left handed drummer, opinions wanted.

[Ekel]

hi, sorry i hav'nt been here for a long time, i guess i spend my time learning to play the drums, rather than using the computer. the local drum shop is great.
here is the question:
i have meet a really cool drummer, he is well educated with drums, plays in a band or two, and teaches, i have the most respect for him as a drummer, and a really nice guy. so i would kid him about that this kit is backwards. i'm a left handed drummer, you see..i think it's funny, since everyone plays right..
when i asked about taking lessons, i would need the kit to be switched around..
now,,,
his reply, is that all the left handed kids he teaches he gets them to play right, and that i should switch....all i can remember is the grade two teacher making me write with my right hand, even thou i could not do it very well, i would always switch to the left when she walked away..
i have tried to play right in the begining, even played in a friend type band, that we all sucked at..but i switched over to left because it felt right to me..
so i told him he should play left and see how he likes it, he said no problem.
so if i take lessons from him i have to play right....
i'll never take lessons from him, since i like playing left, but am i wrong, should i play right....i know when i go to play at jams, it's a real hassle to switch the kit around, i'm frig'in tired after moving the stuff around a bit..and i have had some funny looks from the guy how ownes the kit..stuff bumps around..lol

what do you think.....play right or left.....and is it right that the instructor, that i like, says i should switch... i'm an open minded person, this is why i'm asking..
thank you

[imnotverygood9]

Simple, play the way that feels good to you. If you come across a right handed kit, I would suggest playing open style, where your left hand is on the high hat. Drumming is all about what feels right to you and how it sounds. So play well, play comfortably , and play deliciously funky grooves.

[pastor_bob]

I think that defining yourself as a left-handed drummer says it all. Just be what you are.

Now if your prospective teacher is trying to help you gain more independence of your limbs by having you drum right-handed, then that might be one way to approach it. The thing is that I rarely hear that a teacher has asked a right handed drummer to drum left-handed.

Being a left-hander in a right-handed world can be a pain sometimes, and you might have to learn how to adapt if you are sharing a kit. If I was sharing it with you, though, and I knew you were left-handed, I would expect that the kit would have to be reconfigured some. Just do it carefully, and with a little help, it can be done quickly.

[Ricardo]

Find a new drum instructor.
Most of them can teach you to play either way -- which ever YOU want.

I am left handed.........but I play rightie because I started out and learned that way............all the drummers I saw on TV and in concert played rightie and I truly did not know any better.

You need to take lessons fron this guy :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_-bT5Ig0oQ

[rickthedrummer]

"I am left handed.........but I play rightie because I started out and learned that way............all the drummers I saw on TV and in concert played rightie and I truly did not know any better."

Same here.

[drmpunk]

Personally I think you should practice right handed and left and open handed its only going to make you better and make your limbs more indapendent. I'm right handed but I can play left and open although I can tell a difference in my left hand technique or lack there of compared to my dominant right and that goes for feet also. Stay a lefty but I would practice with your drum teacher right and go home do your lesson again left and open handed

[funkyruss]

Stay a lefty, get a new teacher.....how long will it take for you to get to where you are now, as a lefty if you switch the kit to right? I suspect, too long!

[bongobro]

Ekel:

As you discovered when your grade two teacher tried forcing you to write with your right hand, it wasn't natural and it wasn't comfortable.

I would set the kit up so your toms would be right-to-left (I once played a friend's left-handed kit and he was as comfortable with that as I would be with my right-handed kit)...in fact I have a new appreciation for southpaw drummers from my attempts to play the left-handed kit...

However, drmpunk has a good point about learning to play with left- and right-handed styles, so try to get comfortable as possible playing both ways...

...and considering you're more focused on the drums than the computer, that may be a gentle nudge to all of us!

[late8]

Lefty or righty, building solid drumming skills requires confidence. If playing left handed suits your needs to build confidence stick to it. Take what the righty drum teacher has and switch it up when you get home.

[Markadiddle]

his reply, is that all the left handed kids he teaches he gets them to play right, and that i should switch....

My opinion is find a different teacher. One that can accomadate what you want to do and is more comfortable and natural for you.

[BlueSky]

As a newbie learner myself, all I could think about reading your post was "I still have trouble with my right hand doing what I tell it to, I can't imagine trying to reverse it and keep a smooth rhythm."

If Rick Allen could teach himself how to play with one hand, I think any teacher should be able to teach you how to drum with your left.

