Utalizing Hi-Hat

[Lafirin]

Unfortunately I never learned how to keep my Hi Hat going at Quarter, Eights or Sixteenth notes when I started drumming, so I'm learning now. This is a pretty hard thing to get used to, how long did it take to get used to doing this very comfortably?

[Aaaidn]

I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean.

If your just getting used to playing to your hats, it took me about a week of practising 3 hours a night to get good at it.

[trickg]

Like anything else, it's just going to take time, and progress shouldn't be measured in days, but rather in weeks or months. Just keep working it and before you know it, it will be like second nature.

[inthpktplayer]

Not sure what you mean. If, by "keeping it going" you mean keeping the HH going with your foot while your hands is are busy elsewhere........then that is just a matter of time and practice.

[marko138]

I'm in the same boat. I never learned to do this when I started playing either. I've been working on single bass and hi hat work lately. Things are coming together nicely for me. You just gotta work at it. It'll come to you eventually.

[Drumbledore]

If you're talking about 1/4's, 1/8's and 1/16th's on the hi-hats with hands and various combinations of them, they'd all take a while, and it's stuff that'll have to be learned bit by bit. If you're talking about the left foot playing the hi-hat whilst your other three limbs move, well, that's another thing. I don't think continual left foot 1/16th's are within a lot of people's grasp (or absolutely necessary, although having your right foot play all the 1/8th's whilst the left foot plays all the off-beat 1/16th's so both feet go 'boom-chick, boom -chick, boom-chick is a good exercise, plus it gets your feet used to the type of continual 1/16th's that you can re-apply to a double kick pedal). But having a 1/4 or 1/8th note going with your left foot is great not only for limb independence, but it lays down a sort of a metronome for your other limbs to work with or against, especially with solos, polyrhythms or ostinato patterns. Some patterns have been pretty easy for me, but some have taken weeks, months....even more than several months to really get down pat. Some still get worked on, it's never-ending when it comes to all sorts of these ideas.

[slinglander]

I learned/trained my left leg to "bounce" to the beat continuously by always keeping my left leg/foot moving to the beat of every rudiment I ever practice on a pad.
Con:I don't know if it was a nervous tick or what but now I actually have to consciously will my left leg to stop working my hats.
Pro: shuffles and funky rhythms are easy to slip into at any time.

[Lafirin]

What I mean is just keeping the Hat's going while I do other things with my 3 other limbs. Just regular groves in particular. Most of the guys on here caught on to what I was asking. It's coming together, but its not just something that comes after a few weeks of solid practice, it's going to take months, which is exiting in a way. I find keeping your Hat's going at 1/4 1/8 and 1/16 notes seems to all have a different learning curves to conquer.

[Lafirin]

I learned/trained my left leg to "bounce" to the beat continuously by always keeping my left leg/foot moving to the beat of every rudiment I ever practice on a pad.
Con:I don't know if it was a nervous tick or what but now I actually have to consciously will my left leg to stop working my hats.
Pro: shuffles and funky rhythms are easy to slip into at any time.

I know what you mean, I see this on videos all the time. This is what I want to ultimately achieve eventually. Yesterday I caught myself doing 16ths on the Hat's while hammering the 20" Crash during a Chorus of a song, I was pretty exited as this was the first time I had automatically done this.

[drumsetsnide]

Unfortunately I never learned how to keep my Hi Hat going at Quarter, Eights or Sixteenth notes when I started drumming, so I'm learning now. This is a pretty hard thing to get used to, how long did it take to get used to doing this very comfortably?

Practice, practice, practice!!! That's the only way. It will take time and only you can determine how long by how often and how hard you practice.

I do this quite often when I play (31 years) but there are still times that it gets tricky.

[Texdrumr]

I'm pretty consistent working the HH anytime my left hand hits the snare. My first instructor drilled this into me and now it's more habit than anything else.

[kay-gee]

It's good to develop a steady 1/4 note hat pulse. It allows the pulse to continue in a song when you are filling and gives the band the continuing sense of where the back beat is.
Having said that, I'm learning to use the hats as their own independant percussion instrument. There are all kinds of rhythms you can play counter to your groove to create interesting textures.

all the best...

[slinky]

I didn't spend too much time getting use to doing that in the beggining. Now it's just automatic and when it becomes automatic don't think about it too much.

try not to overthink anything. That's usually when I'll screw up

[Russ]

4 way independence? I practice hitting ride with right hand while left leg plays hi hat, and adapt to my other patterns with other two limbs. Talk about a workout!

[Jemini]

I started doing this a few months ago, I think back in December, I found it gave more texture to grooves and helped with 4 way independence. I've only been playing for a bit over a year so I figure I may as well learn it now. I started off with a simple rock beat and slowly added more bass drum variations, then I would switch the hands up to something like a paradiddle groove. try it out with grooves that you know well and can focus on that left foot.

I went back and relearned many of the grooves and fills I already know and I'm still working on it. In my experience my problem is independence between left and right foot.

What has really helped me is doing exercises in 3,5,7's keeping a quarter note pulse, then "ands" then 8th's. For example I would do RLK accenting the R to a 4/4 pulse, then switch it up and accent the L, same sticking. Same concept with RLRKK...you get what I mean.

After a few months I find it slightly easier to learn grooves that require independence, just like ostinatos become "automatic" I find the same thing with the left foot...not there yet but getting there.