How to Play a High Hat with a Side American Grip

Video Transcript

"JOEL SIEGEL: All right, we want to do the American grip now. Again, we're attacking the side of the hi-hat to get that kind of beefier sound out of it. So here's the American grip. Let's start with the upstroke. This is what it sounds like, it looks like. Here's the full stroke of my hi-hat with the American grip. This is what I want to pay particular attention to. I'm reiterating a lot of these strokes and grips, which may be ad nauseam, but it's important to have the vocabulary as you're playing. You're going to find yourself playing with a lot of different grips, and if you don't have the vocabulary, you may think to yourself that, "Well, maybe I'm playing wrong. It should feel this way, it should feel that way." Firstly, you want it to feel comfortable, and, secondly, you want to know what you're doing. So as you're moving around the kit, as you're keeping time with the hi-hat, the ride on the snare, fills on the toms, it's good to be aware of the kind of stroke and the kind of grip that you're using. The "American full stroke" on the hi-hat is going to be your--one of your most-used grips, especially on the side here. This is a lot of rock, funk, and pop music is affiliated with this American full stroke. Lastly, with the American, we'll go ahead and do the downstroke so you can hear what that sounds like. Again, with the downstroke, it's attack oriented and it's power oriented for accents and volume."