The left foot — the one not playing the bass drum — has its own pedal: the hi-hat foot pedal. Pressing it down clamps the two hi-hat cymbals together; releasing lets them rattle. The sound made by closing the cymbals on a beat is called a "chick", and it's one of the most universal pulse markers in popular music. In jazz, the chick on beats 2 and 4 is non-negotiable. In funk and R&B, the same chick locks down the backbeat. In rock, it's often hidden underneath the loud hands but still present.
The chick has three useful flavours. Tight chick: foot pressed down hard, cymbals fully clamped — short, dry, the jazz default. Splashy half-open chick: foot doesn't fully clamp; the cymbals collide and ring briefly before stopping — used for color, often on backbeats in fusion or modern country. Pulsing chick: the foot lifts and lowers continuously, marking subdivisions even when the cymbals aren't being struck — a way to keep your time grid alive when the hands are doing something complicated.
Notation-wise, the hi-hat foot lives below the staff with an x notehead (d/4/x2) and stems down — visually similar to the bass drum but easy to distinguish once you know what to look for.
Exercises
Just the foot. Foot down on 2, foot down on 4, releasing in between. Count '1, 2, 3, 4' out loud and let the foot match the metronome's 2 and 4 exactly. This is the universal jazz/funk pulse — owning it is more important than owning any particular fill.
Hand 8ths on top, foot chick on 2 and 4 underneath. The foot has to land on the same instant your hand strikes — no smear. If they don't lock, isolate the foot for 30 seconds, then re-add the hands. This is also the place where you'll first notice your hat hand and your hat foot are playing the same instrument with two limbs at the same time; that coordination is its own skill.
All four limbs in motion: hat hand on 8ths, snare on 2 and 4, kick on 1 and 3, hi-hat foot on 2 and 4. The two feet now alternate every beat — kick, chick, kick, chick. This is genuine four-way coordination at its smallest scale, and it's a big leap from the basic backbeat. Slow it down if needed.
Hi-hat foot pulsing on every 8th — chick on 1, &, (2 silent because kick is there), &, etc. The foot is now marking the subdivision rather than just the pulse. This is harder than it looks; the hi-hat-foot habit of only landing on 2 and 4 is hard to override. Tempo is dropped to ♩=75 because at this tempo the foot 8ths still feel manageable. Once owned, the technique unlocks Steve Gadd-style 16th funk, where the left foot quietly subdivides under everything.