State your unpopular drumming opinions

AH: Which drum seat did you have at first and which one did you upgrade to that's improved your sitting time?
I’ve been on a Roc n Soc saddle for better part of 25 years. Comfy, but feeling a bit restrictive lately. Had a PDP 800 series on the practice pad set. It was more of a mid evil torture device. Tried a couple of different ones from Tama, Pork Pie, but ended up with a Roc n Soc round for the drums, then moved the saddle to the practice pad set, where the restrictiveness is irrelevant.

Now, I don’t even think about what I’m sitting on anymore. They both have worked out great.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by JustJames View Post
Keith Moon is over rated.
You don't need a fancy drum seat


Made me laugh - as edited, I wasn't aware there was a Moon seat option ;)

My unpopular opinion is that I gave up caring about most peoples' opinions a long time ago. The list of people whose opinion I value is short.
With your level of scrutiny, I sometimes wonder if you even value your own opinion ;)
 
After a recent youtube rabbit hole into the world of live Jethro Tull in the mid 70's, a band I tragically missed out on back in the day, how, why, maybe i needed a little deeper musical palette and understanding than I had, I digress:

Lil tongue in cheek but enjoy:

Clive Bunker is the best early metal style drummer to come out of England.

Barriemore Barlow is the best rock /progressive rock drummer to come out of England.

If they both did in fact come from England, an obvious play off of Bonhams comment, but good god I have been loving me some Jethro Tull recently and Clive and especially Barrie are f'n incredible.
 
After a recent youtube rabbit hole into the world of live Jethro Tull in the mid 70's, a band I tragically missed out on back in the day

Jethro Tull was one of my earliest concerts. Two shows, 4 Bucks each, at a community college gymnasium. I was 16 or 17. I was a fledgling drummer at the time. I didn't know why Clive was so good, I just knew I was in awe. I couldn't understand how he was playing all that "stuff".

It really wasn't until decades later when I revisited some old favorites that I could comprehend and appreciate what he was doing.

Great band, great drummer, great time to be a kid!!!
 
Stylistically- I like Palmer better than Blaine.

I'll take that a step further Earl Palmer may be one of the greatest, as in most influential, drummers of all time and it is a crime how overlooked he is.

Boutique drums are vanity toys for collectors with too much money

There is no shortcut for playing softer, it takes work and proper technique, rods or brushes are not going do it.
 
2. Investing in quality room acoustic treatment (not just cheap foam) can have a far greater effect on the quality of sound than investing in drums above a certain level.
.

Please do an episode on that!

My unpopular opinions:
1. Guitarists seem uniquely incapable of noticing when they sound bad.
2. If you break heads and cymbals, you are doing something wrong.
3. Cover bands sound better if they play songs too slowly rather than too fast.
4. You only need one good snare drum.
5. TuneBots are better than tuning by ear, even if you have a pretty good ear, and especially if you don't.
 
Please do an episode on that!

My unpopular opinions:
1. Guitarists seem uniquely incapable of noticing when they sound bad.
2. If you break heads and cymbals, you are doing something wrong.
3. Cover bands sound better if they play songs too slowly rather than too fast.
4. You only need one good snare drum.
5. TuneBots are better than tuning by ear, even if you have a pretty good ear, and especially if you don't.

I whole heartedly agree with all of these.....does that mean they're not unpopular after all?? :)
 
I have a couple.

1) Playing with an auditable click-track makes you a better drummer.

2) All serious drummers strive to play in perfect time.

I've had one or more recording engineers superimpose a click track over my drum track using their DAW software. They would say it was bad for my timing to move around a bit. I play like that intentionally but I couldn't convince them.
 
Jethro Tull was one of my earliest concerts. Two shows, 4 Bucks each, at a community college gymnasium. I was 16 or 17. I was a fledgling drummer at the time. I didn't know why Clive was so good, I just knew I was in awe. I couldn't understand how he was playing all that "stuff".

It really wasn't until decades later when I revisited some old favorites that I could comprehend and appreciate what he was doing.

Great band, great drummer, great time to be a kid!!!

Thats excellent, what great experiences to have under your belt...I would've loved it!! Thanks for sharing that
 
I'll take that a step further Earl Palmer may be one of the greatest, as in most influential, drummers of all time and it is a crime how overlooked he is.

Boutique drums are vanity toys for collectors with too much money

There is no shortcut for playing softer, it takes work and proper technique, rods or brushes are not going do it.

Funny, I was just messing around with a variation on the "Im Walking" intro bass drum/hi hat interplay. Was fun and good for me feets.
 
