The 4th Appendage: Gaining Control of your Hihat Foot
Of all the pieces that make up the standard drum set, the hihats are capable of creating the widest range of sounds and articulations. Beginner drummers typically learn their first grooves by stepping down on the hihat pedal and continuously striking the closed hihats for the sake of keeping time. For some, that’s the beginning and end of their hihat functionality, which is just a shame. Despite its extensive capabilities, the hihats are tragically underutilized by far too many drummers. Learning ways to apply the hihat pedal to your drumming opens up so many possibilities and will make you sound far more legitimate compared to drummers that keep everything centered around only their hands and bass drum.
The Basics
To start doing more with the hihats beyond just closing them and playing steady, repetitive rhythms, we’ll open the hihats for just a single 8th note in a groove. Doing so creates a nice brief hiss sound if properly executed. To pull it off, you’ll need to coordinate your hihat foot with whichever hand you use to strike the hihats. If you release pressure from the pedal too late, you won’t get the desired hiss sound. If you release pressure too early, you’ll get a bit of sloppy chatter from the hihats. Since we’ll be opening the hihats only briefly, simply rock your foot back onto your heel to take pressure off of the pedal. You could also use a ‘heel up’ technique and depress the pedal by lifting your leg and rolling your foot onto the tips of your toes, but the heel up approach may prove more helpful when the foot needs to play more steady rhythms.
We’ll first open the hihats on the ‘&’ of beat 3, and close them again right on beat 4 (Phrase A). We’ll also hit the snare drum on beat 4 at the same time the hihats close again. I see a lot of drummers get tripped up on opening the hihats at the right time and have found it’s more helpful in a lot of instances to instead focus on when the hihat foot should step down again. In this example, we would want to focus more on pressing the pedal down again directly on beat 4. If coordinated properly, the motion of preparing to step down on beat 4 should naturally result in the hihats opening an 8th note earlier (on the ‘&’ of 3). It’ll likely take a few tries to get the timing just right, but once you get it down, it becomes much easier to reposition where you open the hihats.
Next, we’ll switch to opening the hihats on only the ‘&’ of beat 4 (Phrase B). That means we should focus more on stepping back down on the hihat pedal on the following beat 1. Since we’re also playing the kick on beat 1, both feet should step on their respective pedals at the same time to get the proper effect. Try to prevent yourself from rocking backward or shifting your weight on the throne while both feet briefly ease pressure from the pedals. Important note: your feet should never lift totally off of either pedal. If you’re not in contact with the pedals, then you aren’t in control! That’s especially important for the bass drum pedal, but the same approach extends to the hihat pedal, too. If you feel yourself tilting back at all, try to readjust your posture and perhaps check your throne height. If your throne is too low, it becomes much more difficult to raise both feet from the pedals without shifting the weight of your upper body. Your shoulders should be back, your lower back should be nice and straight, and you should almost lean ever so slightly into the drums to stay balanced.
Phrase A Phrase B Phrase C
Lastly, try opening the hihats on both the ‘&’ of 3 and the ‘&’ of 4. If done properly, you should feel yourself effectively stepping on the hihat pedal right on beats 4 and 1 (Phrase C). Be mindful of your balance! It’ll definitely take some practice before everything feels comfortable so take your time and try to keep relaxed. From there, you could reposition the open hihats anywhere you’d like in the measure. Check out the video above to the right to see these examples in action!
Marking Time
Before striking the hihats with sticks became commonplace, keeping time with the hihat pedal was all the rage among drummers. The best example of this occurs in jazz drumming with the standard swing cymbal pattern played between the ride cymbal and the hihats. While playing the classic “ding ding da-ding” pattern on the ride cymbal, drummers step down firmly on the hihat pedal on beats 2 and 4, creating a delightful “chick” sound.
Since then, using the hihat pedal to mark time has expanded to practically all styles of music. To put things into more of a rock setting, we’ll take our basic rock groove from the previous examples, but switch to playing 8th notes on the ride cymbal to free up the hihats. Underneath the groove, we’ll step on the hihat pedal on all 4 beats (playing quarter notes with the hihat foot - Rhythm 1). When you have this basic groove down, try exploring other rhythms with the bass drum to push the boundaries of your coordination. Again, resist the urge to lean back or otherwise move your body around on the seat!
