Chords for Simon Phillips drum lesson: open-handed playing
Tempo:
120.55 bpm
Chords used:
G
E
Ab
Abm
Cm
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Cm]
Open handed playing.
I started to play right handed.
Actually I started to play traditional grip too.
And then one day I was, the drum kit was growing.
It grew another bass drum, it grew a few more tom toms.
And everything was fine playing right handed until I added this last tom tom, tom [G] tom number one here.
And that was a problem because in order to play right handed the hi-hat has to be higher than it is now.
Which means this tom has to be high.
And you know what, I was a very impressionable 17 year old.
[Bb]
And looks [E] were very important to me.
So I thought to [Ab] myself, what if I lower the hi-hat, lower the tom so it looks cool.
And then learn to play left handed.
It's kind of a little backwards way of, backward engineering [G] there.
And I thought to myself, is this really possible?
Well I guess it's now, how many years, 40 years later or something.
It is possible.
I think if you're young enough you can do, you can change anything.
A little bit tough when you get a bit older.
It's hard to [Abm] learn new tricks as it were.
But the concept of open handed playing to me then was part of a balance thing.
I really loved the fact that I could be doing something with this hand like this.
[N]
Leaving this hand free to do pretty much anything you could imagine.
It was a very kind of, a different way of playing but an elegant way of playing.
And now to me it's second nature.
So was it the right move?
Well I'll never know.
I could have just continued playing right handed and maybe I'd be a better drummer.
I don't know.
But in the big picture it's whatever works for you.
But I just really enjoy being able to play, actually now being able to play left handed and right handed.
Which is kind of cool.
Especially when I have this drum set up here.
So for example like this.
The other really cool thing about the left handed approach.
Especially with a right handed drum kit.
Is you tend to have lots of big tom toms around this area.
It's really nice to be [Em] able to do a little accent or a little fill without breaking the groove.
For example on the cymbal.
[G]
[Db] [Eb] [E]
[Ab]
[G] [Abm]
So that's [F] another little thing you can do.
I'm sure you could do it just as well right handed as well.
But I've been doing it for so long this way I just don't know any other way to do it now.
But there you go.
That's a little concept about the open handed playing.
[N]
Open handed playing.
I started to play right handed.
Actually I started to play traditional grip too.
And then one day I was, the drum kit was growing.
It grew another bass drum, it grew a few more tom toms.
And everything was fine playing right handed until I added this last tom tom, tom [G] tom number one here.
And that was a problem because in order to play right handed the hi-hat has to be higher than it is now.
Which means this tom has to be high.
And you know what, I was a very impressionable 17 year old.
[Bb]
And looks [E] were very important to me.
So I thought to [Ab] myself, what if I lower the hi-hat, lower the tom so it looks cool.
And then learn to play left handed.
It's kind of a little backwards way of, backward engineering [G] there.
And I thought to myself, is this really possible?
Well I guess it's now, how many years, 40 years later or something.
It is possible.
I think if you're young enough you can do, you can change anything.
A little bit tough when you get a bit older.
It's hard to [Abm] learn new tricks as it were.
But the concept of open handed playing to me then was part of a balance thing.
I really loved the fact that I could be doing something with this hand like this.
[N]
Leaving this hand free to do pretty much anything you could imagine.
It was a very kind of, a different way of playing but an elegant way of playing.
And now to me it's second nature.
So was it the right move?
Well I'll never know.
I could have just continued playing right handed and maybe I'd be a better drummer.
I don't know.
But in the big picture it's whatever works for you.
But I just really enjoy being able to play, actually now being able to play left handed and right handed.
Which is kind of cool.
Especially when I have this drum set up here.
So for example like this.
The other really cool thing about the left handed approach.
Especially with a right handed drum kit.
Is you tend to have lots of big tom toms around this area.
It's really nice to be [Em] able to do a little accent or a little fill without breaking the groove.
For example on the cymbal.
[G]
[Db] [Eb] [E]
[Ab]
[G] [Abm]
So that's [F] another little thing you can do.
I'm sure you could do it just as well right handed as well.
But I've been doing it for so long this way I just don't know any other way to do it now.
But there you go.
That's a little concept about the open handed playing.
