Are You a Tweeker or No?

Well, in order to comply with social distancing.........my kit has undergone some SERIOUS tweeking.

All of my drum kit components are now 1.5 to 2 metres apart.

The issue I have now is laying down a basic backbeat.

I've had to manufacture 2 metre long drumsticks in order to play the snare, hi hat and ride.......I've got the bass drum sorted.

Fills are a thing of the past unfortunately.

They just don't have the flow or something anymore.......I literally have to run between the toms to make them sound any good.

Our set list has been understandably compromised too.....any song over 60bpm has been eliminated. The same goes for any song with a drum fill.

The intro to La Grange is my next work in progress........I can see that being a headache.

My kit was much more ergonomic pre COVID-19......????
 
I laughed way too hard at this for 11:30 at night. Please tell me the floor tom is wearing an N95 mask.

It's been a bit of a pig lately......so it'll be listed as non essential personel if it's not careful, so no.... she's not currently wearing a N95 mask.

As for my glorious 10 inch and 14 inch toms...... that's a different story altogether.
 
I'm always changing and shifting stuff. Always looking for the sweet spot, only realizing after i changed something i liked the spot it was in haha
 
Billy Hart would probably agree with the ride positioning - you can't set up three cymbals much closer together. :)
billyhart.jpg
 
I definetly adjust things to fit, but as with every instrument I play, these things become less and less important with age and experience.

I have my own kit at home, but so much of my workday and practice time have been on whatever is available where I work.

It's partly been a conscious choice to play different kits and adjust my practice kit to work on any weakness.

It more about sound than anyting.

My setup is also never really the same. I don't ever bring more than I need, which means it will differ a little or a lot depending.
 
I am definitely not a tweaker. When I have the time to sit at the kit, I don't spend Any of it tweaking. I just play. If I notice something that is not optimal, unless it is really messing me up, I just roll with it.
 
Inspired by Bo's ergonomics thread, moreover this statement in said thread:



This got me thinking. Are comfort and ability related to my drumming? For me it's a resounding yes. Because of this, I'm constantly tweaking stuff. Have been for close to 30 years now. Move this drum a 1/4", tilt and lower that cymbal a hair, so on and so forth. I don't mess with my seat height. That's about the only untouchable, the rest is fair game. And it's all because if I move this here, it makes getting there easier, if that makes sense. All in my quest for easier speed. I move things ever so slightly all the time.

The downside is, because of this, I have a difficult time playing any kit but mine. Everything is so exact in where I want it, every other drumset feels wrong. My muscle memory must be converted into thought. I don't wanna think and drum, just drum.

So are you a tweeker? Or maybe a set and forget? Perhaps you move stuff so much it doesn't matter anymore? What say you DW, is feeling good good enough or it's never good enough and I can't leave it alone?

For a long time I was such a "tweaker" that I ran into the same problem of not being comfortable on other kits....a decade or so worth of backlines that can change from night to night has cured me of that. There's something I have to tweak - throne height and how my legs/feet are positioned because I've had problems with tendons and stuff - but overall I've had to become more mellow about it.
 
No - I'm fossilized. But then again, I don't play other people's kits now. Even when I played gigs, I'd just set up and get on with it.
But I've got things set up to fit me like a glove now, and I don't change it.
 
Ever change I can get. Often times when I sit down on the kit, it's only to change up a few things and carry on with my day.
 
No it's against the law. I'm an upstanding citizen now-so no tweaker, no downer, no disco biscuit, no Coke-it ain't the real thing, no, no, no. Drums have a Feng shui component , then ergonomic, then just what ever flips your homemade noodles. My drum kit must sit on tectonic plates cause they move around quite a bit. So yeah I guess I've always been a tweaker of drums. Because of MFing sympathetic snare buzz my 10 in tom is no where near my snare now , which is was right above it, but sits over my floor tom.
 
Big-time tweeker here!

We're talkin' millimeters, microns! And it doesn't just apply to drums.

