Open Handedness?

J

jenocide

New member
well... i have been giving this a long thought, and i dont want it to destroy my passion for drummings.

i kinda learnt by mistake when i first started to drum, so basically, i drum openhanded. and watching from informational and educational drum videos, (in my early days) it wa kinda hard to learn to coordinate and play like them after i have had the "open handed" thing programmed in my limbs.

now as time goes by, people have been telling me many things, good and bad. the bad being that open handed is a mistake made during learning, and for the good, they say that it actually is an advantage because when i swing to hit the other cymbals, it is much easier and more forceful.

now i dont know what to belief, but after almost close to 2 years in drumming, i must say that its gonna be difficult to change anything. i just wanna know something for myself :

IS drumming open handed a mistake? i am a right hander by the way, and sometimes i get confused at whether i should have tried to learn back the traditional crosshand method or not.

anyone can enlighten me on this?

thanks
 
to add on, i have been in 1 gig and numerous bands and jamming sessions already and have been using the open handed technique wherever i go. when some newbie drummer wants to learn some stuff, i cant exactly explain to him/her properly because they are obviously right handed, and me playing like a leftie wont help a thing.

band members have not commented anything on my drumming yet, save the fact that my timing may be a little off (which i suspect is due to being an open handed drummer, but after correcting it with a metronome, i no longer thought it was a problem)

so yea... anyone can enlighten? fellow open handed drummers also please raise your hands or give a shout who you are~! ^ ^
 
Open Handed Style

Just for your info, I've not been playing for too long. Just a few months for now. But I feel that all these are just about your own style of playing.

People can say all they want about you, but if you're a famous drummer, open handed becomes a style of your own, not a mistake.

It's the same logic as wearing pink. Before Jay Chou wore it, pink was a wrong colour for guys. After he wore it in public, it was fashion. Get my point?

Yeah play any way you want it, as long as you're comfortable with what you're doing.
 
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Playing open handed gives you a much easier access to your toms when you are playing time. You can easily start a roll with your right hand without excessive motion. Personally i dun see anything bad about playing in this manner. In fact I try to play open handed just to practice my independence. Do you place your ride cymbal on the left side of your set where your hats are?
 
Hey Jenocide,

in fact I think its a blessing in disguise that you started playing by open-handed. I wish I had started that way instead of playing the conventional right over left.

Especially since you're right handed leading with the left, it does offer quite a lot of advantages in the long run. Although you may have to work harder during your formative drumming years to acquire decent speed and consistency leading with the left hand, over time, this way of playing helps to strengthen your weaker hand a lot, since its now doing most of the work.

Also I think its a good idea to practise reverse sticking on the kit for your case (eg RLRL becomes LRLR). Playing in a left handed sticking on a right handed kit can give you a very different sound from many other normal drummers and opens up a lot of possiblities on the kit. Needless to say, playing openhanded also gives you a lot more freedom of movement around the kit as the normal right handed way tends to restrict the left hand from moving round the toms when you're leading on the hi-hat.

All in all, I'd say stick with the way you're playing and work hard at it I think its beneficial in the long run.
 
Hey! So you're an open handed drummer like me! Anyway bro, don't worry. Open handed is GOOD. Trust me. If you are able to play cross and open handed together, you'll dominate the kit. You'll find your movements around the kit very easy. Here's one of my favourite drummers, Carter Beauford from Dave Matthews Band. He plays open handed too.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KOssmcxTbZI
 
paradiddle said:
Playing open handed gives you a much easier access to your toms when you are playing time. You can easily start a roll with your right hand without excessive motion. Personally i dun see anything bad about playing in this manner. In fact I try to play open handed just to practice my independence. Do you place your ride cymbal on the left side of your set where your hats are?
Click to expand...

no, i play on standard right hand config drums
 
It's fantastic to play open handed, but don't neglect or forget to practice the "traditional" right handed-lead way too!

What I did when I first started out was to use open handed for simpler stuff where the focus is mainly on the hihat, and a strong backbeat on snare, so that my right hand could be use to "play" around with bell pings and splashes.

For stronger, faster stuff on hihat, I'll definitely use the traditional way of playing.

It's great to lead with your left hand sometimes because you get a lot of different permutations of accenting when you're doing even the simplest fill in.
 
Bor said:
Hey Jenocide,

in fact I think its a blessing in disguise that you started playing by open-handed. I wish I had started that way instead of playing the conventional right over left.

