Ride cymbal - hi-hat positions

bsfloyd

Senior Member
Hello all. I play mostly rockabilly and americana with some added surf and older blues. My kit is setup with just bass drum, snare, floor tom, ride, crash, and hats. Because I use the ride more than the hats I have my ride positioned 12:00 to the snare with the crash just to the left of it (think Slim Jim Phantoms ride /crash positioning), and the hats are where the common ride placement is. Seeing how I use the ride substantially more than the hats I just find the 12:00 position of the ride much more comfortable. Currently I'm using the hats fixed but if I stick with this setup I may opt for a remote for it. That is, if I even keep them at all. I understand that drum kit setup is very personal, but I just feel quite odd about it - like I'm breaking some sort of drummers rule or something. Is it wrong to have them set this way, as in am I restricting or hindering myself for future growth? I am still in the early stages of drumming, but I am also very much into ergonomics and comfort. I'm curious to hear your opinions. Thanks!
 
Do whatever works for you.

You might want to make modifications in future for different styles, but there's no reason for you to change what works and is comfortable for something that fits some arbitrary rules based on what everyone else does :)
 
Are you standing or sitting when you play?

Whatever is comfortable is probably the best, but if you return to a full kit for a rock or jazz gig, you may find yourself intuitively going to the wrong side and missing the hats.
 
I totally agree with the "do what you feel like" crowd but I literally can't imagine not playing the hi hat on 2 and 4 with my foot if I'm playing the ride cymbal.
 
I think the standard drum set layout was developed overtime as the preferred setup, but it's not mandatory... setup however you want.

One thing I'll say, playing quite a bit of rockabilly lately is that typically you would close/click the HH on 2 and 4, and that you don't use the ride cymbal a great deal. Many times, I'll play the ride pattern on the rim of the snare.

I think Daniel Glass (who is more of a Swing Revival drummer, than an authentic rockabilly drummer) put out a video that explained rockabilly drumming, as it's pretty minimalist. If you listen to many of the essential rockabilly recordings, they didn't even have drums
 
as i understand it, in your setup your left foot is free, no hihat pedal there (it is instead at 2 or 3 o'clock to the snare)? if so that seems you have lost one limb for use.
 
Thanks for the replies, gang - much appreciated!!

I have been bouncing back and forth between sitting and standing and I'm still on the fence to which I like best. I like the freedom of standing, and can be quite the ham with dancing around. When standing I use a concert snare stand to get the height needed for the snare drum and use the floor tom much less. Of course I max the floor tom legs out but it still a good amount lower than the snare. I guess I would need to find some of those extended floor tom legs that I once seen on a Slim Jim Phantom give away kit for some contest. Obviously when standing I can't use the foot pedal on a hi hat stand as I need that left foot to balance on. The only thing that worries me about standing is that my 50 year old knees might disagree with me in time from playing this way all the time - ha.

When playing seated is when I use more of the floor tom. I admit that the hi hat accents on two and four would be nice, as well as having that limb free and not working - which is why I am considering a remote pedal for them.

I've also thought quite a bit about using the snare rim in place of the hats, which I think would work nicely for many rockabilly tunes, but then I'm sure I would miss them for other genres. If I were doing solely rockabilly then I think it would be a no-brainer. I have always been a minimalist so I like this idea. I think I'm seeing two separate kits in the near future - one standing and one sitting :)

Correct, in this current setup the hats are at about 3:00 - just on the right side of the kick where the ride cymbal commonly goes. The ride cymbal is just above the snare at the 12:00 position. However, I did just have a playing session and I reversed the two. Thus, hats at the 12:00 position and the ride at 3:00. This worked as well. I still preferred playing the hats this way rather than crossing over the snare hand. I can see it would be easier using a remote pedal for the hats this way as they are much closer to the left foot this way. My ride cymbal stand is a straight stand so I know I can get the ride closer yet with a boom. Seeing how I have no toms up I can get that ride cymbal right in there ;)

Thanks again for all the replies, everyone!!
 
I used to set up with my hi-hat in the 10 or 11 o'clock position so that I didn't have to play crossed over. The problem I found was when I would have to play other kits, at jams or when I had to share a house kit. I couldn't always move the hi-hat over and I would have to play crossed over and it was very uncomfortable. It really affected my playing. I eventually went back to playing in the "traditional" crossed over position so that it wasn't so awkward playing other setups.
 
I used to set up with my hi-hat in the 10 or 11 o'clock position so that I didn't have to play crossed over. The problem I found was when I would have to play other kits, at jams or when I had to share a house kit. I couldn't always move the hi-hat over and I would have to play crossed over and it was very uncomfortable. It really affected my playing. I eventually went back to playing in the "traditional" crossed over position so that it wasn't so awkward playing other setups.

