How to Play a High Hat

Video Transcript

"JOEL SIEGEL: Okay, so let's move on to the hi-hat. This is generally played with your left foot. The same concepts apply, the heel down versus the heel up approach, and as far as the hi-hat goes, as far as its function, it's really--I mean, all of the drums are used to keep time but a lot of times, the hi-hat will be kind of your most simple pattern. It is going to be keeping quarter notes like just all the downbeats, sometimes upbeats. You can also vary. But the point is it's a nice, crisp, high frequency sound that's going to cut across the band. In old time, kinda older jazz band setups, they set up the hi-hat next to the trombones, the trumpets and the saxophones. You get it right there so the rest of the band can hear it. So, that's your function in your hi-hat. Let's do the heel down and the heel up approach to the hi-hat. These are closed strokes. Here's heel down, what it sounds like. Now, we'll try the heel up approach. Same concept as with the bass drum, we're just driving the two hats together. You might not be able to hear the difference depending on your speakers, but the heel up approach with the hi-hat, it's a little more airy because the velocity with which the two hats are coming together is higher and it's also a bit tighter. The heel down approach is kind of a meatier sound. This is really kind of a pretty refined difference, but as you're going through making music and try to find different sounds, these will both come into play."