Teaching Open Handed

[k3ng]

Ok, I'm taking on one of my biggest teaching challenges.

Firstly, I'm right handed, playing crossed with trad in my left hand.

I'm attempting to teach my left handed cousin on my own drum kit, teaching him to play open handed matched on a righty kit.

So, I've never actually tackled teaching open handed to a left hander. Or a right hander. I've only ever asked my righty students to try playing open handed as an exercise.

So I really need some help on those of you who play/teach open handed. I'm a complete idiot on this and need some help. I think I can teach rhythmic patterns quite easily, but it's the fills and stuff that really bonkers me.

So ground basics explained as easily as possible, from simple stickings of simple fills to triplets and applications on the set. Everything open handed related that is approached in even the slightest difference to cross handed playing.

Thanks in advance.

[Bernhard]

i see no reason, why a lefthander should be teached otherwise than a righthander.

By playing a righthanded kit ( ...what i suggest by all means) the lefthanders have so many advantages ... so openhanded playing comes in with no pain in for free....

Bernhard

[Wavelength]

You are teaching on a "regular" kit, aren't you? The toms are positioned in the same way, and therefore the stickings shouldn't be any different. Most fills are naturally played open-handed.

[Jeff Almeyda]

Helpful hint from Dom Famularo: Lead all fills with the right hand when playing open handed on a righty kit.

[bigfatbobby]

Helpful hint from Dom Famularo: Lead all fills with the right hand when playing open handed on a righty kit.

That's nonsense. There's no rule of which hand to lead any fills. If you'd always lead with your right then you'll exclude 50% of all the fills you should lead with your left and your coordination and technique will get limited. If you should lead with your right on fills while playing open handed, then I guess you should lead fills with your left when your leading a groove with your right; I have never heard anyone claim THAT before.

Felix

[MattRitter]

Hi, K3ng

Like most drummers, I spent many years playing and teaching cross-handed. About 3 and a half years ago, I started playing and teaching open-handed...not only open-handed, but truly ambidextrous (left hand for hi-hat, right hand for ride cymbal). It was the best drumming decision I ever made. I have improved 100% as a drummer. My students are learning to drum much faster and more easily than my previous generation of students.

Here's how it works:

a) Start out having them play basic "rock hands"- 8th notes on hi-hat, snare on 2 and 4. This is done with left hand on hats, right hand on snare. Then, have them play "rock hands" on the ride cymbal - right hand on ride, left on snare. Have them practice switching from one side to the other every few measures without losing the basic "rock hands" groove. This doesn't take long, usually just one or 2 lessons. Make sure to do this along with music.

b) Show them how to make a note on the bass drum. Have them play the "rock hands" exercise above, but now with bass on 1 and 3. They're now playing a basic rock beat with complete ambidexterity. Again, this just takes another lesson or 2 to get comfortable with.

c) Have them practice playing both versions of the rock beat while crashing every measure on beat 1. It's best to have 2 crash cymbals, one on the right and one on the left. That way, they can crash the left cymbal with the left hand and the right cymbal with the right hand.

d) When they can do all of the above with music, add some fills. A nice one to use is a basic 16th note fill starting from beat 4. So the fill would be 4e&a. Have them play a rock beat on the hi-hat (open-handed, of course). Now, if they want to crash the left crash after the fill, then they start the fill with the left hand (LRLR- crash with Left). If they want to crash the right crash after the fill, they start the fill with the right (RLRL- crash with Right). Makes sense, doesn't it? Same principle can apply to a 16th note triplet fill from beat 4. To crash the left crash, the sticking is LRLRLR- crash with Left. To crash the right crash, the sticking is RLRLRL- crash with Right. Whenever they come out of a fill and crash on beat 1 with the right hand, they pick up on the hi-hat with the left hand on the & of 1, and they keep going with the beat. Now, stop and start the whole exercise over having them play on the ride cymbal. Once they can do all of this, have them keep the beat going while switching back and forth from the hi-hat to the ride every several measures (still doing the fills and crashes).

