Open-Handed Drumming: Is it worth it?
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
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What are the costs and benefits of open-handed playing? Ambidexterity? Switching sides? Should a left-handed drummer learn to play on a right-handed drum set? We explore all of this and more in this video follow-up to my 30-day left-handed drumming experiment.
My 1-month lefty challenge: • I tried playing drums ...
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if you're thinking of trying open handedness, and you start liking it, lower your hihat! now that you don't have to crossover, it's ergonomically much better to have your snare and hihat at the same height and spaced a little farther apart when your arms are open.
Recording engineers will hate you tho. Too much hat bleed to. Your snare
@@matthewgarcia7376 move your hihat over to the left as well. there's no longer any need for it to be super-close to your snare
also, recording engineers will hate you no matter what. your cross stick is opposite so now they have to move the snare mic. your ride's on the left so they have to deal with that.
@@famitory actually what I'm eluding to is the harry miree setup, if you move your ride and hat to the same side your snare would be boomy (cause no bleed). I dunno jack shit about drums and economy of motion but I do know a lot about recording lol.
@@matthewgarcia7376 I also record my drums but I don't really mind because I have an absurdly dense kit (something like 30 pieces) so all of the different bleeds sort of merge together into what sounds like a pleasant spring reverb
My teacher Thomas Pridgen has told me to start setting up my drum kit openhanded lol, it's not comfortable at first, but it's worth it!
Like... the Thomas pridgen?
@@brendonhester331 One of the many various Thomas Pridgens of the universe. Maybe it's like a Rick and Morty situation.
My teacher Vinnie Colaiuta spanked my ass the moment he saw me set my drums openhanded. he said that he will kill my parents
Chrioni Sta Ana 😭😭😭😂😂
Buy Marco Minnemann’s book “extreme independence” you’ll have all 4 limbs be able to do whatever you want and you don’t even have to focus on learning open handed it literally just comes to you when you learn independence
I started playing Open Handed after i first saw Simon Phillips Live. Never looked back after that. Really helped my playing
I'm a rightie playing on a standard right-handed kit, and I became open-hand "on accident" a few years ago after I practiced playing left-handed in order to improve my balance. Definitely improved my dynamic range!
I personally hit the hi hat with my left hand for some reason.
As a guitarist who only plays drums occasionally, I cross my hands because my right hand is used to subdividing and I want that on the hi-hat. But of course that's because I don't have time to take drums more seriously, and I only play as a substitute when the real drummers aren't around
that's an interesting point which would also stand for keyboard players too; maybe that was also a factor in the evolution.
I play keys and I had never thought about this, I was wondering why crossing hands made more immediate sense to me on drums.
Splitting the brain will help you as a guitar player. Moving from fret hand to pick hand in intricate subdivisions. Open hand drumming will open up so much more in creation. Cross hand one sided playing focus is holding back your potential about 50 percent or more. .
I've been playing drums for 50 years. About 15-20 yrs into it, I began adding open handed practice, mostly rock beats, inspired by Simon Phillips. I was also building jazz, fusion, and funk, but only working on those styles righty. As time went by more open handed abilities (such as ghosting and busier ride patterns) developed. Fast forward to today, my cross-handed righty is rusty and my open handed is not at advanced levels yet. My takeaway is that both lefty and righty need ongoing maintenance and development.
Well, if you don't have one already, get a twin hi-hat set-up, with an identical hi-hat on an x-hat floating above the floor tom right under the ride cymbal. Also consider, about 80(something)% of drumming is open, like spang-a-langing on the ride, tom rhythms, or 16th note hi-hat rhythms with snare shots on the two and four. There's really only one difference, and that's uncrossing the arms when playing snare and hi-hat.
Ironically on that last point, play that 16th note groove on the hi-hat and it's "right-handed" but drop out the hi-hat 16ths with the right hand leaving what are hi-hat 8th notes on the left hand, and suddenly it's considered "left-handed".
Not only that, but this whole idea of "weak hands" and "strong hands", "leading hands" and so on, you never see that with guitar players or bass players. Look at Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Les Claypool, Geddy Lee, or Billy Sheehan. Which of their hands are their weak hands or their lead hands?
Incidentally, an easy way to add the locked hi-hat on the right is to add a Gibraltar floor tom leg mount on the side opposite you of your most forward floor tom (or only floor tom if you have a four or five piece) and mount the x-hat rod in the leg mount, so that the locked hats can float just an inch or so above the floor tom. (Use the clamp that comes with the x-hat for something else.) Easy-peasy and it fits right in with the set. It just literally opens things wide open.
Started as lefty and was tired of turning around the drums for jams
so taught myself open handed best thing ever
If i try hitting the hihat with my left hand it looks like Peter Griffin trying to sit on a chair.
Due to COVID-19 situation goings-on on and lacks of live gigs, I dedicated myself to switched to open handed over in 2020 (but just the hi-hat) Wish me luck
I wish you success and enjoiement of the process!
Wish you well. Learn to be patient, though. It takes time for it to feel good and natural.
@Amber McDanel Hi! Thanks for checking in :) I already recorded several tracks and played a couple of shows in September/October 2020 after switch to open handed drumming. So far it's just great. My left hand is way stronger and finally I improved my French grip for left hand. I have more fun playing the drums in general, it's like open handed drumming was the missing piece to make me happy. Hard things: playing really quiet ghost notes with my right hand is a challange for me. Even when I lead with my left head I still think about right hand playing the offbeats rather than focusing on my leading hand. However I don't think I'll ever change that since I'm a right handed person and played "classical" way for 13 years.
