DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

are you playing the kick drum with your left foot and the hi-hat with your right foot, or vice versa?

LL is playing a right-handed kit iirc. crossing over gives you more dexterity.

I'm playing normal! My hands were screwed up, not my feet.

i mean, maybe he's teaching you play a kit set up for a right-handed person in a standard manner

i learned to play a kit set up for a left-handed person, as I am a left-handed person.

Weird, I never thought of handedness as being an issue with drums. You have to use both hands anyway. One shouldn't be weaker than the other really. And righties are typically playing the snare with their left hand, so that's theoretically "backwards" anyway isn't it?

the strength of learning to play right-handed is that you'll be able to share someone else's kit without moving anything around.

I can't imagine setting up the drums backwards. That would mean you could never use somebody else's kit, use one at a rehearsal space, try out drums in a drum shop, etc. without moving everything around.
xp

nb I am not a drummer, I just know things.

I never use someone else's kit without moving at least some things around.

I mean assuming a gig or a rehearsal anyway.

I mean it's kind of crazy not to, it's like trying to ride the bike of a person 8 inches taller than you without lowering the seat.

the whole point of crossing your right hand over is that you can keep your left hand on the snare while the right hand moves around the kit. so you can play the same pattern on hats, ride, floor tom, etc. and it will feel the same. you can't really do the opposite and cross your left hand over to the floor tom while playing the snare with your right hand!

. And righties are typically playing the snare with their left hand, so that's theoretically "backwards" anyway isn't it?

Not backwards! If you look at the common patterns in rock and jazz, the hand doing most of the work keeping the beat is the stronger hand: the ride cymbal in the case of jazz, and crossing over to play hi-hat in rock.

Drums were my third instrument, after piano and bass, and the beauty of drums for me, were that drums are modular. I would not have a handicap for not being tall, or having small hands, or being a lefty. So, when left-handed people learn to play right-handed, it makes me a little angry, like why not cater to your own body as opposed to trying to conform to the other 90% or whatever?

moving things around is nbd but moving everything into a completely backwards kit is pretty crazy, no?
xp

I mean it's kind of crazy not to, it's like trying to ride the bike of a person 8 inches taller than you without lowering the seat.

― PJ. Turquoise dealer. Chatroulette addict. Andersonville. (Hurting 2),

EXACTLY!!!

are we talking a right handed or left handed bike?

I don't think I've ever seen a drummer with their kit set up backwards. It would be like having a custom piano set up backwards. Just practice so that one of your hands is not stronger than the other!

I can't imagine setting up the drums backwards. That would mean you could never use somebody else's kit, use one at a rehearsal space, try out drums in a drum shop, etc. without moving everything around.

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn to use a righty kit. I will play it that way sometimes if I am using someone else's and it's just an informal jam or chaotic improv gig. My teacher was a right-handed person and he would entertain himself trying to play left-handed. He also had us work on doing paradiddles with the feet, because, hey, why not?

I just feel like it's easier and more self-esteem boosting to learn in a way that is easier on your body, and then work on limb independence a lot so that you could play a backwards kit or what have you

I don't see what's so hard about switching it up unless you're using some kind of 30-roto-tom monster kit. Put the hi-hat where the floor tom is and vice versa, maybe switch the ride and the crash if that makes you more comfortable, and switch toms 1 and 2.

sorry I mean the snare where the floor tom is and the hi-hat on the other side. It's maybe like 5 minutes of work.

It isn't that hard really! I've done it a bunch! You just have to be efficient about it. There are people that spend even longer re-tuning and adjusting little things on someone else's kit without moving stuff around.

Drums just seem so awkward and unnatural anyway when you first start out. It never occurred to me that there would be a particular way of doing it that would be easier on your body depending on if you're right or left handed. It just seems arbitrary.

he whole point of crossing your right hand over is that you can keep your left hand on the snare while the right hand moves around the kit. so you can play the same pattern on hats, ride, floor tom, etc. and it will feel the same. you can't really do the opposite and cross your left hand over to the floor tom while playing the snare with your right hand!