My unpopular opinion is related to drum shell materials

Many perplex over drum shell materials as though there is some vast difference, when in engineering understanding the difference is nil related to wood.

This is a marketing induced problem which most drummers fail to understand. Wood drum shells have very little to do with drum sound. Drum shells are structural in nature, providing an air chamber, tensioning structure and edge for the drum heads. Its the vibration of the drum heads which provide sound. Don't believe that? Try beating on your drum shells without any heads attached and see what type of drum sound is produced....

Drum shell hype makes for good marketing but thats about where the story ends. A good drum shell (no mater the material) will provide an acceptable drum sound. This has been proven time and again by many people.

I would state as an engineer that wood is probably the least desirable material from which drums should be made, simply because wood reacts to both temperature and moisture, causing the wood to expand and contract accordingly. Metal is far less affected by temperature and almost never affected by moisture in relation to changing material size. Plastics will move based upon temperature (like wood) but are unaffected by moisture. The problem with plastics is they need be fairly thick in order to be structural, unless they are infused with fiber.

Therefore all this talk about the types of wood used in drum manufacturing is simply hype. Any wood which provides solid structure is capable of being drum wood. The air pressure within that drum will never ... penetrate the drum shell lamination, glue and finish... ever

The important issues related to wooden drum shells are the processes with which the drum shells are constructed. The tooling and equipment used to laminate the shells together. the finished roundness of the drum shell (concentricity), the process of making sure the shell ends are square with the shell, the process of cutting the bearing edges and keeping their flatness consistent, the process for finishing the bearing edges and the interior and interior of the drum shell to avoid the effects of moisture. These are all things which affect the sound of wooden drum shells, regardless of the material used.

Think about it, when was the last time someone stated during a concert ... those are great sounding maple drums or basswood drums or metal drums? Never....that is when. Because generally an audience will never know the material a drum is constructed of. They will only hear the sound the drum produces. Its all about the shell manufacturing process and how that shell construction provides a structure for the drums heads to react to with the atmosphere, which is how drum sound is produced.

For these reasons, its very important when changing drum heads not to treat your drum shells with disregard. Take care not to damage the bearing edges when changing heads, and always clean the tensioning components before reassembly, no matter if your drum shells are made of basswood (Luan), poplar, birch, rock maple or some mixture thereof.

Believing their is variation in wooden drum sound because of the wood used is simply hype. Any variation one might hear between wooden drums is the attention paid during drum shell manufacturing process, not the shell material itself. Engineering wise, the material (as long as its structurally sound) will make no difference in the final sound of a drum given that identical manufacturing processes are employed, and identical heads are used. Yes there will be variation in drum sound based upon drum lengths or thickness but that is true no mater the material used. Drum sound is the direct relationship of drum head vibration reacting to the atmosphere within and external to the drum. That is the basic engineering of drums.

Sounds good in theory... but I hate the sound of rosewood toms, and love the sound of walnut. Your ear gets more and more attuned to differences over time, with experience. All of my gigs are low-volume unmiked, and I assure you that a pro ear can hear the difference between woods, all other things being equal, especially on a segmented, stave, or hollow log kit.

Having said that, the average non-musician has no such ability to discern, and heads and shell thickness and bearing edges and tuning and hardware all make big differences as well. And of course, you can make cardboard shelled drums with beat-up heads sound like heaven if they’re miked and gated and processed well.
 
Another unpopular drumming opinion.

Many think that drummers of the early 1960s and 70s were great. They listen to the albums understanding not that most of the drum sounds they hear are from the "Wrecking Crew" session musicians. Hal Blaine being the most influential percussionist of the wrecking crew. Most of the popular music recorded during the 1960s and 70s was Hal Blaine work...

The Motown sound was probably where the most variation exists between drum tracks. As those were recordings did not use session musicians in all cases.

Maybe the west coast stuff. All the british bands used their own drummers for the most part.
 
Another unpopular drumming opinion.

Many think that drummers of the early 1960s and 70s were great. They listen to the albums understanding not that most of the drum sounds they hear are from the "Wrecking Crew" session musicians. Hal Blaine being the most influential percussionist of the wrecking crew. Most of the popular music recorded during the 1960s and 70s was Hal Blaine work...

The Motown sound was probably where the most variation exists between drum tracks. As those were recordings did not use session musicians in all cases.

Yes, your example fits only pop music in the USA. Even in USA pop music there were other great drummers - Sandy Nelson, Dino Danelli, to name a few. Are you saying many other genres in the 60's 70's were not played by a long list of great drummers?

