Question about how wide to keep your Hi-Hats.

[Drummertist]

My Hi-Hats are very close together in order so that when I completely let up my foot, it makes a nice clean *tsssssss* sound.

The thing is, almost all drummers (that I've seen) keep their hats wide open. Do they just learn technique in order to get the *tssssss* sound or do they like a more wide open sound (which I hate). The hats are one thing on my drums that I haven't worked on in the three years I've been drummin'.

Thanks.

[DillingerEscp]

My Hi-Hats are very close together in order so that when I completely let up my foot, it makes a nice clean *tsssssss* sound.

The thing is, almost all drummers (that I've seen) keep their hats wide open. Do they just learn technique in order to get the *tssssss* sound or do they like a more wide open sound (which I hate). The hats are one thing on my drums that I haven't worked on in the three years I've been drummin'.

Thanks.

sheesh man, start workin on those hats dude !

Umm, but Im just like you, I keep them real close so I dont have to press the pedal down a ridiculous amount to get a closed hat.. but just a simple lift will give me that good open hat sound... "tssssss", as you described it.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Find a height where they sound good when played with your foot. Then adjust the bolt under the bottom cymbal so that both cymbals have some contact and you'll still have the ssssss you love so much.

[NUTHA JASON]

no extremes.

twice to three times the width of a stick works well for me.

[Stu_Strib]

no extremes.

twice to three times the width of a stick works well for me.


Steve Gadd respectfully disagrees ;-)

I TRY to keep my hats open wider, because all the greats do, but it is something that is hard to relearn. I'm with Nutha, in about 2 to 3 stick widths, but that does limit the amount of sloshy splashing a talented left footer can accomplish!

[boomboomda]

I keep mine pretty close too. About one stick size (5B) width.

[smoggrocks]

my first teacher always recommended 2-3 inches apart, for versatility in different playing sitches. controlling the level of ssssss and slosh were part of the challenge he wanted me to master.

i probably keep them at about 2 inches or a little more, for the added slosh factor when desired.

[Drummertist]

Well, I guess it's never too late to get started workin' on my hats.

[Auger]

For me, it depends on what I'm playing but, generally, they've gotten farther apart over the years. My main reason is not because I like to play them wide open with the stick, but because, to me anyway, it feels better for splashing them with the foot when there's a little space. I might leave them closer if I was playing with a lot of double pedal.

[DrumProgressive]

I set my hats up exaclty like yours, that way i can do heavy double bas grooves on the hats and stil be able to play funk beats with some "ssshhh's" in it as you describe them =)

[Casper "DrPowerStroke" Paludan]

Mine are wide open. As Stu said, Gadd does this, so if him and I have nothing else in common, let this be it..DPS

[sLarkin20]

I keep them as close together as I can while getting a clean "chick" sound when playing with my foot, and a sloshy type sound when playing it open. If I put it any more open then it needs to be, when I play them open it rings way to much after each hit and it almost sounds like some crash cymbals. If you play them open a lot It sounds better to keep them closer together. Mine are probably half an inch apart.

[incubotic]

no extremes.

twice to three times the width of a stick works well for me.

Same here, I like 2 stick widths worth of space. It lets me get real precise with the sound I want in accents and such.

[beatsMcGee]

2-3 sticks width, so that i can rip off stewart copeland on a regular basis.

[drumbum]

that's a really good question. i had wondered about that for a long, long time because i kept seeing that it was something the pro's did. but, whenever i tried it, it would make my hi-hats sound bad. eventually, i just kept them wide and practiced with them like that and , little by little, got used to playing with them open wide. it just takes practice like everything else on the drums. plus, you can get a lot of different sounds with them wide open...

[Capitaine Quebec]

I play my hat that when i keep them closed, the pedal is a the same heigth as my bass drum pedal. My teacher told me to try that and it work, depending on the mark of you hi-hat stand, the open hihat range will vary

[jangus]

Mine are wide open. Theres this thing below the hats called a pedal. You can adjust the hats when you need to. If you want a nice sizzle you can do that pretty easily. Just a tiny bit of work.

[must.warn.them]

I would say it deppends on the song. I keep mine nearly shut for the sssssssss sound out of general lazyness. (who wants to hold your foot in the sloshy spot all song long...not this guy!)
If I have a song that I know uses something different it takes less than two seconds to adjust.
Thats just me though. Of course I do have a double pedal set up.......but yeah as I recall I have always done this...man am I lazy.

[Steady Freddy]

Mine are set wide open. I like the foot board angle to be the same as the bass drum pedal when the hats are in the closed position. It just feels more stable.

[Ekim]

Probably about an inch wide for me, maybe more. I like to have the option of having that wide open sloshy sound.

[syaoran05]

i used to set the hats really really close to each other to have that sweet "ssssss" sound... specially that i play beats that have open hi hats all through out and i dont want the clangy noise of wider-opened hats, and it prevents the clangy sound when i play open hats in closed hat patterns... but now i like to make my hats bark so i widened it up a bit. its around half an inch to 3/4 inches wide. its small enough to minimize the clangy open hat sounds, and wide enough to intentionally make them bark. its got a really nice sizzle when you just let go of the hi hat pedal [without hitting it with a stick, of course], it makes a nice soft crash sound then a little sizzle :P for me 2-3 inches are too big except when i need to play jazz grooves, or anything that requires lots of chick from the hats.

