Should I still play open-handed?

matdrummeruy

Junior Member
Hello guys, lately I´ve been asking myself a lot if I should still play open-handed. Let me just give you some background about the situation.

Since I started, I´ve played cross-handed for about 8 years, then I switched to open-handed gradually and today it's been 4 years already. However, some complex patters are still easier for me to play cross-handed (specially when it involves playing lots of ghosts notes between main accents, plus some open-close hi-hat work).

My main concern is that, I play open-handed but I´ve never moved the ride, so if I need to groove on the ride I´ll lead with my right hand, if I groove on the hi-hat then I lead with my left.

This has lead me to practice most of the time twice as usual. If I practice a new groove I need to learn to lead with both hands, which sometimes can be a bit frustrating and time consuming.

So, my point is:

What do you guys think? Should I permanently move the ride to the left and never lead with my right hand again? Should I keep everything as it is and play ambidextrously (what a word :p)? Or should I focus on faster improvements with my right and go back to cross-handed playing?

BTW, I´m naturally right handed, but since I started playing open, I´ve found a new language to express some of my ideas, but sometimes I feel like leading with my right anyway because it also feels right. But, at the same time I think "why do I depend on this when I should play this leading with my left" (it feels like cheating).

I´ve always read some great ideas and suggestions on this forum, so I hope you can help out to decide guys.

Thanks!
 
Thanks guys!

I´ve been reading a lot about open handed drumming lately, even on this forum, but I wanted to create my own thread because I went from cross-handed to somewhat open technique after so many years.

As rmandelbaum said, this is actually what I´m trying to decide, if I embrace this particular way to play drums or go back to the more traditional approach.

I don't really like the idea, being right handed, even add a ride on the left, I feel that on the right is where it belongs. In fact, I use the ride as a crash as well and I always set it up considerably higher the the right tom, I got so used to that that I know it should stay there with no other rides on the kit.
 
I went through the same thing a few years ago. For me, I ended up realizing that I was spending twice as much practice time to:
A. Not improve my drumming vocabulary and
B: Not necessarily sound better.

Now, I play the "regular" way most of the time but I do have a closed hi hat on my right as well. I sometimes play open handed on the hi hats just for a heavier looser feel.

In the end, unless you are going to practice like a Mangini, you really aren't doing much to actually sound better in real life by playing open handed.

This is my opinion, of course, and countless others will disagree but to each his own.
 
Why did you switch to open handed playing 4 years ago? Do you still feel the same today? Playing open handed is a commitment...

Suggested to me was two rides and two hihats... You are never going to be able to get your left hand to lead as well as your right - even Simon Phillips plays certain things better with his right hand leading (he's not a lefty). But, you can probably get pretty close...
Also, if you're ever really going to get your left hand in shape, you have to have a ride on your left at some point. Playing the hihat alone will not allow you to get the touch and coordination that you're looking for...

You've been playing open handed long enough to know that it takes time, so only you will know if putting in more time is worth it. But I guarantee that if you put a ride on your left side, your left hand will develop more quickly. Maybe try diving in and only have a ride on your left for a given amount of time - see what happens!
 
I went through the same thing a few years ago. For me, I ended up realizing that I was spending twice as much practice time to:
A. Not improve my drumming vocabulary and
B: Not necessarily sound better.

Now, I play the "regular" way most of the time but I do have a closed hi hat on my right as well. I sometimes play open handed on the hi hats just for a heavier looser feel.

In the end, unless you are going to practice like a Mangini, you really aren't doing much to actually sound better in real life by playing open handed.

This is my opinion, of course, and countless others will disagree but to each his own.

Hi Jeff, first of all I'm looking for opinions, not to start wars about what's better. I believe everyone should play whatever feels good, you know: what works for me might not work for you, so I really appreciate your opinion.

I get what you say about practice time compared to Mangini, but you´ve got to remember, I´ve been playing my hi hats (the crash on the left side to) for about 4 years, I´ve already spent a lot of time, still I'm more proficient leading with my right.

Ditto for me, I've been playing with 2 hi-hats for years, it open the set for some interesting patterns.

To matdrummeruy, you might be interested in this thread http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93370&highlight=open+handed, it speaks in details about this topic with many opinions on the matter.

I even posted some comments on that thread back in august, but it is lately that I've started questioning myself about both approaches. Well actually three now that I think: there's cross-handed, open, and ambidextrous (which I think is the one I'm developing, and that I learned it from that thread).

Why did you switch to open handed playing 4 years ago? Do you still feel the same today? Playing open handed is a commitment...

Suggested to me was two rides and two hihats... You are never going to be able to get your left hand to lead as well as your right - even Simon Phillips plays certain things better with his right hand leading (he's not a lefty). But, you can probably get pretty close...
Also, if you're ever really going to get your left hand in shape, you have to have a ride on your left at some point. Playing the hihat alone will not allow you to get the touch and coordination that you're looking for...

You've been playing open handed long enough to know that it takes time, so only you will know if putting in more time is worth it. But I guarantee that if you put a ride on your left side, your left hand will develop more quickly. Maybe try diving in and only have a ride on your left for a given amount of time - see what happens!

At this point, I feel that if I had to add a ride to my left side, it will be a flat one, no bell involved, but again, I think one ride on the right works for me. I tend to lead on the left side crash as well.

Just so you know, I start most of my chops with my righty, but since I played open, it is far easier to start some combinations with my left.