The Motown guys WERE all session musicians. They were on a constant session, Mon - Fri, for everything and everybody Barry Gordy hired. They all played live music on the side.
 
My unpopular opinion is related to drum shell materials

Many perplex over drum shell materials as though there is some vast difference, when in engineering understanding the difference is nil related to wood.

This is a marketing induced problem which most drummers fail to understand. Wood drum shells have very little to do with drum sound. Drum shells are structural in nature, providing an air chamber, tensioning structure and edge for the drum heads. Its the vibration of the drum heads which provide sound. Don't believe that? Try beating on your drum shells without any heads attached and see what type of drum sound is produced....

Drum shell hype makes for good marketing but thats about where the story ends. A good drum shell (no mater the material) will provide an acceptable drum sound. This has been proven time and again by many people.

I would state as an engineer that wood is probably the least desirable material from which drums should be made, simply because wood reacts to both temperature and moisture, causing the wood to expand and contract accordingly. Metal is far less affected by temperature and almost never affected by moisture in relation to changing material size. Plastics will move based upon temperature (like wood) but are unaffected by moisture. The problem with plastics is they need be fairly thick in order to be structural, unless they are infused with fiber.

Therefore all this talk about the types of wood used in drum manufacturing is simply hype. Any wood which provides solid structure is capable of being drum wood. The air pressure within that drum will never ... penetrate the drum shell lamination, glue and finish... ever

The important issues related to wooden drum shells are the processes with which the drum shells are constructed. The tooling and equipment used to laminate the shells together. the finished roundness of the drum shell (concentricity), the process of making sure the shell ends are square with the shell, the process of cutting the bearing edges and keeping their flatness consistent, the process for finishing the bearing edges and the interior and interior of the drum shell to avoid the effects of moisture. These are all things which affect the sound of wooden drum shells, regardless of the material used.

Think about it, when was the last time someone stated during a concert ... those are great sounding maple drums or basswood drums or metal drums? Never....that is when. Because generally an audience will never know the material a drum is constructed of. They will only hear the sound the drum produces. Its all about the shell manufacturing process and how that shell construction provides a structure for the drums heads to react to with the atmosphere, which is how drum sound is produced.

For these reasons, its very important when changing drum heads not to treat your drum shells with disregard. Take care not to damage the bearing edges when changing heads, and always clean the tensioning components before reassembly, no matter if your drum shells are made of basswood (Luan), poplar, birch, rock maple or some mixture thereof.

Believing their is variation in wooden drum sound because of the wood used is simply hype. Any variation one might hear between wooden drums is the attention paid during drum shell manufacturing process, not the shell material itself. Engineering wise, the material (as long as its structurally sound) will make no difference in the final sound of a drum given that identical manufacturing processes are employed, and identical heads are used. Yes there will be variation in drum sound based upon drum lengths or thickness but that is true no mater the material used. Drum sound is the direct relationship of drum head vibration reacting to the atmosphere within and external to the drum. That is the basic engineering of drums.

Since this is an opinion thread, I decided I wouldn't debate anything. But if I was going to debate, it would be on this post. Not that I don't agree with it, I do. I just think it's missing a certain spiritual non logical element from the equation, because I can absolutely hear and point out the difference between a handful of certain species, not all, of wood.

Still, this is a really intelligent post that I have a lot of respect for. Thanks for taking the time to write that all out.
 
My unpopular opinion is related to drum shell materials

Many perplex over drum shell materials as though there is some vast difference, when in engineering understanding the difference is nil related to wood.

This is a marketing induced problem which most drummers fail to understand. Wood drum shells have very little to do with drum sound. Drum shells are structural in nature, providing an air chamber, tensioning structure and edge for the drum heads. Its the vibration of the drum heads which provide sound. Don't believe that? Try beating on your drum shells without any heads attached and see what type of drum sound is produced....

I realise that this thread is about unpopular drumming opinions, but I can't let this one go.

Of course the drum vibrates and contributes to the tone. I'll grant you that wood species is only one element involved, and is not the be all and end all. Bearing edges (which would be irrelevant if it's only the heads making tone), hardware mass, head choice, room sound, tuning and if the drums are mic'd then mic choice, amplifier tone, EQ settings and speaker choice also make a huge difference.

If wood species make no difference, then material choice would make no difference, and that is simply not the case. Aluminium snares don't send the same as wood snares, although both are cylinders that support the heads.

On the other hand, kudos to you for making me do something that I have found amusing in this thread:

Drummer A: This is my unpopular opinion.
Drummer B: What? I do not agree with your unpopular opinion!
 
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