What are your Drumming Prejudices?

SGT_Drummer

Senior Member
So you have the question, what is it that makes you look at someone and go 'psh, amatuer', without ever hearing them? i don't honestly think anyone has humbled themselves to the point that they absolutely don't do this anymore. so what does it for ya?


for me, take the picture below. the second tom position. ugh! i saw this pic on another thread (by bobdadruma) and that was my first thought. then i looked at who it was, bobdadruma, who has almost 600 posts and alot of which i have gained a degree of enlightenment from. but yeah that was my initial reaction, and that got me thinking about what other people's prejudices are.
 

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A fused together Hi Hat, a snare drum with extreme tilt towards the throne, and uh... I guess extremely dented heads?

I try not to judge before I listen but I can't help it XD. I'll give them a chance either way though.
 
Please elaborate further about what bothers you so much about the placement of my tom. At one time I played my toms close together. I always had trouble when doing rolls. I would hit the rims. I would hit the rim even when I was rolling from tom to tom with one hand. I would always go to far to the right. When I separated them the problem stopped and I hit the right tom dead center! I know that people don't recommend this but it worked for me. I see where you are going with this and I like it. We frequently attack each other about the placement of our drums on DW and elsewhere. We all do it! I don't think that anyone isn't guilty of prejudging someone by the setup of their kit.
 
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A fused together Hi Hat, a snare drum with extreme tilt towards the throne, and uh... I guess extremely dented heads?

I try not to judge before I listen but I can't help it XD. I'll give them a chance either way though.
The distance between my hat cyms is over 1 inch. I set them higher sometimes. I just measured them. My snare is tilted away from my throne. It is the camera angle. I was showing placement of the throne in this pic. There are no dents in the heads. The pic is poorly exposed. The heads are almost new. I never dent heads.
 
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Please elaborate further about what bothers you so much about the placement of my tom.

its just that when i started playing, and for several years into my drumming life thats how i set up my toms. then i tried moving that second tom to the floor and putting the ride there and found that for me it works much better. so i kind of inadvertently look at set ups like that as novice because i grew out of that. not to say that there is anything wrong with that set up, if works for you then go with it. but like i said, it's just my initial thought.

i do want to say again that it was in no way a knock on you. i'm sure you have threefold the experience i have. but it made me aware of my own prejudice after i saw it and then went "oh wait, it's bobdadruma! he's not a newby". I really don't mean to sound like i'm kissing a$$, but it's truly not my intention to offend anyone.
 
The distance between my hat cyms is over 1 inch. I set them higher sometimes. I just measured them. My snare is tilted away from my throne. It is the camera angle. I was showing placement of the throne in this pic.

I was responding to the general question. I actually don't see anything wrong with your kit.
 
its just that when i started playing, and for several years into my drumming life thats how i set up my toms. then i tried moving that second tom to the floor and putting the ride there and found that for me it works much better. so i kind of inadvertently look at set ups like that as novice because i grew out of that. not to say that there is anything wrong with that set up, if works for you then go with it. but like i said, it's just my initial thought.

i do want to say again that it was in no way a knock on you. i'm sure you have threefold the experience i have. but it made me aware of my own prejudice after i saw it and then went "oh wait, it's bobdadruma! he's not a newby". I really don't mean to sound like i'm kissing a$$, but it's truly not my intention to offend anyone.
I understand and I don't mind. I at one time had three toms to the left of my bass and I also had a ride where my right tom is now. I had two floor toms then also. We all change our kits from time to time.
 
My biggest prejudice is loose tuning! I hate loose drums! I just want to walk up to a drummer and tighten his lugs up when I hear them!
 
My biggest prejudice is loose tuning! I hate loose drums! I just want to walk up to a drummer and tighten his lugs up when I hear them!

haha that is SOOO true. i think i would add old raggedy heads too. seriously, look at someone's set with dents and warps and everything in the heads and you go "wow, your technique sucks!" when in actuallity thier technique may be fine, they jsut like hitting hard. or maybe thier kid did it. lol.
 
Boy, your drumset really sucks, Bob. Your toms look all cock-eyed, and your hats are all fused AND you got dents..tsk, tsk, tsk.

Very very bad.
 
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I tend to look at a set and just wonder what it would be like to play it the way it is set up. But I can't comment in a negative way since mine is the only one I see everyday. I may sit down at someone elses "mess of a set up" one day and think Damn, this is how it should be, and run home and change mine.
 
I always hate seeing extreme cymbal angels, like almost vertical. but i guess most of this stuff has nothing to do with skill level, just personal preference or weird ideas.
 
My drumming prejudices/peeves...

1. Drums that are really far apart (mounted toms spread WAY apart--bobda's are within "normal" limits)
2. Cymbals and drums that are extremely angled or extremely far away from the drummer.
3. Drums that are tuned so high that they choke the drum or so low that the head rattles.
4. 2 of the same-sized bass drums on a kit, tuned the same. (C'mon--they have double pedals for that, for crying out loud!!!)
5. Toms without resonant heads.
6. Clear heads that you can't see through anymore.
7. Dimples in heads. (Ugh!)
8. Signs of the resonant head being used at a batter. (Double UGH!!!)
9. Brushes that are bent in every which direction.
10. Big strips of duct tape on heads.

....okay, I'll stop now.
 
These are things that piss me off:
  1. dented, duct taped, or ragged drumheads
  2. toms too far apart from each other
  3. cymbals too high (VERY COMMON EVEN WITH PROS)
  4. sloppily muffled bass drums
  5. poor tuning (usually excessively low)
  6. stupid drum configurations
  7. off brand drums or cymbals
  8. playing on stock drumheads

These are things that I like doing and would recommend to other drummers:
  • hit drums very hard, but tune properly so you get good rebound and avoid dents
  • tuning properly means top and bottom tight as possible with fingers only, then 1/2 turn of drumkey on top, 1 complete turn on bottom
  • cymbals should be set very low, barely enough to clear toms, allows for faster playing
  • toms angled slightly, not too much but not flat either
  • hit cymbals "indirectly" - some call it glancing; broken only 1 cymbal in 16+ years
 
For me I'd say it's when you see a kit with 2 toms coming off the bass drums and they're at ridiculous, almost vertical angles. Also When you see a bass drum that is literally packed with duvets, pillows etc. It's OK to have bit of dampening but when the bass drum is fit to burst, it's too much. Similar to that is too much dampening on toms, such 30 pieces of Moongel per tom; it's too much!
 
I always think that people who muffle all their drums excessively are inexperienced with the drums. I see where you're coming from about it being a thing you used to do yourself but then grew out of it. I used to hate ringy snares so i always think that anyone who also hates ringy snares is just not very experienced with the way drums are "supposed" to sound i guess.
 
1. Excessive muffling, especially in a bass drum
2. Duct tape holding the snares to the reso head to prevent rattle
3. Cymbal stands with no sleeves - metal to metal is never good
4. Moongels on Remo pinstripes. Come on...
5. Loose or missing lugs
 
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