Left handed kit setups

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hey guys... I know I don't post in here very often, but I have a question that I think you might be able to help with. It's about how you set up your kit. From the drummer's perspective when seated behind the kit, most right handed drummers have the toms oriented from high to low running from left to right, with the high hats to their left. If you play open hand, that puts your left hand on the hats, and your stronger hand (the right hand) on the snare. Of course, many drummers play crossed, so the right hand is on the hats, and the left works the snare. The benefits of crossed vs open hand aside, my question concerns left-handed players.

 

Why do so many left handed drummers set the kit up the same way as right handed players? Sure, some lefty guitarists use right handed instruments due to better availability, etc., but it doesn't seem like those issues would apply to drums. It seems to me that it would be fairly easy to set the kit up so that from the drummer's perspective, the toms went from right to left, with the hi hats on the player's right hand side.

 

I just watched an old video (Venus from The Shocking Blue) that made me think about this - their drummer is one of the few I've ever seen with the kit set up "backwards."

 

 

 

Is there a reason why left-handed drummers don't do this more often?

[SYMBOLIC]

For me it's because I'm left handed but right footed. I also bat/golf right handed, and kick a ball with either foot. I'm just weird like that. Carminemw is a true lefty.

[1001gear]

Convenience prolly. Say because of 19th century marching conventions, drummers played "right handed". The drum kit consequently evolved as a "right handed" instrument regardless of the handedness of the player.  

[lsits]

Well, Ian Paice, Phil Collins, and Rod Morganstein come to mind when I think about left-handed drummers who set up their kits "backward". Bun E. and Ringo are two lefties who set up their kits right handed. And then there are guys like Billy Cobham (who I believe is right handed) who can play either way equally well. I think that it's probably determined by the way they wer tought. In the old days of marching drums, the drum was slung over the right shoulder and were tilted down to the right. When the drum kit was developed the snare drum position was set to mimic a marching drum angle and the rest of the kit evolved from that. The beauty of the drum kit is that it can be set up in a way that is comfortable for any player. In a way, anyone can have a "custom" kit. Check out Mickey Dolenz' kit. He plays the bass drum with his left foot but the toms are set up like for a right handed player.

[SYMBOLIC]

 

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lsits wrote:

 

 

Well, Ian Paice, Phil Collins, and Rod Morganstein come to mind when I think about left-handed drummers who set up their kits "backward". Bun E. and Ringo are two lefties who set up their kits right handed. And then there are guys like Billy Cobham (who I believe is right handed) who can play either way equally well.

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This also brings to mind people like Gene Hoglan, Carter Beauford, and Simon Philips, who lead with thier left hand (use their left hand to play their ride/hats) and play a kit that's set up like a right handed player (with regards to their tom layout), and I'm pretty sure that they are all right handed.  Dave Lombardo and Chris Alder do the Ringo thing too.

[cdawg]

 

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SYMBOLIC wrote:

 

For me it's because I'm left handed but right footed. I also bat/golf right handed, and kick a ball with either foot. I'm just weird like that.

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i'm like this, too.  and i set up righty, but my left hand is quicker, so sometimes i play open when i have to play faster hh stuff.  i've read that we're ambidextrous, and that doesn't mean equality to both sides, as some may think.  i guess it depends to what extent you share both sides.