Initial versions of the hi-hat were called "clangers" which were small cymbals mounted onto a bass drum rim and struck with an arm on the bass drum pedal. Then came "snow shoes" which were two hinged boards with cymbals on the ends which were clashed together. Next was the "low-boy" or "low-hat", similar to a modern hi-hat stand, only with cymbals close to the ground. Hi-hats that were raised and could be played by hand as well as foot may have been developed around 1926 by Barney Walberg of the drum accessory company Walberg and Auge.

Up until the late 1960s, the standard hi-hats were 14", with 13" available as a less common alternative in professional cymbal ranges and smaller sizes down to 12" restricted to children's kits. In the early 1970s heavy rock drummers (including Led Zeppelin's John Bonham) began to use 15" hi-hats. In the late 1980s Zildjian released their revolutionary 10" Special Recording hats, which were small, heavy hi-hat cymbals intended for close miking either live or recording, and other manufacturers quickly followed.

 

However, in the early to mid 1990s Paiste offered 8" Mini hi-hats as part of their Visions series; these were among the world's smallest hi-hats. Starting in the 1980s a number of manufacturers also experimented with rivets in the lower cymbal. But by the end of the 1990s the standard size was again 14", with 13" a less common alternative, and smaller hats mainly used for special sounds. Rivets in hi-hats failed to catch on.

Modern hi-hat cymbals are much heavier than modern crash cymbals, reflecting the trend to lighter and thinner crash cymbals as well as to heavier hi-hats. The other change has been that a pair of hi-hat cymbals are no longer necessarily similar. More typically the bottom is now heavier than the top (but in some cases like the K Zildjian Steve Gadd Session Hats the pattern is reversed for a cleaner chick and cleaner sticking), and may also be vented, this being one innovation to have caught on. Some examples are Sabian's Fusion Hats with holes in the bottom of the hi-hat, and the Sabian X-cellerator, Zildjian Master Sound, and Paiste Soundedge.

 

Some drummers even use completely mismatched hi-hats from different cymbal ranges (Zildjian's K/Z hats), of different manufacturers, and even of different sizes (similar to the K Custom Session Hats where one hat is ¼ of an inch smaller than the other).

Other recent developments include the "X-hat" (fixed closed or 'half open' hi-hats) and cable-controlled or "remote" hi-hats.[2] Sabian introduced the "Triple Hi-Hat", designed by Peter Kuppers. In this variation of the hi-hat, the top cymbal moves down and the bottom cymbal moves up simultaneously while the middle cymbal remains stationary.

Drop-clutches are also used to lock and release hi-hats while both feet are in use playing double bass drums.