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

T

tiredofeverything

Junior Member
I'm burnt out on the standard drum kit setup and I'm looking for some new ideas. Some kind of setup utilizing hand drums but a similar configuration.

Looking for recommendations. Artists, drum selections, ideas, anything.

Thank you
 
I think what you could do is take some inspiration from Terry Bozzio since he has a very unconventional setup which is what you're looking for. I would imagine you don't need as many drums as he uses but just play around with what you have and see what works best for you.
 
Got any videos of you playing? It's hard to say what would be really different for you without seeing what you already do - and whether or not your really pushing the limits of what you have. If you're trying to tell us that the gear will make you a more innovative or inspirational player, then I need to see you playing way outside of what your gear is helping you with.

OTOH, Eric Clapton uses the same six strings as every other guitarist on the planet too.
 
You could do something like this:
779ae01b02e8bdd18a0391aa58022d36--drum-set-luggage-bags.jpg


I'm currently working on a set using a Cajon as the bass drum. Trying to figure out what all I want to do for the rest.
 
Wave Deckel said:
Take a look at Pete Locketts drumset. Especially his "bassdrum".



Video with the drumset in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfGz0rg3ibE

(It always makes me smile when I see that little toy hopping around on his snare)
Click to expand...

The video was a little disappointing, the hand drums were sampled and he was playing just a normal kit over the top of it. I think he actually plays the tabla, but not in the video.

I like watching the Lp "in the studio" series on YouTube for ideas, whether it's udu or conga they do a pretty tasteful job of assembling various percussion.

https://youtu.be/i6CLT3AVy8g

Another source of inspiration are early Vaudville Jazz kits. More and more I go back and look at how they had things set up, they needed lots of different sounds.

Building you own clamps and stands helps. I find that is the most difficult part. Once you've got that perfect logdrum/tamborine/shekere instrument, how do you play it in a set? You can do a lot with 3/8 and 1/4 in rod some wood a hack saw a drill and assorted nuts and bolts, and miscellaneous stand parts and clamps.
 
learn a new style, genera, some new grooves and fills etc.

I am pretty sure with a regular small drumset there is multiple lifetimes worth of stuff I can improve at and still not be perfect at it all.

Start plying with hybrid drums and trigger some samples, that is an endless amount of sounds you can get. Everyone has lulls in motivation from time to time. New gear is often fun and motivational for a bit, but if your playing the same stuff with it that will wear off pretty quick. I have been burnt out playing the same stuff before, but never with a standard kit.

This is also a very weird first post on a forum. Are you a new drummer or new to the internet? YouTube can find you some inspiration pretty quick. How old are you, how long have you played etc? A bit of information goes a long way to help out. A trigger or two and TM-2 is pretty cheap and allows you do do so much. That would be somewhere to start
 
BertTheDrummer said:
You could do something like this:
779ae01b02e8bdd18a0391aa58022d36--drum-set-luggage-bags.jpg


I'm currently working on a set using a Cajon as the bass drum. Trying to figure out what all I want to do for the rest.
Click to expand...

PLEASE STOP!! a suitcase for a foot tom? (eagerly waits for hipster drum fads to disappear.) What a waste of a good foot pedal. hehe
 
Huh, I think you might be going about this the wrong way. Some of the best drummers in the world spend their entire careers playing two tom toms and two cymbals and they never get bored with their instrument. I would be looking to expand what you're listening to, what you're playing, and the way you're playing it. If nothing else, that will help you form some of your own ideas on ways to expand/modify your set up.
 
I will try to elaborate on my style of play, players that I like, and some instruments that I like as well.

Not that I ever tried to emulate him or his setup, I've found within my own personal music rotation that John Convertino's setup, sound and style is very similar to what i currently play. More folk than the mariatchi side of calexico. I just got into (and LOVING)Jay Bellerose and recently Dan Hunt's solo work. Those are a little bit like what I'm talking about but are more along the lines of what I'd want to get out of the standard kit setup(kick, snare, rack floor tom + cyms. I like toys and drums like djembe, doumbek, bodhran, Cajon etc. I love the ability to change pitch and the sounds on bodhran but hate the way it demands both of your hands and posture to play.

My apologies if this doesn't help you help me. I'm an abstract person and it usually works against me, especially on internet forums. If I could communicate to you what I was looking for, I would probably have something different set up already. I'm just looking for ideas, thoughts, inspiration through artists or what have you.

When you do an internet search of non-traditional drum kit setups, it's usually some guy sitting on a cajon on or a cocktail set or some other easy travel inspired drum kit.
 
GruntersDad said:
Innovation comes from within. Others don't know you.
Click to expand...

Interesting I didn't consider that the posters motivation for wanting to explore different instrumentation. Boredom, isn't a very good reason. For me, I am actually interested in these other cultures and learning the songs. Whether it is Lion dance or Samba.

However, why need different instrumentation be innovative? I don't see the connection, the poster wants different instrumentation for whatever reason, I wouldn't really consider that a desire to be innovative. Maybe, he finds the drumming tradition lacking, requiring too much innovation within and not providing enough benefits for the effort expended.
 
There are two ways of dealing with this.

1) Cold Turkey - take your entire existing kit down, then build everything from scratch. Get inspiration from non-popular music. I once tried just a high tom for pulses, and a kick drum for accents. This was my adaptation of a drum part from a traditional music in my country. Could you play an entire gig with just this setup? You'll never know until you try.

2) Slow But Sure - change out one or two pieces at a time. For example, could you live without toms? Take them out. Can you replace your kick drum with a gong? Try it. Can you get by with an all-China cymbal setup? Do it. Can you rearrange your drum parts so that the downbeat is played by a high pitch instead of a low bass drum sound? If Stewart Copeland could do it, why not you?
 
makinao said:
There are two ways of dealing with this.

1) Cold Turkey - take your entire existing kit down, then build everything from scratch. Get inspiration from non-popular music. I once tried just a high tom for pulses, and a kick drum for accents. This was my adaptation of a drum part from a traditional music in my country. Could you play an entire gig with just this setup? You'll never know until you try.

2) Slow But Sure - change out one or two pieces at a time. For example, could you live without toms? Take them out. Can you replace your kick drum with a gong? Try it. Can you get by with an all-China cymbal setup? Do it. Can you rearrange your drum parts so that the downbeat is played by a high pitch instead of a low bass drum sound? If Stewart Copeland could do it, why not you?
Click to expand...

I was going to mention this. If you're like me you kind of collect novel instrumentation. I used to try to bolt everything on one set, but I've been much happier since I schizemed the two. Into a more standard set and an eclectic set. For a while I couldn't decide what to do with the splash and China
 
Remo's Mondo kit is no longer in production, but can still be found. They do still make the Mondo snare (special order). I have one, and I love it.
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