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Rob Wild and the Case of the Migrating Snare Drum......


RobWild

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Sooooooo.....Lately, I've been stumped by a rather annoying problem: my snare drum seems to have a nasty habit of migrating towards me while I'm playing (it only takes about five minutes of continuous playing before it's snuggled up against my crotch and I have to stop and move it!). I've tried making the drum sit as flat as possible, tried rotating the legs so two of the three were facing towards me, and I've even tried putting a sandbag on the far leg, but no dice!

 

Is this a technique issue? And if so, what do I need to work on in my playing to make this stop?

 

OR, is it just a case of crappy hardware? I'm still using the stock snare stand that came with my crappy Sonor kit back in the olden days. Maybe I should get one with metal spurs to dig into the rug?

 

I never used to have this problem, not even many years ago when I was just starting out and was super sloppy and had terrible technique. I still find myself tensing up a little bit sometimes when I'm playing, and I've been working on chillaxing and staying loose, but overall my technique is way better than it used to be, and yet I now have a migrating snare drum on my hands. It's been happening for a couple months now.

 

Any ideas? :idk:

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Have you changed the location of your kit? Could the floor your kit is on be giving out. I've had my snare move around some on slightly bouncy stages, but that doesn't happen too often because my snare weights a ton (23lbs), and the stand is probably another 10-15 lbs (dw).

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Check your rimshots. You're probably hitting hard for one and pulling toward you before releasing for two. Gets worse if the drum bounces to any degree.

 

Turn the kit around. Does it still happen?

 

Leave out rimshots. Also try and determine the force required to produce the creep...

 

 

 

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Have you changed the location of your kit? Could the floor your kit is on be giving out. I've had my snare move around some on slightly bouncy stages' date=' but that doesn't happen too often because my snare weights a ton (23lbs), and the stand is probably another 10-15 lbs (dw).[/quote']

 

Nah, it's still in the same spot, and it's in the basement on a sturdy stone floor (with an area rug on it, of course!).

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Check your rimshots. You're probably hitting hard for one and pulling toward you before releasing for two. Gets worse if the drum bounces to any degree.

 

Turn the kit around. Does it still happen?

 

Leave out rimshots. Also try and determine the force required to produce the creep...

 

 

 

This actually sounds like a likely culprit. Now that I think about it, I never used to use rimshots very much, but I've been using them more and more the past couple months to get a nice "crack" for the backbeat. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my rimshot technique....

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If the snare is moving back to you...you need better hardware. I no way should a proper stand and setting surface allow the snare to move. If the snare is sturdy in the basket, then its slipping on the surface of the floor........I see your using a rug and thats a start. My snare stand has spikes that also help in detouring any movement. It in no way should move no matter how ard of a hitter you are.....and there are ways to prevent this.

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I agree 100% with Race. I've never seen a drum move as a result of technique unless there's another factor, like really crappy hardware, slippery floor, etc. I think this is likely a really easy fix.

 

Get a good snare stand with rubber feet, don't tighten down on the drum too much, and don't be too Rob Wild when mashing in dem powerful backbeats, you beast, you.

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Try roughening up the bottom of the snare stand feet. Over time, the rubber may be becoming "harder" or "stiffer" (that's what she said ... sorry ... couldn't resist a Michael Scott opportunity). If you take the feet off and scuff them up on some rough concrete or take a file to them and roughen them, it may stop this problem.

 

D

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Forgot to mention also that you should tilt the drum a toward you. That's more about good physics but it'll also help the pulling problem. You do play matched grip right?

 

Yep, I play matched, and the drum is tilted slightly towards me. It actually used to be tilted a little more towards me, but I flattened it out a little bit to see if that would help with the problem for some reason (it didn't).

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Fitch, I think you and Race are onto something. I've been trying to figure out what I've been doing differently, since this is a recent problem that's never happened before.

 

It turns out, back in the day when I moved out of town for school, I sold my old Sonor kit since I couldn't really play it in an apartment and by the time I was done with school I'd be ready to upgrade anyway. It just so happens that I sold my nice Tama snare stand with it, and I ended up hanging onto the stock Sonor stand (still not sure how that happened....must not have been paying attention!). So when I got this new Mapex kit a couple months ago, I started using that old Sonor stand again 'cause it was all I had. I hadn't used it since the first year or so of my drumming life (I upgraded to the Tama stand shortly after I started playing). Which means, now that I think about it, this bizarre migrating snare problem seems to have begun once I started playing this Mapex kit with the crappy old Sonor stand. It makes sense...the thing feels flimsy as all get-out, but I've been too busy buying cymbals to bother upgrading boring hardware. :p I guess I should get on that and see if that does the trick.

 

At least I hope that's what the problem is. I mean, I know I ain't perfect, but my technique can't be THAT bad, ha!

 

...don't be too Rob Wild when mashing in dem powerful backbeats' date=' you beast, you.[/quote']

 

Can't make any promises, Fitchy. I got this nickname for a reason, ya know!

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