Getting to know the four piece drum set

if you're playing a lot solo- 4 is four tones. Think of a piano. (the other perc instru)
5 - Five piece is at least a pentatonic scale.. possibly the black keys..
Another reason for- maybe- another drum - is target and reach. the exercise "needed" to reach 5 instead of 4 (or 6. 7 etc targets
exercise is good +/- so any number has it's pros and cons a minimum 5 of a pentatonic 5 if you like playing melodic solo melodies.

remember what Slingerland named their "Modern Solo" outfit
I didn't do that (take any arguments to Slingerland) but it kind of matches the concept
 
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4 or 5 piece for me gigging out. I have 2 up 2 down at home. If I have 11 drums and I'm playing Billie Jean....I am only using 2 drums and a hi hat. More pieces means more pitches for me to work with. I'm glad they don't tempt me to use them just because they're there. In fact toms IMO...the less I use them the better I like it. But I could never no have toms. I use them for single hits a lot, not fills. Think "Don't Stop Believing". Fills are a slippery slope for me. I don't really live for multi note tom fills at all. Sure I do them if it's signature. Any fill ideas that I do feel...I usually put them between the hi hat and snare, because to me I feel it sounds and blends better than playing the same notes on the toms.

I'm satisfied with good time and good dynamics. Also, the other musicians in my world prefer it if the drummer doesn't stick out. My job is to make everyone feel supported and listened to by me. I don't like the spotlight and I'm not there to draw attention to myself. I know what my job is and I do it. People tell me...including my wife, that I look really cool doing my job. Which is feeling the music. I'm told that a lot, because I am genuinely feeling it. THAT'S my job. Nothing fake.
 
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A lot more reaction to my post than expected, thanks all. :)

While I do like the options that come of having more drums and cymbals and other things in front of me, and while there's definite appeal there- seeing the simplicity and the limitations of the four-piece setup just seems like an opportunity to explore the simplicity and the limitations to see what works for me.

As noted upthread, imo there's less of thinking about what drum to play on the beat, and more thought about how to play the beat with what's in front of me. It's a subtle distinction but I'm embracing it for now. Again, I'm still learning these things as a drumming person, and there's a lot of continuously and newly discovered nuance in playing drums well that even as a bass player I had missed.

I play at home but can also see the appeal of a load in/out with this setup vs. all the stuff on my previous kit. But, playing, it definitely all makes sense.
 
My personal struggle is that I really like playing a five piece kit, two on the bass drum. But since I grew up in the 70s every fill is a descending tom run, or descending tom displacement of some sort. Everybody with a five or six piece kit does this I don't care who they are. It's the nature of using two tom-toms on the bass drum that you will just go around the drums whether you are Gad or Vinnie, or Simon Phillips, or a metal drummer or a country drummer. You just do.

So I take out a four piece get to avoid doing that, but I swear in my head, I hear tom fills all day
 
jaymandude said:
My personal struggle is that I really like playing a five piece kit, two on the bass drum. But since I grew up in the 70s every fill is a descending tom run, or descending tom displacement of some sort. Everybody with a five or six piece kit does this I don't care who they are. It's the nature of using two tom-toms on the bass drum that you will just go around the drums whether you are Gad or Vinnie, or Simon Phillips, or a metal drummer or a country drummer. You just do.

So I take out a four piece get to avoid doing that, but I swear in my head, I hear tom fills all day
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This is also a thing I am trying to avoid doing.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
I switch my set up around from time to time, from monster kits to one up, one down, and I find each brings out different aspects of my playing.
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+1

Also, it really depends on what kind of stage you're playing on. I just bought a 8 piece i wanna use badly, but my next gig has a stage the size of a shoe box. Good thing I bought a 20" in addition to the 24" bass drum for just these types of situations. I might even go with a zero up, one down set up with a Roland Octapad. All these tools we have these days make it easier to fit in in a lot of places. :cool:
 
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I played a 5-piece throughout the 70s to the 80s, then stoped playing in the 90s. When I went back to playing in the 2000s, I had a 4-piece. Aside from the ride being in a more reachable place, it felt uncomfortable. Fills became almost non-existent, and mostly played just snare and kick. It was probably a combination of the new setup and the layoff. I went back to a a 5-piece (plus auxiliary snares on the left) late last year, and am re-learning it. But it felt more natural from the get go.
 
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I started on a four piece set and that's what I have largely used. I experimented with two bass drums, two rack toms, mounted concert toms, all kinds of cymbals, and the only add-on that really works for me, is a second floor tom. I have always liked the Gene Krupa/Buddy Rich one-up-two-down configuration, but on most of my gigs, I just use a four piece, either due to space restrictions, or my own laziness. Four drums is my comfort zone, but a few of my sets have the second floor tom.

