wait is the helicopter and claw different things? i thought they were the same since in the video there was only one movement

Technically yes they're the same. Except on the helicopter, you're doing the spinning movement with both hands. It kinda sounds like a helicopter :P. The Claw, from what I understand is doing this movement with only one hand and diddling with the opposite. I could've misunderstood, but this is what I got out of the video - Hulka says "here's the Claw" and spins only the right stick and diddles with his left, then says "and the helicopter" and does this with both. So that's basically it :P. Correct me if I'm wrong though

search videos.google.com for hulka, and two of the clips come up, one is various solos from the cavies throughout the early 90's and the other is the claw.

Lol that's the movie we're talking about (atleast I am :P )

i love the CLAW!! i do it on my tenors... now i dont know if all you snare players out there want me out of here... but i do it all the time... especially for during cadences when we ad-lib... its amazing and people go nuts!

you've gotta be using vegas or tenor sticks then

cause i don't see how you can do that with mallets

its possible. just difficult

I recently learned a cool claw variation from my band director('95 Bluecoats). You play invert cheeses with the right hand doing the claw. The diddle is clawed and then the right hand tap is played with the bead. It's pretty cool and very easy to pick up if you can already do the claw. I was just wondering if anyone else had seen or heard of this and if anyone might possibly know of its origins.

There were guys doing variations of the claw almost immediately after learning it, and really the possibilities are endless because the claw is nothing more than a diddle. My favorite variations are the ones that turn the claw into three or even four strokes. I can kind of do the three strokes (butt-tip-butt) but to my knowledge Todd "Quicksilver" Sommer (snare '94-'96) is the only guy I've ever seen pull off a four stroke claw. That is, rotating your right wrist only playing four strokes in a continuous motion. It's crazy and I have no advice on how to do it because I can't play it!

didnt casey brohard do it in his solo? http://www.vicfirth.com/features/DCI2005/video/IandE_brohardHQ.html