What does your kit say about your "drum nerdiness"?

edvia

Senior Member
Alas, we're all drum nerds, otherwise we wouldn't be here on dw. But what does your kit say about your level of "nerdiness"? Complete this questionnaire to find out.

(Note: any additions to this list from when I originally posted it are in italics)

Give yourself 1 point for each of these you have on your kit:
• Double bass drum pedal
• Splashes (1 point each)
• China cymbals (mounted low and flat, 1 point each)
• Excess crashes (0 points for your first three crashes, 1 point for each additional crash)
• Excess rack toms (0 points for your first two rack toms, 1 point for each additional)
• Hi-hat-mounted tambourine jingles

Give yourself 2 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Drum rack
• A full tambourine mounted anywhere on your kit
• Extra snare (0 points for your main snare, 2 points for each additional)
• China cymbals (mounted high and angled, 2 points each)
• Specialty cymbals (O-Zones, Rocktagons, Zil-Bels, etc., 2 points each)
• Electronic pads (2 points for each individual pad or octopad)
• 2nd bass drum (whether as a traditional double-kick setup or as an extra kick off to the side, like Dave Weckl sometimes uses)

Give yourself 3 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Wind chimes
• X-hats (or any extra pair of hi hats)
• Cowbell or wood block (3 points each)
• Excess floor toms (0 points for your first two floor toms, 3 points for each additional floor tom)
• Any additional pedals beyond the hi hat or a double bass pedal (i.e. foot clave, etc., 3 points each)
• Roto toms (3 points for each set of roto toms)
• Gong (3 points each)
• Gong bass drum
• Any bass drum over two (i.e. your 3rd bass drum counts for 3 points, and so on)
• Tympani (3 points each)
• Timbales (3 points for up to two timbales)
• Congas/bongos (3 points for up to two congas/bongos, 3 more for each additional)
• Crotales/orchestra bells/xylophone, etc. (3 points per set)

Give yourself 4 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• A full electric kit incorporated into your acoustic kit (ala Neil Peart)
• Cage-style drum rack (you know the kind, resembles a UFC cage)
• The "drum frame" tilted drum rack that mounts your full kit (including bass drum/s)
• Any cymbal mounted "hanging style" (4 points per cymbal mounted this way)

Now add up your points to determine your drum nerdiness:

0-5 points: In drummer terms, you're "The Fonz" (in other words: very, very cool). Just don't go jumping any sharks.

6-15 points: There's a little bit of drum nerdiness in you, but you pull it off with just enough coolness to keep you from being picked on.

16-29 points: An uber drum geek in training. Aren't you tired from hauling all that gear around? Unless you're famous and have roadies doing all the grunt work, it's time to consider trimming down that giant kit of yours.

30+ points: Like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, your geekiness knows no bounds. The drummer equivalent of a pocket protector. Time to seriously consider getting a life away from your kit!

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Alas, we're all drum nerds, otherwise we wouldn't be here on dw. But what does your kit say about your level of "nerdiness"? Complete this questionnaire to find out.

Give yourself 1 point for each of these you have on your kit:
• Splashes 1
• China cymbals 0
• Excess crashes 0
• Excess rack toms 0

Give yourself 2 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Drum rack 0
• China cymbals 0
• Electronic pads 0

Give yourself 3 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Wind chimes 0
• Excess floor toms 0
• Roto toms 0
• Gong 0
• Gong bass drum 0
• Tympani 0
• Congas/bongos 0
• Crotales/orchestra bells/xylophone, etc. 0

Give yourself 4 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• A full electric kit incorporated into your acoustic kit (ala Neil Peart) 0
• Cage-style drum rack (you know the kind, resembles a UFC cage) 0
• Any cymbal mounted "hanging style" 0


Now add up your points to determine your drum nerdiness:

0-5 points: In drummer terms, you're "The Fonz" (in other words: very, very cool). Just don't go jumping any sharks.

6-15 points: There's a little bit of drum nerdiness in you, but you pull it off with just enough coolness to keep you from being picked on.

16-29 points: An uber drum geek in training. Aren't you tired from hauling all that gear around? Unless you're famous and have roadies doing all the grunt work, it's time to consider trimming down that giant kit of yours.

30+ points: Like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, your geekiness knows no bounds. The drummer equivalent of a pocket protector. Time to seriously consider getting a life away from your kit!

.

I scored a 1 - No nerd here.
 
Where's the section for 'specialty' and/or unique cymbals? (O-Zones, stacks, Rocktagons, bells, etc..)

And where are the timbales?

I have a single point, for my Rocktagon splash.
 
Nice thread! I scored 5.

1 Splash

1 China mounted low and flat

1 "rack" 12" tom, got 8" and 10" in front of me and the 12" to the left of the hats, purely for sonic reasons, it sounds a bit choked in front of me but truly perfect just mounted on a cymbal stand by itself. Perhaps that's an extra point? :p

1 point for the rack, but it's located next to the floor toms and holds my china, a crash, ride, splash and the 10" tom.

