Other people's kits

KenDoken

KenDoken

Junior Member
How do we like playing other people's kits?

I had a good time on a comrades kit at a jam yesterday. Hayman 20,14,12,14 with Istanbul Agop Turk ride, paiste 602 hats. The owner was a lefty so had to swap hats and floor tom round and shift the snare but kept but kept everything else the same

Despite being awkward ( owner is about 5inch shorter than me ), I had a whale of a time. I prefer the tones from my own gear and struggled with dynamics on unfamiliar surfaces but there were 3 tenors all pushing so didn't matter too much

I suffer practice room kits as they are often in poor condition but love playing other drummers setups

A drummer once described playing someone else's kit as like wearing someone their underpants. I guess this makes me a pervert
 
I'm getting to place in my current band where I'm having to do a lot of kit sharing. I think most of the time, it's ok. One of the only things I don't like is when the drums I'm sharing is attached to a rack. Ugh. NOTHING is adjustable without tearing the thing half apart (or at least if feels like it). If I know that I'm going to share a kit, I bring my own cymbal stands (just in case), and I've learned to trade out drum thrones, use my own snare AND snare stand, and of course kick pedal and cymbals. I always am surprised by something every time I play another person's kit, some of it good and some of it terrible.

It's all a really good experience overall, and it helps me make informed choices when considering new gear. However, most of the time it just reinforces the fact that I have the absolute BEST gear for me at the moment. After playing a gig on someone else's gear, there's no feel like coming back "home" to one of my kits.

I do enjoy hearing people play their own drums because I like to hear them and how they can make them sound. I never have the "Hey, let me play your drums!" desire like I did when I was much younger. I just enjoy them and their players.
 
Not a fan. Playing others gear makes me happy in the choices I've made is usually what happens. I wont like their pedals, or throne, or just something.

Doesnt mean I dont like their gear, I just dont wanna play it.
 
Being lefty adds a layer of difficulty and logistics, so I don't really get a chance to get the full experience of playing someone else's kit the way they do. Unless they're also lefty, which has never happened.

As a lefty, racks are the worst backline/sharing situation possible. I will volunteer my easy-to-switch kit as the backline kit if it means avoiding a rack.
 
I don’t think in “if I like it” terms. If I get asked to play somebody’s drums, I make do and don’t screw up the music, then not complain about “having to make do”. It’s obvious I’m not the star of the show even when I do use my own drums, so I’m not gonna start acting like I am.
 
Sitting in on another guy's kit has only one crucial benefit for me as a player, and it comes from the fact that doing so IS unpleasant and challenging.

What happens some night if I'm forced to deliver my best performance on an unexpected back line kit, but my skills (such as they are) are completely dependent upon my own kit, arrangement and settings? Suddenly I have to know how to bring my best with a pedal I don't know, or snare head and wire tensions that are all wrong, or bad tom angles and cymbals too dry to wash where I need them to.

I agree with C. Dave that playing someone else's kit results in the delightful validation that all my personal choices have been exactly what I needed them to be. But by choosing to suffer behind someone else's kit in a no-pressure situation, I'm forced to adapt and sift out those dependencies so that my skills are back under my own control. As such, I'm stretched professionally and better prepared to adapt quickly if I'm ever called to perform my best in a high-stakes moment behind inferior gear.
 
I had one friend who's set was near identical to mine- at the time- for about 20 years. So everytime I showed up he'd call me up and he would front and sing or play conga's.
Both of our sets at the time were RB 20/12/14s with a rail, a snare and two or three cymbals. very similar.
 
I was taught that I should be able to adapt to play on anything (for auditions, kit shares etc)…it’s important to find a way no matter what’s put in front of you. That said, I always used my own kick pedal, cymbals and snare for gigs, but I never adjusted the kit or cymbal stands as I thought that would be a PITA for the drummer who’d kindly let me play their set up… :) (y)
 
I don't mind at all at jam nights etc. The last one I was a regular at I met the guy who ran it when he bought a kit off me to use at his jam night.

At gigs I can't remember the last time I had to use someone else's kit. It would feel strange.
 
Each snare, cymbal, and kit sound different, and therefore I play them each differently, trying to get *their* sounds out of them, rather than trying to force “my” sound out of them. So, sometimes I enjoy playing other drummers’ kits, but sometimes I really don’t. If I can’t express what I want through the sounds the gear is capable of making, I feel like I’m just going through the motions, and might as well be playing on pizza boxes and garbage can lids.
 
I quite enjoy playing other people's kits, it's a challenge and can be interesting. It can be a pain in the @$$ but I try not to get too wound up and just do what I can.
I got so annoyed with a receding drum stool in a festival backline once that I walked off stage and my band had to play half a song without me while I looked for something to sit on... I usually bring my own but sometimes with festival gigs I just can't be bothered, any backline should have a functioning stool tbh 🤷‍♂️
 
Using someone else's kit or is a lot like borrowing someone else's shorts....you can only get so comfortable with it and never feel 100% at home. That said, it can be inspiring to see someone has placed a cymbal or cowbell in an unusual but cool place.



Dan
 
Last time I played someone else's kit a broke his spring on the bass drum pedal luckily he had a spare all good though.
 
Never was a fan, but if it was a condition of the gig, bring everything you might need and regardless you will always wish you had one thing you left behind.

That being said, for a while it was my kit that was being shared at some gigs and I really did NOT like that.
 
Back in the day it was pretty normal to sit in if musicians were out and about. I would get asked but if I'd had 2 beers I'd decline. If and when I did do a tune or two..and I wasn't comfy with more than one unless asked to I never ever moved anything. It just made you seem cooler if you didn't microadjust the guys gear. Get up..do your China Grove and Cocaine then split back to your table.
 
I can usually adapt to someone else's drumset, but there have been times when it was difficult, and one time when it was damn near impossible.

One night, I sat in with a former band, and their drummer had very long arms. As a result, his cymbals were too far away for me to get to comfortably. Before I started, he specifically asked me not to move anything, so there was nothing I could do. I had to stretch to reach his 18" crash to the right, and the 16" crash on the left. The ride was way too high, and he had three rack toms, which didn't work for me either. I played three tunes, said thanks, and relinquished the drum chair back to him.
 
I compare it to driving someone else's car. I have to adjust the seat, mirrors, height of the steering wheel etc.
Same with a kit that i need to adjust the height of the throne, angles of the snare/toms/cymbals etc.
There is a kit in the rehearsal space we now use and i always adjust the toms and the snare. The cymbal stands are a mess and i bring along my own hardware so i won't be annoyed or damage my own gear.
 
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