Thank you SO much! I'm a 60-year-old woman who just got her first drum kit (after 40 years of wanting one!). It's basically just a kid's set, so that I could really make sure that it's something I can pursue before buying something more expensive, but I DID decide that it needed a hi-hat (ride cymbal is probably next). I was having a hell of a time making it sound right, and now after your one short video it's been adjusted and sounds great. Now I just need to learn how to play it all properly...
English is my second language. I'm learning English as well as drums. The way Bob talks is easy for me to understand. He talks relatively slow in my opinion and that is good for me. Thanks for the post, Rob !
Dude, these vids are epic... it’s like you do the “elephants in the room” topics... I am a hobby drummer that’s self taught... totally get the hi hat now man! Thanks (subscribed)
Having professionals like Rob on RU-vid is such a leap forward for drumming education. For most of my life, I had to find information about drumming techniques by listening to my teacher, trying to interpret images from drum education books, watching drummers playing on Tv and live, and finally saving up questions for when I visited the local drum store. Now you can browse the Internet and get direct access to excellent and varied audio-visual lessons made by some of the best. Position of accessories on your kit and ergonomics. (sorry it's a long comment but I think it is useful) I just want to add body mechanics to this great advice. It will save serious wear and tear on your back and joints if you want to play for 50-60yrs. I know because of the damage and pain I have from incidents related to being a musician. • Why not play on like Charlie Watts who layed down beats till he was 80yrs. RIP Charlie Watts - The Rolling Stones• Anyway, I have been playing drums for almost 49 yrs and have found with hi-hat position that the degree the hats are locked open by the clutch affects your timing and if the gapping and placement of the hats are not comfortable you can tend to have sloppy timing. I discovered that I was exerting more energy with my left foot (for most of us right-handers) to close the hats while my right foot was laying down the bass pedal rhythm if my hats were not adjusted and positioned comfortably with good claws or a small sandbag to stop them slipping during a gig, recording and practice sessions. Once I found the best position I marked kit layout spots on my drum rug and little paint marks on my accessories sort of like the memory locks that exist now. ( If you are playing a gig you may want a lightweight carpet similar to the lining used on a car floor to place on stage with all your drum kit positions marked out. (then if your lucky someone else can set your kit up exactly as you like it) It's like having two glasses of water filled with the same amount of fluid. The right leg beats the bass drum while the left leg controls the hat. For example, emptying the glass (relaxing the muscles) is when the hat opens and refilling the glass to the same amount means the leg/ankle/foot muscles are engaged to close the hat. Of course, there will be variables with emphasis on bass beats or tap slapping the hats to achieve a longer opening ring of the top hat cymbal. Then there is the heal-to-toe variation on pedals. (probably a subject for intermediate drummers to investigate) By getting some even equal pressure on the left and right leg muscles you can play smooth and reduce tiring your leg and losing time. (Think about it if you are playing two 1/14hr sets a night with 40 mins between sets. It is tiring) Finally, your body height, leg and arm leg length will have to determine where you seat your hats in relation to the snare for comfort. I am 6ft. 1 and raise my seat so the belly area is in line with the snare rim. Mind you that belly of mine has dropped a bit over 60yrs.😅 Consider keeping the snare almost horizontal for consistent drumstick contact (i.e. velocity) and for playing rim shots and especially different beats like Afro-Cuban beats like rhumba and Cha-Cha rim-snare patterns. Do your research and see what the experts say. I find after studying many drummer's approaches that this seems to be a pretty good guide. It protects your back from serious strain over the years. Finally, don't forget to work on developing equal strength in both feet as you are with both hands. Rock and drum on ladies and gents and watch all of Rob's video tutorials because they are great. BTW, Rob is spot on about cheap Hi-Hat clutches and the same for slipping cheap pedals both bass and hi-hat. Plus watch his hi-Hat development video.
Thank you so much for the info on 'fixing' the long spindle which my grandson thought was broken - saved .me the cost of buying him a complete new high hat. Great videos you've got on here
a guitarist getting back into drums and I been overloading on different players but I finally subscribed to you cuz of this video! "So THAT'S what that screw under the hi hat is!" Thanks, Rob I'm digging all of your stuff
Thank you sir, setting up my 1st HH in my home studio after about 58 years of playing mostly guitar. Great job, next move is getting a new clutch. Preciate it.