Did you also switch the position of your ride, or do you switch back to the right hand?
@@bartoszdolewski4915 I am trying to do the same thing, playing open handed on a traditional kit with the hi hat and rack tom close to the snare. Having difficulty figuring out where to put my cross stick, there's no more room with the hats positioned lower now, do you have any tips?
I just started learning to play open handed. I'm a new drummer, less than 2 years playing. I actually really like it, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I still switch back and forth, but I think I'm going to stick with open handed drumming going forward.
If you're thinking about it, give it a shot. It took me a few weeks before I had most of my basic grooves down, and maube three months before I was comfortable. It's really stimulating, musically and mentally, it opens up new ideas. If you can clear the hump early on, it's worth it.
I had a weird thing happen lately, too. Maybe someone else can relate:
if I learn a really challenging groove (like, I'm copying Louis Cole or something, a groove that takes me many practice sessions and many hours ), if I learned it open handed first, I found that I _also_ play it crossed, without much practice. Like, whatever my brain was doing to force my hands to play this open handed, it automatically translated back to playing crossed. But that doesnt really work the other way around. If I learn a groove crossed, it's usually easier for me to learn it... but when I switch to open, it feels a lot more like I am starting from scratch, it takes a lot of struggling to get up and going.
So that's a weird thing Ive been noticing lately: its much easier for me to move from open to crossed... than from crossed to open.
Another benefit of learning open-handed is if you get injured, you can still play one-handed way more effectively. I hurt my wrist and was able to do a music theatre gig 70-80% left-handed or one-handed because I spent time on developing open-handed playing. I only had to switch to right-handed mode for big fills, and on a right-handed kit, this made way more sense than leading with the left hand into a fill.
The reason for having new vocabulary with tom arrangement is interesting too but it reminds me of a Timpanist's setup. I've always wondered what a Timpanist's reasons are for crossing over. They seem to have a reason for doing it in phrases rather than changing stickings. They could arrange stickings to play it open-handed, but at certain speeds that probably would be difficult getting from one drum to another. It also makes me think of earlier jazz drummers doing cross over phrases on toms, and makes me wonder if there are phrases there that we miss out on by only playing open-handed on toms rather than working on cross over techniques as well.
For me I think the best is to use parts of both techniques. I'd imagine a whole new world of vocabulary would open up by doing cross over tom playing on a Mangini style kit, as we've seen that happen with open-handed/standard kit players like Billy Cobham and Simon Phillips. Watching Sput play grooves with Snarky Puppy is interesting too, because he seems to switch between crossed and open handedness just for the sake of changing it, or maybe that's where he is with learning open-handed playing.
I'd love to see a comparison of drummers learning transcriptions from a standard kit, on a Mangini or Bill Bruford style kit, and also learning transcriptions from a Mangini or Bruford kit on a standard drum kit.
As a person who has played a lot of timpani in my life, crossing over is mainly for 2 things; sound quality and ease of motion. Its generally not advised to do double strokes on the timpani because you need a lot of rebound to get the characteristic sound. Doubles will often mute the heads and lead to sounds you dont want. For ease of motion, imagine you are play 4 notes down 4 drums, from highest to lowest say, F D B G. Doing doubles would, first of all be an inward sweep and an outward sweep, but also the playing zone of the bottom 2 drums are ridiculously far apart and getting both correct at speed would be extremely difficult. Instead you alternate your hands and cross over. Its still not easy, but you have a much better chance of hitting the correct playing zones and getting the correct sound. Timpani is hard...
From what I've heard, the reason Sput started playing open handed was to spur his creativity and make him think differently.
@@ezramancini1491 Nah i think he injured his right hand and had to learn how to play lefty in the mean-time.
@@pur3pker131 Thank's for the input! I never was never taught proper Timpani playing in high school so I never understood the lack of sticking variation. It's tough but it's fun as hell
Left handed drummer here. Here's my experience. I started playing drums about ten years ago, just jumping on drum sets when they were around (I'm a bass player first so any drum set I would play on would be someone else's after band practice was done). Obviously they were all right handed sets, and I was able to grasp playing pretty easily except for two major things: my right foot was pathetic and I struggled to coordinate alternate sticked drum patterns (anything where the sticking was rlrl like a disco beat or a basic drum fill). Eventually I was able to get the alternating sticking down but I could never get truly comfortable with my right foot. When I finally came into enough money to get a cheap drum set, I knew that I had to set it up lefty and reteach myself how to play...or so I thought. Turns out that I was able to play left handed almost immediately, as I just had to apply my already developed skills to my dominant hand. I've gotten a little better with my right foot as well due to me learning more complex double kick drum patterns, and I can now more or less play on any drum kit I may come across, although my right foot is still nowhere near my left. I do think that there is something to be said for how you feel the music though. Even though I had started playing righty first, playing left handed felt immediately more comfortable to me. I play bass/guitar right handed, but I do everything else in life with my left hand, so I guess my reliance on my left hand made the switch on drums easier.
Great analysis! I've been slowly working on open handed playing (just uncrossing the hands but with the kit set up in a typical way).
