Left Foot Independence?

[mead50]

Any good excersises?

Just to keep time with the left foot....I've been told that it will come natural just to start doing it but.......what do i do?

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat?

[sabian0311]

i was naturally left foot independent. but i practice to keep it up to snuff by playing rock beats and single beats that i would usually play with my right foot with my left foot. helps alot.

[sabian0311]

wait are you talking about a hi hat or a double pedal? sorry i was answering as if you were asking about double pedal.

[mead50]

yea hi-hat, sorry i didn't point that out earlier

[mhanon13]

That is my weakness..... left foot independence..... let's say if i am playing the ride with my right hand it would be awesome if i could count 1, 2, 3, 4 with hi hat.. or left foot, but i can just do it on 2, 4 (when usually left hand plays on snare).... i can do it 1, 2, 3, 4 all the time if my bass drum or right foot goes like that too.. but i can not do 1, 2, 3, 4 with my left foot if my right foot is doing something different... this is frustrating for me sometimes... :(

[Wavelength]

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat?

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat. Try working on different hi-hat placements: all quarter notes, 1&3, 2&4, up-beats, all eighth notes... You should also try playing 16th note grooves and play the hi-hat on 16th note up-beats (the "e"s and the "a"s). Then work on playing the hi-hat and adding open hi-hat sounds everywhere. Playing alternating singles on the hi-hat between the lead hand and the hi-hat foot is a great way to improve your accuracy, consistency and the quickness of motion of your foot. Also experiment with the foot splash sound, created by clashing the hats together and immediately releasing the tension off the pedal.

Getting the hi-hat up to speed is a lot of work, but immensely rewarding and very useful. Many drummers seem to completely disregard the plethora of possibilities of the hi-hat, and mastering that particular part of your instrument will definitely give you an individual edge.

[mead50]

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat. Try working on different hi-hat placements: all quarter notes, 1&3, 2&4, up-beats, all eighth notes... You should also try playing 16th note grooves and play the hi-hat on 16th note up-beats (the "e"s and the "a"s). Then work on playing the hi-hat and adding open hi-hat sounds everywhere. Playing alternating singles on the hi-hat between the lead hand and the hi-hat foot is a great way to improve your accuracy, consistency and the quickness of motion of your foot. Also experiment with the foot splash sound, created by clashing the hats together and immediately releasing the tension off the pedal.

Getting the hi-hat up to speed is a lot of work, but immensely rewarding and very useful. Many drummers seem to completely disregard the plethora of possibilities of the hi-hat, and mastering that particular part of your instrument will definitely give you an individual edge.

sweet, thats just the advice that i needed man, thanks a bunch

[dea]

Wavelength hit the nail on the head.

If I may suggest something to try though... If you start by playing a pattern of alternating splash and chup, I believe you will accelerate your learning. For me, I have found that it took more control to alternate between splash and chup than it did to vary the hat positions within a measure, i.e. 1&3 vs. 2&4. I also found - for me at least - that the control acquired from being able to alternate between splash and chup seemed to implicitly help with varying hat positions within a measure.

This may not be the case for you, but it is worth investigating.

[Class A Drummer]

Try playing double bass but lead with the left foot not the right.

Another good one is to use a double pedal or second bass drum, and instead of using your right foot on the bass, use your left.

[mind_drummer]

My left foot is ok but I work some Rick Latham funk stuff from "Advanced funk studies", it has some chart exercise of hi-hat displacement that help alot.

[mind_drummer]

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat. Try working on different hi-hat placements: all quarter notes, 1&3, 2&4, up-beats, all eighth notes... You should also try playing 16th note grooves and play the hi-hat on 16th note up-beats (the "e"s and the "a"s). Then work on playing the hi-hat and adding open hi-hat sounds everywhere. Playing alternating singles on the hi-hat between the lead hand and the hi-hat foot is a great way to improve your accuracy, consistency and the quickness of motion of your foot. Also experiment with the foot splash sound, created by clashing the hats together and immediately releasing the tension off the pedal.

Getting the hi-hat up to speed is a lot of work, but immensely rewarding and very useful. Many drummers seem to completely disregard the plethora of possibilities of the hi-hat, and mastering that particular part of your instrument will definitely give you an individual edge.

Excellent post.

I'm working on that hi-hat splashing and damn that is hard when you're used to keep tight close. I believe the Art of hi-hat (with foot) work is fading away with the new generation of drummers.