Especially since you're right handed leading with the left, it does offer quite a lot of advantages in the long run. Although you may have to work harder during your formative drumming years to acquire decent speed and consistency leading with the left hand, over time, this way of playing helps to strengthen your weaker hand a lot, since its now doing most of the work.

Also I think its a good idea to practise reverse sticking on the kit for your case (eg RLRL becomes LRLR). Playing in a left handed sticking on a right handed kit can give you a very different sound from many other normal drummers and opens up a lot of possiblities on the kit. Needless to say, playing openhanded also gives you a lot more freedom of movement around the kit as the normal right handed way tends to restrict the left hand from moving round the toms when you're leading on the hi-hat.

All in all, I'd say stick with the way you're playing and work hard at it I think its beneficial in the long run.
Click to expand...

saw something on that in a youtube video, and tried it, coordination skill needed are ongwtfbbq-ly hard to get if its your first try. think i'll go step by step haha, not too fast, slowly learn until i reach there, like i did before.
 
alvyn said:
It's fantastic to play open handed, but don't neglect or forget to practice the "traditional" right handed-lead way too!

What I did when I first started out was to use open handed for simpler stuff where the focus is mainly on the hihat, and a strong backbeat on snare, so that my right hand could be use to "play" around with bell pings and splashes.

For stronger, faster stuff on hihat, I'll definitely use the traditional way of playing.

It's great to lead with your left hand sometimes because you get a lot of different permutations of accenting when you're doing even the simplest fill in.
Click to expand...

for one, theres this...

know of the standard rock beat that goes? :

(hi hat plays 4 counts, single note) Bass>snare>bass x 2 (double note)>snare > repeat

for one... when you start to progress to the part where every bass is a double note, my left hand tends to shoot to double notes, ending up with 8 hits on the hi hat. had to go through some time before i corrected it to go 4 hits, which is slower and sounds more appropriate. but there are a number of variations. from there, different grooves and fills can be added in
 
LordNagrath, I notice you play open handed yesterday too!

LordNagrath and jenocide,
I'm also an open handed drummer. We should meet up drink coffee some day. The thing I find weird when I begin drumming is - which hand do I start my fill-in with?
After that I realised I can't do lrlr(snare) lrlr(left tom) lrlr(right tom) lrlr(floor tom).
I've been playing paradiddle starting with right hand for some time before trying to put it into fill ins. When I put it in, I realised how awkward it is. Then I realise that because I'm playing left hand way, I should be playing Lrll Rlrr.
 
caijunlong said:
LordNagrath, I notice you play open handed yesterday too!

LordNagrath and jenocide,
I'm also an open handed drummer. We should meet up drink coffee some day. The thing I find weird when I begin drumming is - which hand do I start my fill-in with?
After that I realised I can't do lrlr(snare) lrlr(left tom) lrlr(right tom) lrlr(floor tom).
I've been playing paradiddle starting with right hand for some time before trying to put it into fill ins. When I put it in, I realised how awkward it is. Then I realise that because I'm playing left hand way, I should be playing Lrll Rlrr.
Click to expand...

ehh? you start with left first ar? inversely, i prefer to use my right *shrugs*

but yea, we should sit together and chat sometime. haha :lol:
 
Sometimes I was forced to use right hand. When I was playing songs like Hero/heroine by boys like girls and starlight by muse, I have to use my right hand to lead. I need a floor tom on the left!
 
Hey Jenocide, I'm in the exact same situation.

I picked up drumming "wrongly" as I'm left-handed. So I've been playing open-handed since day one. It's been two years and what I have to say is both styles have their advantages and disadvantages. So really, there isn't a good way or bad way to play it, because in the end, both styles have their flaws and plus points. So stick to what you're comfortable with.

I had difficulty doing drum rolls at first, as I lead with my left hand. But with enough practice, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
shaneypants said:
Hey Jenocide, I'm in the exact same situation.

I picked up drumming "wrongly" as I'm left-handed. So I've been playing open-handed since day one. It's been two years and what I have to say is both styles have their advantages and disadvantages. So really, there isn't a good way or bad way to play it, because in the end, both styles have their flaws and plus points. So stick to what you're comfortable with.

I had difficulty doing drum rolls at first, as I lead with my left hand. But with enough practice, it shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

eh? how come all of you seem to be saying something about rolling. i start my roll with my right hand lol XP. scarly is wrong technique then i die. i plae liddat for close to 2 years le
 
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