How many of you exclusively play open hand?

bluepear2000

Junior Member
I've played exclusively open hand since i started playing drums. I began when i was 13 and I'm 27 now. Its not that i chose to play that way, its just whats natural to me. I havent really found anything that I'm limited on because of it other than having to mount my ride on the left side of my kit just over my hihat, but i wouldnt call that a limitation. I'm not classically trained by any means and I play by ear. I learned to play simply by watching and listening to others. I'm just wondering how many out there play open hand like me.
 
hey man,

i started at 13 too. i'm left handed and my hands just naturally fell upon the drums that way. i keep my ride on my left, above and to the right of the hats, and to the left of my rack tom. there's a big advantage to it. my cowbell is mounted under my hats, and i have a timbale instead of a second rack tom. since i'm open handed i can play some smoking' salsa patterns between the two and be comfortable doing it!
 
hey man,

i started at 13 too. i'm left handed and my hands just naturally fell upon the drums that way. i keep my ride on my left, above and to the right of the hats, and to the left of my rack tom. there's a big advantage to it. my cowbell is mounted under my hats, and i have a timbale instead of a second rack tom. since i'm open handed i can play some smoking' salsa patterns between the two and be comfortable doing it!

That is exactly how I play - I could probably sit on your set with no adjustment.

I started playing when I was 18 and I am 46 now. Openhanded from the first day. I see videos of people playing crossed and it just looks so awkward, even if they are much better than me.
 
I play open handed as well. always have.
same deal as the original post, just felt natural. i also broke my left ankle so it doesn't work to well. so playing a lefty kit didn't work well.

The only thing that got me in the beginning was doing a roll down the toms to my right when i lead with my left hand. once i taught myself the lead with the right it was fine.
 
I actually don't play open-handed, but I sure wish I did. Seems like it would be easier to jump from the hi-hat to toms and execute fills using a right lead, rather than play cross handed, and have to carry your right hand all the way over to the other drums.

Just curious OP (and others), are you left handed or ambidextrous? Those are the only people I ever see playing open-handed, or if they play gospel-style music.
 
What do you mean by "open hand"?

Is the palm of the left hand up? I have played with the left hand palm up at times and with it palm down other times. I found it very natural to use an inverted finger-style for triplets when in that position. Otherwise, I play the traditional grip and sometimes the matched grip, a carry-over from my days as a tenor drummer in as drum and bugle corps.

I've not had any difficulty moving from my high-hat to snare or toms, and especially enjoy going from snare (RLRL) to tom (RLRL) and then floor tom (RLRR) to return to snare, and the flow is very comfortable.
 
I have had alot of drummers who dont play open hand tell me that alot of the fills and rolls that I'm able to do give them a fit when they try to do them. Its just one of those things I guess. I'm glad to see that there are others who naturally play the same way. Carter is one of the only famous drummers that Ive seen that does it. But even he doesnt play that way exclusively. He's ambidextrous so it doesnt matter to him either way. lol. When I first started playing I had people telling me that I was playing all wrong and I'd try to play crossed over but it was so awkward that I gave up on it pretty quick. I just figured I'd do it my way... "wrong" :) And I did forget to mention that im not left handed. I'm as right handed as they come. Ive always described the way I play as how a left handed drummer would play on a right handed drummer's kit :)
 
I am 29 years old and just started a year back in drumming . I actually started out with the open hand technique..It lets me use the ride cymbal with more ease.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P654agoZgw
You can check out this video i have made .Its a cover of 'Vanishing' by A Perfect Circle.From 1:19 , you can see me use both the hi hat and ride..Like I have said, am just into a year,so it might not be the best video out there..hehe.
 
hey man,

i started at 13 too. i'm left handed and my hands just naturally fell upon the drums that way. i keep my ride on my left, above and to the right of the hats, and to the left of my rack tom. there's a big advantage to it. my cowbell is mounted under my hats, and i have a timbale instead of a second rack tom. since i'm open handed i can play some smoking' salsa patterns between the two and be comfortable doing it!

I'd love to see some pics of your kit!!

I exclusively played right handed open, for about 4 months but do to gear limitations was unable to do 2 handed hihat patterns so I gave it up. I've been experimenting with traditional open handed playing and that has been a slow process for me. lol. So to answer the OPs question I do not, nor do I wish I did. I do enjoy having options though.

-Jonathan
 
I don't play open-handed exclusively, but often. I lead with my left during easier beats and with the right during more complicated ones. My ride cymbal is still on my right side due to configuration ease.
 
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