Hope the explanations above make sense in writing. Trust me that this system works. I've been using it with all of my students since early 2004. This past week, I taught 29 private lessons. That is pretty typical for me, so I have seen this approach in action countless times. The results are incredible. Little by little, we keep building on the vocabulary of the student in this ambidextrous approach described above. After a year or so, they are pretty darn good at the basics of rock drumming, and they are MUCH more flexible, balanced, and comfortable than a typical student of their experience level. Sometimes their peers will say "Hey, how come you're not crossing your arms?!! You're not playing correctly!!!" In response, my students can say "Oh, you mean THIS?" and they can play cross-handed for a moment. It's pretty simple for them since my approach has them working on leading with the left hand AND the right hand. The point is that they can do EITHER. I believe this is the way to the future of drumming. Before dismissing it, try it for 6 months and see for yourself what I'm talking about!

Best of luck!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[King Of Drums]

Helpful hint from Dom Famularo: Lead all fills with the right hand when playing open handed on a righty kit. I don't agree with that. I've just started playing open handed maybe three weeks ago and some fills are a lot easier to do leading with your left hand. You can play plenty of cool fills leading with your left hand that you would have to cross your hands like mad if you were leading with your right. Also right now I'm trying to practice leading all fills with my left hand just to make it stronger. Once it is a lot stronger I will do some leading with my right and some with my left. If you do this than you can avoid crossing hands a lot. I will still practice cross sticking patterns though because it looks cool and gives you better co-ordination around the kit.

[Deltadrummer]

It is funny that given the choice, many students will put their left hand on the HH. Hey, it's there so it makes sense.

The truths about open-handed v. cross stick playing.

a) cross sticking is bad technique; but it can always be fun and looks good.
b) open handed playing allows you to play louder on the snare and also to play around the toms more readily.
c) many beats and concepts are easier to play and sound better with open handed playing.
d) many beats sound better with a cross stick.
e) open handed playing can help a student with difficult coordination exercises because it forces her/him to 'rethink' what s/he is doing; it accesses the creative part of the brain and dispels old habits.
f) open handed playing helps to strengthen the left hand ;but you may have a problem playing an upbeat samba or hard bop piece that way, or something like Funky Drummer.
g) Listen to the sound you are making and think about what sound you want to create; then worry about the sticking.

[MattRitter]

open handed playing helps to strengthen the left hand ;but you may have a problem playing an upbeat samba or hard bop piece that way, or something like Funky Drummer.


Actually, it is a misconception that fast or complex hi-hat rhythms must be played with one's "dominant" hand. Many incredible drummers are left-handed; we just don't realize it because most of them follow the old tradition of playing the hi-hat with the right hand. Many years ago, I worked in the office of a very famous drum school. At that time, 4 of our most popular teachers were left-handed. These guys crossed their arms and played the hats with their right, so I'm sure everyone thought they were right-handed. In reality, they were left-handed guys leading with their NONdominant hand! And believe me, these guys could play samba and bop astonishingly well. It just goes to show you that it all depends on how you practice!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[middleman]

I can play open handed a little bit. My goal is to be really efficient within the next year or under. Blessings........

[Deltadrummer]

Actually, it is a misconception that fast or complex hi-hat rhythms must be played with one's "dominant" hand. Many incredible drummers are left-handed; we just don't realize it because most of them follow the old tradition of playing the hi-hat with the right hand. Many years ago, I worked in the office of a very famous drum school. At that time, 4 of our most popular teachers were left-handed. These guys crossed their arms and played the hats with their right, so I'm sure everyone thought they were right-handed. In reality, they were left-handed guys leading with their NONdominant hand! And believe me, these guys could play samba and bop astonishingly well. It just goes to show you that it all depends on how you practice!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

What I meant to say was that you may never be able to play really fast with the left hand. Many players can't play these types of grooves with the right hand. I can do Rock and Roll open handed. People really aren't too impressed on auditions; they look at me like I have two heads. But I've been playing open handedly for two decades and still do not feel comfortable with a fast bop or samba. If I were a professional player, I may have gotten to that point. It also is a matter of the technique you are using; but for me it is more important that your groove feels 'right' for lack of a better term, than that you are doing it a certain way.

