Open Handed Drumming (Guide, Tips, Pros/Cons)

Open-handed drumming is an alternative approach to the traditional style of cross-handed drumming. Open-handed drumming is an approach where the drummer does not cross hands while playing between the snare and hi-hat.

This article shows you how to play open-handed. We will also explore the pros and cons of this approach.

Many of us learn to cross our hands because that is how our teachers or favorite drummers play. That arrangement lets the right hand lead a left-side hi-hat, but it can restrict the space above the snare. Open-handed playing offers another way to arrange those movements.

Open-handed drumming and cross-handed drumming both have their pros and cons. It’s useful to become strong at both techniques.

We will discuss the pros and cons of open-handed drumming later in the article. But first, let’s talk about how to get started.

How to play Open Handed

For simplicity, we will assume this addresses right-handed drummers. Left-handed drummers can swap all right-hand and left-hand usage to follow along.

For starters, check out this great demonstration by Dom Famularo below. He co-wrote a great book on this topic (Open-Handed Playing, Vol. 1), which is worth checking out.

1. Adjust your drum set orientation to suit your new style.

Try lowering the hi-hat until your left hand can play it with a relaxed shoulder and wrist. Make small changes, checking that the snare, toms, and pedal remain easy to reach. There is no required height, and you do not need to copy another drummer’s setup.

If you want to use your left hand on the ride cymbal, then you should move that cymbal to the left-hand side of the set.

The rest of the set can remain the same.

2. Practice some basic beats

Start with an easy, straightforward groove using quarter notes on the hi-hat and a steady backbeat on the snare (2 & 4)

Focus on sounding even and maintaining good time. Keep the bass drum on beats 1 and 3, play four bars, then stop and check whether the hi-hat changes volume whenever the snare lands. Slow down until both hands can keep their own parts steady. Don’t worry about speed.

As you get better, work up the hi-hat count to eighths and sixteenth notes.

Don’t get discouraged by the adjustment curve, it gets easier with each session.

3. Try to play some songs using the open-handed method

Once you can play basic grooves in the open style, pick a familiar song with a simple, steady beat and start playing along open-handed. Begin with one verse or chorus, then add the transitions and fills. Keep your usual foot pattern while you get used to the new hand assignment.

Eventually, as you get a good grasp of the basics, you can check out some of the learning resources mentioned later in this article to help you improve.

Benefits of Open Handed Drumming

More Natural to Play

Can you imagine driving a car cross-handed, or always playing the piano that way?

Those who adore this technique consider cross-handed drumming an ‘accidental and accepted’ inadequacy of ergonomics.

Though the discussion runs deeper than such oversimplified internet rhetoric, open-handed drummers most certainly don’t have to deal with the congested and awkward movement of cross-handed playing.

Opens up Your Set

Open players have a lot more access to each part of the set at any given point of time when using the open-handed approach.

For example, Use the cross-handed method and play eighth notes on the hi-hat and hit the snare, and follow it up with a tom hit and a floor-tom hit. Try the same thing using the open-handed style. Do you see how stroppy it feels to do it with your arms crossed? How about trying playing a swing pattern on the ride and a continuous rumble on the floor-tom simultaneous?

You can devote a small part of practice to playing open-handed because it opens up new avenues. Try the same groove for four bars with each hand leading, keeping the tempo and volume unchanged so you can hear what needs work. The variation in the style/approach forces you to think and redefine your playing when it hits that inevitable plateau we all dread.

Ambidexterity

As a drummer, both your hands hit the drums in a similar fashion. Every drummer yearns for ‘equalization’ or ambidexterity – to be equally skilled with the right and left hand.

Open-handed drumming gives your less-used lead hand practice keeping time, but changing hands does not automatically make them equally skilled. Work on accents, quiet notes, and transitions as well as a steady hi-hat pattern, then test those skills in the styles you actually play.

There is a line between being an exclusively open-handed drummer and having open-handed drumming as a part of your style/repertoire.

Open-handed drumming is rapidly becoming a legit part of the contemporary drum syllabus. Teachers can use it to expand a student’s coordination and movement options; it is a useful technique rather than a universal requirement. At the end of the day, even if you prefer to play close-handed, having this skill will work to your advantage in various situations.

You don’t have to pick one style and ignore the other. Many drummers use both open and cross-handed in their career to achieve different results, based on the genre, groove, setting, and intended sound.

Many drummers never play open-handed live but still include it in their daily practice routine just to build coordination and improve their non-dominant hand.

Much Bigger Snare Hits

Modern Rock and Metal drummers realized that open playing eliminated the ‘roof’ of the hi-hat playing arm over the hand that hit the snare. This gave them the full range required to blast out the snare hits and rimshots. That extra clearance can be useful in heavier music, but aim for the sound the song needs instead of using the space to strike as hard as possible.

Cons of Open Handed Drumming

Your weak hand leads the hi-hat

The hi-hat often has more intricate grooves than the snare.

In the right-handed example used here, you may be leading the hi-hat with your less-practiced hand. A left-handed drummer on the same kit may already favor that hand.

It can take quite a bit of practice to get used to this.

Learning Curve

The most obvious downside to open drumming is that you have to retrain your hands. You return to the uncharted territory because you are leading with the non-dominant hand. If you have been drumming for a while and decide to try out this technique, you might feel frustrated as you start down the ladder again.

This will require patience, perseverance, and consistent practice.

Drum Set Orientation

Open-handed drummers get a taste of what left-handed drummers have to go through when it comes to sharing a kit at multi-band events or open jam sessions. Though you may not have to make as many changes as a leftie would, you often only need to make some minor changes to the drum set orientation to get it ready for open-handed playing.

Some Well-known Open Handed Drummers

• Mike Mangini (formerly Dream Theater)
• Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
• Scott Travis (Judas Priest)
• Phil Gould (Level 42)
• Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys)
• Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band)

Conclusion

That’s our guide on open-handed drumming, how to set up your kit in a way that works for the technique, and the pros and cons for playing open-handed versus cross-handed drumming.

Open-handed drumming is a technique that stretches your capability as a drummer. If you have been playing for some time now, this technique is definitely worth the effort and will give your playing a new feeling and dimension.

You don’t have to pick one style and ignore the other. Many drummers use both open and cross-handed in their career to achieve different results, based on the genre, groove, setting, and intended sound.

So try switching to open-handed drumming for a while and see how it feels. You can slowly transition back to playing close-handed if you prefer that style of play or continue with open once you feel comfortable enough.