Letting others play your drums at gigs

I'm just trying to get a general consensus about everyones attitudes pertaining to letting others use your kit to sit in at gigs.

I have no problem with it, in fact I like hearing my kit in my bands context from the audience.

Forget the non professional aspect of it, I realize that many think it may seem unprofessional to let people sit in, I'm just interested in your protectiveness of your kit.

Hey pal,

I think there's like a million threads on this, but there's one really big one. Remember to di a search!

T

@Tutin,

Can't find any threads.
Can you direct me to that really big thread?

Until you find the really big thread Larry, my answer is never. I won't use other peoples stuff and I don't allow mine to be used. Had bad experiences both ways. Just a lazy sound man's excuse for getting out of work. I never agree with it, even in venues with severe off stage room constraints. Can you see a guitarist allowing their stuff to be used, even their rear line? Rarely, if ever. If they won't put up with it, why should we. Sorry for the mini rant, but it's one of my pet hates. If the gig is insistent, I/we don't do the gig.

Andy you're a scream! Sometimes I get hired as a sub for this one band that does open mic blues jams, and everyone uses my beautiful exotic veneered DW kit. I try and change heads to already dented ones prior to the gig, (I hate it when guys dent my smooth heads) but other than that I have no problem....except that I am protective of my cymbals. Anyone abusing them gets a warning, then the boot if they don't comply.

This doesn't come up very often for me, but I'm really a fan of using my own stuff, and not a fan of letting anyone else play my cymbals, especially if I don't know who they are or how they play.

I dont mind people using my drums, but not my cymbals at all! use your own. been burned once and never again!

If I go through the trouble of bringing my gear to the show, packing it up, loading it into the venue, etc then I must play my stuff hands down. had to do this friday night. they said I could use the house kit or mine. house kit was $200 brand new! I said, nah, I went through the trouble to use my kit, so I used it.

as far as playing other peoples kits, I am extremely respectful of their stuff, especially if they let me use their cymbals. I dont bash the hell out someone elses kit. thats rude! drum heads can be replaced, a good sounding cymbal cant!

I have no problem with it. I don't think anyone would abuse my drums as badly as I do... I'm with Larry also in terms of appreciating being able to hear what my kit sounds like when I'm not right on top of it.

It's rare I've found myself in that situation.

But when I have, it's not bothered me. Back when I had not much else going for me, I even rented out my drum kit for money. I once traded studio time for the use of my kit in that studio, which was one of the better things I ever did as a young drummer, as I got a great demo out of it, well before home recording became the "norm". (EDIT: Rented out drums, not cymbals)

I've sat in on other kits, I've been forced to use house kits, I once had to borrow a kit for a gig because mine was tied up in a recording studio and I didn't want to to have to take it down just to reset it up, and pay for the engineer to re-mic it.

While I always prefer to use my own stuff and not have anyone else use it, life happens, and you have to deal with it when it comes up.

Sometimes we'll be on a double bill and it just makes sense to share kits, I always lobby for mine, I detest using others stuff, unless it sounds GREAT, which is usually NOT the case. But hey drums are made to hit, so I don't worry. I really should change crash cymbals when others play my kit, they're the only thing I worry about...

As with everything......depends who it is. A mate sitting in is cool with me (who thinks sit in's are unprofessional btw?), friends of friends may even get a look in under the right circumstances. But the drunken dimwit who staggers over at a gig and tells me he plays the drums, won't.

The 'shared kit' scenario is different, but luckily when I've been in that situation, it was never my kit being shared. In short, I think if I've seen you play or I know you can play, I'm happy for you to sit at the drums. If I don't, then bad luck.

I can argue both ways on this one. While still in school years ago, I had a very bad experience with letting a particular drummer use my kit. This guy was egotistical, obnoxious, rude, and bullying with a lot of people. Deal was, he was "first chair" and my kit was the only one at the school at that time. After he finished playing a set, my kit was the poster child of an abused drum set. Dinted cymbals, dented heads, etc. etc. etc. And he didn't even apologize, but very loudly announced how he thought he sounded excellent and better than everyone else.

