The left handed aspect

Formless Method

Senior Member
When I set my drums up left handed it's like another drummer is playing. When right handed I have a jazzy sort of swing in my playing. I can get all Bernard Purdie like, if needed but my soul is with the (Swing). When I set up left handed it's more of a Bohnam groove style. I am not as versatile with my left handed playing but I could make it through a show just fine. I kind of like the fact that I amnot as versatile because I can focus on grooving more than swinging or shall I say staying in the pocket instead of swinging.

Strangest thing is I have noticed that practicing left handed and focusing on the groove has made its way into my right handed playing. Everything backwards. Maybe the practicing is training the brain and regardless how I use it, it comes out? Who knows,

Was just wondering if any of you have ever tried left handed and how did it feel to you. It feels great to me, it's like releasing a whole other drummer and everything I have learned right handed doesn't get in the way. Sort of like a whole new me that I can mold any way i want. I know weird right lol. Let me add that I have never focused on left handed playing, A few times a year I would turn my set around opposite and it always felt fresh and new, I kept doing this from time to time until recently I just said what the heck, and set up another drum set permanently for left handed playing and even my left foot is on the bass drum not the right. It's a lot of fun.

Anybody else done anything like this?
 
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I play left handed and I just cannot play a right handed set up no matter how much I try. It feels completely awkward. I can't get a natural flow of rhythm going. I know a lot of drum teachers encourage their left handed students to play right handed and for a good reason. It is a pain to be a left handed drummer on the occasions where multiple bands share a drum kit. It becomes my job as the odd man out to switch things around and put them back in a hurry and play a make-shift set up where the toms and cymbals are not in comfortable places.

Jay, it is great that you can play ambidextrous. It must open up new possibilities for you. I wish I could play both ways too.
 
OMG no, never.... Much respect for you if you can do that though. I've never even attempted such a scenario. I have tried open-handed playing, which has its pros and cons. But to play a kit completely in reverse of what I'm used to has never occurred. I would most likely get so confused that I would have to take a time out and rearrange.
 
When I first sat down I felt like I was starting all over, but after a little while I just embraced the feeling and was happy I was able to get that feeling again. I turned on Beatles songs and at first it was sorta a challenge but I didn't realize how much I missed playing with the Beatles and it being a challenge made it even more fun.
 
When I set my drums up left handed it's like another drummer is playing. When right handed I have a jazzy sort of swing in my playing. I can get all Bernard Purdie like, if needed but my soul is with the (Swing). When I set up left handed it's more of a Bohnam groove style. I am not as versatile with my left handed playing but I could make it through a show just fine. I kind of like the fact that I amnot as versatile because I can focus on grooving more than swinging or shall I say staying in the pocket instead of swinging.

Strangest thing is I have noticed that practicing left handed and focusing on the groove has made its way into my right handed playing. Everything backwards. Maybe the practicing is training the brain and regardless how I use it, it comes out? Who knows,

Was just wondering if any of you have ever tried left handed and how did it feel to you. It feels great to me, it's like releasing a whole other drummer and everything I have learned right handed doesn't get in the way. Sort of like a whole new me that I can mold any way i want. I know weird right lol. Let me add that I have never focused on left handed playing, A few times a year I would turn my set around opposite and it always felt fresh and new, I kept doing this from time to time until recently I just said what the heck, and set up another drum set permanently for left handed playing and even my left foot is on the bass drum not the right. It's a lot of fun.

Anybody else done anything like this?

There are many configurations for a left-handed or a right-handed set. I presume you mean that a left-handed set would be a mirror image of a right-handed set?
 
If you have a double pedal, you can try playing open handed and kicking with your left foot. I've done this in the past just to see if I could. Obviously you have to think more about what you are doing, and being more deliberate probably makes you more exact.

There's a young guy around here Chris "Kid" Andersen who plays guitar for various blues folks like Charlie Musslewhite and Rick Estrin. He plays drums either way. More amazing is that he can play a left handed guitar left handed competently. I've also seen him play a left handed guitar right handed (meaning the strings are upside down). Neither is at the level he plays normally, but he can play as well as most folks going to blues jams no matter which way the guitar goes. He can also play keyboards and even pedal steel and tell you where the notes are. Not your typical blues cat.
 
If you have a double pedal, you can try playing open handed and kicking with your left foot. I've done this in the past just to see if I could. Obviously you have to think more about what you are doing, and being more deliberate probably makes you more exact.

There's a young guy around here Chris "Kid" Andersen who plays guitar for various blues folks like Charlie Musslewhite and Rick Estrin. He plays drums either way. More amazing is that he can play a left handed guitar left handed competently. I've also seen him play a left handed guitar right handed (meaning the strings are upside down). Neither is at the level he plays normally, but he can play as well as most folks going to blues jams no matter which way the guitar goes. He can also play keyboards and even pedal steel and tell you where the notes are. Not your typical blues cat.

Wow that is ridiculously nuts but wow thats talent! Yeah your idea about the doublt pedal is great and I have thought of it but I haven't had a double pedal in yearssss. It would be cool to just instantly switch with same setup.
 
I am left handed and started playing left handed wheni was a teenager switched to right ended because every jam I went to was a nightmare:(. Have been playing right handed ever since. But it is a little like bicycle , once you learn , you never forget.

Someone made a good point about once you learn in your brain , it isn't that difficult to switch it to another limb. I do clave pattern with my left foot and it is easy to transfer that to any other member .

I also play certain groves with left hand on hihat. Gives a different feel.
 
This thread makes me want to give playing right handed another try. Maybe I have been giving up too easy. I might set up my second kit right handed and keep training myself. The kicker is I am actually right handed for everything else other than drumming. The problem is not so much with my hands but with my feet. I cannot drive the bass drum with my right foot. The rhythm does not flow out of me from that direction. I don't know if this make sense to you guys. But being naturally right handed, maybe I can switch eventually if I can train my brain.
 
I'm left handed and learnt on a right hand set up.

I now have My toms in a left hand set up, cymbals in a right hand set up, bass and hat right hand also.

I lead with My left and play both open and closed styles in traditional and matched grips.

I can really surprise people but I wouldn't say I'm any better or worse than others. It's just what's comfortable to you really :)
 
I'm a total lefty in everything - except when it comes to using scissors. It has always pissed me off that most everything seems to exist for righties only. At least when it comes to drums, you can basically put them where ever you want them.

A few years ago I was in Guitar Center and they had a kit on the floor that was set up lefty... That blew me away. It made me feel as if I fit into the musical universe.

I also play guitar and I play left-handed there, too. Have you ever looked at the guitar section in a music store? 99.9999999% of all the axes in the joint are for righties. Us lefties get the $79.99 Squire type pieces of crap. I have a nice Fender Strat, but it took a while to find the "one" I could fall in love with.

I have yet to ever see a Taylor or Martin left-handed guitar in a store.

Since the world's population is 11% (+/-) left-handed, shouldn't musical equipment be at least 10% left-handed? I know, this is naive wishful thinking on my part.
 
I am left handed and right footed, so I play open handed on a traditionally set up kit (right handed). Back in the 80s, after I had been playing for fifteen or so years, I set my kit up totally left handed. I could not play the bass drum with my left foot. So I went back to what I had been doing and have done it ever since. Peace and goodwill.
 
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