Thanks for sharing this, and this did cross my mind. I'm not looking to get into any bar/club band as I've had my time with that in my younger days. However, I do see myself getting into more festival, concert in the parks, specialty party type settings where many bands would be performing small 3 or 4 song mini sets. A perfect example where the above would apply. This does concern me about using an "out of the norm" setup. Heck, maybe I just pack up that small stand-up kit and set it up in some small corner of the stage :)
 
Check out this particular setup that Slim Jim used with Jerry Lee Lewis. Apparently he needed a full compliment of cymbal voices, so he has ride, two crashes, and closed hats. Looking at the visual aspects, having the hats and crashes out to the side make for a more thrilling presentation. It really looks cool.

As for being different, hey you hang with those rockabilly trouble makers with their greasy hair and boots, the hell with the rules!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJp_HOq3s7E&index=4&list=FLr7gLZyE8KSpJBvj5cx5lvw
 
I totally agree with the "do what you feel like" crowd but I literally can't imagine not playing the hi hat on 2 and 4 with my foot if I'm playing the ride cymbal.

You should imagine it. What if you worked in the studio with a producer who was very specific on what he wanted to record? I did that once with a guy who specifically said he didn't want to hear anything but (insert instruments here). So as the hired help to solve a problem and to give the person with the $$$ what they want, you should be able to execute. I've read about sessions where a guy came in to replace just a bass drum part, or just a hi hat part too.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I did see that Slim Jim and Jerry Lee video before - I liked his setup in that one!
 
Do whatever feels comfortable to you there are zero rules when it comes to how your kit should be setup or sound or whatever!
I attached a picture of the drummer's setup from the band Battles with his only cymbal 6 feet in the air WAY above his head. I saw Matt and Kim years ago and Kim had her hi hats where the ride normally is mounted on a cymbal stand with a tambourine coming off the top of the stand, and only used a kick, snare and floor tom and she killed it.
 

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Purdie reverses his rack toms and has his ride on the left above his hats and it provides more economy of motion for him. I tried that setup and couldn't get used to the toms that way. But having the ride and hats close together kinda makes sense. I'd like to try remote hats over on the right side near the ride. that would be like playing open handed and keep the hats and ride close together (the two most used items other than snare and kick).

Seems like it would make playing rudimental types of patterns on snare and hats easier because you wouldn't have cross over, but it's just a theory. Maybe if I can find a cheap remote hat stand I'll try it...

Key word "cheap".....
 
Thanks for the replies, gang - much appreciated!!

I have been bouncing back and forth between sitting and standing and I'm still on the fence to which I like best. I like the freedom of standing, and can be quite the ham with dancing around. When standing I use a concert snare stand to get the height needed for the snare drum and use the floor tom much less. Of course I max the floor tom legs out but it still a good amount lower than the snare. I guess I would need to find some of those extended floor tom legs that I once seen on a Slim Jim Phantom give away kit for some contest. Obviously when standing I can't use the foot pedal on a hi hat stand as I need that left foot to balance on. The only thing that worries me about standing is that my 50 year old knees might disagree with me in time from playing this way all the time - ha.

When playing seated is when I use more of the floor tom. I admit that the hi hat accents on two and four would be nice, as well as having that limb free and not working - which is why I am considering a remote pedal for them.

I've also thought quite a bit about using the snare rim in place of the hats, which I think would work nicely for many rockabilly tunes, but then I'm sure I would miss them for other genres. If I were doing solely rockabilly then I think it would be a no-brainer. I have always been a minimalist so I like this idea. I think I'm seeing two separate kits in the near future - one standing and one sitting :)

Correct, in this current setup the hats are at about 3:00 - just on the right side of the kick where the ride cymbal commonly goes. The ride cymbal is just above the snare at the 12:00 position. However, I did just have a playing session and I reversed the two. Thus, hats at the 12:00 position and the ride at 3:00. This worked as well. I still preferred playing the hats this way rather than crossing over the snare hand. I can see it would be easier using a remote pedal for the hats this way as they are much closer to the left foot this way. My ride cymbal stand is a straight stand so I know I can get the ride closer yet with a boom. Seeing how I have no toms up I can get that ride cymbal right in there ;)

If you want to stand for the Rockabilly stuff, have you thought about getting a cocktail kit? There is a lot of Rockabilly around my area, and many of the drummers stand and use a cocktail kit.

If you do that, then you can have your regular kit for your other gigs, and then use the cocktail kit when you want to stand.
 
Great ideas, guys - thanks! I like the idea of two kits and most likely the road I'm going to go down. Just need some more coin... in time.
 
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