[Wavelength]

Try playing double bass but lead with the left foot not the right.

Another good one is to use a double pedal or second bass drum, and instead of using your right foot on the bass, use your left.

I don't think that practicing to play the hi-hat with a bass drum pedal is all that effective. The feel is totally different, and the technique used is also (hopefully) different.

[ChuckSilverman]

I've been working on this groove I learned from a great Brasilian drummer, named Christiano Rocha, from Sao Paulo. I'll try and scan it and post it here or on my site. It's wonderful for LF independence.

One thing you can try, along the lines of working with a Brasilian sounding "thang" is:

In 2/4, play what most drummers would call a "samba" with the right foot (BD). In other words 1...a2..a|1..a2..a

The left foot (HH) plays:

1..a..+.|1..a..+. In essence, a kind of baião (baion) rhythm. I'll write it out in Sibelius and post it either here or on my site.

Chuck

[hitman050]

Wavelength hit the nail on the head.

If I may suggest something to try though... If you start by playing a pattern of alternating splash and chup, I believe you will accelerate your learning. For me, I have found that it took more control to alternate between splash and chup than it did to vary the hat positions within a measure, i.e. 1&3 vs. 2&4. I also found - for me at least - that the control acquired from being able to alternate between splash and chup seemed to implicitly help with varying hat positions within a measure.

This may not be the case for you, but it is worth investigating.

What do you mean by splash and chup?

[aaajn]

I understand this frustration very much. I am a beginner drummer but old enough to get frustrated. My drum teacher always talks about coordination. I play the groove consistenly for a while and bang, either the foot or the hand joins the right foot. Like an electrical short of something. Kind of weird. Appreciate knowing it is not just me and the seasoned guys fight it too.

That is my weakness..... left foot independence..... let's say if i am playing the ride with my right hand it would be awesome if i could count 1, 2, 3, 4 with hi hat.. or left foot, but i can just do it on 2, 4 (when usually left hand plays on snare).... i can do it 1, 2, 3, 4 all the time if my bass drum or right foot goes like that too.. but i can not do 1, 2, 3, 4 with my left foot if my right foot is doing something different... this is frustrating for me sometimes... :(

[Wavelength]

What do you mean by splash and chup?

Splash = an open hi-hat sound produced by closing the hats loosely and immediately opening them, allowing them to resonate after the clash.

Chup = closed hi-hat sound produced by closing the hats firmly with a sharp motion; also known as "chick".

[pasta]

What's really helped my left foot independence is the following patterns:

H=hat with foot, L=left hand, K=kick (substitute R for L if riding with Left hand).
:II =repeat


Spang a lang (on ride) and a triple pattern underneath:

H L K :II (4 times per 4/4 measure)

L K H :II

K H L :II

K L H :II

L H K :II

H K L :II

[jazzin']

Any good excersises?

Just to keep time with the left foot....I've been told that it will come natural just to start doing it but.......what do i do?

Just play basic rock beats on the ride and keep time with the hi-hat?

Man, you've got to do more than just keep time with it if you actually want some independence. Keeping time is a very basic aspect of what your left foot should be able to do without thinking.

Instead of keeping time with it, think of using it as a second snare or a fourth sound (ride cymbal, snare, bass drum, hi hat with foot). Add it in to your beats in whatever style you play to bring in a new sound. The hats can be used in so many great ways that can add fantastic and new sounds that most other players can't be bothered with.

First thing to do would probably be splashes with it. First start by just doing splashes on every quarter note and closing them on every up beat. Then splash every up beat and close every down beat. Also add it in without the splash to the smaller subdivisions. Do it on the off beat of every sixteenth note. So on the 'E' and 'A'. 1 E + A 2 E etc.

Try thinking of it like another left hand and use it that way. Get some busy funk beats and take every snare beat that is not on the backbeat (so two and four) and play it with your left foot instead. There are so many possibilities that you simply need to use your imagination to create stuff. Use it for more than keeping time. It is a forgotten part of our instrument.