[N]
Key:
G
E
Ab
Abm
Cm
G
E
Ab
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _
Open handed playing.
_ I started to play right handed.
Actually I started to play traditional grip too.
_ And then _ one day I was, the drum kit was growing.
It grew another bass drum, it grew a few more tom toms.
_ _ And everything was fine playing right handed until I added this last tom tom, tom [G] tom number one here.
And that was a problem because in order to play right handed the hi-hat has to be higher than it is now.
Which means this tom has to be high.
And you know what, I was a very impressionable 17 year old.
_ [Bb] _
And looks [E] were very important to me.
So I thought to [Ab] myself, what if I lower the hi-hat, lower the tom so it looks cool.
And then learn to play left handed.
It's kind of a little backwards way of, backward engineering [G] there.
_ And I thought to myself, is this really possible? _
_ Well I guess it's now, how many years, 40 years later or something.
It is possible.
I think if you're young enough you can do, you can change anything.
A little bit tough when you get a bit older.
_ It's hard to [Abm] learn new tricks as it were.
But the concept of open handed playing to me then was part of a balance thing.
I really loved the fact that I could be doing something with this hand like this.
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _
_ Leaving this hand free to do pretty much anything you could imagine.
It was a very kind of, a different way of playing but an elegant way of playing.
And now to me it's second nature.
_ So _ was it the right move?
Well I'll never know.
I could have just continued playing right handed and maybe I'd be a better drummer.
I don't know.
But in the big picture it's whatever works for you.
But I just really enjoy being able to play, actually now being able to play left handed and right handed.
Which is kind of cool.
Especially when I have this drum set up here.
_ So for example like this. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
The other really cool thing about the left handed approach.
Especially with a right handed drum kit.
Is you tend to have lots of big tom toms around this area.
It's really nice to be [Em] able to do a little accent or a little fill without breaking the groove.
_ _ _ For example on the cymbal.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
So that's [F] another little thing you can do.
I'm sure you could do it just as well right handed as well.
But I've been doing it for so long this way I just don't know any other way to do it now.
_ But there you go.
That's a little concept about the open handed playing.
_ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _
Open handed playing.
_ I started to play right handed.
Actually I started to play traditional grip too.
_ And then _ one day I was, the drum kit was growing.
It grew another bass drum, it grew a few more tom toms.
_ _ And everything was fine playing right handed until I added this last tom tom, tom [G] tom number one here.
And that was a problem because in order to play right handed the hi-hat has to be higher than it is now.
Which means this tom has to be high.
And you know what, I was a very impressionable 17 year old.
_ [Bb] _
And looks [E] were very important to me.
So I thought to [Ab] myself, what if I lower the hi-hat, lower the tom so it looks cool.
And then learn to play left handed.
It's kind of a little backwards way of, backward engineering [G] there.
_ And I thought to myself, is this really possible? _
_ Well I guess it's now, how many years, 40 years later or something.
It is possible.
I think if you're young enough you can do, you can change anything.
A little bit tough when you get a bit older.
_ It's hard to [Abm] learn new tricks as it were.
But the concept of open handed playing to me then was part of a balance thing.
I really loved the fact that I could be doing something with this hand like this.
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _
_ Leaving this hand free to do pretty much anything you could imagine.
It was a very kind of, a different way of playing but an elegant way of playing.
And now to me it's second nature.
_ So _ was it the right move?
Well I'll never know.
I could have just continued playing right handed and maybe I'd be a better drummer.
I don't know.
But in the big picture it's whatever works for you.
But I just really enjoy being able to play, actually now being able to play left handed and right handed.
Which is kind of cool.
Especially when I have this drum set up here.
_ So for example like this. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
The other really cool thing about the left handed approach.
Especially with a right handed drum kit.
Is you tend to have lots of big tom toms around this area.
It's really nice to be [Em] able to do a little accent or a little fill without breaking the groove.
_ _ _ For example on the cymbal.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
So that's [F] another little thing you can do.
I'm sure you could do it just as well right handed as well.
But I've been doing it for so long this way I just don't know any other way to do it now.
_ But there you go.
That's a little concept about the open handed playing.
_ _ [N] _ _ _