traditional grip, crossed-arm madness, etc

i know that there are several professional type drummers and teachers in here, so it seems like the perfect group to ask...

1. what are the attractions of playing the hi hats with the right hand?

2. what are the attractions of playing traditional grip on a kit?

i play primarily ambidextrous; the hats are on my left so i'll hit them with my left hand, the ride is on the right, so i'll hit it with my right hand. this way the entire kit is opened up either way. it works for me pretty well. my old teacher wanted me to play the traditional way, but could never offer me an explanation other than 'i've never seen anyone who doesn't play this way'... so perhaps those of you who play this way could offer me an explanation and the relative advantages to playing this way.

thank you

'i've never seen anyone who doesn't play this way'?

Maybe he just means 'riding' on the ride cymbal with your right hand but 'riding' on the hi-hat with your left hand. Have you considered moving your ride cymbal over to your left-hand side, i.e. near your hi-hat, and using your left hand for both? That would add an element of consistency to your approach. If he means he has never seen anyone play drum set other than using traditional grip and right-hand on the hi-hat, he needs to get out of the house more often.

You sound much more enlightened (or at least, open to new possibilities) than your 'old teacher' does - if you haven't done so already, find a 'new teacher' who can deal with the idea of using the left hand on the hi-hat and approaching the drum set ambidextrously. What you're looking to do doesn't sound (to me, anyway) like something a teacher should dismiss out of hand.

yeah, sorry, thats what he meant. he wasnt referring to traditional grip.

actually i'm just starting with a new teacher who has a completely symmetrical kit and has developed some amazing techniques with his left foot and such. my friend has been studying with him for about five or six years and he's amazing. he showed me a video of a drum recital a few years ago, my new teacher and a friend of his set up two four piece kits with lots of cymbals and other percussion goodies and jammed for a half hour or so, trading off solos and playing out two-drummer grooves, it was some really cool stuff.

says...

It's a matter of good sense: the ride/hi-hat part is always faster (= more difficult) than the snare part (for ex. 8th or 16th notes on the hats vs. quarter notes on the snare), so it only makes sense to use the hand that's the strongest (= the best) for the hat part, that is the right hand (if your right-handed) or the left (if you're left-handed). It just doesn't make sense to use the weaker hand to do the most difficult part. Technique is always a means to an end, not the other way around.

If you continue to play like that. You'll never achieve complete hand cymbal speed. If your NOT a Rock-N-Roller. I could see it. You know what I mean? If your just 'keeping a beat' and don't aspire to achieve extreme speeds. Then by all means, keep switch hitting. But, test yourself. Use both of your hands on the HH's. Now, strike sixteenth beats for a good long while with one hand then the other. After a while timing changes (slows) with your more easily fatigued hand. Ambidextrous or not. Your hands will show you what to do in this case. Your new to drumming. Listen to your teacher. That's why your paying him.

Let me know how it turns out.

~Mick