Ep. 47 Drum Set Ergonomics for the Gigging Drummer 

I once had to improvise a ride cymbal stand by put the ride cymbal on a spare clutch, took my belt of and hung the clutch on my belt that I attached to a broom laying across two bar stools. It worked!

2:02 So true man. Even if the hi hat stand has a clutch it’s usually missing felts and other bits and pieces as well. Bringing your own clutch is key. I always bring a kick pedal as well. Lord knows how the backline pedal will be setup.

In regards to seating and posture I learned the rule that no joint should be less than 90 degrees at rest position. That applies to forearms, shoulders, ankles, knees and hips. I started seating higher after understanding that and started noticing how common it is for drummers to seat low and stress all these limbs

WHY in the Fck does anyone give this a Thumbs Down when all SLAD is trying to do is HELP?! Ridiculous!! FWIW - My Fly Date/ Backline rig includes: Kick Pedal w wrenches and 2 diff beaters (yes, you can bend or break a beater rod), 2 tuning keys in pedal bag; Cymbals (often backline cymbals don't work for your type of material, for ex: 16" Metal crashes for an intimate singer songwriter set; Hi Hat Clutch (even if they have one, if I am going to swap my Hi Hats, I don't want them keyholed by the crappy clutch with no felts); AND I also include Lug Locks and Tama Quick Release Cymbal Mates (6mm and 8mm) and Cympad Washers!! Thanks for the video guys!! 👊🏼

In my opinion the seat is one of the most forgotten part ,when it comes to technique and comfort... before you move around the kit, be sure that you sit comfortably

If youre playing on a house kit, or any other kit that isnt yours, then please, loosen the nuts before you adjust any heights and angles

I actually have a tiny keychain tape measure in my stick bag, and in a note (and in my phone and memorized anyway) I have the height of things from my kit - seat height which is measured from bottom of leg at seat edge to account for seat cushion "squish", bottom hi hat felt, snare rim where left stick crosses - those 3 are the critical ones for me that let me get a kit going in pretty short order. Pressure and adrenaline have impaired my judgement many times, so it's the engineers way for me.

This scenario is absolutely every single gig here in South Africa. No one ever brings their own kit but because of a lot of what you brought up we all bring our own hardware. Makes setup faster and better for the drummers. I can imagine New York would be tough to bring your own hardware. Worst cases I've had with backline kits, I broke through the kick drum head multiple times. Tom mounts breaking. Vocalist having to put a foot on the kit to stop it from moving. All expected stuff over here. Keep up the good work.

mentioning John Lambs “The Anatomy Of Drumming” - great, necessary book, and i’m not surprised this channel know about John. You are awesome, people!

I remember watching Andols Herick from Chimaira said to always have your cymbals in touching distance,without moving your body forward. it was great advice and i adjusted my own setup to that advice, it made playing so much better.

The importance of having the kit on a good, heavy rubber backed rug or mat cannot be overstated. I bolted a chock to my rug and I keep it in my car, so I'm always covered regardless of the kit I use. A few of the clubs where I live have those little kitchen rugs and they're useless. Keep one with you at all times and you'll have one less thing to worry about.

If you play traditional, setting your snare flat and low will put your spine in a bend it doesn't want to be on and will force your spine to support one half of your upper torso without any help from the other half, as the traditional side will be under tension and the other side will be relaxed. This also affects your balance and forces your left foot to hold onto the ground with more force. People who do that have to understand that traditional grip is not a symmetric grip and trying to make it be like that is not the solution. Another good resource on that is Ryan Alexander Bloom's video series on the subject.

I've never had to play on a backline kit so far, but I did have to play on someone else's kit. My band had a gig a couple years back where we had a friend on drums, but I was on drums for the first song. He had his kit set up differently than mine, so it was kind of an adjustment. We ended up using elements from both our kits: he had his shells and most of his hardware (cymbal stands, throne, snare stands, etc), but we used my double pedal, my Octapad, and my cymbals (we needed to not be overwhelmingly loud, so we used my Gen16s so we could be quieter). We also had my floor tom on stage as well for some extra ensemble drumming stuff.