This video had vindicated me. :) I had been questioning the hi-hat placement for 30 years and was told to get over it because that's the way it is so I gave up drumming.
Dude, huge props for using the Sonic drowing music at 11:06! hahaha
Anxiety as soon as I hear it XD
2 high-hat life.
@Mac Ton What do you mean by this?
Harry Mears Peepo Happy’s PFP. I don’t know why Mac felt the need to bring it up on a drum comment
@@reidgowan2670 Probably because he has fascist tendencies. He has a Punisher logo as his PFP which fascists love for some reason lol
@Mac Ton calm down you snowflake
Bi-hat
The simplest solution is to just use a cable hi-hat. There’s really no disadvantage to using one over a normal HH. You can still control it with the left foot and you can put it almost anywhere you want.
The modern drum kit needs to evolve away from placing the hats on the left, as it serves no purpose. Just like traditional grip has no purpose being used on a drum kit. It was invented to meet a specific need which no longer exists, unless you’re playing a civil war era drum slung to your side.
The disadvantage is the additional cost, which is substantial for many people
Cable hi-hat won't change the fact that at times you still need to play two-handed on the hi-hat. If the hi-hat is on your right side, you'll need to lead a two-handed sixteenth note groove with your left hand. Cable hi-hat basically just screwed you up there. What you can do is have two hi-hats. It's actually quite nice, of course there is the issue with cost, setup etc.
@@PenguinMcDuck or play paradiddles, so the backbeat on the snare is on your left hand. That may be a bit more work for faster tempos but learning paradiddles (or other rudiments for displaced notes on the snare) is almost a must nowadays as it opens a whole new world n drumming.
@@PenguinMcDuck Having two hi hats is the way to go. I have my main hats in the traditional setup, and my second set of hats over my floor toms. I keep those closed so I don't have to use a drop clutch to play double bass with closed hats, and use the main set for the more hi hat orientated grooves, with the option to play open or close handed.
I completely agree with everything you say, disregarding the cost of the stand. I do love to play traditional grip every once in a while though, it just feels so ... right ... playing certain genres.
I really think that playing open handed sometimes helps playing clean, because we get used to play constantly on the left hand and more syncopated/ghost notes/accents etc with the right hand. I do think this is a way to get rid of a certain amount of "dirtiness/unvoluntary flams (between kick and hands) when we get back to our crossover comfort zone.
This video is really inspiring for me. Recently I've been writing some 'grooves' which would require a momentary transition from cross to open to play it comfortably and your video really inspired me to go ahead and practice open handedness more seriously Once I have my drumkit ready here. I think it's totally worth it for me regardless of how long it would take to be ready to play a live-set fully open handed. I think once I start practicing this, I'll obtain skills that would benifit my playing a lot regardless of whether I play crosshanded, open handed, right handed or left handed, and it's not like I suddenly won't be able to play the drumkit at all once I start practicing this.
I’m left handed but when I first started drumming I played on a right handed setup and just started playing open hand naturally. I never even realized it was different until I started talking to other drummers
I did the same exact thing
Well, this has totally made me rethink what I teach and why. Definitely been going with the 'this is the way it's done' approach - but maybe that needs to change.
Good lesson for all of life too!
Okay I think I may have been ice skating up hill. I played drums for roughly 12 years. I was 100% self taught and played almost exclusively alone. I didn't tell people I played at all because when I did I got picked on (especially by other musicians/drummers in particular) a lot. I played an electric drum kit (I lived in apartments so a "real" kit was completely out of the question. Lol), left handed, open handed, on a right handed set up according to what I've learned here. Lol. Long story short I'm thinking of picking drumming up again, and your video has given me the boost I needed to really go for it again. I was pretty young when I got picked on and it really bummed me out and made me feel really alone, but I do regret stopping because of it. Thanks for posting this and showing there's a variety of ways to play and that's okay. I'm still not a "real" drummer because I still play an electric kit (still live in an apartment. Lol), but my brother learned how to play guitar so at least I have someone to play with now. ☺. Thanks again.
A simple solution is to use a wired remote hi hat attached to the right of the kit and the pedal to the left, in the usual way of the hi hat stand location, that way you avoid crossing your arms and naturally feeling the drumming and You will save a lot of practice time to match your limbs to that of an ambidextrous. .
There is an ADVANTAGE in being able to start and stop with complete freedom from either side. Drummers aren't just doing it to be trendy, it is pushing the art further. If you have been playing awhile you will know you have a dominant side and a weak side. A leading role and a following role. If only one side knows 'leading' then your other side is stuck 'following'. Your weak side 'depends' on your strong side to start you off on patterns and that is limiting. Also if you wanted to start a pattern somewhere midway through (not on the 1) then you can do that if your weak side knows how to take the lead! :) I didn't even talk about dynamics but it's hugely useful there too.
After playing crossover fro 10 years...I switched after watching a Simon Phillips video. He made it look so easy and it looks pretty cool! I did notice right away (the first day) that it made the toms and cymbals easier to get to. If you can just keep time on the hi hat you can do some great things with your right hand. But since my left hand is dumb and my left foot is dummer than the my left hand...I have been playing open handed for The last 20 years... but I still struggle with playing smoothly! I say learn it! It will change the way you see and play the kit!
