Should lefties play their kit in mirror-image, like Phil Collins and Ian Paice, or just play on a right-handed setup like Ringo Starr and John Bonham? Shoutout to all my left-handed channel members and drum students! Thanks to everyone who supports this channel, you can do so here: Buy a coffee/become a channel member: www.buymeacoffee.com/mikebarnesdrums
I'm left handed but right footed and over the years my left handedness has evolved slightly to where i now play right handed golf clubs (instead of left). Not truely ambidextrous but a bit more balanced hands than when i was younger. Originally had drums set up for left handed, but once started lessons set up with right hand kit on recommendation of my teacher ,🤷♂️ TBH i feel comfortable with right hand set up and don't feel compromised. As you say whichever set up suits, its the amount of time practicing that is the greatest influence on your development. Keep up the great work Mike. Always interesting ,easy yo follow videos and instructions.👍
I‘m left handed and play open handed on a basically right handed set up. Starting up on E Drums, I tried various configurations and finally got comfortable with the ride Cymbal to my left, just off the hi hat. Right foot on the base Drum works well for me. At 72 playing just over 4 years and an avid member of Mikes community, I go to lessons on an acoustic kit once a week, which means just adjusting the position of the Ride. But anyway the throne and pedal placement might require minor adjustment ,which takes up little time.Changing stickings is a routine challenge; some times grooves are more accessible for a lefty playing openhanded .ie. „Fleetwoodmac „you make loving fun“. So I’m off and running. Thanks Mike for all the input.
Thanks for watching, yeah I could have mentioned him. Left-handed in everyday life but plays drums in fully right-handed fashion I think. Committing fully one way or the other again the simplest and smoothest path for learning on average, in my experience. Cheers.
Another great video,not a leftie,but always learn something new from your teachings,it's so much fun and am only a newbe to learning the skills of becoming a drummer,look forward to more vids😁,cheers from New Zealand
I'm left handed and left footed as well. I used to play right handed all the time but it wasn't the most comfortable thing for me so someone showed me how to swap it over and I never looked back. now if I play with my band I always play left handed however if I play a pre set up thing at a jam night especially if it's busy I play right handed and underplay a little bit.
As a. Left handed person I just naturally play open with the kit set up as per normal Recently learned how to play both open and closed and that took a long time I would never change my my feet though I am right footed, so that’s my bass foot. Great channel 👍
Good advice, as ever Mike. The problem with 'left handed' people is a lot are not fully leftie. I play left handed set up, as I'm left handed. However, I am right footed, so have to play bass drum on my weaker, left foot. (No other set up can work as I need ride & toms to left of snare!) Oh well, still enjoyable 😊
Hi Mike, So by way of an update I converted my kit to left and played like that for about 3 weeks. I found I was struggling with my kick drum something terrible, even though my dominant foot "should" be my left. Switched it back to righty and I'm playing open handed and it's way more comfortable for me. I am left foot dominant so I can't explain why the kick is easier with my right foot. I'm also able to play open hi-hat at the right time in songs now which I really struggled with when converted. (ie. 'Pink Floyd - Another Brick in The wall' has open hi-hat at the end of every bar) So there you go. Odd, but it works for me :)
Hi Andrew, thanks for watching and commenting. So I take it you'd been playing for some time before making this switch. I stand by the advice in this video, as I say at 0:27 - if you're STARTING on the drums and are left-handed, I'd say it's best to set the drums up in left-handed fashion. If you've already been playing for a while and then switch, well, it's more messy isn't it. The fact that you've done more repetitions the previous way will inevitably mean you're smoother playing that way at first, or potentially for quite a long while if you've been playing the previous way for longer! Don't know how long you've been playing, but perhaps the "struggling" you experienced was simply that at the present time, you've done less practice that way round. Central theme of this channel - practice consistency dwarfs all other variables including age, handedness, "talent" etc. Obvs, you go with what works for you and glad you're enjoying the open-handed playing. How do you play the ride? and how do you find moving around the kit left to right as a leftie? Cheers.
