How to Play a High Hat with Rods

Video Transcript

"JOEL SIEGEL: Alright. We may remember that we talked about with the sticks hitting the top of the hat versus the side, the same applies to the rods. I'm not going to cover every single grip with every stroke. So, I'll just play the American full stroke and the German down stroke for you. This is the side of the cymbal--the side of the hat--excuse me--being played with the rod. This is the American full. Getting that meaty sound. And the German down just jack it up a little bit. You notice that I have the hi-hats closed. All those principles from before having it open still apply. And this is one of the times that you're going to get the most similar sound between the sticks versus the rods. You can guess that that's the case because most of the sound that you're hearing is actually the interplay between the cymbals and not the interplay between what you're hitting the cymbals with and the cymbal itself."