Open handed, please read

coolhand1969

Senior Member
I have a question for those who play openhanded. To begin, this is not a debate over which is better, open or crossed, this is not about drummers who have played crossed and are now trying to play open because some teaching "guru" has said it is better.

I have always played open and always will, I have no desire to learn a totally new method after 25+ years. Here we go, the first and only drum lesson I have ever had, happened over at this guy's house. He had his kit setup right handed, because he was. I sat down behind the kit and started playing, no it was not good, but I played (open handed, because I had to). Then my friend noticed this and said " Sorry man, I forgot you were left-handed, let me switch the kit around." Which he did, and it felt all wrong, I could easily feel that my right foot, though not my true dominant foot, needed to be on that kick pedal.

We switched the kit back to righty, moved his main crash to the right and put the ride in its place. He never thought anything was weird about it, it was mainly, " Hey, whatever makes you happy and feels good." I have gone on playing this way all of my life, yeah, it makes my setup a little different, but in all honesty, I do not think it gives me any advantage over crossed players as the "gurus" point out. It is just what feels the most comfortable.

So, not to start a war over which is better, I just wondered if this had ever happened to any other lefty players out there? Any posts, about this would be appreciated, or we could argue about who is the best drummer ever, or even more interesting we could debate who is the best drummer not yet born!
 
I used to know a guy in my local scene that is righty, but sets up lefty. Whenever I would go out and see him play, he would always have me do his sound check for him so he could hear what his drums sounded like out front. Both his ride and hi-hats were on the right side of the kit, and I never found it to be uncomfortable. It is what works for him, and while I found it a bit strange to do rolls from right to left, it really was not that big of a deal.

I should probably add that it was a double kick kit, so my feet were able to play righty still.
 
I used to know a guy in my local scene that is righty, but sets up lefty. Whenever I would go out and see him play, he would always have me do his sound check for him so he could hear what his drums sounded like out front. Both his ride and hi-hats were on the right side of the kit, and I never found it to be uncomfortable. It is what works for him, and while I found it a bit strange to do rolls from right to left, it really was not that big of a deal.

I should probably add that it was a double kick kit, so my feet were able to play righty still.

I have certainly been looked at rather weird, because crossed is the norm. I have had a few "supposedly" better drummers than me offer me lessons on how to play "correctly" but I just politely asked them to move on. To me, it is whatever feels the most comfortable and allows you to move around the kit with ease. Technicality is great and probably every drummer on this forum is more technically trained than I am, but that was not what I was after. I have always been looking at guys like Ringo, who play for the music. This is what the crowd came to hear, not some off the wall drummer wailing away on a double kick. Obviously, I also play single kick, it was good enough for Bonham, Ringo, Nikko..... so it is good enough for me, we are there to keep time, enhance the music with the well timed fills and to keep the lead guitar player from going off into nowhere. Drummers are the heart and backbone of the band
 
I wouldn't worry too much about it, or read more into it than is necessary. If it works for YOU, then that is really all that matters. As drummers, we have the luxury to set up and play our gear how we like, be it cymbals high or low, toms angled or flat, or even open handed. That is the beauty of drums, they are personal to each individual, there are no rules or right way to do it. The right way is your way.

Does it matter if you put your pants on one leg at a time or both? No, the end result is still the same, you are wearing pants. At least I hope you are!
 
Coolhand1969: So it sounds like when you play hi-hat and snare, you play the hi-hat with your left hand and hit the snare with you right hand. Correct?

I would love to see how you set up your kit.


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Coolhand1969: So it sounds like when you play hi-hat and snare, you play the hi-hat with your left hand and hit the snare with you right hand. Correct?

I would love to see how you set up your kit.


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You are correct, but unlike some other drummers, I do not put my ride way out to the left, it is basically in front of me. Because I do not have to cross, I can keep my hi-hat low, almost at the same level as my snare. Then my first and only 13" rack to is almost dead in front of me. The biggest difference in in my main crash, which for a right hander would be out in front of the snare, mine is in the middle of the kit. This means all the adoring fans cannot really see me, but I have learned to get over it. I will try to post a pic, if I am computer literate enough.
 

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I think the rule should be "Make the kit fit you", not the reverse. Whatever works for you, works.
 
You're free to do whatever you want, of course, but you do need to get your terminology right— there is no such thing as “crossed” drumming. There is just the normal right-handed orientation, left-handed orientation, and now open-handed orientation. Any crossing over a player chooses to do is incidental, not a permanent feature of the style.
 
Every time this comes up, I say what I am about to say. To me what matters most is what "footed" you are. I am left handed but right footed, so open handed is how I have always played (since 1969). With modern hardware, one can set up a drum set any way desired. Peace and goodwill.
 
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I just want to say how correct you are and how wrong I was back when I was 15 years of age. A group of friends had a band to play high schools and the like and I was going to take a crack at singing for them; the drummer set up right handed but played left and I thought this was incorrect etc. out of youthful ignorance and mentioned this to the drummer.
He simply said that it was comfortable. Later when we were in our late twenties I saw a revised version of that band in a popular pub in downtown Montreal covering the Nicks/Buckingham Fleetwood Mac line up and Gary just blew me away with how tight and in control of his dynamics he was. It was a real eye opener for me.
My realization that I was so completely off base helped me realize that what feels comfortable is most important and started setting up my own kit with that in mind rather than how it looked out front.
 
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