Great topic and Great video man! Thank you!
im a drummer, playing fir about 9 years at this point. i play open handed on a right handed kit. recently i did the opposite of what you are talking about (left handed on high hat), where i learned to play open handed on a left handed kit (right on high hat) and switched pedals. this was a great choice for my progression in drums, and really developed my right hand and my left foot.
Great analysis, on a scale of 10 this was an 11 in terms of usable and actionable recommendations.
5:28 I don't remember specifically how or why but i remember vividly in the 90s in my teens first time i played drums I instinctively crossed my arms.
For context, I also remember my first try was Aneurism by Nirvana, with my friend on guitar. We were both susrprised for how quickly I got the hang of it and could almost play the entire song on the first couple tries.
BTW, my friend was really good at guitar, learned early because his dad was a musician, and we sneaked into their "studio" garage to play with their instruments.
Well I’m sold. I am planning to learn drums in the future and I’m learning open on a righty kit and learning to switch what hand is on the snare.
Great video Shawn, I’m shown my students some open handed stuff but now i think I’ll have them do it more!
Learning a third language is surprisingly easier than a second... So I heard
You're right, but only if the language is in any way related to the previous ones. I'm not a linguist so I don't know how to exactly explain it but basically, there are different language systems depending on regions on the globe. Western will have one based on letters, African will have one based on rhythm, Eastern will have one based on pitch and intonation, etc. Western colonization would've spread some Western language influence to the East (mostly Southeast Asia), so in the modern day, languages like Indonesian etc are alphabet-based because of the English/Portuguese/Spanish colonization that happened for several centuries leading up to WWII.
Interestingly enough, the African language which is based on rhythm is very much related to music, namely African music. Which made its way to the American continent via the slave trade, and indirectly contributed to the Afro-Cuban rhythms and other Latin-related stuff for drum nerds. (I studied music history in university.)
Basically, learning French and Spanish is easier if you are fluent with English. But learning Chinese is gonna screw you over almost completely. It will still be easier but only very, very slightly, almost insignificantly so. And then learning African tongue-clicking is probably gonna screw you over really, really badly. Because it's like learning Morse code...
the only thing that will make you a better drummer is PRACTICE. There are no tricks or gimmicks to make you a better drummer other than PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE ! ! ! oh and then more PRACTICE ! ! !
Try to switch to open handed drumming playing something you know very well. Your musical memory will help! I play in a wedding band, I know the setlist inside and out and I don't have to think so much about song forms or intricate grooves.
Your brain has "more RAM", so to speak...and you're basically getting paid for practicing.
Harry Miree, the dude himself, has a crazy drumkit! The theory behind it is connected to not wanting to cross hands and have everything on the right, while still leading with the right foot. Its really amazing actually :)
I'm a lefty who's played this way for years but only a year ago started practicing seriously, I'd say I'm still a beginner (I've a couple videos on my channel). Switching to a righty kit is painful but it's the optimal choice. Hope I can end up in Shawn's dataset for research :)
I’m left-handed who learned to play guitar right-handed. When I formed a band in high school I bought a drum kit so we could practice at my house. I taught myself to play open handed because it felt comfortable. I still play and ended up playing in bands for 15+ years this way. I lead with my left hand, and I feel it’s always slowed down my transitions from drum to drum for sure. I do like the freedom and articulation I have with right hand snare hits. I’ve tried going back and learning right handed but it was tough and I couldn’t stick with it, just doesn’t feel natural. I’ve being playing guitar right handed and having a weak picking hand has always been my weakness. Play what is comfortable for YOU.
I'm a guitarist mainly, but i have been drumming for fun for quite a few years now, too. I usually cross over for grooves, because it feels like right hand picking, but I learned to play blast beats open handed. It's great for training every limb equally and also for endurance. I have also learned to lead with both hands when doing fills just for the ergonomics of hitting the snare and any cymbal at once on the 1.
IMO the coolest thing about open-handed playing is that now you have more voices to play with in the context of some groove in a way which is NATURAL; I believe this tremendously affects your musicality as a drummer in the long run
I'm a lefty human but a righty drummer, don't quite know how that happened, guess I just emulated what I saw which was right handed setups. 40 plus years I've been playing righty with one bass. Recently I added a ride for my left and took out the second bass pedal that's been in the case for a like a decade. Believe it or not I found down on his luck drummer and bought his almost new DW9000 double pedal complete for $220, but never used the second pedal. So now I'm riding with my left hand, and working on double bass patterns etc. It's amazing how those two things can reinvigorate ones practice habits. I guess my right ride hand will always be more articulate, but playing lefty ride, brings totally different results, even when I try to mimic one to the other. It's a blast to be able to just switch, and the HH is set up perfectly for either open or crossed playing, it's very versatile. It's really amazing to have this much fun with new directions on the drums, just more fuel to power the passion. Playing drums is like getting to go on the rollercoaster as many times as you like with no lines.