Man this was great. Love your content dudes!!

Also memory locks are good to have on you to stop things moving around, especially stripped out hi hat stands. I hate it when the bottom hat starts to creep down

Great video - sitting right is one of the most underrated topics in drumming...

These detailed setup videos are great for new drummers too. One of the nagging things that rattle around in my head is getting used to a bad setup and ingraining that so deeply that later I'll have to spend time retraining myself. Snare and Hi-Hats are the most confounding things to set up. I envy anyone who has their Hi-Hat rod cut. They don't even have to play a beat and I'm in awe.

As always another superb video. I think I love you!!!

Haha i love this... I have learn all this things trought the years but it's really cool that someone take care of talking about it, keep the good content 🤘

I play traditional and matched grip equally often. To find that sweet spot where both work is kinda though. So most of the time I keep adjusting the snare stand for all over the show and end up with an ok positioned snare when the show is over... Btw. you guys complement my tv dinner after rehearsals nicely. Keep up the good work!!

Beyond relevant for a gigging drummer.. especially in NYC. Awesome as always!!

A lot of great tips , specially for a newbie like me

Traditional grip? Amazing! Me drummer! Need hands! Just call me a matched grip barbarian! As usual there is a nugget of excellent information for me in your videos! Love the cow bell holder tip! I have a very old Premier kick pedal that I believe is compression spring loaded and has a very cool toggle to attach to hoop. Never fails on any hoop configurations! Thanks guys for all that you do! Cheers… Keith

After playing many open mics and using the house kit over the past 50 years, I have learned to adapt to the set as much as adapting the set to me. I'm left handed so I just change the snare, hi-hat and floor tom around and leave the tom(s) where they are. I might raise a cymbal, or move a stand, but nothing that will make the drummer have to rebuild the set afterward.

Great stuff! Seat height pretty much determines everything else so, always top of the list. Bringing a clutch, abso-freakin-lutely. Sometimes you're stuck with what you got because there's no time. Louie Bellson told me, "If you can't reach it or, play it comfortably, don't play it."

+1 for the Yamaha strap drive pedals. Very cheap yet very smooth as well. So good, I got another one as a backup!

Sweet video as always. Open face match player here so it's always a fun game of ergo-where-go-my-drums on house kits. :D

This man said “you’re kinda boned.” That’s joke of the week

Great Video, as allways! And I can remember simmilar situations with backliner kits! My clutch is allways wit me! ;-)

It takes me a while to set up. As soon as I get the kick, snare and hats set up I start playing. When the other guys in the band start giving me the stink eye I know I should probably get the rest set up. I find that tearing the kit down is more enjoyable than setting it up.

Awesome as always!

Thanks, this is a great video!

I would love to see a part 2 on this, maybe with an actual backline/house kit. This video is great info, and only scratches the surface. I find the ball and joint tom connections are typically only usable at one angle due to drummers over tightening, and thus eating a hole into the ball part of the joint. Then, there’s gaff tape on the L mounting arm to keep the tom in position due to over tightening. I have learned to expect the worst with backline kits in New Orleans.

Great video, I was actually just revisiting this topic after drumming for the last 17 or so years. I did think it was going to be about alternative set ups from the 3pc/center hats pic but maybe next time haha. I have been dealing with the backline kit thing alot lately and it frustrates me because I only use a 2pc kit with 1 cymbal... It takes me longer to rearrange a house kit then set up mine. Also, a venue/sound guy would never hand an electric guitar player an acoustic guitar and say "Here, this is the house guitar. You have to play this." What about metal guys? "Here is your 4pc, good luck! Oh, you play double bass....SOL buddy" What about fusion guys using electronics? It's a crock really. I started telling people "my doctor suggested I always this a specific set up" and they give in 99% of the time.