[Dibalo Jonze]

When I started playing open-handed rock&funk beats, I found that the overall biggest challenge was that after years of playing as a righty, my RH and and RF worked in unison more often than not

The best exercise for me was practicing single-stroke rolls (leading with the left of course) with right footed bass drum notes on downbeats, over and over. Once I was able to disassociate the right hand from working with the right foot it freed up the RH to play all sorts of offbeat 1/16ths in rock&funk beats while the LH and RF worked together on the 1/8 notes. Over time, playing this way developed my LH strength and enabled me to play in many styles open-handed but I first had to internalize the LH on the ONE and freeing the RH from RF.

If your cousin is left handed, then single stroke rolls should come more naturally anyways and all RH fills easily transcribe to being LH fills (although sticks can often get in the way playing down the toms), but if your a righty trying to make the switch I hope my advice helps and keep in mind, learning to lead with the left can be like learning to play all over again.

[k3ng]

Thanks MattRitter for that great post.

The thing I'm a little confused about are the fills that have right handed stickings, for example a 16th fill going down the toms, RL(snare)RL(small tom)RL(mid tom)RL(floor tom) like what Dibalo mentioned above.

So does that mean that certain fills have to remain as a right handed sticking?

And if so, what happens to fills that, say, start on the 'e' and 'a' of a set of 16ths, example -

1 & 2 &a 3e&a 4e&a, bold section being the fill mentioned above going down the toms with 3 strokes on the snare initially. I would normally play that with my left hand starting the fill, LRL(snare) RL(tom) etc etc.

How does that apply into a left hand on the high hat approach? Surely the fill has to start on the right hand then, but then that would be really uncomfortable going down the toms.

I hope I'm making sense. If not ask away, and I hope I can explain my question further.

[MattRitter]

What I meant to say was that you may never be able to play really fast with the left hand. Many players can't play these types of grooves with the right hand.

Yes, I agree- many people have trouble playing fast regardless of which hand they're using. Some people are simply faster than others. My point is that it has very little to do with left versus right. I know this may seem hard to believe at first. We are programmed to think that it's much harder to play fast if leading with one's nondominant hand. I used to think that myself. What I've discovered living in NY is that many incredible drummers who play like righties are actually left-handed! It's incredible but true- many drummers who cross over to play the hi-hat with their right hand are actually left-handed people when they do anything besides drumming! They started crossing over to play the hi-hat with their right hand because they saw someone do that when they were first learning. Some of the fastest, most amazing drummers I know are lefties who cross over to lead with their right. I don't feel at liberty to give their names here, but believe me that it's true. So, if a lefty can play incredibly fast with their right hand, then a righty should be able to play incredibly fast with their left. Again, I think it all comes down to what we practice...and perhaps what we believe is possible.

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[MattRitter]

Hey, K3ng

Good follow-up questions. What you are talking about is sometimes called "orchestration." This refers to the actual sounds we are hitting, rather than the rhythm itself. So a simple fill like 3e&a4e&a can be "orchestrated" in many different ways.
(SD=snare drum, ST=small tom, MT=middle tom, FT=floor tom)
For example, there is the classic SD-SD-SD-SD-FT-FT-FT-FT. Or we could do another classic: SD-SD-ST-ST-MT-MT-FT-FT. We could also do a less common orchestration such as SD-SD-SD-ST-ST-MT-MT-FT. And so on. The possibilities are endless.

So...with all of that said...certain orchestrations are easier to do with left hand lead, and certain orchestrations are easier to do with right hand lead. Many of the "classic" orchestrations will be easiest to do with right hand lead. That's because those fills (like SD-SD-ST-ST-MT-MT-FT-FT) were invented and made popular by drummers who were leading with their right hand. So to recreate those fills, it'll probably be easiest for us to lead them with our right hand. No problem there. When you need those "classic" orchestrations, then simply lead those particular fills with the right hand.

