Even out both sides of the body

O

OldNoob

Member
I'm a beginner. I have not formed deep set habits yet. I am right handed, I drum open-handed on a right-handed setup, that's what feels the most natural. In the beginning I tried to cross my hands to hit the hats with the right but it feels all wrong and difficult. Open-handed feels easy and my timekeeping is much better. Ride is on the left. No issues.
Now... my left hi hat foot sucks the worst of all five limbs. I assume it's because it gets used less, thus develops at a slower rate.
I thought of something to help develop it faster: configure the kit left handed, and put the left foot on BD duties for a while to develop strength and fine motor skills faster. I'd cross my hands to hit the hats and ride with my left...Has someone ever tried something like that?
I do enjoy the right handed configuration. This would just be a temporary measure to turbocharge left foot development.
Is this ridiculous? I don't have any ego tied to this idea and would rather see it shut down here than reconfig the kit for nothing! Thanks!
 
As a beginner, your concern should be developing a foundation of proper timekeeping, technique and musicality.

Can you easily play along to the music you like and does it sound good when recorded?

If the answer is not a definite “yes” then you are way too early in this journey to start messing with that kind of thing.

As Tommy Igoe says; “The drum kit is an asymmetrical instrument”. Concerns about evening out the limbs are largely manufactured. I can tell you that most of the greats could not play backwards. Why would they?
 
At 8 or so I first sat behind a kit and found it odd to hit the hihat across my body. I'm supposed to hit it like that because I'm right handed? Sounds like the 2nd choice solution to me.

Open handed seemed the obvious approach. Anyway, I hit my head with the sticks and the adults wanted me to stop making noise while they all shared a cigarette. So that was my only drum experience for the next 18 years. I don't play open handed.

I'd get a double pedal and just kick with the left at some point in your training.
 
OldNoob said:
configure the kit left handed, and put the left foot on BD duties for a while to develop strength and fine motor skills faster. I'd cross my hands to hit the hats and ride with my left...
Is this ridiculous?
Click to expand...
I'd say "yes". The hi-hat functions very differently than the bass drum in terms of foot action. There's much more feathering and feel to the hi-hat. It's virtually an instrument all by itself. Your left foot/leg need full immersion.
 
Your HH foot is weak. To me it's simple in concept. Focus on your HH foot without reconfiguring the kit.

I recommend heel down hi hat work, at least to develop your muscles. Why do I recommend heel down? Control. IMO it's the ultimate control method for the hi hat. Plus it's hard to do, only because there is muscle burning to contend with. Which is lessened and eventually eliminated once the muscles develop over time.

If you don't want to do heel down HH, your HH foot still needs laser focus to improve. Nothing wrong with reconfiguring to put your HH foot in the spotlight.

You have 5 limbs?
 
larryace said:
I recommend heel down hi hat work, at least to develop your muscles. Why do I recommend heel down? Control. IMO it's the ultimate control method for the hi hat. Plus it's hard to do, only because there is muscle burning to contend with. Which is lessened and eventually eliminated once the muscles develop over time.
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Thanks! I've only ever played heel down until recently when I decided to try heel up on the BD for more speed and consistency over time, but in general I still feel better heel down with both feet. So I'll keep working on improving that for HH then!
larryace said:
If you don't want to do heel down HH, your HH foot still needs laser focus to improve. Nothing wrong with reconfiguring to put your HH foot in the spotlight.
Click to expand...
Got it...I'll give HH prime location until it's better.
larryace said:
You have 5 limbs?
Click to expand...
I'm scared to lookup what a Freudian slip like this could mean!
 
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I'd like to hear a 3 armed drummer play something cool
 
take an exercise page of quarter notes with rests.
keep even time with limb 1 say Ride hand and execute the quarters with your left foot (limb..4)

001.JPG002.JPG003.JPG

for those interested
that is Gary Chaffee's 1st Book- from copyright 1972
Alfred Music Co. Inc. NY
 
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it is not a bad idea to work out all of your limbs as you go - there are quite a few "money beats" that require all 4 limbs to be evenly proficient at their task

when I was younger, I made a "rule" for my self that "anything rhythmically or rudimentaly that I was working on with my hands, I would also do with my feet"

** I have always had a double bass pedal**

- page 8, exercises 1-8 of the Stone Stick controll book was a god send for my feet, and was very fun to learn

- I learned all of my rudiments with my feet, but obviously can not play some of them as fast as my hands can

- I also took a few summers to set up my kit left handed and play along to stuff that way

I am in the (small) camp who believes that no practice is bad practice - as long as you are using good technique and a metronome
 
If you learn to keep time with hat clicks your playing will become markedly better. Watch any jazz drummer playing time to see a steady hats on 2 & 4. Lots of rock drummers will play chicks on 1 & 3. Once you start looking for it you'll see it everywhere, and that freedom and coordination will pay off in many ways.
So that's what I think you should work on imho: have the hat going all the time, and when it's closed your leg should still be bouncing. You'll sound much tighter.
 
OldNoob said:
I'm a beginner. I have not formed deep set habits yet. I am right handed, I drum open-handed on a right-handed setup, that's what feels the most natural. In the beginning I tried to cross my hands to hit the hats with the right but it feels all wrong and difficult. Open-handed feels easy and my timekeeping is much better. Ride is on the left. No issues.
Now... my left hi hat foot sucks the worst of all five limbs. I assume it's because it gets used less, thus develops at a slower rate.
I thought of something to help develop it faster: configure the kit left handed, and put the left foot on BD duties for a while to develop strength and fine motor skills faster. I'd cross my hands to hit the hats and ride with my left...Has someone ever tried something like that?
I do enjoy the right handed configuration. This would just be a temporary measure to turbocharge left foot development.
Is this ridiculous? I don't have any ego tied to this idea and would rather see it shut down here than reconfig the kit for nothing! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Don't overcomplicate it. You're a beginner, so your left foot is going to be weak.

In fact, even when you gain more experience, your left foot is still going to be the weaker link. It's just used much less than the other limbs.

Just listen to what Jeff Almeyda says and play some music!
 
Giving specific technical advice to anyone without seeing or hearing them play is really not ideal.

Can the OP play a steady beat along to a song? Does it sound smooth? He might be pretty good, he might be unsteady. None of us have any idea so how could we give speciifc advice?

That's the goal of drumming, to be able to play music. And beginners need positive feedback early,

He says his left foor is weak. Let me let you in on a secret, if he is a beginner then ALL of his limbs are weak.

I recommend getting a good teacher or at least taking a few lessons with one.
 
And for a beginner, the left foot doesn't matter. Learn about rhythm, learn some basic things to do with the hands and bass drum, use the left foot to hold the hihat shut. The fundamentals of the drum set don't involve a lot of left foot activity.

You also can't completely go by what feels comfortable-- what feels comfortable to an untrained person is often wrong. If long term development is the goal.
 
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