I didn't realize what a God-send open drumming was in my youth because my brother always played that way. He is left-handed but plays a right-handed kit like Ringo. It is so nice listening to our old recordings with him holding down the high-hat while also doing tom fills here and there. I have encountered a problem now though in re-recording these songs without my brother since the drummers I've used do not play open-handed. Now the high-hat rhythm is lost during the simple tom fills or tom-based beats he used to play and man, it is really noticeable. 😕
I think another reason for crossing over is that a lot of basic rock beats have a constant kick and hi-hat pattern, which would both be played with the right side of the body, and things like snare hits and hi-hat pedal notes tend to be added more like a changing decoration on top of that pattern. It would probably be easier for most right-handed people to play the constant hi-hat pattern with the left hand and focus more on ornamentation with the right, but that would split the two main patterns between the left hand and right foot. This does run into a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem ("do most basic beats have a constant hi-hat because people were already playing crossed, or did people start crossing over to play a constant hi-hat beat?"), but I think most beginners playing now start by imitating those beats and would find it easier to keep the more repetitive pattern on one side of the body and most ornamentations on the other.
that's a good argument for using the Mangini-style cable hi-hat setup (cable hat on the right side w/ left foot pedal, left hat controlled by right foot). personally, I don't use 'em only because I don't want to carry them to every gig or fly with them on tour (I'd rather use whatever kit they have at the venue/studio for now). but yep, it does make sense!
Beginners, get off the set,get on the practice pad and work on equalizing all limbs. Stick Control patterns and a metronome can help. Learn how to play the swing ride rhythm with both hands.
Sean Reinert (RIP) was the master of incorporating his hihat foot with double bass patterns (heel+toe). I could never figure out how he did it until I realized he led his double bass patterns with his left foot. 😮
I'm an ambidextrous person and Id like to tell dominant handed people that this figuring out of how the heck to do things is something that ambidextrous people have to do with literally EVERYTHING on the fly. Sometimes certain actions are easier with a different hand and people still never try switching to it because of their right handed bias. Ambidexterity is a nice benefit but still requires time to be properly applied to get its full potential. I usually just tell people I'm left handed so they leave me be and let me figure out if the right handed way of doing things is really best or best for me - or best for me on that day haha. But my point is that things that are naturally designed to be intuitive for right handed people can feel pointlessly limiting for left handed or ambidextrous people.
My teacher taught me to play open handed from the beginning. He's a bassist and working musician and the things in this video were the exact same reasons he gave for teaching me this way - my ambidexterity aside. My opinion after 15 years? If you are a beginner: Just learn open handed! Switching is a different story and most didn't really get a choice because of teachers or lack thereof. There is literally no good reason unless you're only playing traditional grip and there is no real reason to play traditional except to make your boomer dad happy...which is why I started out traditional grip and quickly switched to matched and open handed. Funnily enough my teacher went to Berkeley and 15 years ago no one was playing open handed. People would tell me I was playing "wrong" by not crossing my hands or even "cheating" because of how much better it was once they saw it done with any proficiency. I've dealt with that nonsense a lot over the years and obviously feel strongly about this subject. I have argued with cross handed players endlessly and they have yet to convince me that they have done anything except make certain sounds harder to get.
As I started learning drums I started learning on a right handed kit, but instinctively played open hand. After a while I switched to a lefty kit because it felt more natural but I continued to play open handed. Honestly being able to play both ways is very beneficial, it allows you to build up limb independence and come up with many new ideas. I definitely turn heads as a lefty that also plays open handed, a lot of people ask me “why don’t you just play a right handed kit not open handed” but it’s more that i always hit with my left hand first on fills and such. Open handed allows more freedom with fills, in defiantly a fan.
at last a drummer who actually looks like one. you’re not a drummer if you dont have a bald head and a beard kids
Just started drumming!
I wondered certain things: Why do we learn note trees skipping quintuples and septuplets? They feel exactly "as weird" as triplets for me at the moment.
And why not develop both hands at the same time?
So thank you, I'm committing to open handed drumming and leading with both hands!
If You want to do drumming for life. Then try to train yourself in all three ways. I play open.
If you are young and KNOW you are GOING to learn the drums...
LEARN to be completely ambidextrous... from the outset.. you have the time!
It is only after ingraining the neural patterning that it will become WEIRD!
Can;t hurt
This video has been exactly what I’ve been looking for as a lefty, so helpful and judgment free, and inspired me to finally pick up the drums after debating whether or not “it’s worth the time” ended up getting a rudiment pad to make sure both sides are solid before trying open handed on a kit.
I've wanted to play open-handed since I first watched Harry Miree do it, but I share a drum kit at church. I think it will be worth it to learn to play open-handed on a right-hand kit.
The first time I picked up a guitar, I picked it up left handed (I write right handed). My cousin quickly got me to switch to right hand (we were playing guitar hero so it wasn’t much of an issue). It was awkward at first but when I eventually picked up a real guitar, I was comfortable with right handed guitar. Now 6 years in, I couldn’t do it the other way if I wanted and I’m very very glad I learned right handed. The options are astronomically bigger.
I'm a problem. To start with I am 62. I was born left-handed, and my first teacher forced me to be right-handed. I played in fanfare for 7 years, 4 years playing bass drum with my right hand and 3 years playing a snare drum with a start on my left hand. Today I am learning the rudiments of the drums and I will try the right handed kit and open hands. I can easily write with both hands, but I can only kick with my left foot. It is difficult to define what most applies to me, but your video gave me the following idea: I will do what my instinct indicates, and try to be ambidextrous.
i'm gonna say we cross because most people are right side dominate. right foot is stronger and is used more as is the same with the right hand. it just lands in those places, left foot controls high hats, they need less strength. most of the time, high hats get a lot more use than the snare drum and other drums in today's common music. it's just easier.