I'm a lefty playing a standard right handed kit (switching from Hammond to drums in later life). I'm also playing traditional grip, which helps even up my hands, because my right is so naturally weak. Using the traditional grip actually balances my hands. My only technical problem is ensuring I have enough years of life left to master the various techniques! Thanks for all the videos and tips Mike.
Thanks Mike, the amount of people I see online that say you should just play open-handed because "it's easier for the sound guy" is insane. I'm the one sat in front of the instrument every single day not them, I'm going to do that in the way that is most comfortable which is flipping the kit. And you're right, it takes like 1-2 minutes, tops. I've played gigs and flipped the kit and easily been ready within the 15 changeover window, it's not an issue.
@@MikeBarnesDrums yes I play RH on the ride. First song I tried ever, was Shine by Collective Soul. Still working on smoother 16th notes but getting there. I’ve had 2 hand surgeries on my left so progress was interrupted
Hi, I am left handed and I play as a lefty, feels more natural, this way I have my leading limbs doing the leading as I play....my stronger leg is on bass drum and my stonger hand on the hats.
A lot of those open handed drummers like Carter Beauford, Billy Cobham, Neil sanderson, Simon Philips, etc , are actually right-handed. They play that way because they are against crossing their hands to play the hi hat. Michael "moose" Thomas from bullet for my valentine plays on a conventional set up with his left hand on the hi hat alternating to his right on the ride. But he plays a double bass pedal leading with his left foot. (I believe) While Ringo star and other lefties that played righty have done well... I agree, full-on reversing the kit like Dominic Howard( muse) Phil Collins,Ian Piace from Deep Purple, and others is the way to go . I like it when you said refusing to reverse the kit would be discrimination. I never would have thought of it like that.
PS an app or service like www.mirrorthevideo.com/ can be extremely useful for left-handers - if you use it all of the videos on this YT channel (and any "right-handed" drum channel) will appear as a fully flipped left-handed kit.
I’m a leftie with a natural right foot, I play open and play kick with my right foot, I have the Toms in reverse with the floor Tom just in front of the snare. It’s an electric kit so have no idea if this would work on a traditional kit, would probably never be able to play on anyone else’s kit.
@MikeBarnesDrums Well, it depends. I do it in whichever hand I am more comfortable in. I do practice it in both the left handed and right handed ways but sometimes I get confused. Well that's common 🤣.
I'm fully left sided but play standard right handed kit. Just thought since I'm learning something new from scratch bite the bullet and go conventional !
Thanks Mike! Love your videos, best instruction on RUclips! On the left handed thing, I just thought " I've never drummed before so every movement will be alien to me so why not go right handed " . When watching you show grooves or fills it's definitely easier to follow playing right handed. Thanks again!
@@shanekearns6105 Interesting - the only reason I generally wouldn't do that with beginners is that the conventional set-up has been put together (or has evolved) with the right-hander in mind. But cool, can totally work the way you've done it. Ultimately, as often mentioned on this channel - the practice you do and your consistency are the biggest variables of success by far, not age/"talent"/handedness or anything else. Cheers! PS an app or service like www.mirrorthevideo.com/ is what lots of my left-handed students use for watching this channel - if you use it all of the videos will appear as left-handed drummer playing a fully flipped left-handed kit.
As you say Mike " you have to earn it " !! I would love to subscribe but if I'm honest I'm in my 50s, only playing 18 months so not very confident and the idea of a zoom or one on one lesson scares me!
I’ve played left handed on a right handed kit for 15+ years. I’ve thought about learning with the kick on the left, but I feel as though I’m too far into my drumming career.