― wk, Friday, July 26, 2013 6:51 PM

this. this. this. not the other things that people are talking about.

(although the thing about being able to jump onto another person's kit without reversing everything is a nice bonus)

It never occurred to me that there would be a particular way of doing it that would be easier on your body depending on if you're right or left handed. It just seems arbitrary.

A drum kit is not a piano! It consists of a bunch of pieces that you can assemble however you want!

the only exception is double-bass pedals -- but left-handed double-bass pedals are mass-produced and available.

maybe my right hand isn't very dominant or something. I'm trying playing open handed and playing backwards air drums and there's not a huge difference. but trying to play the kick with my left foot would definitely throw me off.

the biggest difference I notice is when I am either playing fast or playing a fairly complex pattern.

I'm left handed and I've always been suspicious of the "teach left handers to play right handed" thing. I know I could never do it. I play open-handed, with the hi hat squished in awkwardly as far over to the right behind the snare as I can get it without the snare getting completely in the way of my left foot.

although tbh I do always fantasize about there being a better way, like I wish I had one of those wire-driven hi hats so I could separate the pedal from the hats

my drum teacher had one of those! It's a similar mechanism to a bicycle brake iirc

The downside of being left handed and playing open is that you end up being far more familiar with the work of Carter Beauford than you might have liked, haha.

do you use trad or matched grip, Dan?

matched because I am a plebe

you can't really do the opposite and cross your left hand over to the floor tom while playing the snare with your right hand!
this is what i was doing and it was really weird but i just kept doing it

also pretty much ignoring everything that runs opposite to what my teacher says from this point forward -- it's really good to have an irl point person whose job it is to help me. i'm not used to requiring that sort of help, but i'm appreciating it atm.

Whatshisname from Faith No More plays hats/ride with his left hand and set up on his left w/ the rest of he

Shit sorry, phone post...

Anyway his kit is set up pretty standard otherwise iirc. I think followong the teacher's example is good but eventually you'll probably find something to adapt to your own preference.

speaking of help, i'd like to thank everyone itt for helping me get up to speed and go to my first lesson with a better idea of what i was talking about than my teacher expected. it's always unusually pleasing to me to know more (about anything) than people expect me to know,

ok there is a lot of misinformation on this thread right now. what i want to stress is, LL, if he wants you to play right-hand lead, DO NOT DO IT. i don't want to stress you out by contradicting your teacher, but this is what i was talking about upthread. i'm a lefty who was taught to play righty and i regret it to this day. at least for me, my right hand will never have the speed and endurance that my right hand does no matter how much i practice, so i had to teach myself to switch to left-hand lead for certain things after playing drums for 10+ years. i think i'd be a better drummer today if i just learned how to play left-handed in the first place, so i have a lot of passionate ~opinions~ about this.

you can't really do the opposite and cross your left hand over to the floor tom while playing the snare with your right hand!

sure you can, it's a little awkward but nbd. it's not a good enough reason to decide to lead with your weak hand! riding on the floor tom is much less common than riding on the hi-hat or ride cymbal, and if you do it a lot, you can always choose to add a floor tom on the left side or a snare on the right side.

ok, i'll talk to him about it! he's a reasonable person. i'll see how my practicing goes this week and if i just feel like it's wrong, i'll know. i think?
i understand that you don't want me to make a fatal mistake and also are not intentionally trying to stress me out. i am definitely stressed out about this enough as it is! obvs.

and this isn't the point either (the point is that you should lead with your strong hand, because you'll need to play many more notes on the hi-hat/ride with that hand), but you can just as easily argue that leading with your left hand on a righty kit opens up the toms to your hand hand.

here's some lefty swag for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnd7pAAEywo&feature=player_detailpage&t=108

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8eTS2EFoDw&feature=player_detailpage&t=108

(ignore/embrace the smooth vibes)

A drum kit is not a piano! It consists of a bunch of pieces that you can assemble however you want!

otm, let's not act like the drum kit was designed to be played in any particularly optimal way, it's an unholy conglomeration of percussion instruments meant to fit the musical needs of the moment/person.

http://kermitvonmunster.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/1930_slingerland_trap_kit.jpg

UPDATE

1) I have been practicing my paradiddles and moving around the kit. That's pretty fun and I totally see the value of warming up. This part is repetitive, but also meditative. I look forward to introducing new patterns and alternating with old ones. I can kinda see how this works now!!

