Questions about 4 piece drum set up. What do you think?

i recently switched from a 5 peice to a 4 peice and i dont feel at all limited, the only thing that took a day or two was doing fast rolls from the upper to lower tom, but i think that the sounds i get out of my ride and the fact that i can more easily incorporate my ride into songs makes up for the lack of a 2nd upper tom. the other thing you may consider is using 2 floor toms and one upper, best of both worlds, you get the cool look (i agree it looks cooler) and you get the 5 peice set. just a thought, live i use a 4 peice, but for recording i use my 14 and 16 floor toms to get more range. hope that helped some.
 
I know this thread is a bit old... But i was looking online for what other people thought about switching to a four piece kit. I play death metal, black metal, deathcore etc... And i just switched from a 9 piece (3 rack 2 floor 2 bass 2 snares) to a four piece. Personally within the first couple minutes i was playing a lot better.

All those toms limited me because i wanted to use them all. but with out them i use more kick in my fills and it sounds allot better.

In other words i went from playing like Decapitated and Nile with large rolls through the toms, to more like In Fear and Faith and The Devil Wears Prada and used my kick for more than just just straight 16ths and 32nd notes xD

Any who I find that the limited number of toms helps with creativity, and i have an easier time using both hands on my ride :D and its easier to tune.

also if you fill using doubles on your kick, 4 on the rack, then kicks, 4 split between your rack and floor rlrl (right on floor left on rack), kicks, then 4 on the floor tom its sounds better (imho) than going through the snare and 3 toms

just thought i would throw in by 2 bits
 
Try it for a month. If it feels right, keep doing it. If it does not feel right, go back to what you were doing.

I switched to a four-piece kit about fifteen years ago, and I play a wide variety of tunes. Peace and goodwill.
 
Well, to me just having that ride closer makes me play better one it, and i use more for beats than for just msashin' in the end of a fill. I messed around iwth 4 pc some time ago.

I think that if i want a 5pc, i want 2 floors and 1 rack tom. And yes, creativity is alot more into play since, well atleast i do, make rythms in my fills, so it follows the melodi of the song, more than 1234,1234,1234,1234 CRASH!

I also ain't making rolls like that, i make shorther fills, like when starting on the 3 (snare/back beat) and ending on the 1 again, or even the 3.

I've never played deathmetal, as it is really too boring for me. I'd rather play nice 'n' old rock / jazz / blues... funk... bah.. there's alot more fun than metal - TO ME,
 
To each there own :D

I play things other than metal, but my current band is mainly metal. and a large kit just limited me for some reason. I can play electronic music better with all those drums xD

the 4 piece just seems to suit me better, especially when playing fast. and with the ride over the bass its easier to make patterns on the ride. i almost never bash it in a fill.
 
4 drums can do just about anything unless you're one of those Bozzio-mental weirdos like me. Observe the last third of this video. Nothing more than 4 drums, yet very Spock's/Theater.
http://youtu.be/I5oXtFAThuw
 
The good thing about a 4pc kit is that it forces you to strip back what you play. If you haven't got a zillion toms to roll out on, you spend less time thinking about what drum to strike, and more time on timekeeping and how you address the drum itself. I regularly have times when I feel my playing becoming stagnant, or my hands feel slow, and I'll strip down to a 4pc with 2 crashes a ride a splash a china and a hihat. I still manage to play Rush songs with my band on it!

I can't help but think that if more drums were vitally important, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Bonham (ok 5 or more sometimes, but still!) would have had massive kits.... Never held them back!!!
 
The good thing about a 4pc kit is that it forces you to strip back what you play. If you haven't got a zillion toms to roll out on, you spend less time thinking about what drum to strike, and more time on timekeeping and how you address the drum itself. I regularly have times when I feel my playing becoming stagnant, or my hands feel slow, and I'll strip down to a 4pc with 2 crashes a ride a splash a china and a hihat. I still manage to play Rush songs with my band on it!

I can't help but think that if more drums were vitally important, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Bonham (ok 5 or more sometimes, but still!) would have had massive kits.... Never held them back!!!

My experience was actually quite the opposite. When I went from a 5- to a 4-piece it expanded my creativity because I was forced to try to create fresh sounds from a limited palette. It simplified my acoustic thought process, not my playing. I ended up overplaying a ton on a 4-piece compared to the 5.
 
4 drums can do just about anything unless you're one of those Bozzio-mental weirdos like me. Observe the last third of this video. Nothing more than 4 drums, yet very Spock's/Theater.
http://youtu.be/I5oXtFAThuw

Nice video :D

I personally find the use of a 4 piece kit wonderful in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er5FfhtdWug
Its a cover of The Devil Wears Prada, and it shows that 2 toms are as good as 5. Especially in the intro.

The good thing about a 4pc kit is that it forces you to strip back what you play. If you haven't got a zillion toms to roll out on, you spend less time thinking about what drum to strike, and more time on timekeeping and how you address the drum itself. I regularly have times when I feel my playing becoming stagnant, or my hands feel slow, and I'll strip down to a 4pc with 2 crashes a ride a splash a china and a hihat. I still manage to play Rush songs with my band on it!

And this explains how i feel behind a large kit.
 
