I’ve long struggled with the idea of open-handed playing. Why a struggle, you ask?
Well, the logic to not crossing one’s hands is pretty clear. You’ll never knock your hands together as you do when you cross one hand over the other to play the hi-hat, and you have options galore to play every drum on your kit. I believe in options.
The struggle comes from the fact that making the switch to completely play open-handed means a lot of work.
I can play open, but I feel more comfortable crossed, because that’s what I’ve done most of the time for many years.
So, I’ve been dipping my toes in the water on this. I want to be able to play open when I choose. And the choice is a matter of incorporating toms into grooves. When I want to add toms to my grooves and maintain the hi-hat ostinato, I work things out with open-handed playing.
In my experiments, I’ve come up with a few grooves that I really like. This is one of them.
To play this groove, you need to play the hi-hat with your left hand if you are a right-handed player, and vica versa if you are a lefty.
Here’s the PDF: nasty groove 3
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
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Is there a video of this nasty groove?
Not yet! But I will make one shortly….. 🙂