Drum Lesson 4 - Part 2 : Setting up to Kit

Monday April 8th, 2013

  Do you setup to your kit or set the kit up to you? These question may sound like they are the same, but they are indeed different in how you approach using you drum kit.  The first would focus on setting up you kit and sitting down to play it without regard to the position various items, where they lay is where they are played.  The second, you actually setup the kit based on how everything would fit you, how you sit, the reach of of the snare, hi-hat, ride cymbal and the natural position that your feet.  Are you using the right items of the kit to get you in a proper playing position? As I found out in the adhoc second part of my fourth drum lesson. Jack, my instructor, noticed while I was playing I was lifting my foot off the bass drum pedal.  Is that a bad thing you maybe asking? Well, yes, if you not aware that you are doing it and, as it turns out it has a big impact on your playing; which I go in more detail in bass drum setup. This lesson will detail setting up to the drum kit with focus on the four important voices of the kit (bass drum, hi-hat, snare drum, and ride cymbal), the throne and how they fit in place with you. After all, you are the master of your own throne, aren't you?

Roc-N-Soc throne -
the one that I use

  Jack and I traded places and he took the throne of the kit.  The first thing that he pointed out that was important was that your throne was set to the proper height.  This is important in that if you are sitting to low you will lock you legs, which should be relaxed.  Yes, there are many that drummers as he pointed out that sit lower or higher in their seats and play very well, but again the point is to be comfortable and relaxed as possible while playing.  He also pointed out that in my case, I was using the throne in the studio that was used by others and being 6'3 / 6'4 tall, I was sitting to low and locking my leg.  This was having impact on the use of my kick pedal.  I never thought of this being an issue as at home I had my Roc-N-Soc throne set to the height that I needed to play properly.  He reminded me that I need to make sure that I am sitting in the same position in the studio as I do behind my own kit; which means adjustment when I get to the studio for throne height. Added to my check list of things to do when I get to studio! Another important note about the throne is that it should be square to the snare drum and the front of the stage; more on this in the snare drum section.

  The second thing that he pointed out that I should do when I sit down to the kit is to make sure that my pedals are set in the right positions; pedals meaning kick, hi-hat and possibly the second kit pedal if using double bass pedal. The key here is that once you are seated on the throne, that each of the pedals sits under where your feet normally sit when you are sitting normally.  To check this, sit on the throne and take note of where you feet naturally sit.  Then apply this to the pedals when you are sitting on the throne at your kit.

  Before proceeding to the next voice on the kit, he took the opportunity to discuss now why this is important and how it was effecting my playing.  Since I was not setup properly with the pedal positions, being that I was reaching for the pedal based on where I had my throne, I could not use the proper technique.  He stressed that no matter which style that I use to play the bass pedal, heel-up or heel-down, that I needed to make sure that I did not lose contact with the pedal at anytime while playing.  He showed me what happens when I was doing this.  Basically, the beater was flopping around and had no rhythm or flow when it was being pressed.  Since there was no control over the beater, the beater would vary in the amount it was from the drum head when I would press it.  This is what was leading to the lack of rhythm.  He demonstrated that if I keep my foot anchored to the foot board, the part of the pedal that your foot sits, you are able to control the beater.  Jack himself uses the heel-up technique where I was using the heel-down technique.  The two vary in applications, but the basics are that with the heel-up you can get a louder sound from each note.  He pointed out that in the studio, there is no real difference between the two, however, playing live is a different story.  Playing live as he explained, that even though you have microphones, you still have to produce a sound that the person in the last roll of the stadium or a other venue will be able to here.  This is something that I never considered.  I know that I did not touch on the heel-up or heel-down techniques, this may be a side post in the future.  The key here is that position of the pedal and controlling the beater head by not losing contact with the foot board.