Come forward about 35 years and I've just started playing again about 3 years ago. Recently one of my bandmate's friend's band was opening for us at a small venue. He wanted to use my kit to keep the load in and out time minimal. After a lot of thought and encouragement from my bandmates, I agreed although I never met the other drummer. At the gig, he was very professional, nice, pleasant,and very respectful of my kit and thanked me afterwards.

I used to host an open jam night 3 or 4 years ago. One night a drummer sits in on my kit and in the middle of the song starts bashing the hell out of my splash cymbals. I walked on stage and motioned to the drummer to keep playing whilst i took the splashes off their stands. I don't like people playing my drums or trying to help me set up or tear down. All i need is some Gorilla hands cranking down my stands so tight that i need a cresent wrench to loosen them.

i'm often in the situation where i have to use someone else's kit or have to let others use my kit. i don't mind using someone else's kit as long as they let me adjust a few basic things like snare height and throne height. as far as other drummers using my kit goes, if i know the drummer, then no problem, but if i don't then i need to be convinced that this person is not a crazy basher who's going to break everything. maybe i should insist that the strangers give me some kind of deposit, like a guitar amp before i let them use my kit.

while i am mostly on the "never!" side of the fence, sometimes it is "OK". going to a 20-something rock club reunion this spring & the word is it will be a rented / sound guy kit. could be a nightmare or "OK", we'll see.

i have done blues jams where drummers sitting in was a necessary evil. in this case, i always brought my well-used kit w/ pawn-shop cymbals. worked out fine. depending on how many drummers showed up, i might play the whole gig or some nights, only 1 set.

IMHO, i really think for 90% of the regular gigs you do, it is inappropriate for a complete stranger to ask to sit in, period. sometimes wildly inappropriate where you are playing 4 sets of rehearsed music or reading charts...in that case, WTF...dont mess w/ my job.

There's actually only one drummer I'm actually sharing gear with and it's a close friend. We do this collaboration thing when our bands play together to avoid bringing out all our stuff. Outside of this, I don't do it anymore. Just too many inconsiderate boneheads out there...

Depends on the drummer. If they aren't playing like Animal, then I'd let them. Replacing broken heads is one thing. Broken cymbals is another...I actually enjoying listening to how other players make my kit sound: I learn something new from their nuances. In general, most drummers have a personal attachment to their drums since it is an extension of themselves. Having someone beat on your drums requires a bit of trust.

theres one guy i will never use my kit and now i refuse to let any metal / potentially heavy hitter borrow my kit he mashed the crap out of my 12" and didnt make a mention of it then i watched him play and hit hit the crap out of everything and said i was incompetent at setting up :O if i can play fine on it what is your problem, and now i wont let metal drummers use my kit period, he even had the audacity to say he couldnt bring his kit to a gig due to transport problems but could bring his massive rack just fine .

i have recently had to use others kits but i have been reasonable brought my cymbals pedals snare and stick as you do and always thanked them. there has been one icidence where i borrowed someones hi hats because he said it would be quicker if we both used his which i was happy to use since at the time i had B8s and these were aa regulars. but i didnt hit them hard i was scared to and id be happy to let him use my kit.

im kind of regretting our upcoming battle of the bands since im going to let everyone use my kit but at least if anone breaks a head they agree to pay for it
and its been made better since a retard of a 'drummer' has his band disbanded so its fine now

i can bet that that makes no sense at all

Fortunately very seldom something like this comes up. Sure I'll let someone try out my kits, but I never let anyone gig with my drums or cymbals, I put too much blood sweat and tears (sounds like a 60's group) to have some guerilla mess things up. I go one further, it's stipulated in my contracts, so if management has a problem weeks or months after we're booked, I just refer them to it. Basically the only people who play my drums are me and my girlfriend and after were set up, she'll go through a song or two so I can find anything that needs some improvement. Contracts are great things to have.

Dennis