How to Play High Hat Lifts on Every Beat

Drummers use lots of techniques in hi hat playing. Among them is the "lift," which is when you let your foot off of the hi hat pedal to free up the cymbals and make the hi-hat open. The lift creates a wide, brassy, resounding sound unlike the click-tap of the closed hi hat. Here's how to play a series of lifts on every beat.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Get your rhythm going. You may want to use a metronome to keep time, but you'll also have to be counting your beats in your head, because for the lift to sound on every beat, you will need to rely on syncopation.

2. Put your left foot on the hi-hat pedal until you are ready to start your lift series. Keep playing bass and snare as usual.

3. Start the lift by first taking your left foot back off of the pedal directly before the beat you want to start on so that when you hit the hi-hat, it will produce an open sound.

4. Hit the hi-hat on beat and count one.

5. Close the hi-hat in between the two beats. When you've hit an open hi-hat on beat one, if you want to do another open hi-hat lift beat on beat two, you'll need to close the hi-hat before striking the next note. This is where syncopation comes in; you'll need to kick the hi-hat closed with your left foot between beats. Instead of a simple "1, 2, 3, 4," count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4." Then, kick the hi-hat closed on every beat and open it before every "and" in between.