Members MattACaster Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 It's true. I've had it for 3 years and I can't figure it out. No matter what I do I can't get comfortable. Not matter where i move anything nothing feels right. Cymbals are too close or too far to the sides. Bass drums are too far away or toms and snare are too close. :facepalm: *deep breath* I feel better now. Should I strip my kit down and start small and rebuild from there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCR Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 Have a drummer come over and do it for you.. then make small adjustments from there. Although, your problem probably has more to due w/ technique than ergonomics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarick Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 Tear everything down and pull it away. Start with a clean open space on the floor. Grab a drum seat, raise it up to a comfortable height. You should be able to have your feet flat on the floor with your hips just above the knees (thighs at a slight angle, not parallel to the floor). Pull in the snare. Bring it up to a comfortable height. You should have your elbows slightly higher than your wrists while resting the drumsticks on the head. Angle it so you can play rimshots as needed. Bring in the kick drum and hi-hats. You should form a triangle between your seat and feet. Wherever your foot falls naturally (with the shin perpendicular to the floor) is where the pedals should be. Keep in mind you will have the bass drum off at an angle to your seat; you won't be directly behind it. Then bring in the floor tom, ride, mounted tom(s), and crashes so that you are not straining to hit them but can move around comfortably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Carroll Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 You said bass drums, no wonder. Go down to one bass drum, that should be a hell of a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members andyplaysdrums Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 Do just what Jarick described, but add this part in after you get your seat height figured out: Sit on the seat, grab a pair of sticks, and play air drums. Just play. As you're doing this, figure out where the sticks are going. Are they reaching up a bit for crash cymbals, or straight out? Are you trying to play the ride just off to the side (not sure if you're left handed or right handed) of a rack tom, or way off to the side, like it's over a floor tom. Hi hats, high or low, etc... Do this, and when you continue on with what Jarick said (which is really good), you'll get even closer to that baseline set up that your body wants, and that's when it will start to feel "right". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SYMBOLIC Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 What ever you do, don't take any advice/tips from the questionable drum kit thread.:poke:+1 with what Jarick said. It could be a hardware issue, trying to do too much with too little, or don't have the right hardware to do what you are looking to do. How complicated is you set up? Do you use stands or a rack? Post a pic of it, and let use know what you are trying to do. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drumtechdad Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Tear everything down and pull it away. Start with a clean open space on the floor. Grab a drum seat, raise it up to a comfortable height. You should be able to have your feet flat on the floor with your hips just above the knees (thighs at a slight angle, not parallel to the floor). Pull in the snare. Bring it up to a comfortable height. You should have your elbows slightly higher than your wrists while resting the drumsticks on the head. Angle it so you can play rimshots as needed. Bring in the kick drum and hi-hats. You should form a triangle between your seat and feet. Wherever your foot falls naturally (with the shin perpendicular to the floor) is where the pedals should be. Keep in mind you will have the bass drum off at an angle to your seat; you won't be directly behind it. Then bring in the floor tom, ride, mounted tom(s), and crashes so that you are not straining to hit them but can move around comfortably. Well said. I would add: many guys seem to want to set up with the bass drum parallel to the front of the stage, but they'd like to face front, too; you can't do both. My kid became much more comfortable with his stage setup when he faced forward and angled his bass drum relative to the stage, like this: He faces front and his bass drum and hats form a V with the throne, just as Jarick suggested. Also: you shouldn't have to bend forward at the waist to hit anything you hit. I'd take Jarick's suggestions and play them as you go. Get your throne and snare where you like them; then when you add your bass drums, play them and get the angle right by playing them, not by how you think they ought to look. As you add each new item (start with hats, prolly) play the set with the new item in it for a while. Make sure it feels good. Then go on to the next item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zildjian@consol Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Well said. I would add: many guys seem to want to set up with the bass drum parallel to the front of the stage, and to sit facing directly to the front; you can't do both. My kid became much more comfortable with his stage setup when he face forward and angled his bass drum relative to the stage, like this: Also: you shouldn't have to bend forward at the waist to hit anything you hit. I'd take Jarick's suggestions and play them as you go. Get your throne and snare where you like them; then when you add your bass drums, play them and get the angle right by playing them, not by visual reference. As you add each new item (start with hats) play the set with the new item in it for a while. Make sure it feels good. Add each new piece one at a time and play the kit with it. Thanks for the pic and the description, I thought I was crazier than normal ,but my setup looks like your sons--very nice practice space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zildjian@consol Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 4 Splashes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnCav Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 I have/had the same problem. I have to lean forward a bit to do tom fills including my mid tom. my floor tom is too high up and my right leg has little room between my snare and floor tom. My crashes seem too close and my snare seems to high. Its all a big mess. Looks like I have a project for tomorrow...while im at it may as well retune and clean up the set. Dust everywhere makes for dirty drums. Edit: Fixed typos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeakerArk Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Well said. I would add: many guys seem to want to set up with the bass drum parallel to the front of the stage, but they'd like to face front, too; you can't do both. My kid became much more comfortable with his stage setup when he faced forward and angled his bass drum relative to the stage. . . That's how I do it. Bass angled to the right a bit so I face forward (I do quite a bit of singing, and don't like to have to twist my torso at the waist to do so and face the crowd at the same time). I play only w/ one tom up, and that sits on a snare stand, to the left of the bass, makin' it easier to angle the bass w/o screwing w/ the placement of the tom. Here's a pic. