Where do you stand on stage?

[xgator4u]

Hi hat side, even if I can't hear everything all of the time, I can SEE the hi hat and the drummer can SEE my hands.
Works for me.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

I always stood next to the high hat. That way I could always communicate with the drummer. It worked well for us.

 

[marmadaddy]

Musically, I don't care in the slightest. It doesn't affect my playing at all. Whatever makes the other guys comfortable or where ever there's room and makes the setup look ok from the audience's perspective. Or where ever who's paying me tells me to stand.

 

[Joebone]

No brainer - ideally alongside the drummer so I can see him play and we can see each other, and that hi-hat is in the middle, as a common time reference.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I'm blind in my left eye, and I like to keep an eye on the drummer for breaks, starts, stops and to see where his 2 & 4 are; So thie hi-hat is my only option.

 

[Shabz]

Guess i'm an oddity in only watching drummers very occasionally
1) when there's a roll/ringing finish which ends with a crash after a variable amount of time

2) when a drummer loses the pulse with an ambitious fill in the same song each time and i want to sync with his erroneous re-entry hit

and with the current drummer 2 doesn't apply anymore

 

[Titania]

I voted for "carrots". Don't have a drummer, so I stand on the right. Keeps my headstock from whacking patrons.

 

[Arvin]

Hi-hat side. I have tinnitus in my L ear that really ramps up with loudness, so I wear earplugs, and I keep that ear away from the drum kit.

 

[Bassic Playing]

First priority is hearing the beat, so next to hi-hat. Second is not taking out people while I wildly flail around in restless ecstasy, brought on by the deep groove of my bass lines. I'm playing in a band for a musical at the moment, and the keyboard player has to duck an awful lot.

 

[Jhengsman]

It is a church with the musicians on both wings of the stage and the singers center stage between us. When I first started I was on one wing on the drummer’s right and would look at his kick foot. Then as my skills increased a keyboardist graduated and left an open space the music director asked me to move over to his side, with him on piano and a guitarist so that we could call out keys and numbers when we improvise. So now I look across the stage at the leader and can see the bass drum head move and his hands when he is about to hit a cymbal and then I can look over my shoulder to see what the piano was playing and assume the bass line which is being demonstrated before we improvise start to off of the base groove.

 

[Howlin' Hanson]

Up front. Between the other two singers. When I wear shorts on outdoor gigs in the summer, I feel the air from the kick puffing on my calves. Additional proof that the drummer is playing.

 

[fdeck]

Hi hat side is better for eye contact, especially if the band is using charts.