I am a lefty that has been playing drums Fully lefty (reverse of the traditional set up) for over 6 ish years. I'll like to say i've gotten fairly good and have played in studios orchestras, jazz bands, paid gigs, for tips, for food (at like weddings and other similar venues) etc. All though those 6 years I have gone through the agonizing pain of switching the kit from left to right and then back after. i am now currently trying to learn drums the traditional way open handed and for me this requires me to switch my feet NOT my hands. I must say that switching feet is way harder than hands as your feet do vastly different things. i am about 2 months ish and it isn't as hard as i thought. weirdly the hardest style i have come across was "disco" and all the other related beats. this required the off-beat open hi-hat vibe and is way harder to re-learn for me then learning it in the first place. I also noticed for me that building power in my NEW bass drum foot (right) was much easier to develop then turning my old strong bass drum foot (left) into a much more relaxed role. These were just my experiences, I am far from being comfortable playing payed gigs righty however i have noticed that my general co-ordination has vastly improved while playing fully lefty especially when soloing as I have much more options open due to my new strong high hat foot and my better controlled bass drum.
Dude thanks for sharing this. I'm starting this journey of converting to open handed and I'm worried about that right foot. Been playing lefty for 20+ years.
I play open handed in standard kit lay out with no need change except maybe the ride on the left
as a lefty its how it just happened naturally, as a guitarist my brain must have went, “you don’t cross your arms over to play the neck and strings”
its main pay off is I’m faster off the mark on rolling fills and easier to cross over my arms over into different territory in the kit
and you also have no top arm restricting you from beating the shit out of the snare with every 16th note if need be
I started playing drums at 1 and played open handed as a child as it felt better to me. But as I grew older, people pretty much forced me into playing crossed and I have ever since. I'm 17 now and trying to get back into open handed playing
I'm a lefty and I play bass (average-on-a-good-day level) and guitar (I strum about 20 different chords) as I righty. When I try to play drums on a righty set, I do open hand and use the crash as a ride, the bass drum is a nightmare. on a lefty set, I can fully show my you-don't-completely-suck drumming level.
I recommend you to check Steve Smith's thoughts on that.
And Simon Phillips and Carter Beaufort!
They are some of my favorite drummers! :)
I started playing full lefty when I picked up the drums. Then I started getting problems in my left foot as Home Steinweiss did with his right. So I switched my kit to a righty set up and have gone open-handed. I am still learning to get around the kit this way. I didn't realize how many drummers were actually open-handed.
Im a leftie on a right handed kit. Nothing was changed, hi hat on the left and ride on the right but left leg leading on a double pedal
I was fed up playing right hand lead
with crossed sticking. Switched to
open hand playing without any
"inspiration" from certain drummers.
Anyone reading this: I never looked back.
It opened a whole new world of vocabulary
and skill set such as left hand lead and
overall better ability to play more creatively.
Its so much more fun moving from left to right
and vice versa on the kit. Strong recommendation !
I've been playing drums for like 13 years, started out open-handed and practised a lot, I always practised patterns and exercises both ways and definetly benefitted from that. But that being said, I still switched over to playing my hands crossed-over. One day I realized that my touch and my sound was just plain better that way. And that was after playing open handed for 6 years or so.
One of the other drummers in my high school jazz band was a lefty who played open. I think it held him back at the time but he's incredible now.
Jonathan Barber? :)
I'm a left handed musician who plays guitar right handed and set up a drum kit as a standard right handed kit. It just makes everything easier that way. I agree it doesn't make anything more difficult just because you don't write with your right hand. And as an audio engineer I've definitely preset a drum mic package for a right handed kit only to have to move it later because they didn't mention it in the tech rider.
For oldsters like me, who have been playing cross-handed for 50+ years, it's probably of limited benefit to switch to open-handed playing. I do some of it just to be a little more flexible when playing certain things.
But for anyone starting out, why not play open handed, or ambidextrously? I am somewhat surprised when I see younger monster players who don't take advantage of this ability.
From a purely ergonomics standpoint, start playing open-handed or ambidextrously. I think you will benefit tremendously.
is there any use in trying closed handed for drummers who have always played open handed? so far it looks like the only benefit is being able to put the aux snare on the left where there's lots of space, instead of jammed in with the toms
also I wouldn't have to modify my hihat stands to make them shorter, but that's somewhat minimal effort
Can’t really think of any other reason tbh
ha! lefty playing open handed on a righty kit here, it's funny to see a video on this very subject. i play with my ride on the left so i always ride with my left hand, the only cymbal i have on my right is my second crash, so the only time i actually cross hands is to hit the snare and the 2nd crash together. just recently while i couldn't play my drums (they're in my band's rehearsal space and you know... 'rona) i thought about learning to perform that hit open handed. after a couple rehearsals i'm fairly confident to say that it's probably gonna take me less time than i expected, the hardest thing so far is getting the rimshots with my left as clean as with my right like i usually do. will keep you updated :D
After playing drums for five years, I became really frustrated with my weaker (left) limbs game, and, after watching some Yoni Madar, I completely switched my set around, and began to play cross-handed lefty on a lefty drums. After 3 months now, my left foot is decently close to my right foot, but I still struggle with playing the ride with my left hand, meaning it is far from what I can do with my right hand. I found a great joy in the process, because suddenly I began to better understand why I do some things the way I do and when I do them with my right limbs, which really opened my eyes on many of my flaws, both in execution and thinking, that I couldn't possibly notice before.
