Cross arm method

[Beasty101]

Why do I always see other drummer cross there arms/sticks when playing the snare and Hi Hat??? I seem to be the only one does not. Am I doing something critically wrong?? I can still get the music sounding the way it should be or am I making a serious coordination mistake?

[coke_can]

your doing nothing wrong, your just playing open handed. theres nothing wrong with it and plenty of famous drummers do it

[32ndHeartBeat]

Are you left handed?

[Beasty101]

No I am right handed. I just wanted to know if there was some sort of advantage to the other way. I could care less if someone famous does it or not. but thanks for the info.

[drummerdavie]

i play open handed and think cross hand is a disadvantage because it locks the left hand in place but with open the right hand is free to transfer from snare to hat to floor tom to splash to whatever else you feel like playing and you dont have to disrupt your hihat beat. most drummers do cross because it places a stronger hand on the hi hat. but if your left is strong then go for open

[Ethel_The_Frog]

i play open handed and think cross hand is a disadvantage because it locks the left hand in place but with open the right hand is free to transfer from snare to hat to floor tom to splash to whatever else you feel like playing and you dont have to disrupt your hihat beat. most drummers do cross because it places a stronger hand on the hi hat. but if your left is strong then go for open

I'm left hand and play cross handed on a right handed kit. TBH it makes little difference at all, you still start (most of) your fills with your right hand anyway and all you do is take your right hand off whatever you're keeping time on and move it to where you want to start.

[32ndHeartBeat]

Completely normal, bro. It's actually more a sign of talent than anything, I tried playing open handed for a while, but unfortunately my left hand has always been WAY less coordinated than the right. Maybe now I could, but I haven't played for about 2 weeks so it's hard to tell.

[cdaug]

i play both depending on what im playing at the time. i feel that the advantage lies in being able to move around your kit at will without interuption. this way you can never be "caught out of position" so to speak.

[Drumslave]

Something to think about handedness... I am predominantly lefty but play cross arm on a right hand set up with my right hand on the hihats. My right arm is not that much weak than my left, so when I started my lessons which are mostly exercises I had no problem. After a year when I started playing with the backing tracks I noticed that my right hand on the hhat is not as good in keeping up with the beat compared to my left that is on the snare. Maybe it has something to do with the side of the brain that is responsible for music. Or it might be something unique in me.

[drum_chick]

Why do I always see other drummer cross there arms/sticks when playing the snare and Hi Hat??? I seem to be the only one does not. Am I doing something critically wrong?? I can still get the music sounding the way it should be or am I making a serious coordination mistake?

I play opened a lot of the time, it's what's comfortable for you. You're not doing anything wrong.....

[jimbolimbo99]

I always find myself playing open handed if im playing something hard and rockin' , that isnt too complicated for my hands- or they get confused. haha

[Bish]

I've played crossed forever.

Recently, I've been playi.....erm let me rephrase that to attempting to play open handed. Let me say from experience, never try it for the first time while gigging. It almost ended up being a Darwin candidate move for me.

If I can learn this new technique it will get me one step closer to being fully ambidextrous which I claim no part of, at the moment.

[quikstang2]

Weirdo.

Just kidding. A while back it was the "thing" to do around here. Everyone thought it made them better. Well, they couldn't touch the few cross stick guys who never switched and everyone realized it didn't matter.

[Norske]

When I took lessons a very long time ago, cross handed was the only style instructors taught. But when I went home from my lesson I always played open handed because it just felt more natural. Over the years it has become more widely accepted, but when I was first doing it I felt like I was doing something wrong, and had to prove to my instructor that I could play better that way. He still said it was wrong. I also drove him nuts because I loved to play matched grip, and that was supposedly wrong too. Trad grip was the way they taught you to play, PERIOD!

So from past experience all I can say is play whatever way makes you more comfortable, and whatever way makes you better at playing. I used to switch back and forth back then too, but now I play exclusively open handed with matched grip. I don't think I could play crossed and trad grip anymore today, because it's just been too long.

By the way, Dom Famularo, and Stephane Chamberland offer vids and other tools for learning open handed playing if anyone is interested.

