Anybody play heel down hi hat?

[larryace]

For the record, I'm not knocking heel up at all, nothing else will do in a lot of cases. I absolutely use heel up, it gives a certain feel you just can't get elsewhere. I think it's easier at louder volumes but not as precise at lowered volumes. In the venues I play, my playing rarely needs to exceeds medium volume, so I do try and use heel down as much as I can. Gigs are like left leg calf exercise sessions. I don't understand how anyone could play heel down in sneakers or shoes.

[samthebeat]

Play both, heel down for lifts and stuff, but heel up for chicking get more volume with more ease and my shin doesnt feel like its gonna burn up.

[cp84]

i play very quietly with heel up. just takes practise :)

[Dr_Watso]

Originally Posted by larryace

OK how about this. For you heel down players, if you need to do 8th note chicks with the HH foot, at a reasonably fast tempo, are you still doing heel down? I am training myself to do this. It burns the muscle on the front of my calf. It's the lifting the toes up that works it. It's the same muscle I trained for my bass drum pedal. My goal is to play everything heel down, just for the control aspect. The faster tempos really give my calf a workout, but the extra control I have at slower tempos is well worth the pain.

For me, it's a different thing when I'm just playing straight ahead 8th or 16th hat chicks... In that case, it's more about keeping time than worrying about the nuances of pressure applied to the hats for texture and control. In other words, when you're playing open/close that fast, it doesn't matter as much and it's easier to lift my heel. Honestly I don't do that much anyway. I generally find hat chicks annoying unless it's part of the groove. To each his own on that front, though.

I also find I'm more inclined to play heel up when I'm on someone else's kit and they position their hat stand closer in than I generally do. Since I play heel down most of the time, I think I move the whole thing a bit further out. I tend to slide my foot up and down the foot-board depending on the sound I'm after anyway.

[moojii]

Originally Posted by keep it simple

Always heel down on hats, & mostly heel up on bass drum pedal, but please don't use me as a technique reference :)

same here...

always down on hats and up on bass.

[burn-4]

I recently switched to heel up in the right foot (after 10+ years of only heel down) and am sort of in two minds about the left foot- hard to figure out when I should be playing heel up on the hats and when I should be heel down

Naturally heel down feels right but for something like a fast samba I find it near impossible to play heel up with the right foot and heel down with the left- feels like I'm about to fall off my stool

Guessing that's down to lack of playing heel up in both feet- something I aim to remedy this year along with my slide technique which has fallen apart since moving to heel up

[cp84]

Originally Posted by burn-4

I recently switched to heel up in the right foot (after 10+ years of only heel down) and am sort of in two minds about the left foot- hard to figure out when I should be playing heel up on the hats and when I should be heel down

Naturally heel down feels right but for something like a fast samba I find it near impossible to play heel up with the right foot and heel down with the left- feels like I'm about to fall off my stool

Guessing that's down to lack of playing heel up in both feet- something I aim to remedy this year along with my slide technique which has fallen apart since moving to heel up

i can play a very fast samba with heel up for both feet. to be honest with you i wouldnt bother worrying about any of this. you will naturally develop techniques based around the sounds that you need. but i do think heel up works best for the hi hat foot. practise practise practise and your body will tell you what works and what doesn't if you listen to it.

sorry if this all sounds a bit cryptic. i think its hard for me to explain what i mean.

[unfunkyfooted]

thanks Larry. good thread.

[Sjogras]

This thread has inspired me! I'm tapping 8th notes with my left foot as I write, surprisingly hard after a few minutes, even at slow tempos. Feel the burn!

[jt.mcrae]

Heel up as my left leg is always bouncing and grooving on the ball of my foot in time to the music. It just helps keeping the internal clock in check. I've tried heel down and find it uncomfortable for extended periods of time, I think my hi hat plead is too close for it to work for me

[longgun]

I've always been a "heels-down" guy on both hats and kick......only use heels up occasionally

[larryace]

Originally Posted by Sjogras

This thread has inspired me! I'm tapping 8th notes with my left foot as I write, surprisingly hard after a few minutes, even at slow tempos. Feel the burn!

Yes it does burn. The control you will gain is well worth the pain. My left foot adds much to the feel of my beats.

[ageadm]

I've been using heel down since I've started with drums.

[BrandonXD]

Heel up on both, I find it easier to control heel up and it means I have more endurance too. All though this girl at my school plays heel up bass drum and heel down hi hats, and this confuses me deeply :P

[Fuo]

Originally Posted by BrandonXD

Heel up on both, I find it easier to control heel up and it means I have more endurance too. All though this girl at my school plays heel up bass drum and heel down hi hats, and this confuses me deeply :P

A girl playing drums? Yea that is weird.

[BrandonXD]

Originally Posted by Fuo

A girl playing drums? Yea that is weird.

She's pretty good to be honest, she plays really quietly though :/

[mabhz]

Well, I´m a beginner and my experience just doesnt count at all, but for what it is worth, I always play (practice) heel down, both BD and hi hat, and it seems a lot more logical to me, as less movement is required and less muscles and tendons are being ketp "in use". Also, I feel a lot more confortable this way and can play BD triplets faster and with more definition that with my feet floating above the pedal.

Peace and music always!

[yousif]

I agree with most of you guys, heel down on the hi-hat has way more control, but generally when I'm just keeping time with it I've got my heel in the air and my knee's bouncing up and down. I also found that if I use the heel-toe technique on the hi-hat it creates a cool splashy sound, but I'm still pretty bad at it.

[feldiefeld]

Originally Posted by 8Mile

It depends on what I'm playing. If I'm keeping constant time with the left foot, like on a samba or playing 2 and 4 for jazz, then I'll use the rocking motion. If it's the fast kind of "four on the floor" thing like Tony would do, then it's heel-up. If it's just occasional splashes or opening of the hats, then most likely heel-down.

I agree with this 100% !