I truly see myself as a drum gear freak, I'm at least very concerned with having everything sound perfect, thought I'd score higher! But I'm really not into percussion instruments, or roto toms and all that. Drums and cymbals is what I like.
 
Give yourself 1 point for each of these you have on your kit:
• Splashes 3
• China cymbals 0
• Excess crashes 1
• Excess rack toms 2

Give yourself 2 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Drum rack 2
• China cymbals 2
• Electronic pads 0

Give yourself 3 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• Wind chimes 6 (yes I had 2 sets)
• Excess floor toms 0
• Roto toms 0
• Gong 0
• Gong bass drum 3 (was floor mounted and had a remote pedal)
• Tympani 0
• Congas/bongos 0
• Crotales/orchestra bells/xylophone, etc. 0

Give yourself 4 points for each of these you have on your kit:
• A full electric kit incorporated into your acoustic kit 0
• Cage-style drum rack 0
• Any cymbal mounted "hanging style" 0

Thats 19 so far. I also had 2 cowbells, a wood block, and a timbale. How many points each for these?

While I no longer have this kit, I still would if not for financial downfalls, and it no doubt would be even bigger.

EDIT: As per the additions: second bass drum - 2; two cowbells - 6; wood block - 3; timbale - 3; that's another 14 for me.

So my total is 33. My wife compares me to Sheldon Cooper quite regularly, drums or not.
 
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Where's the section for 'specialty' and/or unique cymbals? (O-Zones, stacks, Rocktagons, bells, etc..)

And where are the timbales?

I have a single point, for my Rocktagon splash.

Made a few additions to the quiz, the new ones are in italics in the original post. Thanks for the suggestions!

BTW, I scored a 2. Apparently, I'm not as cool as Tony or Bo.

.
 
Made a few additions to the quiz, the new ones are in italics in the original post. Thanks for the suggestions!

BTW, I scored a 2. Apparently, I'm not as cool as Tony.

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So does that mean my Rocktagon counts for 3 points now, since it falls under the two categories? Or just the two points? You're making me less cool by the minute, here!
 
So does that mean my Rocktagon counts for 3 points now, since it falls under the two categories? Or just the two points? You're making me less cool by the minute, here!

When in doubt, go for the higher point count. Fortunately, you don't need to combine points for any single object. Just trying to get an accurate drum nerd rating here!
 
When in doubt, go for the higher point count. Fortunately, you don't need to combine points for any single object. Just trying to get an accurate drum nerd rating here!

Sweet! Leaves me at 5 points! I'm still cool! My mom would be so proud!

How many points do you guys think WailinSmash has?

I think those cymbal towers are worth at least 20 points
 
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Well, it didn't mention anything about an extra piccolo snare or a set of closed hi-hats on your ride cymbal side, so I guess those things are still cool.

You got me for 4 points. 1 splash and a cowbell. Didn't mention nothing about a tambourine either. I have a tambourine mounted on a stand too.
 
I was batting .000 ... until the cowbell, so my point total was 3. (and pleeeease don't say more cowbell)

radman
(a.k.a. The Fonz)
 
Well, it didn't mention anything about an extra piccolo snare or a set of closed hi-hats on your ride cymbal side, so I guess those things are still cool.

You got me for 4 points. 1 splash and a cowbell. Didn't mention nothing about a tambourine either. I have a tambourine mounted on a stand too.

Sorry, just added those to the list. 2 points for a full-on mounted tambourine, 2 points for each additional snare, and 3 points for an X-Hat or any sort of additional hi hat. So now you're at 11!
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BTW, feel free to figure out how any famous drummer (i.e. Neil Peart, Mike Portnoy, etc.) would fare on my nerd scale.
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Sorry, just added those to the list. 2 points for a full-on mounted tambourine, 2 points for each additional snare, and 3 points for an X-Hat or any sort of additional hi hat. So now you're at 11!
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You wish! I don't have an extra snare or an extra hihat. just a comment. I do, however have a full-on mounted tambourine...so that put's me at 6. Whew!
 
EDIT: As per the additions: second bass drum - 2; two cowbells - 6; wood block - 3; timbale - 3; that's another 14 for me.

So my total is 33. My wife compares me to Sheldon Cooper quite regularly, drums or not.

Looks like we have our Drum Nerd Champion! Can anyone beat 33???
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Own or use?

My set up I use is worth 2 points.

But I have lots of extra bits that have been purchased here or there over the years for this or that song. I've never actually used it all at once.

But if I set it all up, I could easily get over 15 points. And I still have some e-pads left. Although I've never mixed them with my acoustic kit, I could get myself up into the 20 point range.
 
Own or use?

My set up I use is worth 2 points.

But I have lots of extra bits that have been purchased here or there over the years for this or that song. I've never actually used it all at once.

But if I set it all up, I could easily get over 15 points. And I still have some e-pads left. Although I've never mixed them with my acoustic kit, I could get myself up into the 20 point range.

Just whatever you have set up at any one time. If you have multiple kits or setups, count whatever you use most often.
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