Drum myths you heard/believed when you were younger

PorkPieGuy

PorkPieGuy

Platinum Member
This will probably be more for we digital immigrants than you digital natives because we grew up pre-Google, but I thought this would be fun to talk about. What were some drumming myths you were lead to believe when you were younger?

  • I was lead to believe that Regal Tip sticks had a rod of graphite in the middle of each stick.
  • I was told that Kevlar heads were bullet-proof.
  • Someone told me that those old Peavey radial bridge drums were made/carved/drilled-out from a single log/piece of wood, like, the whole shell.
Any other gear-based myths you were told?
 
That the really talents players were the exceptions, not the rule, and they just had more natural talent than the average drummer.
And that takes more than average skill to play in most bands, even if the drumming doesn't sound all that complex on record.
Even after going through PIT and this and that, somehoww it still eluded me just how much practice time the top drummers put in.

I would have told you I gave 110% and practiced morning noon and night, and sacrificed a lot to be a drummer.
I didn't realize my level of commitment and sacrifice was small potatoes to the drummers who REALLY had dedicated practices of 10-12 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week, and gave up nearly everything else to make it happen. And tha even the drummers with good gigs still practice like mad to get even better.

The other myth in my head was drumming had rules, and the rules had to be learned. But of course, a lot of great music is made without rules, and many great drummers are great because they don't walk around with pre-conceived notions.
 
one myth I was always told is that 8 lug snare and bass drums are inferior to ones with 10 lugs. And while I now know that’s not the case I still prefer a 10 lug bass drum over a 8 lug. I think it’s mostly about aesthetics but for some reason i still see 8 lugs as cheap or low end, at least on bass drums. For snares I don’t care either way. My Dunnet Ti, George Way, and Acrolite are all 8 lug and they’re all great drums.
 
Old myth I was led to believe almost 30 years ago when I first started playing:

ALWAYS muffle your drum to the fullest extent. Fill that bass drum with any bedding material you can find around the house. Put tape, napkins, etc on your drums if you want them to sound good because a ringing drum is a BAD drum. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

When I returned to playing drums about 6 years ago, I decided to go wide open on everything and LOVED the big sound. I now put a very small kick pillow in my bass drum (most sound guys around here want that) and will use Moongel on snare/toms if we're playing a larger venue with all drums miked. But a long cry from ZERO ringing.

To me....a ringing drum is a singing drum.
 
The bigger the kit you play, the better the drummer you are. Yeah I bought that growing up.

Marketing is a powerful tool :)
 
mikyok said:
The bigger the kit you play, the better the drummer you are. Yeah I bought that growing up.

Marketing is a powerful tool :)
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AzHeat said:
I bow my head in shame!!!?
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I thought that was part of the goal (says the guy who now plays a tiny kit)!

My myth was a bit different. I was lead to believe as you progress you "grow" into a bigger kit. Like it's a bicycle or something.
 
- 13" are the maximum size for Funk Hi-Hats
- if your drums have no suspension mounts / a wrap / single braced hardware, they're not professional
- the same goes for single chain pedals without a base plate
 
MrInsanePolack said:
I thought that was part of the goal (says the guy who now plays a tiny kit)!

My myth was a bit different. I was lead to believe as you progress you "grow" into a bigger kit. Like it's a bicycle or something.
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That was me too. 4 piece player now!

My mom and dads old drummer has this huge 9 piece 70s concert tom premier kit which was the first kit I ever played when I was 4. It has serious wow factor (he still owns it and I'm 35!) Until you get out there playing and more importantly transporting your own kit, bigger is always better!
 
Circa 1982....

I was told "real drummers" didn't use bottom heads. At the insistence of the band I was in at the time (Genesis fan-boys) I removed the original ROGERS Holiday resonant side hoops and heads....

In the ensuing (nasty) band breakup those original hoops were left behind at the guitarist's house. My fault I know, but it still stings to this day.

Because of similar reasoning (modern drums don't have those anymore!) I had removed the original internal mufflers from those same drums. Unfortunately they were left behind (somewhere) as well.

I was able to replace all of those parts with period correct Rogers parts, but it came at a cost...
 
Yep if your kick wasn't stuffed with pillows hanging out -cause no Reso head-you must be a jazz cat lol. Also a concrete block in front an often sight. Then no toms with Reso heads removed. I would put on a new head and add a strip of ole pillow across the top to deaden it even more before I tightened it up. It was a lot like playing a box. I remember cymbal choices being much more limited. Zildjian and that "other company" that starts with a "P" and pronounced with a funny vowel sound LOL. One was dark complex the other bright, blah, blah, blah. I don't even remember having a crash cymbal in the 60s to early 70s-you'd crash your ride. Ever since I watched the hi hat showdown those Paiste Dark energy hats have been beckoning me so having some GAS and indigestion of late.
 
The Regal Tip one was believed by me for along time. My "proof" was the black dot on the butt end. :D

The other was the bigger the drums, the better the player. while I play big drums (22x20 kick & square toms), I'm by no means a better player. I just like how they sound and the versatility of tuning.

I'll say that Kenny Aronoff's advise to "Hit your drums like they owe you money" has helped me do well in the studio. My engineer likes that I give him a strong & loud signal to work with over a low one.
But I see the reason for the myth too.
 
Myths I believed in my youth:

1) If the drumset didn't have a comma in the price, it wasn't a good, quality instrument.

2) B8-bronze cymbals are inferior, strictly for beginners, and aren't professional grade cymbals.
 
A few I heard in my formative years....

- Zildjian cymbals are the best; everything else is junk
- Yamaha drums are terrible; what would a motorcycle company know about making drums
- great drums are only made out of maple
- drums are supposed to be muffled
- DW drums sound the best; everyone knows it (heard this little nugget of wisdom from a guitar player who had never heard a DW kit in person)
- Sabian cymbals are nowhere near as good as Zildjians (heard this years ago from a guy that didn’t know the backstory on the family split; should have seen his face when I told him)
- matched grip drummers can’t play jazz
- Ringo Starr is a lousy drummer
- also heard the Regal Tip graphite nonsense
 
Here's one:

-- If you use proper technique, you won't ever crack cymbals.

Fact: EVERY cymbal will crack if played long enough, regardless of technique.

Another one: B8 cymbals are junk - pro cymbals are made from B20 bronze.

or, drums should be played wide open with no muffling or dampening
 
I remember hearing "Cleaning your cymbals ruins the sound". Then many years later I read an interview where someone said, "If you liked the sound when you bought them new, then clean them". Simple as that.

I also remember hearing the myth that drummers get all the girls.
 
Guys, a lot of these aren't myths--they're opinions or trends:

"I was always told that DW is better than Tama but it's totally not true." That's just one opinion running counter to another one.

"When I was younger I was told all real drummers used power toms." Well yeah, cause that was what was trendy and being marketed at the time and most big-name drummers did use them.

A myth is more along the lines of: "Rototoms went out of fashion so Remo turned the back stock upside down and marketed them as Spoxe." Makes sense, but is it really true? That's a myth.
 
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