Hey there, started playing a couple of weeks ago because i broke my right wrist and cant play guitar or bass for a while so i bought the launchpad x and so far can play a lot of stuff with my left hand only and one finger of my right hand. So far this has been a lot of fun and will for sure help me make demos for my music on my own.
The other day while trying to play some half time beats the following question arised, should i play everything with one hand or play the ride/hi hat with one hand and kick and snare with the other? I can do both but seems like when i use both hand the ride/hi hat sound more stable with less variation in velocity.
Hey codegn. First of all, musicians are crazy people. Breaking their hands and then immediately figuring out how to keep making music It’s an obsession!
With regards to your question:
It seems you hit the nail on the head. When playing certain beats with one hand you might notice that you want more variation in the hi hat, or more specifically, you want to hit a loud snare and the hi hat to still sound soft instead of full loudness.
In situations like that you can do a couple of things:
You top off the velocity curve of your hi hat, so the loudest velocity is simply still not that loud. This is a good option if you never need the loud hits in the song you’re playing.
If the beat is relatively simple (like the one you’re showing here) the most obvious solution is to play the beat with both hands. Usually the hi hat or ride with the dominant hand and then kick and snare with the non-dominant hand.
The nice thing about the second method is that the hits don’t hit at exactly the same time, which sometimes also gives a bit of air to the beat.
I use this method all the way through the Bossa Nova course by the way. Training you to play softly with one hand and firmly with the other. I also use it in some monthly challenges. The one from november (that I’m working on right now) actually does this as well.
So yeah, there’s your answer. Especially with simple grooves, see if it sounds a little better when using both hands and then go for it!
Thank you so much for the answer! I will for sure try to check out all the courses.
Both methods sure sound different, actually i have been wondering about the independent hand method since i understand is the better one for long term, but i wasnt sure if it translated into dividing the hi hat from the snare/kick. For obvious reasons i started practicing with only one hand (non dominant) haha, and sometimes making this division seems like playing alternated hand when the beat is simple.
In my experience using the independent hands method is not actually better than the other method where you play the “core beat” mostly with your dominant hand. In my experience the best way around the kit is the “basic method” first, then you add in different hand patterns. So not just RLRLRL but also RLRRLRLL or something like that. In this phase you also hit the pads loudly with the non-dominant hand sometimes. So it’s not like you’re just using it for “weak” hits.
Then… you can combine all of that and sometimes start hitting multiple pads at the same time with two hands (aka the independent hands method). And also sometimes, like in this case you use that to play a beat. But it’s not like you’re doing it “right” by focusing mainly on that.
Maybe the best analogy is in guitar playing where people use either a pick or their fingers. It’s not like one of the two is better. As a guitar player I use both and it depends on the style what I do.
It’s an obsession!