  The next item that he moved onto was the position of the snare drum.  This voice of the kit is one of the most often over looked parts.  As my instructor pointed out to me, the majority of the students that he has taught as setup to it wrongly.  He pointed out that many drummers setup with their bass drum as the one that determines the how everything else should flow.  Therefore, if the position of the bass drum is setup in an angle that puts you facing to the left, because you used your pedal and the guide to setup everything else, well you will be facing the left side of the stage.  As he pointed out, the crowd is in front of the stage, so shouldn't you be facing them. The proper way, as he explained, is to the sit square with the snare drum.  He took the time to explain square, which really means that you are facing the front of the stage; not facing directly to the left or right.  He explained that the front of the stage should be your starting point, set the snare in it's place, place the throne in a square position to it, then add in the other items of your kit; as I will touch in the next sections. Now, maybe this should have been the second in the list of things to talk about, since it is vital to the setup of the kit, but they are all in relation related to one another. And the start of this really was about my pedal technique.

  Recap so far, snare drum square to stage, throne square to the snare drum, bass pedals(s) sitting under where feet where they fall naturally along with the hi-hat pedal.

  As you will notice, I mentioned hi-hat in the above recap, but have not talked about it yet.  This is the next item that we discussed.  The hi-hat foot pedal should sit to the left of the double bass pedal (if one being used) and should be in the same relative position as where your left foot sits naturally as described above.  The most important thing that Jack explained to me is that the hi-hat has to be a bit higher than normal and out of the radius of the snare drum.  This is important so that you do not hit the sticks together while playing the snare and hi-hat at the same time.  He also explained that one of the drummers that he knows, along with his consideration of the same, has moved the hi-hat in the more head on position.  This would require a hi-hat foot pedal with a cable in order to put it in the same position as a normal stationary one like most drummers use.  The key here is that it needs the pedal needs to set in a natural position relative to the foot and double bass pedal and be out of the radius of the snare drum.  Nothing more wrong than to hit your sticks together; if you have played any at all you will understand this point.

  The next most used item on the kit to discuss and the final voice of the four most important it that of the ride cymbal. Now the major of the drummers and I have ever seen and as Jack explained to me, most of the ones that he has seen also play put their ride cymbal on the right side of the kit, but very high.  Mostly rock drummers as he put it.  Not that is a bad thing.  As I have seen Jack's kit as he showed it to me at one of the gigs that the band he plays with locally, I know that he plays it much in the same position as the photo that I included to the right.  However, interesting enough, I play it in the same position on my drum kit, basically in the position of the traditional tom 2.  Jack actually does not use a mounted tom 2, instead has a second floor tom.  My kit, being digital kit, I shift everything more around to the right to compensate for the lower position my cymbal.  This is more of a jazz placement, but to me it feels better than having to reach higher up to get to the cymbal.  This also relieves tension in my arm and shoulder when playing it.  I'm sure I will do this when I get my own acoustic kit in the future.

  This concludes my lesson that my instructor provided me about the setting up to the drum kit.  This can be a very often overlooked part of the process, but as you can take from the above account from me, it can impact a lot of things when you play. The important things to take away from this is, start your kit setup with placing the snare drum in position, then your throne square to the snare, determine your placements of bass and hi-hat pedals relative to where your feet naturally set and the hi-hat outside the radius of the snare drum and finally your ride cymbal setup.  Everything thing else just goes in the spaces around these. I came away with a lot of good things from this part of the lesson and as I returned home that night, I looked at my drum kit in a different light.  The these that I have no incorporated into my kit from this lesson are I now keep my foot on the foot board of the bass pedal and moved my hi-hat outward a little bit and higher.  By keeping my foot on the foot board has made a huge difference in the rhythm that I get in playing notes on the bass drum which also has lead to more control over the hits and has lead me to start playing with my heel-up.  The hi-hat chances gives me more range for my sticking on the snare drum so that I don't have to worry about hitting them while playing the snare and hi-hat together.

I hope that anyone that reads this will take away something from this lesson and apply it to the kit or helps your technique.  If you have any questions or comments, please pass them along in the comment section below or send me a message from the contact page.