I have always believed that changing your configuration makes you play differently.

Right how, I'm experimenting with various Sabian cymbals, effects, splashes, Chinas, stationery hi-hats, etc. I'm also going through my current cymbals and pulling out the ones I want to sell. I've offloaded about 10-15 cymbals over the last year or so; stuff I bought on a whim, because it was interesting and priced right.
 
my first set was a Ludwig 5 pc.
20/12.12/16/5 but that didn't mean anything
Second set was a Premier 6 pc. 12/14/14/16/22/5
still didn't mean anything maybe
third was a 8/10/12/13/14/15/16/18/22/5 Tama.
Really nuts.
then two
20/12/14/5
20/12/14/5
So settled on 5pc looking for a second floor and have a 4 pc also.
think somewhat it's how much room you have- to store- in your house/ pad
how much room you have lol
How much you want to keep Track of..
 
Four piece is where I started. Hand me down kit from a relative. It just felt right. Still my preferred set up. Every element of the kit is easily reached. Ride cymbal fits in that nice little space to the right of the rack tom. Crashes can still be setup close, somewhere around shoulder level.

Anytime I’ve messed around with large kits it just feels silly. I’m not a Peart/Portnoy/Minneman type of player. Don’t have the need or skills required for flashy playing. More power to the folks that can navigate huge drum kits. My brain and hands just can’t cope with that many additional drums and cymbals right in front of me.

Might be limiting for some players, but I just dig the simplicity and aesthetic of a four piece and a couple of cymbals. Easy to play. Easy to haul around. The world doesn’t need a dope like me bashing around on a 12 piece monster kit.
 
I have historically preferred a 2-up/1-down five-piece for the tom configuration. But this year I am playing a 4-piece as I started studying jazz. What that has taught me is that I prefer the cymbal placement allowed by a four-piece and only miss the second rack tom when playing rock/pop/blues.
 
jaymandude said:
My personal struggle is that I really like playing a five piece kit, two on the bass drum. But since I grew up in the 70s every fill is a descending tom run, or descending tom displacement of some sort. Everybody with a five or six piece kit does this I don't care who they are. It's the nature of using two tom-toms on the bass drum that you will just go around the drums whether you are Gad or Vinnie, or Simon Phillips, or a metal drummer or a country drummer. You just do.

So I take out a four piece get to avoid doing that, but I swear in my head, I hear tom fills all day
Click to expand...
I was able to break myself of this.

Part of this is because I’m left handed, and spent a lot of time on righty kits at jams. For a long time, all I COULD handle was kick and snare, plus hats or ride. Then I got more comfortable moving pieces of the kit around on stage, but would always keep the two mounted toms in the same place. So, in the perspective of the 4 pc kit, the high tom was where the ride would go.

I discovered I kind of liked it there. I’ve gone towards offset rack toms on my rig (usually), which is kind of the same principle: a 4 piece arrangement, but now I’ve got the high tom basically right next to the hats. For the most part, the reason I want three toms is so I can have a high and low tone when I’m doing double stops.

Even in the context of reproducing some metal drum parts, if I’m listening to some classic Slayer, for example, those long multi tom Dave Lombardo fills don’t really NEED to be executed on a wall of toms. The important part is the tonal variation within the phrases.
 
I like the shoulder movement / torso twist/ on 5 pc. two up kits better.
4 get's me kinda one-position lazy or bored. Probably bored.
 
I played a three piece for a while, floor tom, bass drum, and snare, with four cymbals based on a setup I saw in Modern Drummer. I got used to doing a lot of fills with the bass drum as a "third foot", a lot of snare-kick-hats playing, and obviously no big descending hero fills.

When I brought back the rack tom after a couple months, a four piece seemed huge. A lot of the kits I've played have been four or five piece kits, but I have stripped down to just kick, snare, hats, and one other crash/ride, which is another fun experiment to see how much you can get out of so little. Like I said, if you compare that setup or a three piece to having four drums, the standard four piece seems like a pretty big setup with more than enough options.
 
Many years ago was backing a blues guy in Vegas for awhile ( non glamorous although we did play the Bellogio one New Year’s Eve with his big band that was kinda suave ) he wanted nothing more than straight time , hi hat snare bass maybe a little tom fill. He disliked ride and crash cymbals he let you splash once in awhile.

Could’ve gotten away with 3pc but always set up big drums RB 4 pc wmp Gretsch and 2 cymbals because he liked the way they looked on stage. Who didn’t?!
Really don’t need more than that for the R&B music I play and also like to travel light.
If you asked me to bring just a snare bass and hi hat I’d be good with that to.
 
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