Also an interesting fact -- Ringo Starr is left handed, but plays his kit set up for a right handed player, and he plays trad grip and cross handed. What makes his drumming with the Beatles hard to duplicate is the fact that he started all his rolls with his left hand, and often played from right to left across his kit, rather than left to right.

[holycow77]

If I can learn this new technique it will get me one step closer to being fully ambidextrous which I claim no part of, at the moment.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous...

[silverdragonsound]

I play cross handed as that is how I am being taught. Right now I just want to learn one way correctly but I could totally see myself using the open handed approach somewhere down the road. Personally I think whatever works well for you is what you should do. Of course I have very little experience so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[Ethel_The_Frog]

Also an interesting fact -- Ringo Starr is left handed, but plays his kit set up for a right handed player, and he plays trad grip and cross handed. What makes his drumming with the Beatles hard to duplicate is the fact that he started all his rolls with his left hand, and often played from right to left across his kit, rather than left to right.

That's what I used to do until I started leading with my right hand. Now my left hand is just a bit more sloppy :P.
Ringo is quite a good drummer. He's starting to grow on me.

[silverdragonsound]

Ringo is quite a good drummer. He's starting to grow on me.

I don't mean to hijack this thread but you bring an interesting point. As I am learning to play, I am listening much more intently to the drums in the music I listen too. I am beginning to appreciate all the subtleties that go along with playing the drums. I have also gained a great respect for many drum players I didn't really notice before.

[Bish]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but you bring an interesting point. As I am learning to play, I am listening much more intently to the drums in the music I listen too. I am beginning to appreciate all the subtleties that go along with playing the drums. I have also gained a great respect for many drum players I didn't really notice before.

That's great insight, SDS. Isn't it cool have these things "appear" before you as you get more in tune with drumming.

Welcome to the best place to be, behind a kit.

[backtodrum]

Being left handed and playing on a right hand kit which I started out on, I played open handed and when I switched to left hand to lead with my natural inclination, I played cross handed. Really though I can play either way and do regularly and don't feel much difference either way. I do play crossed hand more because i do it with out thinking. There is advantages to playing either way so play how ever is comfortable.

[fiacovaz]

Forgive me for asking a dumb question but does "Open Hand" mean that you're playing the hi-hat with your right hand and playing the snare drum with your left hand? I've never heard either of these terms...Open Hand or Cross Arm...before.

[cdaug]

hey Frank there are no dumb questions. with the kit set for a traditional right hand player the left hand is on the hats and the right hand is on the snare for open hand and the traditional cross arm is what you see from most drummers with the right hand on the hats and the left on the snare.

[fiacovaz]

I didn't know that...not sure that I could play Open Hand, then. thanks for the explanation, Charlie.

[Bish]

I have two questions that are plaguing me...Okay there are many more but this way I can stay on topic.

Speaking from a fully right handed player...

I always thought traditional grip was with the left stick played with the palm up and the stick tip pointing towards your right hand, while the right hand holds the stick with palm down and stick tip pointing away from you. Another way to describe it is your left hand is holding the stick in the web between your thumb and fore finger. Your right hand is holding in the stick using your thumb to press the stick into the fore finger.

Open handed is when both sticks are held the same way, as with the right hand.

Cross arm means you play the hats with the right hand and the snare with the left. Trad or open handed can be played using cross arm, IMHO. Thomas Lang plays traditional cross arm where as I play mostly open handed cross arm.

Now to me, when you play open handed "uncross armed" you are now playing the hats with your left hand and snare with your right. So again, for me, if I attempt that my arms will totally reverse responsibilities and that is something I'm not fluent with.

Am I out in left field with my definitions...let alone the descriptions?

[cdaug]

Open handed is when both sticks are held the same way, as with the right hand. ?

i understand this to be matched grip

Now to me, when you play open handed "uncross armed" you are now playing the hats with your left hand and snare with your right. So again, for me, if I attempt that my arms will totally reverse responsibilities and that is something I'm not fluent with.

....and this i call open handed. we could just be haggling over terminology but this is the way i have always understood the terms to mean. i play both without really thinking much about it, i guess i just never knew any different when i began. when i use a trad grip its usually open handed with the trad grip being the right hand.