Interesting - thanks for watching. Why did you start playing like that? How do you find playing the ride with your right hand (or do you do it some other way?) And how to do find moving around the toms on a right-handed set up? Cheers
@ I started playing that way as my drum teacher was a teenager teaching a left handed 12 year old how to play the drums. My kit is setup as it was over 15 years ago. Kick with my right, Toms all on the right side, ride is over the floor Tom and I cross my hands to play it. Moving around the Toms feels fine as it’s all I’ve ever known. Occasionally if I’m feeling lazy and don’t want to cross my hands, I’ll play the ride with my right hand. I do find instances where I’ve had to teach myself to finish certain runs with the opposite hand, though. I’ve played for church regularly for all of those years with different gigs mixed in. But now I’m wanting to get to the next level with my drumming. I think starting with the ergonomics of my setup is a good place to begin.
Open handed on a right handed kit. Open mics, lessons all set up for RH. And after a year it makes no difference. I play bass and guitar right handed. Golf right handed. I write with my left. Drums are like keyboards, you need both hands.
@@MikeBarnesDrums playing LH on hi hat and RH ride. It took a couple of months practice to get the feel right. Interestingly I can now play totally right handed ie crossover if I wanted to but open handed allows me more freedom. My music teacher actually sort of discouraged me from playing the ride on the right. Said it’s more work. As a newbie, it’s best to persevere with these things. Took me years to play right handed guitar but as RH guitars were around 15% cheaper it was worth it.
Should lefties play their kit in mirror-image, like Phil Collins and Ian Paice, or just play on a right-handed setup like Ringo Starr and John Bonham?
Shoutout to all my left-handed channel members and drum students!
Thanks to everyone who supports this channel, you can do so here: Buy a coffee/become a channel member: www.buymeacoffee.com/mikebarnesdrums
I'm left handed but right footed and over the years my left handedness has evolved slightly to where i now play right handed golf clubs (instead of left). Not truely ambidextrous but a bit more balanced hands than when i was younger.
Originally had drums set up for left handed, but once started lessons set up with right hand kit on recommendation of my teacher ,🤷♂️ TBH i feel comfortable with right hand set up and don't feel compromised.
As you say whichever set up suits, its the amount of time practicing that is the greatest influence on your development.
Keep up the great work Mike. Always interesting ,easy yo follow videos and instructions.👍
I‘m left handed and play open handed on a basically right handed set up. Starting up on E Drums, I tried various configurations and finally got comfortable with the ride Cymbal to my left, just off the hi hat. Right foot on the base Drum works well for me. At 72 playing just over 4 years and an avid member of Mikes community, I go to lessons on an acoustic kit once a week, which means just adjusting the position of the Ride. But anyway the throne and pedal placement might require minor adjustment ,which takes up little time.Changing stickings is a routine challenge; some times grooves are more accessible for a lefty playing openhanded .ie. „Fleetwoodmac „you make loving fun“. So I’m off and running. Thanks Mike for all the input.
Cheers Timothy!
I’m a lefty. The idea of moving the ride to the left as well is really interesting. I may have to try this.
Thanks for making this video, Mike. It's great you keep us lefties in mind. 😃
FWIW, Stewart Copeland says he kept his kit right-handed because it made it much easier to play on other people's kits.
Thanks for watching, yeah I could have mentioned him. Left-handed in everyday life but plays drums in fully right-handed fashion I think. Committing fully one way or the other again the simplest and smoothest path for learning on average, in my experience. Cheers.
Another great video,not a leftie,but always learn something new from your teachings,it's so much fun and am only a newbe to learning the skills of becoming a drummer,look forward to more vids😁,cheers from New Zealand
I shall try the Mirror.... :) You make some good points! Thanks for the shout out :) I'll let you know how I get on!
Just realised my phones autocorrect called you Mark in my fist message to you! Sorry, you can blame my friend, Mark. 😂
@@Andrewf73been called worse, no worries!
I play open, feels natural. I would though, if I started again, change it round, as my right foot annoys me.
I'm left handed and left footed as well. I used to play right handed all the time but it wasn't the most comfortable thing for me so someone showed me how to swap it over and I never looked back. now if I play with my band I always play left handed however if I play a pre set up thing at a jam night especially if it's busy I play right handed and underplay a little bit.
