Q: Ride position and economical of movement

[sciomako]

Hi,

Many drummers place the ride above the 2nd rack tom instead of the more "traditional" position above the 1st floor tom. Apparently, the principle is to place whatever used most at the most accessible positions

This makes me wonder whether the ride above the rack tom is more economical to access than above the floor tom. Ride above the rack tom, being higher, requires more vertical movement while ride above floor tom more sideway movement. I would think vertical movement against the gravity requires more effort?

I also noticed drummers like Dave Weckl (from his old videos) tilted the ride (which was above the rack tom) at a steep angle to make it more accessible for riding. But that also makes it hard to crash the edge.

What are your thoughts?

[max77]

Solution? 4 pieces is the best. 18X14 (or 20X14) -12X8 - 14x14 and snare.

[Hissig Gompen]

I like having two rack toms offset to the left, one on a stand and one on the bass drum (or both on a stand). Then put the ride over the right half of the bass drum. I also like to put an x-hat beneath the ride. something like this but with the ride and x-hat a little bit closer to me:
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9374/kitl.jpg

[caddywumpus]

If I close my eyes and hold out my hand/stick to the place where my body "wants" the ride to be, it's roughly slightly above the bass drum where the 2nd mounted tom would normally be and fairly flat. So, I like to play a 4-piece kit with my ride there.

I used to play with 2 mounted toms (on the kick drum), with the ride to the side of the 2nd tom, over the floor tom. It's just not as physically satisfying for me to play it there. Sure, I can do it, no problem, but my preference is right above the bass drum, between the rack tom and floor tom. Above a tom would DEFINITELY be uncomfortable to play after a while.

[con struct]

Everyone's built a little different. Wherever it works best for you is exactly where it should be.

[Boomka]

This makes me wonder whether the ride above the rack tom is more economical to access than above the floor tom. Ride above the rack tom, being higher, requires more vertical movement while ride above floor tom more sideway movement. I would think vertical movement against the gravity requires more effort?

The pull of gravity is essentially constant no matter where you are on earth. Economy of motion comes down to the way our bodies are built: some motions will require more muscle groups to be used than others, and some motions will require inefficient use of the joints more than others. Finding a comfortable place for your equipment requires some experimentation. There are no hard rules, and there are forever going to be compromises.

[KCDrummer]

If I close my eyes and hold out my hand/stick to the place where my body "wants" the ride to be, it's roughly slightly above the bass drum where the 2nd mounted tom would normally be and fairly flat. So, I like to play a 4-piece kit with my ride there.

I used to play with 2 mounted toms (on the kick drum), with the ride to the side of the 2nd tom, over the floor tom. It's just not as physically satisfying for me to play it there. Sure, I can do it, no problem, but my preference is right above the bass drum, between the rack tom and floor tom. Above a tom would DEFINITELY be uncomfortable to play after a while.

You're singin' my tune dude. I like the idea of closing your eyes and putting your hand and stick where they WANT to be. I would add that this can help determine the angle of the ride as well.

Sit at your kit and with your eyes closed or open, without holding a stick hold out your right hand as if you're going to shake someone's hand. Freeze. Your forearm should be parallel to the floor and your wrist should be perfectly straight. Keeping it straight, use your left hand to place a stick in your right. If you kept your wrist straight, your stick should be at a slight angle off your forearm (if your forearm is at zero degrees, your stick should be around 45). The angle of your stick is what the angle of your ride should be.

This is probably more effective for jazz players, who spent A LOT of time on the ride. Rock players don't use the ride as much or in the same way (a lot of bell-whacking and so forth) so I think rock drummers usually like the ride lower and flatter.

Anyway, that's the process I went through to determine the angle of my rides. I'm getting better sounds out of the cymbals and having an easier time playing fast tempos because I'm not contorting my body out of its natural positions.

[KCDrummer]

BTW, if you watch my youtube videos, that's where my cymbals were BEFORE I went through this process. Here's where they are now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIr1LRSE1N4

[Delwrick]

The close your eyes deal is what I do when it comes to where I want to put my crashes and my ride. I'm a 4 piece dude myself with the ride on half of the bass drum but thanks to an extra tom stand I'm able to get my toms more to the side of the bass drum while still getting my ride exactly where I want it. That stand, for that single purpose was worth the 50 dollars! It's just that comfy.

[jwildman]

Well I have my ride next to my hats so I am definatley not traditinal. But if I didn't have my set up like this mine would be alot like travis barker's, drum wise at least, I'd have more cymbals then travis. But I would just hate to have my ride above the mid tom, that would just be inconvienient.