However, by leading with the left hand and going around the drums, you will automatically end up sounding very creative because you will stumble upon numerous uncommon orchestrations. 3e&a4e&a might end up being SD-SD-SD-ST-ST-MT-MT-FT (mentioned above), or SD-ST-ST-ST-ST-MT-MT-MT, or even SD-FT-FT-FT-MT-MT-ST-ST (coming UP the toms!). Try these orchestrations leading with the right hand and you will find them VERY unnatural...just like some of the "classic" orchestrations are unnatural if you lead with the left. So, if you get equally comfortable starting fills with the right hand AND the left hand, you will have all of the classic orchestrations covered, plus you will have a rich vocabulary of unusual ones as well.

When I first take a student through the steps laid out in my previous post, I simplify things by having them do all fills on the snare. That way, they can just focus on getting comfortable with the mechanics of leading with either hand. We only start playing around with various orchestrations once the basic mechanics are in place.

Your question about starting the fill on "e" or "a" is a great one. It shows that you really understood my previous post; otherwise, you wouldn't have discovered the "e" and "a" hitch. Yes, when playing an 8th note groove on the hi-hat (with the left hand, of course), it makes most sense to start the fill with the right hand if the fill begins on an "e" or an "a." As explained above, this will limit the kinds of orchestrations you can do. But that's normal. If we play an 8th note groove on the ride and start a fill on "e" or "a," it makes most sense to start it with the left. THIS TOO will limit the possible orchestrations, and yet no one complains about this.

Finally, imagine you are playing an 8th note groove on the hi-hat and you want to start a fill on "e" or "a." But imagine that you NEED to do one of the "classic" orchestrations because the song truly calls for it. There are 3 possible options:

1) Stop the 8th note groove an 8th note early before going into the fill. For example:
1 & 2 & 3 (don't play "&") a4e&a. This leaves enough time that you can easily start the fill with either hand.

2) You could always start the fill with a double stroke. So a4e&a would be played RRLRL.

3) If you know in advance that you need a particular fill with a particular "classic" orchestration, you can play cross-handed for this song or for a section of the song. Remember, the benefit of the approach that I outlined is that it teaches a drummer to lead with EITHER hand. My students can play open-handed OR cross-handed because they are getting constant practice leading with both hands. They end up being flexible and having options.

Hope this answers your questions. Best of luck. Take it from here, and see what you discover on your own!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[k3ng]

Thanks MattRitter!

Appreciate the info very very much. I think that clears up a couple of doubts that I have for now. I guess I'll dive into it and if anything comes up I'll be back here again.

[MattRitter]

Thanks MattRitter!

Appreciate the info very very much. I think that clears up a couple of doubts that I have for now. I guess I'll dive into it and if anything comes up I'll be back here again.

My pleasure! If you ever want to contact me again, feel free to email me directly through my website. I've been on the forum quite a bit lately, but that's not always the case. I wouldn't want to miss a post if it were directly addressed to me. The safest bet is to send me a regular email. Best of luck!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[Deathmetalconga]

"However, by leading with the left hand and going around the drums, you will automatically end up sounding very creative because you will stumble upon numerous uncommon orchestrations."

Matt, that is very true. I have played open handed for 24 years and I love it. Thanks for sharing so much information and I've learned a lot reading your exchanges here. I firmly believe that if you play like everyone else, you will sound like everyone else.

I play left hand hats and ride. I find it unusual that you have students play left hand hats and right hand ride - since most ride and hat patterns are identical, doesn't this require an extraordinary effort to cross-train the hands? Have you ever thought of putting a ride cymbal on the left, near the hats, and seeing what would happen? I have my ride just a few inches from my hats and it's the greatest thing for laying down great hat/ride/snare patterns with the left hand, freeing the right hand for snare/tom/crash patterns.