Now, 5 years is sure not a lot, but it is not too little imo, and I would really recommend switching both feet and hands if you around that time in your playing. I found it truly ground breaking for me, and it didn't take too much more work, as it was only really painful for a month or so. Maybe playing cross-handed is an overkill, I just think it looks slick, and decided to take the challenge, but I'm convinced that switching your leading limbs around is among the best things you can do in a long run, if you have time for that
TLDR
I played in drum corps from the age of 9 and became rudimentally sound within a few months thanks to lessons. I started on set match grip. my hand would hit when playing hi hat so I switched to traditional. Cobham came to our practice when I was a teen I had no idea he played open handed as I never saw him on set. I play traditional grip because I always have and it works for hi hat.
Open-handed playing is pretty rad. I play a healthy amount of Coheed and Cambria when I practice, and their music has also been pretty paramount to my right foot doubles getting strengthened. For my left foot I just recently bought a double pedal, and I try and play grooves with the left foot. It's got a ways to go, but that's what Meshuggah songs are for lol. Been playing open-handed most of the time for as long as I've had a kit of my own
Jimi Hendrix put his strings on backwards on his guitar because he was a lefty and only had a right handed guitar. Something he developed because of it was his very own style of vibrato using the whammy bar, which was in a "weird" place, above the strings instead of below it.
I'm not a drummer, but I think something similar applies here. I think its always a good thing to break up what you "always" do, your muscle memory, because the results will be something you wouldn't normally do.
Great tutorial
Love this video! I've always played open handed (and have only played drums everyone now and then, over a 20 year period - as an extra to my main guitar practice), but have found when using the floor tom as you might do the hats, is one hella stretch (that really needs that ambidexterity to accommodate). Not claiming any real wisdom here, but haven't yet seen that mentioned, maybe i need to scroll down a bit further.
Shawn, I've been a huge fan of yours ever since I first heard Sungazer. I just want to tell you that I've been teaching my friends to hi-hat with their left hand and it's been going great! I'm super appreciative of all the work that goes into your videos and how you've paved my path for this facet of music. You're the G.O.A.T. and a huge inspiration
I'll share a few names here: for ambidextrous drumming we also have Thomas Lang, a monster in the possibilities this approach gives, Simon Phillips and Bill Brufford also very tasteful with technique and power. For open handed with left side ride we have Carter Beauford, so tasteful with DMB's music. I'd love to hear more names... anyone?
BTW, those interested in open handed should also check out the Drumeo lesson with Claus Hessler.
Super helpful.
Let me begin by saying you can play both "cross stick" and open-handed, during songs or sets.
There are no rules.
I play both methods depending on the song or my mood.
Learning to play open-handed
is the best thing a serious drummer could do.
I was a pro drummer for 35 years, before I saw Simon Philips play open-handed.
I was hooked and jumped right on board.
As far as I am concerned, there are no disadvantages to open-handed playing and you need not shift any drums or cymbals.
I do recommend lowering the hi hat and moving it more towards the center so you don't have to cross sticks regardless of whether you are keeping rhythm on the hi-hats with
the left or right hand.
Playing open-handed makes a right hand dominate player become ambidextrous.
It opens new worlds.
It is true freedom.
In the past three years of playing open-handed I have advanced in my
drumming skills, greatly.
I have come farther in 3 years, than I did in the first 35 years.
Simon Philips and Carter Beaufort are great examples of Open-handed playing.
Drum revolutioooooooooon oh yeah
I'm right handed, but I did start to notice the awkwardness of playing cross handed some years ago, so the solution for me was moving the hi-hat forward, meaning I placed it to my northwest instead of my west (does this make sense?). I've seen Joey Baca, Richard Spaven, and Baard Kolstad (I think) using this approach, and it's definitely more practical!
I'm right handed but I decided to play open handed because i want to improve my left hand dynamics and my snare beat with my right.
Well now I'm happy that I switched the side of my kit from lefty to righty when I bought my first double bass pedal. I just switched because I bought a righty pedal and was too lazy to change it so I could play, like I learned it for years 😂
I injured my right hand's tendons making playing righty painful. I switched to an open style and drums are fun and pain free again. Plus my hands are more balanced now
For those who are so inclined, the drums on Dream Theater's albums "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" and "Dream Theater" are mixed to reflect the ambidexterity of Mangini's drums. The left side is panned left and the right side is panned right. If you can set up an ambidextrous drum kit, you can practice his stickings and style accurately through transcription.
I’m a natural leftie (although I’m a right handed guitarist now) and I’m playing open on a right handed kit. Harder for first 3 weeks in my opinion. I moved the ride to the left though at home but at lessons it’s on the right. Biggest issue is switching my right hand on the snare to using my left at different sections
I’m a (R) handed drummer. I’ve always wanted to set my kit up like a (L) with a (L) handed double-bass pedal, remote hi-hat with the pedal next to the 1° bass drum pedal to be played with my (L) foot and use the 2°/double-bass pedal with my (R) foot as I would normally. I’d keep my 14” floor tom in the proper position, but place the 16” to the side of the snare.
