"There is no wrong way to set up a drum kit"

[Old Dog new Cans]

Bingo. I saw a video where he said he sets up his drums that way to stand out and "be original."

Being different is all well and good...but being different for the sake of being different?

...and all at the expense of good ergonomics and practicality?

Daru performed with Jack White on SNL recently. Tons of energy and vibe. But he totally missed a tom hit because of those tom angles haha. (time stamp 5:01) Still a great performance though.

I saw that. I was wondering why the heck he would want to reach out and down so much. Just seems like too much effort. It's like he does it for the sake of looking different. It doesn't seem very applicable and playable to me.

 

[Bo Eder]

I’d try it but I’m already pretty low to the ground as it is.

 

[theseer2]

as for the videos posted here

A. People can do want as they please with drums. There are no rules.

B. Some people do anything to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, more power to them

or

C. Instead of gimmicks and show, maybe these drummers should practice, improve and invent compose something worthwhile for the audience to listen to. Or keep t he silliness to themselves. Im not amused or impressed.

I'm in the C crowd.

 

[iCe]

The Yamaha Kit

View attachment 97898

Well, that is what i call a "trapped drumset"

 

[roncadillac]

as for the videos posted here

A. People can do want as they please with drums. There are no rules.

B. Some people do anything to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, more power to them

or

C. Instead of gimmicks and show, maybe these drummers should practice, improve and invent compose something worthwhile for the audience to listen to. Or keep t he silliness to themselves. Im not amused or impressed.

I'm in the C crowd.

I absolutely agree. The sad part is... Daru Jones is a fantastic drummer with great feel and a tool box full of chops for when he needs them. HOWEVER, that stupid set up is a down fall and limiting factor. I've seen older videos of him with more 'traditional' set ups and he kills it. The more extreme his set up gets, the more sloppy his playing gets.

 

[K Chez]

I’d be willing to bet some serious money that he sets his kit up that way not for ergonomics—but to “stand out” and look different. Which to me is not a good enough reason to have that insane of a setup.

Not all that different from the philosophy of a fair amount of female drummers who can't showcase their playing without looking like they're in between sets at the local strip joint.

 

[theseer2]

Not all that different from the philosophy of a fair amount of female drummers who can't showcase their playing without looking like they're in between sets at the local strip joint.

Double 26" bass drums with loose panties on should put on a good show!

 

[CommanderRoss]

A big lesson I've learned is fit the kit to you, not you to the kit. Ergonomics & human factors are huge in this profession if you want to do it for a while.

 

[jasz]

I'm left handed, but I started on a right handed kit and have a well trained right foot thats better than my left.. Lets just say I made a funky looking setup with everything on the left side of the BD. No cymbal was spared.

The "normal" lefty setup makes more sense to my brain though, at least in terms of orientation. Everything is placed well to where my brain can adapt without having to think about much, just have a weaker lead foot, even after 10 years of playing this way.

Playing open handed on a right handed kit is no bueno. Besides having a Hi hat, ride, and snare on the left side, anything placed to the right of the snare makes zero sense in my brain.

I know theres drummers like Louis Cole that can do it well, but it just pisses me off leading into the toms, ride, crash or alt cymbals on the right. I don't feel comfortable switching off my hands, its not natural.

tl;dr: lefty drummer but foot doesn't wanna play nice.

 

[MaskingApathy]

Idk in my opinion there's many "wrong" ways of setting up a kit, some of which I've seen on this very site. Basically if it's not ergonomically set up to where everything is comfortable then it's "wrong." Like I did sound for a band once where the drummer was sitting pretty high but his snare and hi hats were really low.

 

[Durbs]

I can't remember his name, or find a pic/video - but there's a punk drummer whose hi-hat is about 6 foot in the air...

 

[Durbs]

I realise this hasn't added much to this conversation.

 

[roncadillac]

I realise this hasn't added much to this conversation.

My band shared the bill with a band who's bass player/singer spent their entire set squatting as low as he possibly could with his bass almost touching the ground and using a fully extended bass drum mic stand for his mic because he was squatting so low. This was years ago, I don't remember their name. It looked stupid and uncomfortable. Also he screamed the whole time... Screaming and headbanging while squatting for 45+ minutes straight is a recipe for hemorrhoids and/or an 'accident' on the stage lol.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

My band shared the bill with a band who's bass player/singer spent their entire set squatting as low as he possibly could with his bass almost touching the ground and using a fully extended bass drum mic stand for his mic because he was squatting so low. This was years ago, I don't remember their name. It looked stupid and uncomfortable. Also he screamed the whole time... Screaming and headbanging while squatting for 45+ minutes straight is a recipe for hemorrhoids and/or an 'accident' on the stage lol.

so he was sort of the opposite of Lemmy...

 

[jimb]

Try telling Phil Collins theres no right way. Years of leaning forward with big arm movements has screwed him.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

Try telling Phil Collins theres no right way. Years of leaning forward with big arm movements has screwed him.

yep....I agree that there are a TON of incorrect ergonomic ways to set up a kit.

I think that the amount of time you spend behind the kit fixes this for most. The reality of 2-3 hour gigs, multiple nights of the week just sort of forces your body to make some decisions. I know that my set up is way different now than it was when I was younger - everything is much lower in height now. I remember Peter Erskine joking about being able to tell a drummers age by their kit set up: "As you get older, everything droops, including your kit"....but I know a TON of guys who not only can't drum anymore, but also can't walk, lift things, drive etc...b/c of their drum set up

the big thing that revolutionized my kit set up was watching the Neil Peart videos that came out right around Test For Echo - when he was studying with Freddy Gruber - and he talked about setting up your kit from an ergonomic standpoint, starting with making sure that what you hit the most was in the best place, and that you set the kit up to your body, and not your body to the kit. The kicks, snare hi hat and ride HAVE to be in the most ergonomically comfortable places....then every thing else is secondary.

I definitely grew up in the era of the way the kit looks being the most important thing, and am glad that I got rid of that mind set before it was too late...plus, after my reconfiguration, my kit looked cooler anyways

 

[jimb]

I definitely grew up in the era of the way the kit looks being the most important thing, and am glad that I got rid of that mind set before it was too late...plus, after my reconfiguration, my kit looked cooler anyways

I think being a bass player all my life made me realise how silly some drummers could be citing the above.....Guitarists dont hold there instrument incorrectly so why do drummers do this sort of thing with cymbals a mile high....and drums half a mile away at crazy angles, tho to be honest I think it was a bit of an 80's thing trying to make everything look big and brash.

 

[prokofi5]

Guitarists dont hold there instrument incorrectly so why do drummers do this sort of thing with cymbals a mile high.

Rick Nielsen might not totally agree, lol.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

I think being a bass player all my life made me realise how silly some drummers could be citing the above.....Guitarists dont hold there instrument incorrectly so why do drummers do this sort of thing with cymbals a mile high....and drums half a mile away at crazy angles, tho to be honest I think it was a bit of an 80's thing trying to make everything look big and brash.

I also play bass...and there are some pretty "bad" bass playing positions as well, but it is "easier "for a drummer to mess things up becasue you are not actually in contact with the drums themsleves like you are with bass, or many other instruments

plus, i still feel that many beginning drummers live in the mind set of "dude, all we do is bash, who cares about set up"...and this causes a lot of other uninformed musicians to teach and encourage this ---> "they/we are just drummers, all they/we do is bash, who cares about set up?"

 

[toddmc]