[MattRitter]

Hey, Deathmetalconga

Thanks for the positive feedback on my posts. I understand your perspective when you ask your question about "cross training." Yes, it seems like it would take a lot of extra time and effort to learn everything two ways. However, this is one of those times when the reality is not quite as obvious as one would think. It seems logical that it would take twice as long to learn the same pattern two different ways (right hand lead and left hand lead). I used to think that too. Actually, it isn't the case. What really happens is this: The student starts by spending some time learning the pattern one way (left lead or right lead). Then, they find that they can learn it much more quickly the reverse way! Sometimes within a few minutes! It never takes NEARLY as long as learning it the first way. I know this sounds hard to believe, but it's true. I wish I were a brain scientist so I could understand exactly why it works this way.

If you are skeptical, you don't need to agonize over it. You can run a simple test yourself to see if I'm what I'm saying is true. Here's how the test works: Find a complex groove to learn- something really challenging. David Garibaldi's "Future Sounds" book might be a good place to look. Decide which way you want to learn it first- right hand lead or left hand lead. It doesn't matter which way you choose. Now...use a stopwatch and time yourself from the moment you first see the pattern until you can effectively play it with all of the accents, etc. Once you have it down, take note of how long it took you. Maybe it will have taken you 20 minutes. Maybe it will have taken you 2 hours. Either way, take note of it. Now, here comes the fun part. Time yourself learning it the reverse way. I predict that it will take a fraction of the time it took to learn it initally.

I'm not saying that a person can play ambidextrously without ever practicing it. I'm just saying that it doesn't take NEARLY twice as long to learn, like people think it does. Again, find out for yourself. Run the experiment, and see what you discover. There's no teacher like experience!

So, to sum up, my students can easily do as you suggest and put an additional ride on the left. In fact, sometimes we do that. Why not? Remember, my students can lead equally well with either hand. In this way, they have more options than the typical drummer. Because of the phenomenon described in the paragraphs above, developing this flexibility doesn't take much extra effort or time...so why not go for it? Again, I know I am asking you to believe something that sounds incredible. I would not have believed it myself...but I have seen it with my own eyes during thousands of drum lessons over the past few years.

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[dea]

I chose the happy medium. The reason is that it is not necessary to play completely open handed to acquire the benefits of your body's natural 50/50 limb displacement. All one needs to do is arrange the kit a bit so that it distributes the kit in a 50/50 fashion.

With that, I ended up with a blob of toms, cymbals and fx to my left, and a blob of toms, cymbals and fx to the right, and my hat in front of my snare just off of the center axis. My ride is just to the right of my hat.

The benefits of this configuration over the total open handed'ness, or the traditional setup is that my hat+snare is completely accessible ( with zero limitations ) by both hands. Hence, I don't distinguish between a lead and non-lead hand.

The only restriction with this is that I only have one ride ( on the right ). But because I can reach my hat with my left, I can play ride and hat simultaneosly ( and do often ), and never miss that slamming backbeat.

[Deltadrummer]

[QUOTE=Deathmetalconga;360948]"However, by leading with the left hand and going around the drums, you will automatically end up sounding very creative because you will stumble upon numerous uncommon orchestrations."


It doesn't really matter because which pattern you use because any thing can be played in a number of different stickings. If you double the left on the ST, you can play the same patterns below, with a right hand lead. I would agree with Dom. You need to be clear about where you are going when you begin your fill. the smoothest drummers, Rodney Holmes or Joe Morello come to mind, can move around the kit smoothly, in a variety of doubles and singles.

[Wavelength]

I understand your perspective when you ask your question about "cross training." Yes, it seems like it would take a lot of extra time and effort to learn everything two ways. However, this is one of those times when the reality is not quite as obvious as one would think. It seems logical that it would take twice as long to learn the same pattern two different ways (right hand lead and left hand lead). I used to think that too. Actually, it isn't the case. What really happens is this: The student starts by spending some time learning the pattern one way (left lead or right lead). Then, they find that they can learn it much more quickly the reverse way! Sometimes within a few minutes! It never takes NEARLY as long as learning it the first way. I know this sounds hard to believe, but it's true.