Yeah, this is pretty much exactly what Harry Miree does
I’m very interested in this kind of setup, and will likely test it in the future, but I wonder how this affects the flow for metal styles of play where blast beats and fast Tom rolls are the most important
Then I’m definitely gonna have to check him out. Thanks! 👍
Last week I showed up to my friend's house to watch his band practising. Their drummer didn't show up and so they just got me to try drums for the first time. He told me to cross my hands but as a lefty I subconsciously switched to playing open handed. Anything else felt wrong. Good to know that this made sense and wasn't just a bad beginner habit I'd have to unlearn
your cuts are hilarious
I didn’t even realize the way I was playing had a name. I play guitar left handed and it felt most comfortable for me to play the hat with my left hand. I didn’t want to play the kick drum with my left foot though so I never even considered setting up lefty.
For the majority of people I would say yes, absolutely - it's the best change you will ever make. However, if you play a very reduced kit like Shawn's then the benefits aren't going to be anywhere near as apparent. If you play a bigger kit, say three toms or more plus extra cymbals, then the difference is immediate and incredible. You can play anything at any time, like a piano, it's wonderful. If you only play a very small kit, and will only ever play a small kit, then the change will be a lot more.... academic? You will have the warm knowledge of knowing that you have equal ability between hands, cool, and your playing will be faster and more powerful, but it won't make much of a difference to what patterns you can play.
This is interesting. I'm a beginner. When I first started playing, I crossed over a lot. It just felt natural but I think I'm going to try open-handed.
I will give my two cents here. I'm left handed and because of that I've been playing open handed since I started playing drums and I'm glad i learned it that way, tbh nowadays I can't even cross my arms without feeling awkward and bumping one into the other.
As Shawn already stated, it's more effort but it isn't double the effort. I find that the main benefits are the fact that I'm not limited to the right side of the kit when doing hi-hat grooves and that you feel extra confident when the song asks you to change your leading part from the right side of the kit to the left side of the kit. Add another floor tom to your left side and you are gold.
Excellent point about the floor Tom...
I'm lefty too, but was taught righty....
Eventually learned open, now I try to combine both...
Not sure it would benefit you all that much now though
I am a 58 year old drummer and I am left handed. When I started playing when I was little I didn't know any better so i had a right handed set up and just played open handed. I am glad I did this because it has made it so easier for me. The only difference between my kit and a "normal" right handed player is that my ride is over my hi hat. It does make it a lot easier that i can keep the groove on the hi hat going and do little fills with my right hand.
Same story here. Same age as well. 👍
How on earth could there ever be cons to learning anything worth learning? Learn open-handed! It is only beneficial. I have been learning it and has given me so much more to do
There's a limited number of practice hours in your life. You have to pick.
I'm learning on my friend drum set, who is left hand. I'm right hand, so i'm playing open handed, quicking with my left foot and hi-hat with right foot. xD
4:53 I'm glad to hear this as I hit my hats on the lighter side because I find it plain difficult to hit them heavily.
If you have been doing conventional playing for years and you are happy with the way you express your music i wouldn't go changing a set up that works but you don't have to change your set up to do some open handed playing and that will open up your playing unless your Simon Phillips or have a second kit set up at home why try and completely change your technique
as a learner from scratch .. I swap feet because I get Shin Splints after a while using JUST my right leg...
so... makes sense.
as a left hander: yes, I get very aggressive when right-handers trivialize the difference. There's a reason that the right hand always leads, on most instruments: it is the rhythm keeper.
I wish all music teacher nazis would just get a group of non-musicians to keep a beat using their leading hand versus their non-leading hand so they would see how enormous the difference is.
I've heard two different great left handed guitarists who where made to learn to play right-handed say that they wish they had learned left-handed, because the first time they took up a left-handed guitar they immediately noticed how much tighter they where able to play. The only scenario where I think being a left-hander is a clear benefit is boogie-woogie piano.
All that being said, there's variance in how left- or right- handed people are, and I Iove the idea of making very slight adjustments to the drum set instead of mirroring the whole thing. I'm going to set up the drums in the right-hand way and just swap the crash and the ride so it's on the same side as the hihat. The tom patterns are going to be all over the place, but that's actually quite an exciting prospect.
Thank you for the video!
In my youth, I taught the left-handed with the reversed kit (à la Phil Collins), because that's what people did and I regret it. I started to look into this because when you have a big orchestra in a music school, it's a real issue. You can't put two kits on stage, there are already tympani, glockenspiel, xylophone, and miscellaneous percussions, gong and stuff.
I started to teach open-handed playing, but I always take the time to experiment with the kids. if they prefer to play the bass drum with the left foot, I let them. But we take at least three months to decide.
As far as the cost of learning this is concerned, take a gig that requires you to play simply - and play it lefty. You’ll be too consumed with trying to groove at the right dynamic level and in time to do any over playing - which will help you keep the gig - in time, you should be able to do the gig and not sound like you’re falling downstairs. In my case, I once took a country gig that required me to play a la1960s Buddy Harman. This made me focus really hard on this 4 hours /night, twice weekly for about three months. After that gig I was in good shape. I can’t play Impressions at 350 BPM leading lefty. Fortunately, my right hand still works. Bottom line - this is not that hard. Do the work and you’ll get the results.