Do you make concessions for your disability with your kit set-up?

I’m thinking of dabbling again for the first time in 20 years but this time i’d like to actually bloody learn how to play properly.

I’m a lefty, my natural instict when bashing out ‘In the Air Tonight’ is to kick with my right foot as normal, but flare from my right to my left – ie, reversed toms.

I reckon I could use/train to use the snare on the right or left hand side. Not sure about kick pedal on left though..

Any examples of famously weird set-ups?

Disability???

Yes, you are freaks of nature.

Rick Allen?

Not a lefty. Not any more.

Why would you need a different set up, it’s just a task that you need to do. You don’t seen any “left handed” violins, Pianos or wind instruments so why would drums be any different?

Edit

Or to use a totally different example, right handed people in the UK manage to change the gear in a car using left hand left foot with no real difficulty.

Following this thread, if only to give other users a left hook when necessary.

Edit. See below.

Point of order, you can get left handed violins, though they’re very rare and I think most left handed players play “right” handed – it is after all something which involves good control of both hands (and I’d argue the normal way round the finer motor skills are done left handed).

With drumming though, it’s an activity which so inherently involves both hands that I can’t see why it would make sense or that it should be really difficult to learn the normal way.

I’ve seen left handed drummers play open handed on a right handed set up. I.e. left hand/foot high-hat, right hand snare/right foot bass. I’ve also seen kits set up left handed i.e. high-hat and snare on the right, with the drummer playing with crossed arms and right foot high-hat/left foot bass.

Try different set ups and see if one suits. Although I think most play open handed on right hand set ups as thats the way they’ll be set up on session night or in shops.

Appropriately, considering your song choice… Phil Collins.
Billy Cobham is a lefty who sets his kit(s) up sweeping left to right, but plays hihat/snare lefty. This leaves the whole kit wide open for ambidextrous playing. I sometimes wish I had learned this way myself and may still do so as I’m also considering jumping back in for a dabble.
Oh, and…. “properly” eh? 😉

As above, playing open handed is always an option, best I saw was Gary Husband of Level 42, not sure if he’s left or right handed though, kit was set up standard with hats on the left and ride on the right but he didn’t cross his hands once all night, very impressive.

right handed people in the UK manage to change the gear in a car using left hand left foot with no real difficulty

Instinct, innit.

I’m actually ambidextrous (freakishly) in most activities but favour my left.
In fact, as a reasonably sporty person my afliction has had various coaches scratching their heads in confusion.

Javelin – Left Hand
Discus – Right Hand (can switch)
Shot Putt – Left Hand
Snooker/Pool – Left Hand (can switch for certain shots)
Darts – Left hand
Bowling – Right of Left
Archery – Right hand
Food shovelling – Left Hand (knife in right hand)
PC Mouse – was left handed for years until tutor at college lost her shit with me for ‘moving the mouse to the other side’ – now use it on the RHS
Writing – Left hand
Self Pleasure – depends who’s watching

Drumming, I break to the left more easily than the right. Hence OP. I must add, I am a totally shit drummer with no coaching experience.

Instinct, innit.

I’m not sure that I’d describe anything to do with driving a car as instinctive.

The point is that when playing a musical instrument (insert drummer gag here) no hand is more important that the other. They must both work together in order to achieve any sort of proficiency. It will feel odd not matter if you are left or right handed but over time the neurons get programmed and it eventually feels “right”

The case for most instruments – though not so for brass, which is what I play, where you just use your left hand to hold the instrument.

But it is all just about neural training. I don’t think I’m particularly naturally ambidextrous and always have a right handed preference, but have trained myself to be so on a lot of activities – I can throw a ball reasonably well with both hands and catch with either (which is a skill I’d expect most decent cricketers to have), can even play squash left handed, though probably not any other raquet sports as that’s the only one I tried when I was having problems with my right wrist. I’m fairly sure if there was such a thing as a left handed trumpet it wouldn’t take me too long or too much brain ache to play it to a reasonable standard.

I’m not sure that I’d describe anything to do with driving a car as instinctive.

Was refering to drumming – but ok, yes, driving a LHD car for the first time is weird – but as a left handed person I expect I found handling the gearshift ‘slightly’ easier when I was learning to drive as a right handed person is liekly to have done.

Being a pedant – i’d also argue that certain aspects of driving are more instinctive to some than others. ie, the ‘feel’ of the limits of available grip and feedback through the wheel – some people I know have literally no idea what this means and are perrenial Ms Daisy’s.

I completely agree that we can reprogramme our brains – but it would seem that there is a ‘left handed set-up’ for drummers, so there must be something about the left hand being dominant coming into effect.

Edit

Historically, the crossed hands hihat/snare habit is rooted from the military marching snare where the left hand holds the stick “cross palm” out of necessity due to the angle of the drum head.

This was translated to kit playing where the snare head was set at a similar angle and when the hihat was still waiting for development from the “charleston pedal” – the two cymbals closer to the ground with no access for either hand…

The “matched grip” of the sticks which enabled the “open hands” style eventually found development in rock drumming.

The first drummer I ever saw using this style was Keef Hartley in 1968 shortly after he was sacked by John Mayall and forming his own band. Then Bill Bruford when he was in “Yes”.

Ringo is a lefty who plays right-handed and it never did him any harm.

I’m not a drummer, but I’m led to believe it is the dominant foot rather than the dominant hand that determines which way round to set a kit up. Whilst it may not be natural or intuitive, it’s possible to play either cross handed or open handed. Playing cross legged doesn’t work very well tho

You don’t seen any “left handed” violins

Yes you do.

or wind instruments

Back in the days of keyless instruments they were made to be ambidextrous. With modern complex keywork it makes sense economically for them all to be right handed. There are still left handed Irish flute players (keyless or few keys).

Or you could set the kit up in a typical lefty way, but with a double kick pedal your right foot could still be the dominant foot. You’d lose control of the hi-hat pedal, but don’t most double kick players do that anyway?
Reasonable quality double pedals start at around £99 IIRC

I play left handed but got fed up shuffling my mates kit around every time I had a play on it so started to go right handed and actuall found it ok. Not as fast with the foot or high hat but fairly steady otherwise. Give it a go and see how it plays out. To be honest I find the foot work easier to reverse than the snare.

Like most instruments drums use both hands and like most instruments neither hand is massively dominant, so there’s little logic to deeming one approach right handed and one left handed. If you think about typical patterns it could be argued that on a standard kit funk drumming is left handed and right footed whilst jazz drumming is right handed and left footed.

What I do know is that playing a left handed instrument massively limits the choice when purchasing except with drums – but with drums it makes soundchecks and other gigging stuff an extra hassle. With guitars the left hand often has the difficult job.

I’m a bassist really but fake it on the drums. If I was playing them seriously I’d work on being able to play standard as well as open handed because that extra limb independence can do wonders for the patterns and fills you create. From air drumming in the car on long journeys I got my feet pretty happy with swapping which is playing the kick (left foot isn’t doing anything when driving most of the time!)

I play a leftie set-up purely to annoy sound engineers.

Hopkins said: I’m not a drummer, but I’m led to believe it is the dominant foot rather than the dominant hand that determines which way round to set a kit up.

Pretty much this.

I’m a right handed gutarist and I spend far more time getting my right hand doing what I want than the left; the timing, feel, attack and weight are all in the right hand. Some left handed players use RH guitars (Knopfler, Noel Gallagher, Gary More) and Hendrix could play pretty well both ways. I doubt you’ll find a thrash metal player or really fast picker who plays wrong handed though.

to give other users a left hook

If you’re really left-handed, it would be a right hook 🙂