[justingrillz]

I would say it deppends on the song. I keep mine nearly shut for the sssssssss sound out of general lazyness. (who wants to hold your foot in the sloshy spot all song long...not this guy!)
If I have a song that I know uses something different it takes less than two seconds to adjust.
Thats just me though. Of course I do have a double pedal set up.......but yeah as I recall I have always done this...man am I lazy.


yeah i agree with him.. thats what i do..it all depends on the song. especially if you have double kick.

[Drummer Karl]

It is easier to play with a wide open hi-hat I think. I personally love to have them wide open (around 1 inch). espeacially in jazz it is good to have them wide open because you have to play them often with the foot...it is just easier.

Karl

[millerdakiller]

I play wiht my hats sitting on eachother because I hate the way open hats sound. I like everything to sound clean and tight, and that just doesn't work for me. But it's all preference. It's probably better technically to keep them wide a part but I never use them like that so I don't bother.

[hauk]

i keep mine fairly close together. i like that loose sound

[Ekim]

Well if you keep them really close together, how can you ever get the really big "schlurp" sound? Or whatever it's "officially" called.

[Kaz]

i personally just learn to use my feet correctly and get the height i want. i enjoy having both options at the expenditure of a few centimeters of foot movement.

[Fur drummer]

I keep mine an inch apart. That is where they sound the best. I can get a nice "chick" sound or "splash" sound at that distance.

[aahznightsky]

I keep mine wide enough so that if i lift my foot up and hit the top cymbal, the two don't hit each other. I don't widen anymore ... they're probably not more than an inch or an inch and a half apart. So it gives me the wide open sound if desired, and I don't feel like my foot is traveling down an elevator to play the hats with my foot.

[jackothedrummer1]

I tighten the clutch to the hi-hats after I have pushed it the same distance as my bass pedals.

Meaning, I take my right and left foot and push the pedals down until my beater touches the bass head, then I tighten the clutch.

[photon]

Probably no more then a quarter to half an inch for me. However lately in practicing my lessons I like to adjust them wider for time keeping purposes. My teacher is really trying to drill that into me but I still get lazy and forget sometimes.

[scabo0o]

what i do to make it feel as natural as it can get is just put your foot down on the hi-hat not forcing it...just the weight of your foot and when it stop tighten it up again...perfect

[Class A Drummer]

I keep my hats far enough apart to keep that ssssssssss sound from happening, but i dont like having to push to far to close them cuz i do alot of left foot with jazz and rock.

[intooder]

I keep my hats just wide enough so that riding with my left foot doesn't take effort (this to me is key) which I tend to do heel up.

When I'm not riding them I tend to open them (for accents and such) heel down, and having them too wide open doesn't feel/sound right.

Additionally, I've found it very hard to heel-toe on my hats if they're too close together.

In my opinion, your setting should be such that all of these can be accomplished with minimal effort.

Another point to note is that on most basic hi-hat pedals (ones that you can't adjust the spring tension), the wider apart the hats are in open position, the greater the spring tension when in closed position. So another consideration would be how tight you like that pedal to feel.

On a side note: I remember Bonzo (from the LZ DVD) having his hats real wide open, and when he rode them it looked like he was bulldozing all over the pedal with his left foot. It just seemed like a lot of effort. It sure worked for him (with his leg power and all), probably wanting a loud sound from his hats like everything else.

[syaoran05]

It is easier to play with a wide open hi-hat I think. I personally love to have them wide open (around 1 inch). espeacially in jazz it is good to have them wide open because you have to play them often with the foot...it is just easier.

Karl

i think i know how to solve this...

*adjust accordingly*

when you need the chick or bark or that rough sizzle or that fast crash or high volume set it wide open about 1-3 inches whichever is most comfortable for you.

then when you need that soft sssssss sound or if you dont want to step on your pedal for the whole song, set it real close.

and set it when you need it.

you dont need to set it in only one setting. [of course some people prefer only one setting, and the most versatile and logical setting is open wide, and that needs practice]

that's why the clutch is there dude.

[torben]

My Hi-Hats are very close together in order so that when I completely let up my foot, it makes a nice clean *tsssssss* sound.

The thing is, almost all drummers (that I've seen) keep their hats wide open. Do they just learn technique in order to get the *tssssss* sound or do they like a more wide open sound (which I hate). The hats are one thing on my drums that I haven't worked on in the three years I've been drummin'.

Thanks.

I tend to keep my hi-hats really close together as well, i think it's strange how some drummers keep them sooooo open.

[rendezvous_drummer]

I keep my Hats 2-3 stick widths apart so that I can hit them when open and then close them quickly. I just lower them a bit to get a nice tssssss sound.

[jonnodrummer]

i have my hi hats pretty close - not even a sticks width apart.

this is so that i can easily press down to get the sound i want.

but when playing some songs where u play the hihat with foot a lot i open my hihats a bit more so that i can press down harder to get a louder foot chick.

[fijjibo]

There is this wonderful thing on the clutch called a wing-nut, which means you can adjust the clutch for different styles of music.

Lol, I joke though.

But like many things on drums, you can adjust them to suit your needs in a particular situation.