That's quite true. I've spent a few moments experimenting with the left hand lead using Future Sounds, Art of Bop Drumming etc..., and the grooves and figures came together pretty quickly. I think the same principle applies to any and all motor skills: once you can mount a bike from your left side, it's easier to learn to mount it from the right side; once you learn how to write with the dominant hand, it gets easier to learn how to write with the weaker hand. It's almost like the left side is learning faster by imitating the right.

[MattRitter]

That's quite true. I've spent a few moments experimenting with the left hand lead using Future Sounds, Art of Bop Drumming etc..., and the grooves and figures came together pretty quickly. I think the same principle applies to any and all motor skills: once you can mount a bike from your left side, it's easier to learn to mount it from the right side; once you learn how to write with the dominant hand, it gets easier to learn how to write with the weaker hand. It's almost like the left side is learning faster by imitating the right.

Exactly!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[Deltadrummer]

That's quite true. I've spent a few moments experimenting with the left hand lead using Future Sounds, Art of Bop Drumming etc..., and the grooves and figures came together pretty quickly. I think the same principle applies to any and all motor skills: once you can mount a bike from your left side, it's easier to learn to mount it from the right side; once you learn how to write with the dominant hand, it gets easier to learn how to write with the weaker hand. It's almost like the left side is learning faster by imitating the right.

Actually, I've found it easier with the open handed playing to do a lot of coordination exercises, Beyond Bop drumming and 4:3 stuff.

[Deathmetalconga]

I'm not saying that a person can play ambidextrously without ever practicing it. I'm just saying that it doesn't take NEARLY twice as long to learn, like people think it does. Again, find out for yourself. Run the experiment, and see what you discover. There's no teacher like experience!

So, to sum up, my students can easily do as you suggest and put an additional ride on the left. In fact, sometimes we do that. Why not? Remember, my students can lead equally well with either hand. In this way, they have more options than the typical drummer. Because of the phenomenon described in the paragraphs above, developing this flexibility doesn't take much extra effort or time...so why not go for it? Again, I know I am asking you to believe something that sounds incredible. I would not have believed it myself...but I have seen it with my own eyes during thousands of drum lessons over the past few years.

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

I understand what you're saying. If you can do something with one hand, it's easier to learn it with the other hand than it is to learn it from the very beginning. I think incorporating the feet complicates it some - the hands have relationships to the feet as well as each other - but not too much. Personally, I think ambidexerity is a great skill, but in my limited practice time, I choose to focus on other things. I play open, left hand hats and ride, and I'm as set in my ways as the most traditional crossed player.

I remember reading about a classical violinist who burned out his left (fingering) hand by playing too much. With some effort, he taught his left hand to bow and his right hand to finger. The knowledge was locked inside his brain and he just had to teach it to his right hand. Hopefully he won't damage his right hand because then he'd be screwed!

[X14Halo]

I have been playing for about 12 years now, and when I started playing in elementary school, my teacher was left handed, so he played open handed. I thought that was the normal way to play as a right hander (and he never corrected me), so I started learning open hand. It wasn't until I started private lessons in 6th grade that I learned the correct way for a right hander to play...So my private teacher had me learn cross-handed, but I was so used to open handed playing that I would play open-handed on my drumkit at home. So here I am many years after all this, and I still play open handed most of the time, because it is the most comfortable to me. I have many cross-handed skills that I learned from my teacher, so I can play that way too. I have the best of both worlds. :) I'd say play whatever is most comfortable for yourself, but also try to learn both playing styles, as it will help your playing dramatically.

[Wavelength]

Leading with both hands to some extent is useful for everyone. For a drummer with an approach similar to that of DMC's, right hand lead (accents with the right hand on the entire kit, ghosts on the snare) will come in handy in solos and fills. For the "regular" drummers, left hand lead on the hi-hat is almost essential in certain samba grooves. Recently I've been working on some samba independence, and to make things more interesting, I've attempted to switch hands on the fly, going from crossed to open and back again. My goal is to "hear" something in my head and be able to play it leading with either hand. So far it's worked pretty well.