Good luck, and let us know how its going!

[rickthedrummer]

If you want to play left-handed, then play left-handed. Same for right-handed.

I wouldn't do both. It will, imho, mess with your coordination. Pick 1 and stay with it and you will move ahead. If you do both, you will spend more time moving sideways than forward.

[slinglander]

Stick with what's comfortable.
Ironically, if your drum teacher stands in front of you with a snare to demo the rudiments you will be mirroring his actions. Same goes for two kits set up facing each other, one for a lefty the other for a righty. So what is the instructor's problem?

[MKJr]

hi ekel

i'm a lefty also, and in one month 60 years old!

when i started drum lessons at an early age, my first two teachers taught me right-handed.

i had a very hard time grasping what was taught.

i gave up, or more so with those teachers.

i went to learn on my own lefty.

a few years later i found another teacher, the late conrad kaufman, a very out there jazz drummer.

he said, your a lefty, so lets teach you lefty.

years went by with the above mentioned pain in the *** sitting in on others drum sets.

well, last february i decided enough is enough!

been practicing every day for 30 minutes to 45 minutes sitting on the old rubber practice pad, re-learning righty!

will i ever get to where i want to be?

hell no!

though it is teaching me new drumming skills far beyond my wildest dreams!

[itchie]

New teacher ...

[Bish]

New teacher ...

Yepper!

[Drumbledore]

I'm a bit more open minded with teaching. I'm naturally right handed, but I've worked quite a while with left hand lead and ambidexterity (pays off well as a percussionist too). Same thing with my feet. There are a couple of my naturally left handed students who I teach open handed (kit set up right handed with the exception of the ride on the left hand side) as well as a few of my right handed students who I also teach open handed. I couple this with a good emphasis on rudimental exercises and pieces (and plenty of practice on a student's behalf), so quite frankly I have little if any problem teaching right or left-handed students. Ambidexterity also pays off if you also play tuned percussion, keyboards or other instruments, and even multiple percussion parts (such as playing simple conga and timbale parts or drumkit and percussion parts together on a gig, which I manage okay with).

[Ekel]

hi, thanks to everyones replies. lots of great advice..
i have sat in and played open handed style, but i'm limited in what i can play, my right foot can not do what my dominant left foot can do. it falls apart..turns to mush..then starts playing the backbeat..lol
my tom rolls to the right suffer, were my left are smooth..as i'm leading with my left.
it would be awesome to be able to play right as solid as my left, but really it's not going to happen, i'm no pro, never will be..and when i play with others that i have not met before playing open hand is way too hard. at least playing left i have a chance to play to the best of my ability, with less screw ups.
i played an evening with a pro drummer, he sat down to his kit lefty, gave it a go, and walked away, shaking his head saying that hard to do...was a good laugh.

moving the kit around is what i'm stuck doing, i try to move as few pieces as possible, but it's a challenge, the cymbal legs are inter locked, unbalanced when picking them up.
i will practice open style, and i hope at some point, i can jump behind the kit without switching stuff around..but it's just not what i really want to do..yet i'm forced too, if i'm just sitting in for a song or two..
it sucks being left, and i will not take lessons from the drum educator. i guess he is right like others here that it would be good for me.
i'm working on a james brown tune ,,,i got money, it's an awesome beat, i can play the main beat , but not at the 160 bpm, trying to do that open would be a train wreak..lol
i practice rudiments every day, i have try leading with my weaker right, i'm far away from being as good as my left.
i'm going to a jam on sunday, and i have asked if a can bring my kit, and have two drummers playing..i'm not sure how thats going to go over, i hope they say yes.
thanks again for all the input..

[Ricardo]

it sucks being left

I respectfully & completely disagree.

[JohnnySticks]

Ringo was Letterman or somesuch show and he said that he is left handed but learned to play a right handed kit but since his left is dominant he tends to lead with his left, even though it's a RH kit, which makes his fills "sound funny sometimes".

[Bridie]

Hi,
I am left handed, and so is my tutor. When I started, he asked me what felt right for me. I used to switch from left/right/open crossed.
I still do.
I settled for rh crossed, most of the time,although playing open is second nature to me, may be because I started when I was 6.

I would do what feels right for you.

It is a pain switching kits about, and nice to be able to sit and play whatever though.

My tutor says if you can play both ways it is like having a bit of an advantage, because you can get your right foot as good as your left etc.

Bridie
Left Handed, Right hand drummer kid