I've been trying to figure out what am I doing wrong with my left foot/high hat/setup and all. I couldn't play comfortably with the way the store had my high hat stand setup. This was everything I needed. Thank you so much.
DUDE!!! Thank you so much!!! I bought a drumset almost three years ago, been playing almost daily, and never saw these adjustments! Priceless information!!!
I’ve been playing for a good 35 years, and I can attest to spending on good hardware. (Or at least the best you can afford). Mine is now DW 9000 and Pearl. You won’t go wrong spending what you can for quality. Great tips again Rob. Thanks. 👍🏼🇨🇦 Great tips again Rob. 👍🏼
Hi. Great simple explanation for setting up the Hi-Hats. At 59 years old I decided that I wanted to learn the drums properly and your videos are really helpful to someone who does not yet have the knowledge, and experience, to set up correctly. You are not like a lot of the other 'help' videos who seem to spend more time talking about themselves and how great they are than actually helping beginners like myself and that is so refreshing to see. Keep on helping and, who knows, maybe one day I might just find myself being more than just a good beginner! (Subscribed)!
I really a appreciate all the videos you do, after taking a break from drumming for 13 years I'm back to it. I've learned soooo much from you, wish you were around when I first started 56 years ago along with you tube. Keep up the great work bud!!!
The tips on spacing between the hats and the exaggerated bottom hat angle made all the difference in my hi-hat paying. Thanks for a well made and informative video!
I'm a 57yo drummer in a garage-rock punk band, yeah beatin my kit like a 20yo, LOL... Cool tutorial on hihat setup! I used to smack my snare hand often while playing my hat... I solved that problem by raising my hihat higher, now I play my hats at chest height with the hats all the way to the top of the pull-bar, tilted, so I can chick it and play some nice bell rides on the hats without smackin my snare hand with my right-side stick.
No matter what level of drummer you are you can always learn something . Having your hi hat in the right position . And adjusted correctly is extremely important. Think about how much we use it in our playing . These were some great tips . And a good review. As always thanks. And it’s cool that you do lessons for drummers of all abilities. Thanks man
As a brand-new drummer who is learning what I can.... this video was incredibly helpful! Thank you for taking the time to really break it down in detail!
This video was super helpful! I recently started learning drums and I have an electric kit at home so setting up a hi-hat on acoustic kits is always daunting to me.
Thanks brother. I only knew about half of what you showed me. I already knew about the clutch thing though months ago, before I knew about your channel. The kit I was playing on. I upgraded a couple of things, and I changed out my hi hat stand for a better one and I got a Gibraltar clutch. But you show me about two things here I wasn’t even aware of adjusting. I pretty much left those 2 things as is. But I’m gonna try what you said.
Nice video. Thoughtful. Complete. What I've come to expect from Dr. Beatdown. The only thing I might have possibly added is a mention of some of the quick release 'drop' clutches that release and drop the top cymbal down when tapped with a stick so you can play the hat with a stick (kinda) even with your left foot on a double bass pedal and then tap down with your foot on the hi hat pedal to re-engage the mechanism to lift the top cymbal back up again. Gibraltar SC-DC is an example.
Nice video Rob, thank you so much. I've used the technique you describe with the thumb and pinky to set the distance between hi hat and snare. It's worked countless times for me. Thanks again for the great advice!
If you lean your bottom hat away from you, rather than towards you, you won't chip n chew ur sticks up as much either. Just another small tip I learned
Thanks for the help on tweaking my new kit. This video and the snare drum adjustment made a huge difference. Going to look through all your set-up videos for the fine tune. Loving your vids...laid back, fun, inspirational and really well produced.
Love the vids Rob. Switched from playing guitar for 20 years to drums and digging it. Your vids are easy to understand and I’m already taking notes on upgrading pieces after I make sure my timing is solid and can play with some songs. Tuning....that’s always a work in progress! Will pick up a Drummer For Hire shirt for wear maybe in later 2021!
