He gave me this exercise eighth notes, triplets, sixteenth notes and you play them

on a practice pad, same tempo, and go back and forth and extend more measures b
efore you go to the next note value. I noticed that when I went from eighth to t
riplets the sound changed, and when I went from triplets to sixteenths the sound
changed again. I didn t think I was doing anything different, but I figured out b
y using my ear that I must be changing something with my hands or the sound woul
d stay the same. So by using my ear I learned how to play all those note values
at various speeds for long periods of time without the sound changing.
Playing relaxed and by being able to use my ear rather than the rudimental appro
ach where they have you pounding out rudiments relentlessly till you can t think o
f anything else and you re exhausted. I use my ear as a guide and that s why I ve deve
loped the ability to play single strokes at an incredible speed at a high volume
level without sacrificing sound quality, endurance or anything. There s a CD in t
he second book, Relaxed Hands Technique, that has some video things where I actu
ally demonstrate how you can play all these things and stay relaxed and keep the
sound musical.
I wasn t a big strong guy. I learned how to get the drumsticks to do the work beca
use how fast the stick is moving determines how loud it is. So I learned how to
move the drumstick instead of trying to move my muscles.