2) In addition to that I am practicing one song so that by Friday I will be able to go through the whole thing without major screwups. Getting there! I have been recording every day but only posted day 1 and day 4 on soundcloud because the other two days were dull. Actually, they are all dull but I want to have something to look back at and laugh in a year. It's my Flowers for Algernon sound journal I guess.

3) The righty/lefty experiment is going strangely well, I think? I have been playing the song with my right hand on the cymbal and left hand on snare (crossed over) and now after doing it enough times (so many times!) I feel pretty much the same both ways. I'll see how it effects things when shit gets more complicated. Right now it is def not complicated at all.

That's all for now until Friday. Overall I am pleased with my progress from the beginning of the summer, when I had no drums. Now I have drums and can (+/-) play 7/8 of an actual song, with the parts counted out and everything! Not sure I got the end part right tbh but who cares. The other good news is that I am really enjoying it, so even if I am not blowing the world up with my skills I am definitely feeling positive about the experience (this is essential to continuing to try to improve, ime).

the end

otm, let's not act like the drum kit was designed to be played in any particularly optimal way, it's an unholy conglomeration of percussion instruments meant to fit the musical needs of the moment/person.

Yup, in fact I like to remind myself that its roots are basically as a kind of gag/sound efx rig for vaudeville, so the idea that there's a single, formal way a kit should be set up is laughable. If anything, drummers are lucky to have an instrument so easy to customize.

i agree with that and hope to someday know how i want to customize my setup
it's fun to play an instrument with no regard for orthodoxy

Do you recall I ventured that my recordings might be useable? Well I've tried my best and ... they're not. Fortunately I had the foresight to record some isolates on each piece of kit, so I can sample these and put together a live track of sorts.

It's absolutely fascinating breaking it down to this extent though. I can understand the degree of control you need to play properly now, precision in timing and touch. With me, every hit is different - I get all pleased when I find a few bars where neither tempo nor volume vary much, but that's sadly rare. Also my touch is so heavy, I realise - it's like divers at the Olympics, you want a splashless impact in a tight circle, not the belly flop I've been favouring.

man, i hear that
kinda depends on what you're looking for in terms of style though, right? isn't there room for all kinds of players, olympic divers and cannonball jumpers alike?

this is what i have been telling myself at least

otm, let's not act like the drum kit was designed to be played in any particularly optimal way, it's an unholy conglomeration of percussion instruments meant to fit the musical needs of the moment/person.

Yup, in fact I like to remind myself that its roots are basically as a kind of gag/sound efx rig for vaudeville, so the idea that there's a single, formal way a kit should be set up is laughable. If anything, drummers are lucky to have an instrument so easy to customize.

Yeah, I agree, but that's exactly why it's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that there's a right-handed or left-handed way to play the drums. It all seems arbitrary and you end up using both hands anyway. It would be ridiculous to say that everyone should always have the hi-hat on the left. But I think it's equally ridiculous to assume that you should always play the hi-hats with your dominant hand. Or that you should even play them at all!

I think it's equally ridiculous to assume that you should always play the hi-hats with your dominant hand. Or that you should even play them at all!

It depends on what you want to play, or be able to play. I know drummers who only use the hi-hat as a cymbal and never use the foot pedal, which I think is a waste, personally, because the hi-hat is such an interesting and versatile instrument. But if you want to play a standard rock back beat or the punk-rock/hardcore "polka beat" then using the weak hand on the hi-hat is a handicap for being able to play your best.