New Drummer

I usually post in the Sound or Guitar posts, as I'm a guitar player. My wife plays drums however. She's been taking lessons for a few years, is actually getting pretty good, and she would like to be in a band. I'm a blues guy, play a lot in and out of town and have been doing that for years. She would rather play stuff other than Blues. So she's been looking. Ha! I think she wants to do a Chic Band or something.

I had some old Peal Drums Shells, prob. from the 70"s (been sitting on those for years) and I have slowly put a kit together for her. She started with a kick, snare, and high hat. I since have added one rack tom, a floor tom, three roto toms, a crash cymbal, a ride cymbal, a little splash, and a cow bell, and put new heads on the shells.

What I'm not sure of how to direct her to is two things... Tearing down, and setting up her drums, and cases to put them in.

So how do drummers learn how to set-up and tear-down in the beginning? Does it just come from time? Do you tear em down and set em up a few times at home?

Then cases. She has a case the snare came with, but what should we look at beyond that? She will prob, move her drums in her Mini Van, and she hopes to play local a few times a month. I guess she needs to worry about beating her drums and cymbals up, but even more, keep from beating up her van. Ah... the soccer mom van.

Can someone give us some ideas or possibilities. Most of my stuff is in road cases, and lives in a club, or in an equipment trailer, but I don't think she needs all that.

I use a hard shell cymbal case for my pride and joys, nothin for the shells, they're ugly so I don't care if they get bruised a little. Use a gym bag for mics cables sticks and extras.

I learned to set them up by watching other drummers and how they did it, the set up configuration has taken a year to pin point my own personality and set up accordingly.

If she's been playing for a while, she has everything already set up for comfort, right? So before tearing down, try to record or mark how the stands are put together - how high they are, etc. I keep my stands extended - I don't collapse them if I can help it. Same with the tom holders. You don't want to re-adjust or reset everything every time you set up. Memory locks are available for some stands, or you can use small hose clamps to help set things up the way they were.

Also try to get an idea of side-to-side: how much room you'll need for your hihat on left to your farthest cymbal on the right.

my order of setup:

1) the throne - sit down and make sure arms (especially elbows!) have room, turning side to side. Claim your turf!

2) kick pedal and bass

3) snare -

4) hihat

5) toms

6) cymbal stands and cymbals

7) once you get everything set and comfy, put up the mic's if needed.

I try to get to the gig before anyone else, because the drums will almost always be towards the back of the stage, and you'll want to "claim your turf", and you don't want to be carrying your stuff around everyone else.

I use drum bags - it's easy to grab the handles, and they'll allow more room packing. My cymbals go in a soft case too ... I'm careful with them.

i learned to set up right after getting my first kit, as i had to set it up myself.

from there, i gradually learned what positioning is the most comfortable and how to set it and and break it down effective. i never watched anyone, i just did it.

What about some soft cases? Can any of you suggest a few sites to look at?

musicians friend usually has some good roadrunner ones on the cheap if thats what youre lookin for. theyll get the job done. if youre looking to put a bigger investment into the cases then i would check out protection racket or cadillac sacks. you can google their websites.

The,"Protection Racket", looks nice. Is there a good place thats good to get those on line?

I was looking at their web site, and I bet I overlooked a, "where to buy" click. I'll look again. What about the 3 roto toms she uses? I guess you just get a gear bag thats close?