Edit: Just saw that most of that had been said by Wavelength. Good stuff mate. Try using it, once you have those basics that Wavelength suggested down, by writing down a number of different ways of using it behind a simple backbeat. Use a simple eighth note backbeat and write down about 12 different patterns of hi hat placement. First one could be on each quarter, second on each eighth note, third on each off beat, fourth on each sixteenth off beat, fifth on each sixteenth note, sixth try mixing it up by using it on the first two quarter notes then on the last two off beats, seventh; 1 + . + 3 . 4 + . + 2 . 3 + . + 1 (so playing two eighth notes and skipping one), eighth; mix it up more by trying something like this: 1 + . e(splash) 3 + .e(splash) so two eighth notes with your toes followed by splashing the hats with your heel on the sixteenth note after each backbeat.... etc etc. As Wavelength said though, not many players actually really try to use it in the ways in can or should be used. It can add a lot to your playing and give it a very individual flavour.

[hitman050]

Do you guys play heel up or heel down with the hi hat?

[JoeyMoon]

it comes up once again but Gary Chester's book 'New Breed' is a brilliant resource for indipendance accross the board including left foot on your high hat. Does at lot of the things that Jazzin' suggests but ad's the idea of the melody being played on the hats with the left foot, taking the whole idea away from the ostinato.

I'm working through it at the moment and it's totally changing the way i'm thinking about constructing beats and what they should do with music.... unfortunately my body's not keeping up with my mind... yet.

[Wavelength]

Do you guys play heel up or heel down with the hi hat?

Yes.More than twenty characters.

[jazzin']

it comes up once again but Gary Chester's book 'New Breed' is a brilliant resource for indipendance accross the board including left foot on your high hat. Does at lot of the things that Jazzin' suggests but ad's the idea of the melody being played on the hats with the left foot, taking the whole idea away from the ostinato.

I'm working through it at the moment and it's totally changing the way i'm thinking about constructing beats and what they should do with music.... unfortunately my body's not keeping up with my mind... yet.

Yeah, definitely. Once you have the ostinato down comfortably you should start improvising with it just as you would your left hand (if you do that of course) and think of playing with the actual sound from a musical perspective instead of just a technical one.

Use it as a third voice after the bass drum and snare, and mix it up with the ride and snare especially. Linear ideas between the ride, snare bass drum and hats are a very good way to get your left foot inter-dependence up.

[spinupspindown]

Yeah, definitely. Once you have the ostinato down comfortably you should start improvising with it just as you would your left hand (if you do that of course) and think of playing with the actual sound from a musical perspective instead of just a technical one.

Use it as a third voice after the bass drum and snare, and mix it up with the ride and snare especially. Linear ideas between the ride, snare bass drum and hats are a very good way to get your left foot inter-dependence up.

My left foot HH independence has never been great, since I grew up playing double pedal. I'm working on it now though, and it's improving.

However, I definitely have to agree with Jazzin' here. Improvising with the hands and the left foot is one of the best, most fresh-sounding things you can do.

Listen to a lot of Bill Stewart -- he uses the hats in creative ways all the time.

[Diaz]

ted reeds syncopation has 8 exercises i believe they start somewhere in the pg 38 mark first do all notes with 2 and 4 with hi hat (but clicking all the time as in constant quarter with only 2 and 4 being heard, kind of like pressing down on the pedal with your heel on beats 1 and 3) and do these paterrns among the ride swing pattern (spang a lang, whatever youwanna call it). Then step it up and put kicks in for all eight note while snare hits for all quarter notes. This will increase independence greatly and shouldnt be THAT hard to do - it will be frustrating but frustrating means you'll get better.

I don't know what rock books are out nowadays but I would check out some rock exercises but doing them a couple ways.
1 - quarters on high hat and playing the beats/written music
2 - eight notes on high hat and playing the beats/written music
3 - left foot 8th notes while quarters on ride of bell and playing given music
4 - left foot 8th notes while playing up beat quarters on ride of bell (all the +'s) with given music.

I used to be against al this stuff and books and this and technicality but this stuff actually made me a hell of a better drummer in very little time - check into it!

-Diaz

[jotte]

Hi!

This tutorial at Learningdrum can help you to improve your left foot independence:

Learningdrum Education Start (http://www.learningdrum.com/drumeducation.html)

Choose module: Technique, in the left menu.
Choose chapter: Coordination, in the top menu
Choose scene: # 3 Basic snare and bassdrum, in the bottom menu

Try also a variation of this exersice, play the basic rhythm between
your snar and hihat instead of between snare and bassdrum as shown in the tutorial.

Also try the other coordination exercises in the chapter.

All the best!
/ Jotte