As a. Left handed person I just naturally play open with the kit set up as per normal
Recently learned how to play both open and closed and that took a long time
I would never change my my feet though
I am right footed, so that’s my bass foot.
Great channel 👍
Good advice, as ever Mike. The problem with 'left handed' people is a lot are not fully leftie. I play left handed set up, as I'm left handed. However, I am right footed, so have to play bass drum on my weaker, left foot. (No other set up can work as I need ride & toms to left of snare!) Oh well, still enjoyable 😊
Hi Mike, So by way of an update I converted my kit to left and played like that for about 3 weeks. I found I was struggling with my kick drum something terrible, even though my dominant foot "should" be my left. Switched it back to righty and I'm playing open handed and it's way more comfortable for me. I am left foot dominant so I can't explain why the kick is easier with my right foot. I'm also able to play open hi-hat at the right time in songs now which I really struggled with when converted. (ie. 'Pink Floyd - Another Brick in The wall' has open hi-hat at the end of every bar) So there you go. Odd, but it works for me :)
Hi Andrew, thanks for watching and commenting. So I take it you'd been playing for some time before making this switch. I stand by the advice in this video, as I say at 0:27 - if you're STARTING on the drums and are left-handed, I'd say it's best to set the drums up in left-handed fashion. If you've already been playing for a while and then switch, well, it's more messy isn't it. The fact that you've done more repetitions the previous way will inevitably mean you're smoother playing that way at first, or potentially for quite a long while if you've been playing the previous way for longer! Don't know how long you've been playing, but perhaps the "struggling" you experienced was simply that at the present time, you've done less practice that way round. Central theme of this channel - practice consistency dwarfs all other variables including age, handedness, "talent" etc. Obvs, you go with what works for you and glad you're enjoying the open-handed playing. How do you play the ride? and how do you find moving around the kit left to right as a leftie? Cheers.
I'm a lefty playing a standard right handed kit (switching from Hammond to drums in later life). I'm also playing traditional grip, which helps even up my hands, because my right is so naturally weak. Using the traditional grip actually balances my hands. My only technical problem is ensuring I have enough years of life left to master the various techniques! Thanks for all the videos and tips Mike.
Thanks Mike, the amount of people I see online that say you should just play open-handed because "it's easier for the sound guy" is insane. I'm the one sat in front of the instrument every single day not them, I'm going to do that in the way that is most comfortable which is flipping the kit. And you're right, it takes like 1-2 minutes, tops. I've played gigs and flipped the kit and easily been ready within the 15 changeover window, it's not an issue.
Cool, I totally agree! You wouldn’t be discriminated against on other grounds and quite rightly, so why on this?
As someone with no experience before I was faced with a RH kit, I play open LH. So much freedom
@@mazilys Thanks for commenting. Do you play your ride cymbal with your right hand?
@@MikeBarnesDrums yes I play RH on the ride. First song I tried ever, was Shine by Collective Soul. Still working on smoother 16th notes but getting there. I’ve had 2 hand surgeries on my left so progress was interrupted
Hi, I am left handed and I play as a lefty, feels more natural, this way I have my leading limbs doing the leading as I play....my stronger leg is on bass drum and my stonger hand on the hats.
A lot of those open handed drummers like Carter Beauford, Billy Cobham, Neil sanderson, Simon Philips, etc , are actually right-handed. They play that way because they are against crossing their hands to play the hi hat.
Michael "moose" Thomas from bullet for my valentine plays on a conventional set up with his left hand on the hi hat alternating to his right on the ride. But he plays a double bass pedal leading with his left foot. (I believe)
While Ringo star and other lefties that played righty have done well... I agree, full-on reversing the kit like Dominic Howard( muse) Phil Collins,Ian Piace from Deep Purple, and others is the way to go .
I like it when you said refusing to reverse the kit would be discrimination. I never would have thought of it like that.
PS an app or service like www.mirrorthevideo.com/ can be extremely useful for left-handers - if you use it all of the videos on this YT channel (and any "right-handed" drum channel) will appear as a fully flipped left-handed kit.