Good morning everyone! Thanks for this video I needed it. I have been sitting too low. Hey what sticks do you use?

[Watches Video] [Immediately messes around with John Stanier cymbal height]

Great vid, thank you!

Besides my cymbal bag, snare & kick pedal. I carry clutch, key, felts, wing nuts , a roll of tape and a rag I can cut up bc so many backline kits seem to be wide open. No muffling. A wide open kick can make for a miserable gig. (For me)

Great advice, everyone. I will typically bring my cymbals, too. Most of the backline kits I’ve played usually have cheap cymbals and untuned drums, so (with permission) I’ll tune everything up and can be sure I’ll have decent sounding cymbals. How about dealing mic placement? Do you check with the house before adjusting anything or just adjust and reset the mics yourself?

You can use a bass drum anchor. From Gibraltar for example

Thanks for the shout out! @12:00 LMK if you have any questions :)

Thanks for the video! Helpful as always. Looks like I'll need to find me a cheap Yamaha pedal.

nice video

Awesome like always👏👏🇨🇦🇨🇦🥁🥁🥇

I played a gig where my cymbal fell off the stand multiple times so embarrassing

Great review and thank you so much. Can you do a recommendation for the ergonomics of cupboard drumming please? I've been banished by my wife to a cupboard... three blocks away. The old women who owns the house is deaf and partially sighted and, as yet, hasn't cottoned on to my presence. She has though, sat on my lap a few times, so perhaps I've mistaken the lav.for the cupboard. It can really be a messy business drumming but I'm determined, and so is my lawyer, to keep on drumming. How can one, or two, resolve the conflict between the hi-hat and snare? I cannot for the life of me set them up without catching my sticks together and how they can travel so far is beyond me. If I could replicate the bounce on the snare I'd be called Vinnie. (note to self: must replace neighbor's fish tank)

DUDE!!!!! i'VE USED THE COWBELL HOLDER DEAL ONE TIME WHEN I FORGOT both OF MY Kick drum legs!!!!

Rimshot is Earnest P Warrles dog name my dude

Great video, however it is videos like this where I would like to see you play a bit. Maybe before and after adjusting the kit to see how changing it physically impacts your body.

Cowbell mount. Hot shit.

I've always dreaded when I would have to do a jam session on someone else's kit.was always problems.No fun.

👌

I don't think a tom rimshot is a good sound, on the snare sure, is it just me or is that a strange sound?

Haha, this comes one week too late for me :D I have been playing drums now for one year and had my first gig last week. On a house kit. Well, I've learnt my lesson... I had almost everything in my car, except a second boom stand, just one (I play 2 crashes and 1 ride, the house kit had only 1 stand for ride and 1 for crash), and I left my pedal, my seat, my snare stand and hihat stand in the car because when I arrived at the venue I saw that all these things there looked fine. Haha. Ok, they actually had 2 boomstands (1 for crash, without extension arm, just straight, and a second one that was fixed to the tom stand, so I could not move it away from or closer to me, also without extension arm), both were lacking felts and one had no sleeve. Luckily I had some spare felts with me and a quick release wingnut (that has a sleeve). But the latter is for 8mm and the house boom stand had a 6mm thread, so the wingnut could not be fixed, it got loose with every crash hit. I fixed it with a duct tape :D The hihat stand had a clutch, but it took me a few minutes to check out how that worked, because I haven't seen one like this before (had a kind of bayonet lock). The kick pedal had a rather slicky surface, so my foot was on the verge of slipping off it (what I hadn't realised during sound check, only after the first song of our show - lol). The seat was perfect, the shell set and the snare stand, too. So I only took my cymbals, my boom stand for the ride and my snare. Next time I will bring ALL my hardware :D

Ha what about my left hand issue?

I HATE it when people say "I talked about it in the last video" without linking it. Yeah, like I'm going to slog through your videos to find the one that happened to be before this. If you can't be bothered to add a link to the description to a video that you referenced, then I'm sure your content is lazy and crappy as well.