The conclusion I'm reaching is that, I still have a long way to go with this ambidextrous approach, but that is what's confusing me a bit. It's not the same as open handed where you know how to lead with your main hand, this is about leading with left or right depending on where your cymbals, toms, etc. are on the kit and if the time spent is actually worth it.
 
I am naturally an open handed player, but I took up playing closed handed by my teacher's recommendation. Now I play both ways, depending on the groove. For instance, if it's a rock beat I play closed. But when I play jazz I play open. I do not waste time trying to learn to play the same thing ambidextrously (both open and closed). I say use whichever technique is right for the situation. Cheers.
 
For me, I ended up realizing that I was spending twice as much practice time to:
A. Not improve my drumming vocabulary and
B: Not necessarily sound better.

My main concern is that, I play open-handed but I´ve never moved the ride, so if I need to groove on the ride I´ll lead with my right hand, if I groove on the hi-hat then I lead with my left. This has lead me to practice most of the time twice as usual. If I practice a new groove I need to learn to lead with both hands, which sometimes can be a bit frustrating and time consuming.

Well, yeah, it would be! With so much stuff to work on, it would be a drag to have to learn the identical groove twice just to ride on the ride cymbal, or the floor tom, or your second or third ride cymbal, or anything else on the big, open, right side of the set. You could solve it by moving everything you might want to ride on to the left side, but then you might find that having the hihat stand square in the middle of your LH's field of action is more of an impediment than if you had just crossed over to play the hihat with your right.

I don't know where that ends. The logic of the instrument kind of falls apart when you start monkeying with the fundamentals.
 
Hello guys, lately I´ve been asking myself a lot if I should still play open-handed. Let me just give you some background about the situation.

Since I started, I´ve played cross-handed for about 8 years, then I switched to open-handed gradually and today it's been 4 years already. However, some complex patters are still easier for me to play cross-handed (specially when it involves playing lots of ghosts notes between main accents, plus some open-close hi-hat work).

My main concern is that, I play open-handed but I´ve never moved the ride, so if I need to groove on the ride I´ll lead with my right hand, if I groove on the hi-hat then I lead with my left.

This has lead me to practice most of the time twice as usual. If I practice a new groove I need to learn to lead with both hands, which sometimes can be a bit frustrating and time consuming.

So, my point is:

What do you guys think? Should I permanently move the ride to the left and never lead with my right hand again? Should I keep everything as it is and play ambidextrously (what a word :p)? Or should I focus on faster improvements with my right and go back to cross-handed playing?

BTW, I´m naturally right handed, but since I started playing open, I´ve found a new language to express some of my ideas, but sometimes I feel like leading with my right anyway because it also feels right. But, at the same time I think "why do I depend on this when I should play this leading with my left" (it feels like cheating).

I´ve always read some great ideas and suggestions on this forum, so I hope you can help out to decide guys.

Thanks!

I am mystified as to why you would ever keep the ride on the right if you are playing open. You have to relearn everything - I'm sure this helps with ambidexterity, etc., but you have to devote a lot of time and effort to training both hands to do what one hand could do.

I suggest you go whole-hog on open playing and move your ride to the left. I have played like this for nearly 30 years as I have never played crossed, always open. If you still don't like it, then switch to crossed, but at least play open the proper way before you ditch it.

By the way, I am right handed and I like having my dominant hand on the snare. Having the snare, ride and hats close together opens amazing possibilities.

Also, the drums are the most customizable instrument of all. If you think the ride "belongs" on the right, then you are limiting yourself. Cymbals, drums and percussion belong only and exactly where you need them to be.
 
Why not move the hats toward the center of the kit so that either hand can lead and there are never any crossing restrictions? There are many "formerly known as open handed" players that have done this and love always being open handed no matter which hand is leading.
 
Thank you guys for all your recommendations and opinions.

What I'm doing right now is, I'm playing as I did before I started playing the left side of the kit with my left. In other words, crossing my right stick to play the hi-hats BUT, at this point I'm doing it to see how it feels to go back to that. So far, it doesn't feel as comfortable as I´d have expected, well that would be a con let's say, but there's a great pro too, I can play lots of grooves without hesitating for a milisecond (or is it a 64th note or somethin' :p).

Anyway, I still have to play both ways to make a decision based on how I feel switching from one approach to the other.

One more thing, what Bill just mentioned is something I haven't considered in the past, and I think this is the moment to try it out as well, although it's pretty hard to get a remote hi hat pedal on this side of the world, but for now I'll probably just use the regular stand to see how I can manage to play with that setup.

To address what Todd said: you're right about the hi hats being in the middle of the action, I can't see myself taking the ride from the right, because it feels my left side is way too cramped.

Deathmetalconga: I really admire that being a righty, you moved your lead cymbals to the left, and having played a lot with my right on the snare, it definitely feels great. But as I said above, and this comes from some situations where I played with the ride on the left, it just doesn't feel good for me. When I said the ride belongs to the right side, is more of an idea that I got once I tried moving the ride around. I don't even like it below the second tom's height, it has to be higher and facing towards me. This is probably one of the things I'm really convinced about my setup. You're right about me not playing open handed the proper way, and that's why I'm started thinking about going back to crossed.

Kae Vin: the video is great! But when Robert crossed his hands to play the snare on the right side, my own arms started aching, until he started playing open.
 
It's interesting to hear everyone opinions, I started playing open handed from the begining with high hat and ride on left, and leading with left hand. I've played on African Dunduns for a few years with left hand on the Bell so it seemed natural to play this way when i then started to play kit, crossed handed never even occured to me.
So far i've not found any limitations but I'd be interested to hear of any that may crop up in this style of playing ?
 
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