I’ve tried to become more in tune with my body over the years. This has included looking at and evaluating my drum grip (or hand position). One thing I like about both hands being “matched” is that I feel that I can experiment more with playing in an open-handed positioning. I have written a bit about this positioning before, and it’s something I’m still exploring. To be clear, I have seen great drummers who play traditional grip use their non-dominant hand on the hi-hat from time-to-time (Steve Gadd, e.g.). However, that’s not the most comfortable way for me. Certain grooves (50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon with Gadd on drums) do feel good to me with the traditional hand positioning.
Other times, I want to try and channel Carter Beauford and/or Billy Cobham and go for the open-handed positioning. Both of these drummers tend to play in the French grip positioning (palms facing each other), so this is yet another area to explore. I find that when playing in this fashion, I have lots of access to my fingers. JoJo Mayer has some nice exercises to develop this technique. All-in-all, when going back to my dominant hand on the hi-hat or ride cymbal, I feel stronger. I like that.
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