What's the most shallow-minded thing you do in regards to playing or owning drums?

I will judge drummers by the condition of their kits. Cheap or expensive brands, mixed finishes, mixed cymbals, and/or mixed hardware does not make any difference to me, but if the kit is covered in dust, dirt, tape, and looks like it lives in the back of a open pickup truck, I judge you hard. Take some pride in your equipment. You can always "afford" to take care of your passion.

...and I will tend to judge your taste if you order a kit with neon powder coated hardware...
 
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I'm always aloof with the audience at gigs. I'm polite if an audience member approaches me before or after a show, but I make no effort to engage anyone in the crowd, and I usually attempt to flee the facility as soon as my gear is packed. I have a wife and a kid. My goal is to get home, not to loiter and mingle. Drumming hasn't been a social vehicle for me in a very long time.

I don't know that I'd call this tendency shallow. I have a good reason for upholding it. I'll let readers decide.
 
- I'm always looking to upgrade my equipment somehow, if I got money leftover and no other big expenses coming. And that is even if I don't really need anything, at this point I pretty much have everything I could need, and then some... At the moment I'm heavily considering getting a better/more expensive kit (Starclassic Maple, Reference, Prolite, Absolute Maple Hybrid etc... something along those lines), even though there is no gigs in sight because of the pandemic right now, and no planned recording sessions either... Though I'm pretty sure I will regret it down the line if I do get a fancy new shellpack, as my ideal setup is a doublebass kit, and I could only afford to get a 5-6 piece with a single kick if I was to order a kit right now. By the time I could save up enough money to get a second bassdrum or more toms for it, I would probably be bored with the kit already, or it would be out of production so it's harder to order more drums for it or deal with the waiting time.... So yeah, I think that's pretty shallow-minded, seeing I already have a nice Pearl Masters kit which does work plenty, especially in a style of music that you really do not need boutique-style drums to make do (thrash/death metal). I still want a better kit though, with a new shiny finish :p

- I'm all in on the introvert thing that has been mentioned, I'm not the most talkative before/after gigs to the audience. Ideally just with my bandmates. I'm usually not drinking much, if at all. I prefer to drive my own car, set up my kit, play the gig, tear down and drive home. If I can sleep in my own bed/home after a gig, it's pretty much the most perfect situation for me, even if it means just playing a small show with less people in a place I've gigged several times before. Having a wife and a small kid does something with the party-mentality to gigging... Does not mean I don't like to gig though, I usually think it's a lot of fun, I'm just not that great at small-talk :).
 
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I helped at a special needs camp. There is no such thing as stupid. The drums and all other instruments were brought in. It's amazing what music does for the soul.
 
I'm in this boat too. I dont spend hardly any time in the your playing section. I dont seek out videos on YT or anywhere else just to veg on the drummer. I could care less what Jojo, Vinnie, Terry, or anybody else is doing/has done, just like they dont care what I'm doing. When I pick up sticks, it's me, no one else. Trying to be a copy of someone else is pointless. Might as well dress and talk like them too.
I’ve met Gadd and Weckl clones on college. Weirdest thing I ever saw ???
 
I only play Paiste cymbals.
i try to be the first one to a gig to set up early and be ready. No worse feeling for me than having to rush.
I usually don’t let anyone help me taking gear down at the end of the gig. No one knows where it’s supposed to go anyway.
 
...I've typed in a few responses to this thread, but when I read before I hit send, too many have been surprising admissions or declarations that I will reflect on personally, so, thanks for that. :) Seriously, self-reflection is valuable. ;)

On topic... umm... I like having a lot of cymbals.

...Shallow enough? :D
 
I detest backline kits and using other drummer's gear. I almost always volunteer to supply the kit even if it means staying until the end of the night while other bands use my stuff.

I've been saddled with beaten-down, raggedy-ass gear too often to let that happen again if it doesn't have to.
 
During practice at home, if I drop a stick, it isn't enough to find it and put it back in my hand. It has to go back in the hand that it dropped from. Why? Thermal footprint - the heat pattern on the RH stick is differently shaped and located vs the LH stick. Something uncomfortable about feeling a cold spot on a stick.

This probably wouldn't apply if I was a matched player.

EDIT: This probably affects my stick-stow procedure. In order to preserve RH-LH stick order - eg when taking a short break during practice - the sticks get stored on top of the snare, LH stick on the left, RH stick on the right, both pointing in the same direction, tips away from me.
 
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I love to talk to people but when I gig-I'm there to play not entertain myself. Then to usually it's so loud so I can't have a conversation anyways. People jibber jabber at me and I just smile. Lord knows what they are saying-or how inappropriate some of my nods. I'd drive lots of you crazy-everything covered in dust, all sticks mixed up 2b, 5A, 5B, 7A and I've grabbed two different many times. I tend to be a slob-never believed clothes make the man (if it really did we'd all be naked). I don't care about position of drums or cymbals-but on my own kit I get use to positions so can play blindfolded. I'm picky about volume-funny for someone who can't hear squat I'm sensitive if it's to loud-damn guitar players have no clue of volume in general.
 
My OCD tendencies have made me buy only certain brands even when there is better deals on others that are perfectly fine. I play Sonor kits, Pork Pie snares, Sabian cymbals, Tama hardware, and Promark sticks (one size only). I'm not endorsed and never will be so it's silly really.
 
You're not alone, rhumbagirl. I too have a right and left stick, but mine is due to wear and weight, not temperature. I tend to do a fair number of rimshots and it chews away my left stick more, so that worn stick has to remain my left stick. When it wears down, it weighs less and seems to have more flex in it than the good stick so it feels odd to me to have them reversed. Then, once that stick is shot, my right stick becomes my left stick and the right is replaced with a new stick and the cycle continues. I don't consider that to be shallow, but rather my OCD (OCPD, actually).
BUT, what's really shallow is my drum set itself, in where and how it's presented. I don't gig anymore so my rather large set is now the focal point of my living room and pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in my front door looking down from a catwalk into a room with 19' ceilings. And since it's the focal point, I've obsessed over many minute details that only I would notice.
 
You're not alone, rhumbagirl. I too have a right and left stick, but mine is due to wear and weight, not temperature. I tend to do a fair number of rimshots and it chews away my left stick more, so that worn stick has to remain my left stick. When it wears down, it weighs less and seems to have more flex in it than the good stick so it feels odd to me to have them reversed. Then, once that stick is shot, my right stick becomes my left stick and the right is replaced with a new stick and the cycle continues. I don't consider that to be shallow, but rather my OCD (OCPD, actually).
BUT, what's really shallow is my drum set itself, in where and how it's presented. I don't gig anymore so my rather large set is now the focal point of my living room and pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in my front door looking down from a catwalk into a room with 19' ceilings. And since it's the focal point, I've obsessed over many minute details that only I would notice.
So the difference is your R-L assignment is a lifetime assignment with a mid-life crisis. Mine get to play the lottery every day. LOL
 
I have been known to go down into the basement, especially at night when everyone is asleep so I can't play, and I'll just stare at my drums and walk around them eyeing them lovingly. I'll sit behind them and take in how it "feels" to sit there, every so often moving something to make micro adjustments in the placement of drums and cymbals. And I'll also fantasize about ways that I can make the kit "better". Yes, it's sad.
I do the same.
 
I have a completely unfounded aversion to playing 5 piece (2 up, 1 down) kits. It actually unsettles me to play that layout. Of course, I can play a 5 piece, but it never feels right.

On the rare occasion I have to use a backline kit, & it's a 5 piece as described, I need to remove one tom - I can't just play the kit & ignore one of the toms = strange.
 
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