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Thank you @Kirstin @Christine and @Davidine 🙂 I have a very basic ekit with a crash on tje left side. The ride is in between the crash and and the HH. All 3 symbles are 10 inches. All toms and snare are 8 inches. My left hand plays all 3 symbles and the right hand is always on the snare. Playing the left hand on the snare and right hand on the crash sounds interesting, though it is weird for me. But we are here to try new things every day 🙂 Thank you all

Thank you so much @David. It answered many questions I had in my mind in the several days 🙂

@David thank you. I tried listening to your video and was very impressed by the your moves arround the kit 👍, though could not hear your voice (I know you know it 🙂). Does it mean I need to remember per fill how to start it? Do you have problems when it comes to jamming and improvising a fill?

My dominant hand is my left hand. When playing fill on the toms clockwise it is easier to lead with the right hand, though my right hand plays the snare and not the HH or ride (my ride is on the left side).

Just found this article https://drumhelper.com/learning-drums/open-handed-drumming/ It says the text below and I am a bit confused. Any thoughts? Lead with Your Left Hand The biggest adjustment to make when switching to open-handed drumming is that you need to lead most grooves and fills with your left hand. This may take a while to get used to, but it’s the best way of catering to keeping your left hand on the hi-hat for grooves. If you lead with your right hand on a fill, you’ll end up playing your left hand twice in a row after crashing, and that won’t be possible at high speeds. Some grooves and fills will sound quite cool when leading with your right, but the general rule of thumb is to lead with your left with an open-hand setup.

Exactly. When playing open handed on the HH and snare there is no dynamics independence problem. Also when playing the ride which is located the left side of the kit (in between the HH and the crash) there is no dynamics independence problem. But when playing the crash and the snare the hands are almost crossed then it becomes a problem. Maybe I need to move the crash a bit more to the left?

@Kirstin thank you so much. Just ordered these two books 🙂 This is a very interesting insight. It explains why a leading hand is not as trivial as it is when playing cross handed.

While playing open handed the left hand plays the HH and the right hand plays the snare. I also moved the ride to in between the HH and the crash so the left hand always plays the ride. This is pretty native. When it comes to playing fills deciding in the leading hand is not stright forward to me. There are fills which is native to lead with the right hand while there are fills which the left hand 'wants' to lead. Are there any guidelines? Maybe there aren't guidelines?! @Stephen is it possible to have one lesson which summarizes all the nuances when moving to play open handed? Maube other drummers who play open handed have more ideas of topics for such a lesson 🙂

Playing open handed is great. The sticks almost never touch each other. I am playing a song which has this bar. When I reach the note of 4 the sticks touch each other. I am trying to play the snare with less power to avoid it. By the way, when I played cross handed (with a left side setup) this specific note felt much different and easier. Who says open handed is perfect 🙂

This is so true.

Thank you @Kirstin. Waiting for your updates 🙂

@David this is a very useful insight. Thank you! I wonder if these transitioning can be improvised or the drummer actually chunks them and prepare them ahead of time in practice time.

@Kirstin thank you. I use your paraddidle hack and it actually solved my problem. Of course, I need to pracrice my doubles for above 80 bpm. Though it is a great incentive to work on doubles and paradidles. Quick question: I realized that leading with the right hand on fills when the first note is on the downbeat is native. Though when the fill started on the downbeat somehow my left hand want to lead. For example: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 - & a G r o o v e - Fill I assume it happens because the left hand wants to continue its motion on 8th notes. I wonder if it happens to other open handed players. @Kirstin I assume you have some brilliant ideas for this case as well 😉

This is much above my current skill 🙂 I have started learning the push / pull a week ago. My left hand (my strong hand) is ok only on german grip but only on 80bpm 8th notes, I still did not get the motion of the french grip. My right hand is still stuggling with keeping the fulcrum steady. My thumb is too loose and I do not see improvement. Playing doubles is a dream.

HH and crash on on the left side. Open handed so the left hand is playing 8th notes on HH and crash.

It definitely is

While playing opened (left hand on HH + Crash - right hand on snare) I realized a problem. Playing a groove when 1 on the crash there is no problem. The left hand does the work 🙂 When playing a fill with 16th notes the on the toms while the right leads - the 'a' of 4 is played by the left hand. The left hand needs to go to the crash on the 1. @Stephen Which hand should play the crash on 1 in this case? The crash on the left side of the kit. @Stephen can you describe what are the nuances which should be considered when playing open handed?

Good luck @Kirstin. I am curious to know how you progress with it.

Today I had a very unique practice session. For 2 hours I put the click on 60bpm (8th notes) and did not stop it. For 20 minutes - I played a simple 8th notes groove of * Bass drum on 1, 3, & of 3 * Open the HH on the & of 4 * Crash on 1 Then for 10 minutes - finger control exercises on both german and french grips. Then again 20 minutes of the same groove and so on. During these boring loops I found some things: 1 . I need to think again before opening the HH and before closing it. 2 . My right leg is weak and still does not know what's best for it (heel up or heel down). 3 . My right hand suddenly hit the snare differently. I figured out that now it leans on my right leg 🙂. This is a new privilege 🤣. Before the change, my right hand also played the snare though it could not lean on my right leg which was resposible for the HH control pedal. Now my right hand is more calm and hits the snare more gently and remains close to it (waiting the future ghost note). I have started the BT on April (stopped at lesson 20 - before doing this change). My original plan was doing it all over again after completing it. Well, I restarted it already and it feels like it is going to be way more thorough than just a second time 🐢

Today I started letting my left foot dealing with opening the HH. At first it was wierd because my left foot could not move 🙂 I chose the money beat and try to simply open the HH on the & of 4. After a couple of minutes, it worked. At first I did not understand what made this change, then I realized that my right foot (which was responsible for opening the HH until few days ago) helped my left foot and did the same motion synchronously. It worked great when the right foot was heel down, but when it was heel up this 'helping motion' could not happen. Well, my next month will be a kind of deja vous for the first days on the drums. Everything feels brand new. I built a weekly plan and hope to achieve it. Just a few days ago, I could play songs and played my warm up automatically. All these things should re-built from scratch again. It is a bit frustrated, though the big goal of playing on a standard kit layout gives me motivation. And all of your encouragement is helping me so much. Thanks!

@Kirstin I appreciate your effort to send this video so much. It is exactly what I was looking for. 1 . I forgot, are you left handed as well? 2 . When you play 16th notes on the HH with two hand, which hand leads? i.e. which hand plays the snare on 2 & 4?

Today was my first practice session with the new setup - My legs feel like the first days on the drum kit last year. Though there is one great advantage - both legs can learn new techniques. My right leg can learn both heel up & heel down (with my left leg I got used to only heel up). My left leg needs to learn from scrach to open the HH. This is tough again 🤦‍♂️ Rolling 16th notes on the sanre and the 3 toms while right hand leading is confusing. It feel like it'll take sevral weeks. I am starting the Beginner Track from lesson one. And will need to learn the songs I already learned again. It is better to switch now (after one year) than later. I'll keep you posted with my journey 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

@Stephen I am interested to hear your opinion about open handed layout for a lefty on a standard kit (not mirrored). I was playing my first year on the drums on a mirrored layout. I found it tedious changing the kit every time I go to the practice room where I a classic kit (I have ekit at home). 1 . Where to put the ride? Left or right side? 2 . What to put the crash? Left side or right side? 3 . When starting a fill which hand leads? The left hand which plays the groove on the HH or the right hand? Is the a course / quick tip video on a. open handed b. lefty hand Thanks

Here is another great video

@Kirstin amd @chantale look what I found