When you feel comfortable marking quarter notes with your foot under a groove, switch to playing 8th notes on the hihat pedal (Rhythm 2). At first, this will sound a little redundant since both your ride cymbal and hihats will be playing the same rhythm, but it’s good practice for developing balance and a higher level of coordination. Like before, try changing the rhythm of the bass drum as you get more confident keeping the 8th note pulse going with your hihat foot.
Lastly, we’ll step on the hihat pedal on only upbeats, or the ‘&’ of each beat (Rhythm 3). Doing so allows the hihats to function as a sort of counterweight to the rest of the groove. While the hihat foot is still playing a steady rhythm, it remains syncopated relative to the groove on top of it. Having an element that emphasizes upbeats creates more depth to grooves. Check out these examples demonstrated in the video just below to the left.
Rhythm 1 Rhythm 2 Rhythm 3
Phrase 1 Phrase 2 Phrase 3
Once you have 8th notes going with your hihat foot, it’s possible to play some embellishments that you’d typically play on the snare drum, such as the ‘a’ of 2 or 4, or the ‘e’ of 1 or 3, but on the hihats instead. If timed properly, you should get quick hihat barks on those 16th note positions. You’re essentially striking the hihats in between each hihat step, which gives access to yet another texture. Start practicing these embellishments by hitting the hihats on the ‘a’ of beat 4 (Phrase 1), then the ‘e’ of beat 3 (Phrase 2), and then the ‘a’ of 2 as well as the ‘e’ of 3 (Phrase 3). They’re all demonstrated in the video just above to the right. From there, try exploring other places to catch those hihat barks.
Further Integration
There are many other creative uses for the hihat pedal that embellish or push beyond timekeeping purposes, especially depending on the style of music. Drummers adept at using the hihat pedal will use it within linear combinations as an alternate articulation to striking them with a stick. Steve Gadd’s performance on the tune “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” is a great example of using the hihat pedal for a purpose other than timekeeping. While the pattern could be executed by simply using double strokes on the hihats (or even both hands), doing so would create a different texture that doesn’t have quite as much character comparatively. At a certain point, drummers really should begin to consider elements beyond just patterns and grooves, such as the quality and variety of sounds they use to perform parts.
Striking the hihats immediately after stepping on them opens up many different creative possibilities. For example, following the hihat step with a double stroke sounds practically identical to a triple stroke or a 3-stroke ruff, but requires much less effort to perform. To begin applying this mechanic, think of the pattern as 3 16th notes, where the step is the first, and the double stroke takes the second and third. You can then position the pattern wherever you would like in time. A few examples of applying this mechanic are in the video to the right.
Drummers can also splash the hihats by kicking their heel toward the bottom of the pedal. Doing so allows drummers to create a longer sound with their hihat foot. With practice, it’s possible to alternate between splashing and closing the hihats, allowing the left foot to play much more expressive patterns and phrases. To begin integrating this mechanic, start by stepping on the hihat pedal on beats 1 and 3, and splashing on beats 2 and 4 under a basic rock groove (Rhythm 1). As you get more comfortable with these foot motions, you can start to close the hihats on each beat and splash on the upbeats (Rhythm 2), or even explore other rhythms that create some counterpoint against the rest of the groove, such as dotted 8th notes (Rhythm 3).
Rhythm 1 Rhythm 2
Rhythm 3
Ultimately, learning to incorporate your hihat foot into your drumming opens up many possibilities that would otherwise be off limits. Playing with all four limbs will also help improve your balance and overall confidence on the drums. Don’t let yourself be another drummer that underutilizes their hihat foot! You’ll thank yourself in the long run.
Music School near Newton, MA
Discover more ways to enhance your drumming with hihats and other techniques by taking drum lessons near Newton at Loudlands Music Lab. Our drum instructors can’t wait to help you unleash your loud!