Looking back - 4 piece vs. 6 piece.

Very cool.

I started with a 6-piece YEARS ago. After we started playing out a lot, I started leaving a couple toms home...then some chinas...then a cymbal or two. For the band that I'm in right now, I play this configuration:

535A6CDE-C277-4DE6-90A0-882543125DCE_zpsitr744gn.jpg



I'm thinking about ditching the rack tom and the crash cymbal, then going with a kick, snare, floor tom, crash/ride cymbal, and hats. Something like Miles Miller, the drummer for Sturgill Simpson:

sturgillsimpson-8.jpg


A lot of people say bring the right tools for the right job. I guess my philosophy would be "Bring the right tools for the job, but don't over-pack."
 
Did we just leap frog over a 5 piece kit? 2up 1 down? I've been playing that for over a year now and like it better than 4 or 6.
 
5 is the proper setup.
I've learned to deal with 4 (setup on my terms - centered tom),
and I would have no problem adapting to kis's 6 pc.

Always most comfortable with 5 though.
 
I can't go smaller than 5pc, 2 up 1 down. If I have the room I like a 6 pc, 2 up 2 down. Even that's a compromise for me as I used to play 7 pc with twin 24x14 BD's. :)
 
I'd go to a 5-piece if I wanted to get a new kit and could have 11, 13 and 16 tom diameters :)
 
Surprised it took so long for a 5 piece to be mentioned.

As a late-to-the-party starter, I began with a 5 piece.

When I had a Pearl Export kit, I liked higher sounding toms, and my kit had a 12-13-16 tom setup so I found a matching 10. For a while I played it as a 6 piece, but decided that I didn't really need the extra tom, and my tastes changed away from the 10" tom.

So much so that when I bought a Mapex M Birch kit, which happened to be a 6 piece, I only played it as a 6 piece once, just after I bought it and replaced the heads.

Roll on another year, and my hunt for a Mapex Saturn kit, which ended up as a 5 piece kit, which I feel is just the perfect size kit (for me). A four piece kit is just not enough stuff to hit, and a 6 piece is too much stuff to hit (and carry around). It could be that I am not creative enough to use less than a 5 piece kit, but I feel that a 5 piece kit lets me do everything I want to do, and I feel like I am using the kit "properly", in my own modest way.
 
I also started on a 5. But I think we're neglecting those people who insist on either 3 or 7 piece set ups now.
 
I agree with Larry. I've seen numerous clips of your band over the years, and the band favors songs that were recorded with multiple-tom kits. You may be able to pull it off, but your limiting the chosen music with just a 4pc.

That said, I set up my kit as a 6pc for the first time in forever the other day. I can't get the additional tom in any place that feels comfortable.

5pc is the way to go.
I agree on the extra toms vibe - it's one of the things that's brought my mojo back in this gig.

On 5 piece kits though, for reasons I can't fully identify, I've never been happy with a 5 piece (two up) setup. 3 up or 1 up just seems to align with my playing. Every time I sit on a 2 up kit, it just upsets my vibe = weird, I know :(

Here's a little clip from last night's rehearsal with me in my happy space :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3wFZ7EWHrc&feature=youtu.be
 
I agree on the extra toms vibe - it's one of the things that's brought my mojo back in this gig.

On 5 piece kits though, for reasons I can't fully identify, I've never been happy with a 5 piece (two up) setup. 3 up or 1 up just seems to align with my playing. Every time I sit on a 2 up kit, it just upsets my vibe = weird, I know :(

Here's a little clip from last night's rehearsal with me in my happy space :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3wFZ7EWHrc&feature=youtu.be

For some reason I just have this perverted idea of a "no-up" set-up.
 
If I did a no up setup, my drumming would improve drastically. Never again would I ever concern myself with blowing a fill. That would be huge. Just flash right back to the marching days and wrap on the snare for everything. My floor tom would instantly become a martini and stick bag holder. Done and done. I wouldn't have to embrace the suck again....ever!
 
Check out Jojo Mayer, he's been doing a "no-up" set-up for at least the last year now (he keeps his floor tom and that little 8" tom next to the floor tom). Back in my college days, I played a "no-up" because I had to have temple blocks, cowbells, and little splashes for a musical I was playing in, but that was the last time I ever did anything like that.

I may return to that one day - after I get these four toms out of my system ;)
 
On 5 piece kits though, for reasons I can't fully identify, I've never been happy with a 5 piece (two up) setup. 3 up or 1 up just seems to align with my playing. Every time I sit on a 2 up kit, it just upsets my vibe = weird, I know :(

I'm the same, Andy. I've never felt comfortable on a standard 2 up/ 1 down five piece. I have rarely gigged that set-up, and most of those were on shared kits.
 
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