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boxofrocks Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Do something different man,experiment when you have a free day. Try it every way you can think of, even if other drummers hate it. Do what feels right to you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff Graw Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Try setting it up as a four piece, have the rack tom and the snare drum parallel so that they have the same slant and there is no gap. Snare drum and floor tom are the same height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drumtechdad Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 my setup looks like your sons--very nice practice space! That was an outdoor gig in a tent. His practice space is the dungeon (basement). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marko46 Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 DTD- I knew that. It's Gavin's fault damn it!! MattACaster, where the hell have you been, GF/OJ? Good to see ya around. That's it, can't really add more then what's been said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wellhungarian Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 The most important part of getting comfortable is getting the throne right for you and your body and how you play the bass drum, heels up or heels down. Also, during this process, be keenly aware of tension, minimize it in your setup. Heels up-ass higher than knee. Heels down, ass parallel to knee. (note: this isn't the gospel as there are drummers who sit low and play high?)Then sit down, relax your arms to your side, then bend at the elbow and bring your hands up to playing postion with the wrists slightly bent, place the sticks in your hands so that they are parallel to the floor(if you're more of an orchestral type player, to no more than 45 degrees.) That should be the height of your snare drum if you want to take advantage of the rebound off of it and you don't want your thighs to be black and blue. Once you get the throne height, bass drum and snare comfortable, sit down, grab your sticks and close your eyes, then act like you going to hit your HH and open your eyes and notice where you stick is located, then place the HH there. Repeat with other toms, cymbals, etc., so that the placement feels natural. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarick Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 DTD, are you guys tall? I can't ever bring the toms up anywhere near that high because I'm so dang short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kabaalk Posted December 13, 2008 Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you wouldn't prefer to play lefty? That being said, issues often stem from seating. Make sure your knees make 90 degrees with the floor, make sure your crotch is a comfortable split, and slam a snare in the middle. go with hats, bass, snare, and work from there without moving those once you've got them set. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skinthrasher Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 I've been dealing with this issue for 6 months now ever since I started learning to play I am a lefty and started out with a right handed setup playing open handed after about 2 months went back to square one swithed over to a left handed setup to take advantage of my strong left hand. Even though my left leg had to really catch up on the base. Lately I've been thinking about trying to figure out how to setup a double bass pedal even though I only have one kick, move the kick over as far to the left as I can, so that I can stand mount some toms right in front of me as low as I can get them. It seems like I can never get my toms as low as I would like to mounted on the kick. Has anyone seen a kick setup off of a double pedal but only have one kick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drumtechdad Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 DTD, are you guys tall? I can't ever bring the toms up anywhere near that high because I'm so dang short. Jarick, I think the angle of that shot is deceptive. (The kid is about 5' 9", btw.) Here's more, and some with the kid at the set: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 What ever you do, don't take any advice/tips from the questionable drum kit thread.:poke: +1 with what Jarick said. It could be a hardware issue, trying to do too much with too little, or don't have the right hardware to do what you are looking to do. How complicated is you set up? Do you use stands or a rack? Post a pic of it, and let use know what you are trying to do. James My setup isn't too bad. Things have been moved around a bit but it's still pretty much like this. Sorry I don't have any newer pics. The digital camera broke a few months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 DTD- I knew that. It's Gavin's fault damn it!! MattACaster, where the hell have you been, GF/OJ? Good to see ya around. That's it, can't really add more then what's been said. Hey man! Been hanging around the amp-forum. Since drums have been pissing me off I've since started putting more effort into guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 The most important part of getting comfortable is getting the throne right for you and your body and how you play the bass drum, heels up or heels down. Also, during this process, be keenly aware of tension, minimize it in your setup. Heels up-ass higher than knee. Heels down, ass parallel to knee. (note: this isn't the gospel as there are drummers who sit low and play high?)Then sit down, relax your arms to your side, then bend at the elbow and bring your hands up to playing postion with the wrists slightly bent, place the sticks in your hands so that they are parallel to the floor(if you're more of an orchestral type player, to no more than 45 degrees.) That should be the height of your snare drum if you want to take advantage of the rebound off of it and you don't want your thighs to be black and blue. Once you get the throne height, bass drum and snare comfortable, sit down, grab your sticks and close your eyes, then act like you going to hit your HH and open your eyes and notice where you stick is located, then place the HH there. Repeat with other toms, cymbals, etc., so that the placement feels natural. Not a bad idea... You know, about using rebound, I think thats part of my problem. Year and years of playing badly has worked me into the habit or forcing everything. I don't use the rebound. Everything comes from my arms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kabaalk Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Left bass is too close to the throne, toms are too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Left bass is too close to the throne, toms are too high. Like I said, it's an old shot. The way I have it now, the toms are a bit lower and the are turned more upward. The left bass is the same distance as the right, it just doesn't look like it in the pic. Also, let it be known I am 6' 3". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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