Jack White's drum setup

It seems so strange. His rack toms are completely flat and level with his snare. What are the benefits and drawbacks of playing with this sort of setup?
27597764-27597765-large.jpg
 
They're not rack toms, they're snares. There was an article all about him and his setup in MD a couple of months ago.
 
I dig it.

I've never played a setup like this, but I can imagine the benefits and drawbacks.

Benefit: All drum surfaces are at the same level, so you don't have to lift your hands/arms up and down as you move around the drums.

Drawback: Since the drums are off to the sides, you'd have to employ a lot of torso twisting to move around the drums.

Benefit: Cymbals are nice and low, so no reaching to play them.

Drawback: Hats seem kind of far to the left. Hard to reach when cross sticking (probably ok for open handed playing).
 
Try it, you may like it! Different strokes and all that.
I can only see benefits. Better visibility, no jamming your stick into the sides of your rack toms, plus it looks cool

Looks like he's using a 24" kick, they do put your racks up pretty high if you bass drum mount them.
 
The only benefit I can see is that he has set up so he feels comfortable getting whatever he thinks he should play out and onto the drums. He must like to sit over top of them alot.

I don't think there are many ergonomic benefits to this kind of set up. With the second snare and the floor toms all flat he has to reach a bit more than he would if they were raised a bit and angled towards him.

It looks cool but if he plays patterns on all the drums regularly it seems like he's got a lot of space between his left side and right side drums and has to overcome that with technique.

I wouldn't enjoy playing that kit for very long.
 
It looks cool but makes my back hurt thinking about playing it! Ha ha
 
I actually find it helpful to occasionally completely mix things up- just change everything about your kit's setup. Change tom angle and height, cymbal placement ( and cymbals) to push yourself to think differently, play new things, etc.

try it, you'll like it......
 
I think the drum next to the bass drum should be raised at least a little bit because it's easier on the back if all the drums are a similar distance from the shoulder. Maybe after playing 5-6 gigs a week for a while (is he on tour now?) he will change things for comfort. Otherwise it looks cool. My rock kit is a cheap yamaha with power toms on the bass drum, and they are WAY too high, I think. I see Jack as a producer playing drums more than a drummer (not to say he's not good, he is, I'm just talking mindset) and he loves that huge unmuffled bass drum sound. I would love to hear them in concert, the radio single is absolutely killing!
 
If you listen to the Dead Weather album you don't hear too many fills in the music (although the one's that are there are pretty damn clean). It's pretty straight forward (kick, snare, hat/ride work), but he makes it work well. A couple of things that aren't captured (or not captured well) is his floor tom setup. He's running three f-toms in a triangular pattern. And also a ching ring that he has set about 8"-9" high on the hi hat rod.
 
Travis Barker had this kind of setup before I saw Jack using it. The advantage is the visual effect... you almost have to get out of your seat to hit the toms, and with high energy that Barker has, he looks like he's flying around the kit getting out of his seat almost. He hits with a lot of arm power too.
 
Travis Barker had this kind of setup before I saw Jack using it. The advantage is the visual effect... you almost have to get out of your seat to hit the toms, and with high energy that Barker has, he looks like he's flying around the kit getting out of his seat almost. He hits with a lot of arm power too.

Travis has his rack tom set flat, but not quite as low as that. His rack tom is a few inches above the level of his snare.

Check out Seven Antonopoulos for a low setup:
l-640-480-7a531abc-0631-4b93-802a-f07dd33f89f0.jpeg

PedalsHardwareMain.jpg
 
It seems so strange. His rack toms are completely flat and level with his snare. What are the benefits and drawbacks of playing with this sort of setup?

Love the picture of Jack White. I love The White Stripes, but haven't enjoyed very much of his side projects since then. I don't think I liked any of The Raconteurs songs. I do like The Dead Weather a little more. Hang You From The Heavens is good.

Does Jack White play on all the drum tracks on the Weather's first album? Or does he and Jack Lawrence (the bassist) interchange? I'm wondering what they do when they play live. If White is playing guitar, who is playing drums? If Lawrence plays drums while White is playing guitar, who is playing bass? I wonder if White has been playing drums for as long as has been playing guitar.
 
Love the picture of Jack White. I love The White Stripes, but haven't enjoyed very much of his side projects since then. I don't think I liked any of The Raconteurs songs. I do like The Dead Weather a little more. Hang You From The Heavens is good.

Does Jack White play on all the drum tracks on the Weather's first album? Or does he and Jack Lawrence (the bassist) interchange? I'm wondering what they do when they play live. If White is playing guitar, who is playing drums? If Lawrence plays drums while White is playing guitar, who is playing bass? I wonder if White has been playing drums for as long as has been playing guitar.

According to the documentary "It Might Get Loud" (check it out, it's damn good) he played drums before he played guitar. He actually had two kits setup in his room when he was growing up.
 
bill bruford had a setup like that

10928bru.jpg


"Adopted a style of a classical timpanist, I decided to arrange the drum flat in a semi circle around me, out of pitch order, snare drum in the middle. A couple of cymbals on both left and right and I had a symmetrical kit mirrored on both left and right. Simple, elegant effective and this particular configuration would fall under the sticks, hopefully making my phrasing sound...well a little different." Bill Bruford the autobiography

Obviously, Bruford knows a lot more about his instrument than jack white but who knows.
 
This is one of my kits. It plays effortlessly and I spend very little energy reaching or lifting. I've been using this basic configuration since 1990.

mykit1.jpg


mykit2.jpg


mykit3.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top