Cool! I learned a couple things... lower hat at a angle, and that there are better top clamps... the difference between a set screw and a proper shaft clamp!
thank you Rob for the lessons about hi hats and hi hat stands. Ive already improved after watching and listening to you. I do not think that there is not enough information with regards to the hi hat stand and hi hat cymbals and this is really surprising considering that, well, in my opinion and hopefully many others that this is the most complex part of a drumkit ?
Omg getting an actual clutch made such a difference. My set just came with a cheap stand that had a regular old nut. So you had to choose super tight top hat or have the nut fall off every session. Good clutch is amazing. Then I went and bought a used DW3000 stand like two weeks later. But hey, two fewer weeks of suffering!
I was surprised to see my brand new expensive Mapex Falcon hi hat stand came with the same kind of clutch you mentioned that pushes against the rod. It has the fancy quick release mechanism for the top hat, but they totally dropped the ball on how it connects to the rod. So I quickly got the Gibraltar Turning Point clutch with the much better eye bolt style connection to the rod and it's been great. I have two of them, one for each of my kits. I love Mapex and have no problem spending primo bucks for their Falcon hardware. But was disappointed they didn't put much thought into the small details.
Mapex has more stupid names for their models than Pennsylvania has town names. A real sign of Chinese quality, saturn, mars, falcon, eagle, gold, platinum, super deluxe. Maybe they think they can trick people in thinking its good using names like that.
Thanks Rob for the video. I have 1 extra adjustment: i like the angle of my left foot when hi hat is closed same as the angle of my right bass drum foot when the beater hits the bass. This way ...if i move my feet the same way ...the click and hit are exact at the same moment. So for instance for a disco beat wityh a bass drum on 1234 and with open hi hat on all &'s the close of the hi hat has to be on every beat exactly the same as the hit of the bass drum. I now just can move my legs the same way up and down and the open hi hat will be OK and also the close will be OK at the same moment as the bass drum.
5:39 FINALLY!! SOMEONE ADDRESSES HOW ANNOYING THAT IS!!! It is especially annoying for me as a metal drummer, when it goes loose while I'm doing a skank beat. Thank you for finally acknowledging this Rob!
There is truly nothing worse than that damn high hat coming loose and falling apart...ugghhh! That’s why I keep ample tubes of Super Glue next to my kit. I’ve used it for everything from securing impact patches to my Pop Rocks figurines to those damn cymbal wing nuts to gluing down those high hat bolts. Problems are always solved w Super Glue and Duct Tape around my sprawling kit. 🤓 Regarding high hat height, mine is fairly tall and I smash away on the side as I’m a beginner and love playing like Tommy Lee or Lars Ulrich, putting everything Ive got into each stroke. Plus, I use the carbon wrapped aluminum core 5B ROCK plastic tip sticks so regardless how much I hack away on my hats, no significant damage to those two lead pipes I use behind my kit. I went ahead with your GREAT ADVICE and opened my hats much wider which makes it much easier to splash them using my left foot pedal! 🙏 Awesome video for us beginners Rob, keep rocking out, thanks! 🤘😝🤘
John Smith not a good idea, sticks are designed to take the impact of cymbals, not the other way round, i hear this a lot, think about it, much cheaper to replace sticks than cymbals, and eventually something is gonna give. Glue is not a great idea if your pulling down and setting up for gigs every day.
Normally i put the bottom hat tilt adjustment screw close to me to keep the wider open side on the other side and the side with the hats closer ir touching nearer to me to have a more consistent playing surface and better chic from the hats, but I got a new pearl H1050 hihat stand and I was surprised that the tilt screw can be on the other side and the closed hats side is next to me. That's the only stand I've ever seen do it that way. And that's compared to two Ludwig, two tama, a sonor and Mapex hihat stands. I've got a tama star set but I didn't like the tama stands and this pearl H1050 is great. I don't use two leg stands because every one wobbles when you're jamming. And the H1050 legs rotate 360°. I think before I got this, my favorite was my old sonor, but from the several new stands I've had, i got rid of them all and stuck with the pearl H1050.
If you position your hi-hat leveling screw facing you (the opposite to how Rob has his in this video), the top hat will overlap the bottom hat and cause less stick shank wear.