I have a 7 pc kit (3 up, 2 down) but usually on use 5 (2 up, 1 down) especially for big band gigs. Recently I have been using a 4 pc for a jazz combo (1 up, 1 down). The question is, where do most of you put the ride and how many crash/splash cymbals? With my 4 pc I put the rack tom on the left and the FT on the right. The ride goes between the FT and BD and I use two crash/splash on either side of the BD. Consensus?
 
I have a 7 pc kit (3 up, 2 down) but usually on use 5 (2 up, 1 down) especially for big band gigs. Recently I have been using a 4 pc for a jazz combo (1 up, 1 down). The question is, where do most of you put the ride and how many crash/splash cymbals? With my 4 pc I put the rack tom on the left and the FT on the right. The ride goes between the FT and BD and I use two crash/splash on either side of the BD. Consensus?

I have my rack tom on the left side of my kick, and my floor tom on the right just behind it (typical 4 piece xD) my ride sits over my bass. i have 3 crashes a splash and china as well. i keep them in ascending order from left to right smallest to biggest, with the splash just above my rack tom.
 
I actually prefer the 4 piece set up as it it's comfortable for me as well as i love how it works with my cymbal set up. I am recently using a 6 piece set up that works with my cymbal set up as well. I have a double tom stand off to the left of my drum kit so i can still have the rid in the sweet spot with is nice. Although what i find my self doing is not using the high rack tom and only using the low floor tom for some end of fills or for special effect. So for my use i really only need a 4 piece but I'm experimenting and having fun with the 6 piece set up at the moment :)
 
I have been playing a four-piece kit since the mid 80s. I like everything to be close to me, and adding a tom moves the large crash too far away. I play open handed, so the ride is not the issue. It is merely what I am used to now, and I have no desire to play anything else. Peace, goodwill, and blues.
 
Last edited:
I use a 4 piece. 1 rack tom and 1 floor tom on my left side. I like that better and have easier access to it.
 
People, people...

What has happened to drummers these days? Every time I see a band on TV now, whether new or "old school", their drummer is playing a 4 piece kit. And THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME !!! 4 piece...ride over the bass drum on a boom...1 or 2 crashes !!! BORING !!! Have we become that lazy as working drummers that we cannot bring along more than 4 drums?? Do we ALL need to have our ride cymbals in front of us over the bass drum. WE ARE WORKING DRUMMERS FOLKS !!! If we don 't wanna haul more gear, then we should be doing something else with our time. It's all part of being a drummer, in my not so humble opinion !!! The creativity of the 70's and 80's in drum kit configuration has disappeared. The only new example I've seen of this creativity, regardless of the fact that even HE plays a 4 piece kit, is Abe Laboriel Jr. . I applaud his new kit design in which he moves his 28" kick drum to the left of his rack tom and plays it with a left foot double pedal, while his hi hat is clamped to the kick drum. See it on youtube. Now that's showing some creativity. Most of the drummers of today are awesome players, but I'd like to see their chops behind larger kits. And yes...you could say I am a working drummer...
 
I've only seen this on a couple of sets, but I think it looks extremely badass to have a double bass set with just two or three toms. Because it is hardly ever done, such a set will definitely stand out.

563982_10150634012317063_523027062_9787432_578893907_n.jpg

420406_10150563058697063_1932600207_n.jpg


wha-BAM!

I started playing metal on a kit with 4 toms (3 rack 1 floor), when I got kicked out of my traditional/power metal band for trying to force them to be more death metal, I needed a change, easiest thing was to take a tom off. Joined a new-age thrash band, and after a year or two, decided to see if my drum parts could be arranged for a "4 piece" (actually 5 because I have two kicks), in case I was ever forced to play on a smaller kit. It was easy, and I actually preferred the parts for the smaller kit, so I went ahead and changed it. I much prefer being able to get my big 14" rack tom quite low between the kicks, and having my ride over the kick drum, and I feel more creative with fills and such.

So while my kit is actually a 6 piece due to the double kicks and my auxiliary snare (one dry, one ringy), the whole two tom concept really works for me in a metal context.
 
I just play what I like. Sometimes I like less other times I like more. With a four piece setup less voices limited my range I felt. Heck even Benny Grebb plays one up and two down. I consider his a simple setup. Play what you like and what the gig calls for.

I will play a snare with brushes if the gig called for it. I have played just that before.
 
563982_10150634012317063_523027062_9787432_578893907_n.jpg

420406_10150563058697063_1932600207_n.jpg


wha-BAM!

I started playing metal on a kit with 4 toms (3 rack 1 floor), when I got kicked out of my traditional/power metal band for trying to force them to be more death metal, I needed a change, easiest thing was to take a tom off. Joined a new-age thrash band, and after a year or two, decided to see if my drum parts could be arranged for a "4 piece" (actually 5 because I have two kicks), in case I was ever forced to play on a smaller kit. It was easy, and I actually preferred the parts for the smaller kit, so I went ahead and changed it. I much prefer being able to get my big 14" rack tom quite low between the kicks, and having my ride over the kick drum, and I feel more creative with fills and such.

So while my kit is actually a 6 piece due to the double kicks and my auxiliary snare (one dry, one ringy), the whole two tom concept really works for me in a metal context.

Really neat!

20202020202
 
Back
Top