For example www.mirrorthevideo.com/watch?v=cwCC_UEl5vI
I’m a leftie with a natural right foot, I play open and play kick with my right foot, I have the Toms in reverse with the floor Tom just in front of the snare. It’s an electric kit so have no idea if this would work on a traditional kit, would probably never be able to play on anyone else’s kit.
It would definitely take some setting up with the different sizes of the toms of an acoustic kit! Thanks for watching.
I am left handed, i took the stuggle to learn both left handed and right handed drums.
Interesting - how does that work? When you learn something new do you always run it both ways?
@MikeBarnesDrums Well, it depends. I do it in whichever hand I am more comfortable in. I do practice it in both the left handed and right handed ways but sometimes I get confused. Well that's common 🤣.
I'm fully left sided but play standard right handed kit. Just thought since I'm learning something new from scratch bite the bullet and go conventional !
Nice. Yeah I think committing one way or the other is definitely the simplest solution! Thanks for watching.
Thanks Mike! Love your videos, best instruction on RUclips!
On the left handed thing, I just thought " I've never drummed before so every movement will be alien to me so why not go right handed " . When watching you show grooves or fills it's definitely easier to follow playing right handed.
Thanks again!
@@shanekearns6105 Interesting - the only reason I generally wouldn't do that with beginners is that the conventional set-up has been put together (or has evolved) with the right-hander in mind. But cool, can totally work the way you've done it. Ultimately, as often mentioned on this channel - the practice you do and your consistency are the biggest variables of success by far, not age/"talent"/handedness or anything else. Cheers!
PS an app or service like www.mirrorthevideo.com/ is what lots of my left-handed students use for watching this channel - if you use it all of the videos will appear as left-handed drummer playing a fully flipped left-handed kit.
As you say Mike " you have to earn it " !!
I would love to subscribe but if I'm honest I'm in my 50s, only playing 18 months so not very confident and the idea of a zoom or one on one lesson scares me!
@@shanekearns6105 Ha, I mentioned your comment in today's video: ruclips.net/video/UiMnaSYd2-U/видео.html Cheers
I’ve played left handed on a right handed kit for 15+ years. I’ve thought about learning with the kick on the left, but I feel as though I’m too far into my drumming career.
Interesting - thanks for watching.
Why did you start playing like that?
How do you find playing the ride with your right hand (or do you do it some other way?)
And how to do find moving around the toms on a right-handed set up?
Cheers
@ I started playing that way as my drum teacher was a teenager teaching a left handed 12 year old how to play the drums. My kit is setup as it was over 15 years ago. Kick with my right, Toms all on the right side, ride is over the floor Tom and I cross my hands to play it. Moving around the Toms feels fine as it’s all I’ve ever known. Occasionally if I’m feeling lazy and don’t want to cross my hands, I’ll play the ride with my right hand.
I do find instances where I’ve had to teach myself to finish certain runs with the opposite hand, though. I’ve played for church regularly for all of those years with different gigs mixed in. But now I’m wanting to get to the next level with my drumming. I think starting with the ergonomics of my setup is a good place to begin.
@@JustGrayson V interesting, thanks for your contribution Grayson.
Open handed on a right handed kit. Open mics, lessons all set up for RH. And after a year it makes no difference. I play bass and guitar right handed. Golf right handed. I write with my left. Drums are like keyboards, you need both hands.
Interesting. Did playing LH on hi-hat and RH on ride not present a challenge? Or are you playing LH on ride is some way? Thanks for your input.
@@MikeBarnesDrums playing LH on hi hat and RH ride. It took a couple of months practice to get the feel right. Interestingly I can now play totally right handed ie crossover if I wanted to but open handed allows me more freedom. My music teacher actually sort of discouraged me from playing the ride on the right. Said it’s more work. As a newbie, it’s best to persevere with these things. Took me years to play right handed guitar but as RH guitars were around 15% cheaper it was worth it.