I'm a perfectionist, if it isn't perfect, it isn't me.
 
Big-time tweeker here!

We're talkin' millimeters, microns! And it doesn't just apply to drums.

I'm a perfectionist, if it isn't perfect, it isn't me.
BOOM-CHAKA-LAKA-LAKA-BOOM
 
Not really. I sometimes adjust snare heights ever so slightly, after switching between my two (yes that's all I own) snares. One's a maple the other chrome over brass (Pearl Masters /Tama-Stewart Copeland Signature). I play a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute Nouveau kit. That said, sometimes, I'll move a couple of thin crash cymbals ever so slightly as well. It's all about erognomics and the easiest way to get the best sounds, without incurring injury and/or stick damage.
 
I was a tweaker, but I'm not anymore.
I found that I wasn't looking at the drums with attentiveness, and when I wrote a note on the wall saying "look", I found I started playing with more accuracy and fewer stick clicks and rim bobbles. I still need to keep my eyes open and attentive to play accurately, but it's not so much based on the positioning of the set. -Except for snare height and throne height. Those need to be correct or I lose the mojo.
 
Even my own drumset feels wrong haha. Years of gig sharing has made me comfortable on almost any kit, but I always find other peoples more comfortable than my own. I tweak consistently and often end up in a worse spot. I tweak my pedals FAR to much. When things sound fantastic, i think "I should tune this and I bet I can make it better". Lately I prefer to just sit and play as it takes too much time to tweak all day.
 
I play a 4 piece drum set with hats, ride, and usually 2 crashes. I would say I adjust things fairly often in an effort to make things as ergonomic as possible. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but I do enjoy the process. It makes me think about my playing, technique and posture at the drums.
 
Otto said:
All you have to do is say "yes" and anyone who knows who you are by your username is open to interpret the term in a negative light.
Be aware of how you respond to things folks....


It was not meant as a drug reference at all. It was the most fitting term that I could think of to fit what I was asking. Fiddler, nope. Tinkerer, nope. Tweeker, absolutely. We tweek things all the time. To think, as an adult, that the idea of this thread has any other meaning than what is asked is just fishing for trouble. It's the right term for the question.


I have debated for a while if it is worth responding to this. I think it is.

There are talents visiting this board that will one day stand before a producer in an oppositional financial negotiation.

Just like a court, the truth does not matter...its the perception of truth.

Saying 'I am a tweeker' in a public forum can be used to argue a reduction in percentage of profit as a 'measure to mitigate liability of ones drug use or the publics potential to devalue the resulting art'.

Idiotic argument?...yes....but one that can be twisted in board meetings and leagal proceedings alike.

Your history of admissions, erronious as the interpretation may be, can and will be used against you by the unethical fear driven greedy to line their pockets at your expense.

You will find this trap set in morality clauses paired with Do Not Disclose clauses - where you become stuck with taking lower $ or violating the DND becoming legally bound to pay back penalties greater than your original payment. In these circumastances the signing might not be done unless the unethical party already has 'evidence' of violation of the morality clause...ding...free hired gun services. Try to fight it and see how much that costs.

Be cautious.
 
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Well...to get the thread back on track...

I wouldn't say I tweak, but as I got older I've lowered the heights of my cymbals. It puts less strain on my shoulders. I typically play a 5-pice kit, and that changes based upon the type of gig...usually down-sizing to either a 4-piece or a 2-piece (bass and snare for older musical theater gigs that don't require toms). Once my technique was properly developed, I never had to change the heights or angles of the drums. Nor do I even change the distance between my throne and my snare (and therefore my bass drum).

I guess if I tweak anything...it's drumsticks. I'm constantly looking for the "perfect pair" (to hijack VF's slogan). I've yet to find it...but...that's a topic for another thread.
 
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I hardly move the drums around. I spend all my time searching for the drum key, running all over town hustling up licks and trying to make the magic happen, hanging out in parking lots by the convenient store get some change so i can drive back to the house and find that drum key. Wait here, I'll be right back
 
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