I'm tired of standard drumkits. Need inspiration and ideas

Love this!! Being a snare drum addict, this makes perfect sense to me :)

Works great! Properly tuned, you'd not know they aren't toms AND you have greater flexibility on the look. See a snare that just looks great? Buy it and rather than hide it between your legs behind a bass, mount it as a tom. Voila! snare collection gets seen AND heard.
Also the larger playing surface makes it much easier to play. JW
 
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Works great! Properly tuned, you'd not know they aren't toms AND you have greater flexibility on the look. See a snare that just looks great? Buy it and rather than hide it between your legs behind a bass, mount it as a tom. Voila! snare collection gets seen AND heard.
Also the larger playing service makes it much easier to play. JW

In clarification for this thread - do you ever play the kit with all snares turned on for another flavor? Perhaps you have all the "tom" snare wires removed, I can't tell from the photos. Might be a buzzing frenzy. I have played with three snare drums before and liked the options.
 
I got 6 hand drums of various configurations from an estate sale a few years back and experimented using those. Had a 12" and a 13" djembes as toms for a while along with a 14" supertumba conga that was cut off at the bottom (due to damage) that made a great floor tom.

The djembe's were all key tuned (no cords) and with standard heads on them (although the fit was funky), I got a pretty decent sound. Certainly different than the usual reso headed tom set up. All this combined with the 22x8 pancake kick made for a decent sounding conversation set.

I love to think outside the box like this & have come to understand that anything can compliment your kit as long as the sound and ease of play is right. My favourite bell cymbal was a 6" saw blade that had just the right ring to it.
The sky's the limit for sure.
 
In clarification for this thread - do you ever play the kit with all snares turned on for another flavor? Perhaps you have all the "tom" snare wires removed, I can't tell from the photos. Might be a buzzing frenzy. I have played with three snare drums before and liked the options.

I thought about leaving the wires on for a multi-snare "fest", but the buzz was too much.
 
I got 6 hand drums of various configurations from an estate sale a few years back and experimented using those. Had a 12" and a 13" djembes as toms for a while along with a 14" supertumba conga that was cut off at the bottom (due to damage) that made a great floor tom.

The djembe's were all key tuned (no cords) and with standard heads on them (although the fit was funky), I got a pretty decent sound. Certainly different than the usual reso headed tom set up. All this combined with the 22x8 pancake kick made for a decent sounding conversation set.

I love to think outside the box like this & have come to understand that anything can compliment your kit as long as the sound and ease of play is right. My favourite bell cymbal was a 6" saw blade that had just the right ring to it.
The sky's the limit for sure.

You're right. Then again we live in Arizona, so we have an inherent sense of being different. Or is it territorial?
 
My favourite bell cymbal was a 6" saw blade that had just the right ring to it.
The sky's the limit for sure.

Ha ! yeah man, some circular sawblades have an awesome ring... others not so much... you have to try a few out. My stand-up bluegrass rig has always been evolving since I started performing with these geezers, 6 years ago. But a saw blade on cymbal stand (or suspended Cajun triangle... or both) is pretty much a standard feature in the act. When people ask me about it, I tell them someone once heard me playing washboard, and the spoons, and they suggested I should take up the musical saw.
 

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Hey Tiredofeverything OP:

Check out the thread titled "Something new from Yamaha tomorrow....(EAD10)"

Your problems have all been solved !!


.
 
Maybe the answer is to strip everything down and try using your existing stuff in a different way. Maybe just snare and hi hat or kick and hi hat.

This was the answer for me.

Kick/Snare/Hat was one of my favourite videos showing what can be done with very minimal equipment. It motivated me to ditch the "Neil Peart" type set up and get back to basics.

Bassist Billy Sheehan said on one of his early videos that he often just takes his bass & plays scales. Something first time players typically do, yet here he is with his high level of experience taking it back to basics.

Often stripping away the fluff & using what you first learned on is a refreshing way to go.
 
I've always wanted to try something like Bill Bruford's symmetrical setup, with the hi hat right in front of you and toms descending on either side. You could also replace some or all of the toms with various hand percussion, like djembes, congas, etc.
 

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This is what I use to do. I had a cocktail pedal, hit an 18" floor tom and used a djembe as a snare. 12" hats and a small crash/ride. Made it easy to use hands and mallets

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You can also use one hand to play a percussion instrument while using the other limbs on the set. Look into what the pro studio drummers get into as well. Guys like Kenny Aronoff that get different sounds for the artists they are recording for. There is a million ideas you can do with just a snare drum from towels, paper on the batter head, or a splash cymbal. You can play on the snare side, get a bunch of different rim sounds off every drum, or fart on a floor tom!

There's endless ideas with a standard set, but I don't get what y'all are saying about a boxy sound. There's a ton of options with technique alone in one drum. If you can't do it with a snare drum alone, your not doing it right. And you must play tradition grip with both hands.
 
You're right. Then again we live in Arizona, so we have an inherent sense of being different. Or is it territorial?

It's the desert heat for sure! Bakes the brain just enough to make weird decisions...=-D
 
One part of me loves to experiment with new setups and sounds but another part of me asks if piano players ever ask for a different key layout. 7 string guitars and 5 string basses notwithstanding, most instruments are much more defined than the drum set.

In the end, I don’t think playing a weird setup or using unique sounds actually equates to creativity. When I think of all the great drummers that I admire, they all played pretty normal sets.

A next level guy like Chris Dave plays a very unique kit, with just snares and cracked cymbals but his playing is what drives all of it, not the gear. He’s awesome on just snare, kick and hat. He’s awesome on any setup because HE is awesome not because of the setup.
 
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