Making changes to your set up.

[jay norem]

Last night I was playing my kit and I felt something in my right arm. It was as if it suddenly wanted something else. So I thought "Hmmmm...." and then I moved the stand with the ride cymbal and my low tom about one inch closer to me, slightly lowered the cymbal height, and backed up the tom to about where it had been. Bingo! What a difference. It was a new comfort level, far more efficient. Why had I been playing it the other way for so long?
It's such an interesting part of the nature of our instrument, the ability to create a totally ergonomically designed playing environment. No other instrument can achieve this. We can fit our instrument to our bodies. It always amazes me what a difference an inch or two can make.

[Deathmetalconga]

Yeah, it's cool how the drums are like that. Periodically I shift things around fairly significantly. It adds interest and forces me to play differently.

[That Guy]

What a difference. It was a new comfort level, far more efficient. Why had I been playing it the other way for so long?

As you progress in your drumming, chances are that your going to encounter this time and time again. Sometimes you revert to an older tom/cymbal placement, others times you might find yourself with the most extreme arrangement just trying things out. It's all good, and helps to show you other sides to drumming. Flexibility in placement can only be a good thing.

Yeah, it's cool how the drums are like that. Periodically I shift things around fairly significantly. It adds interest and forces me to play differently.

Ditto! Every now and then I will come across a drummer with a set up that I have never seen before, and ... *viola*! Instant inspiration.

[jay norem]

As you progress in your drumming, chances are that your going to encounter this time and time again.

Well, it's actually a matter of an old dog learning a new trick. I've been playing for 35 years, give or take.
I played the new set up again today and it still feels great, so I re-spiked my rug. That's serious!

[Muffled Tom]

*viola*!

"voila".

Viola:
http://z.about.com/d/musiced/1/7/-/8/viola.jpg

[That Guy]

"voila".

Viola:


Please excuse incorrect spelling. Good laugh :-)

[hawk9290]

i know that feeling where its just like something isn't quite right. I usually have to wait a while before it sets in though, if it is going to come at all. It may be 4 or five months, but then one day I'll sit down and feel like everything is off.
This is mostly why my setup changes completley every few months. It makes it a lot of fun, and if I change it enough, I end up with a whole new plane of fills. And I find that it makes it easier to sit down at another set without having to spend 20 minutes adjusting things because I'm used to playing a variety of setups. Some of them just get a little too crazy though.

[fourstringdrums]

It took me 13+ years to finally get comfortable with how things were setup. Now I'm at a point, especially where I use a basic setup, where I don't touch anything any more. Eventually you learn what your body wants and needs and adapt your setup to fill that.

[Drummer Karl]

Yes, it`s very interesting to see how set-ups change...and it`s good that we experiment with different positions.
My biggest change till now was from 5-piece to 4-piece. I didn`t use the second rack tom anymore, at least not for the music I mostly play. Another thing is getting comfotable with cymbal angles. I`m kinda happy with my Tama stands in this case since the joints are adjustable steplessly.
I`m really picky with cymbal, tom or snare angles. But if I experiment with this, it often changes. Though it`s funny that we always try to get comfortable but the pure physical efficiency fades from the spotlight sometimes.

Karl

[Banzai]

I used a normal single bass setup up to january this year and took the idea to set my drums up as double bass from Mike Portnoy's liquid tension kit and it gave me alot of extra space (I now have a crash + a splash + the granite blocks) and I feel I have free space everywhere, it also helpd me to play more openly.