work in progress but thanks Gordy. Your technique has really helped me to smooth out my matched grip. 🥁❤️

[@edjohnson105]

Gordy, how is it possible that I am just now learning that you started with traditional grip? Fascinating story!

[@willmonson7730]

Thanks.I dig Gordy.

[@seanlevoy9446]

Outstanding!

[@jeffreywegener8841]

70 is the new 40 in Gordys case . ❤️

[@medallion39]

Many moons ago in 1990 I graduated and planned on attending music tech in MN and Gordy would have been one of my teacher but life events got in the way 😞. I wonder what could have been

[@Themurphyshow7]

I'm running for president and you are the Nations #best drum instructor, love you #murphy2024

[@lerafa]

Brutal!

[@YearleyDrummer93]

He was my academic advisor

[@edwardmann6902]

Oh my Gid. You’re talking statistical analysis.

[@geevee7823]

I thought 80/20 referred to the cymbal alloy.

[@ignacioperezdelcastillo3182]

💪💪

[@webstercat]

I have a technique for the ride cymbal that I’ve never seen anyone ever do. Found out by accident… it too is messing with my head.

[@mattfacchino3999]

Can you show me?

[@webstercat]

Quiet with sticks is where touch happens or it was for men… great content as usual..

[@AardvaarkTonto]

Writing of grace notes convention is that the Grace note plus Accent are ONE note. This for written integrity and not performance integrity. Writing for performance integrity leads to an untidy and confusing script. This has been a past bone of contention for say, Cubase DAW users, for a long time. It's a question of LEGIBILITY rather than absolute correctness of the time continuum. Written music is as fluid as trhe played. Long used orchestra; scores are often scarred by old pencil and eraser marks where different players have inserted their personal marks or alterations. For instance I count two bar phrases so count 8s and not 4s which means I use less fingers to count off the bars of the verses and choruses.

[@GKMusic54]

I agree, for conceptual purposes you are correct, but when "choreographing human performance mechanics" in slow motion we must separate the two elements because they are not played at exactly the same time.

[@AardvaarkTonto]

@@GKMusic54 I fully understand that but you separate in 3D reality but abstract visual representation is in 2D. You cannot mix dimensions without confusion. I would separate them for simplicity. Written music must always be a compromise. In the harmonic spectrum there are many anomalies also. Thus we can treat the "grace note / flam" as a single WRITTEN entity when deciding to write it (which is dimensionally different to playing it). Look up "Wolf tones" maybe. guitars are NEVER truly in tune.

[@GKMusic54]

@@AardvaarkTonto Amen. Expressing sounds and motions simply on paper is always a compromise. In my Morphing Double Strokes book, I use a few simple drawings of hand movements combined with what I call slo-motion notation. In each exercise slo-motion notation appears along side standard notation. The student sees both representations of the same thing at the same time and hopefully gains some insight on how these mechanics can be applied.

[@AardvaarkTonto]

@@GKMusic54 I suppose in teaching the technique that one has to compromise knowledge one has accepted, understood and executed with expressing to the student the relationship of the elements we need to know to get to the standard the teacher is attempting to achieve for the pupil. I had a terrible young blank about 16th notes being, for percussion, the same length as whole notes. Til I understood they were a handy way of not writing hundreds of rests. :)

[@t-man5196]

I'm the drum whisperer

[@AardvaarkTonto]

Really interesting cooperation gentlemen. You really should do more. As I get older I find I've often ignored the classical and marching percussion techniques and what they can tell us and what we can tell them. Maybe another avenue to explore.

[@AardvaarkTonto]

This kicks in when I do a long gig (fairly rare) or rehearsal, usually around 3 - 3.5 hours in. The body seems to work out it's own pow stress paths. Unfortunately it does not seem to translate to the muscle memory that isolated practise has where your brain can process this to the nervous system unencumbered by also thinking about the music. Ie: When the situation and your brain allows you to do it wrong so you can work out the right way to do it. Guy I did a long jam night with for five hours straight a long time ago (guitarist Paul Kappa, local legend) took my remarks about looseness kicking in that he now still does regular 5 hour gigs at the Cavern pub in Liverpool. And sometimes can be seen in New York if he gets a gig there.