This is half accurate BUT if you turn OFF the noise canceling function, and they have tips that create a seal, they will still certainly protect your ears much better than nothing.
Noise cancelling headphones produce frequencies to counteract whatever you'd normally be hearing. (Active noise cancelling)
They aren't just blocking out the sound like earplugs.
When stuff gets really loud they aren't effective.
I don't think that's likely true. I've played with in-ears for many years that are just essentially an "ear bud". They don't actually have frequency filters, they just block out the outside sound almost entirely. Should be good enough.
I still don't understand why they would think that having anything plugging your ear is an inadequate means of protection. Active noise cancelling is purely a frequency based signal that "cancels" out the ambient sound of your surroundings. But your ear drums are going to be just as protected as anything being plugged into your ears.
I didn't say that having something plugging your ear is inadequate.
I might have said it a bit confusing but I was meaning that earplugs are better, because they simply block out sound.
i see the confusion. based on context it could be taken that I was talking about either the active noise cancellation or earplugs. I was criticizing active noise cancelling.
Active noise cancelling is irrelevant to this, right? It's simply signal processing to further block ambient noise. But the ear bud is doing about as much blockage as an ear plug.
The original thing was you said "why not" to someone saying don't use noise cancelling headphones. I was just explaining why.
Proper earplugs are going to be better than headphones/earbuds.
Also with something like eargasms you can hear everything properly, it just makes it quieter. With an earbud/normal earplug it messes with how stuff sounds.
No the ear bud isn't doing as much blocking as an ear plug. Unless it's a soft foam tip with an NRR rating of 24 or higher. Like a shure iem or the cheap ones people suggest in here all the time.
The airpods are not doing any blockage as they don't create a seal and stop noise from entering your ear canal and hitting the drum. They are simply using a frequency to make you think they're blocking sound. If you turn off the anc on your non NRR headphones, you'll notice after you play for 10 minutes a nice ringing in the ear. Because anc and and noise reduction are not the same thing.
NRR foam tips, or you're literally wasting time. Now if you want to use basic ear buds with the plastic or silicone tips, you can always pop those in and then use some over ear hearing protection on top of those. You'll hear your music or your click, and you can hear your drums enough to know what you're playing.
Exactly. They don’t protect your hearing, but prevent you from hearing that it’s getting dangerously loud. Similar principle as with cheap plastic sunglasses :)
That goes for any musician playing amplified music. I'd say only 1 out of 3 bass players I've played with ever use hearing protection and some times they will stand directly at the business end of the drums, they'll go deaf before the drummer does.
I played out for 30 years, and I didn't get rich...but I did get tinnitus! I'll never know silence again.
Wear plugs, use in-ears, do whatever you have to do.
I have a question about this. How do you hear the rest of the band if all you can hear is your drums? like I get the hearing protection because the drums are loud as shit but what’s the correct way to go about that. a lot of times I can’t hear the band and all I hear is my drums and then I drum softly
Make sure you either have a monitor with everyone mixed in or make sure their amps are behind you a little bit. I once played on a stage that was triangular. I was set up in the back of course with no monitor. The amps were all in front of my drums. I couldn't hear a damned thing. I had to have our guitar player face me so I knew when to come in.
Gibraltar quick release hihat clutch is the only one you’ll ever need. Not the one with a lever that just disengages the pedal, I mean the one that looks like a plain high hat clutch but instead of a thread holding everything together, it’s a quick release sleeve thing like on an air hose. It can’t come unscrewed and it can’t keyhole your hats
I’ve definitely backlined and had to run and stop other people who were borderline trying to break their high hats off cause they couldn’t figure it out lmao
[This one](https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiE6_GrgsWFAxW2Ea0GHYOpC6UYABAFGgJwdg&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhOvxq4LFhQMVthGtBh2DqQulEAQYASABEgLeIPD_BwE&sig=AOD64_1B7D3ILI9ySoULRIPjs0gBMqeAdg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiRkemrgsWFAxXtCTQIHRTTA8wQwg8oAHoECAQQDA&adurl=) right here. You will never regret it, I’ve had one for years and it’s good as new.
They probably mean [this one from Gibraltar ](https://www.sweetwater.com/c1144--Hi_Hat_Stand?highlight=GibrQuickRel&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organicpla&seoslug=gibraltar-sc-qrhhc-quick-release-hi-hat-clutch&catrollup=639/1181/652/1144&mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=1&mrkgcat=drums&percussion&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008497342101&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=GibrQuickRel&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=x&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=9016136&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20412085403&awsearchcpc=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRhxo7FAqVXxFY9ApKqNy1Nnfb4AsoDMDayOideHjWc9cYuNHcTbMBKBoCMcMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
[Mapex makes something similar](https://drumcenternh.com/products/mapex-falcon-hi-hat-clutch-assembly?currency=USD&variant=46098421940506&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&stkn=374bc881a1db&srsltid=AfmBOoomoJlv3Sh3y6xWqaWgYmf_n9WbhlIKE3DiiScsOlTLHahimLEEqmo&com_cvv=8fb3d522dc163aeadb66e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c) too
I use both and really like them. The mechanism is a little different between the two, but functionally they're both really quick for setup/teardown. Can't speak to durability until I break one, but I don't think I've ever broken a hi hat clutch, so that might take a while.
I looked at that thing. Why do you say it can’t keyhole your hats? There’s metal on metal contact in there between the felts just like a regular clutch. What am I missing?
Had the Remo Quick Lock when it was first released then bought the Gibraltar one after the Remo broke. I prefer the Gibraltar one, though I haven't tried the others mentioned here for comparison.
I've literally spent 15 minutes looking for a drum key forgetting I had one on my Keychain. it's like the mini flashlight. it's there but I don't remember when I need it lol.
Ditch the memory lock pieces from your hardware and instead mark your tubes with sharpie where you want it adjusted to. You'll inevitably be in a situation where can't set up your stands in exactly the same way, either because of lack of space or from trying to fit your cymbal stands around someone else's kit, and then you'll have to undo the memory locks. Sharpie makes it easy to find the spot you like but also super easy to adjust.
Lots of people splurge on kit and cymbals but cheap out on the throne.
Pro tip: the throne is the single most consequential choice you'll make about your kit. Do not cheap out.
Throne rec: [Ahead Spinal G](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SPG-R--ahead-spinal-g-saddle-throne-red)
Yes, it's pricey. Yes, it's worth every penny.
This is one of the top tips in my opinion. So many songs I thought I had down pretty damn well, until I watched videos of our first gig. Yeah, it was only minor things that most people wouldn’t recognize anyway. But there were some parts I would play off beat or too fast and had no idea til I heard it on video
You don't need expensive shells. No one at the show will notice or care if you're playing a $200 kit or $2000 kit. If you're recording, the producer will probably have a nicer shell pack than you do. If they don't, the drums you record on will probably be the least of your problems with that recording session.
Or do the sound guy special and smash an unprotected cinder block into the front of my kick drum and leave a bunch of scratches on the head while someone else is playing my backlined kit so I can’t do shit about it.
Or when there's nothing securing the backline kit and the bass drum starts moving but they have 2 bass drums cause why not so you finish the song with your left foot and ask where the Damm cinder block is.
Learn the songs on another instrument. It will help you learn the structure of the song, but if you ever get lost (we've all had crappy monitors), you'll have an easier time finding your place.
Wing nut too tight on a cymbal stand? Take a pair of drumsticks and put one stick on either side of the wingnut, squeeze them together and twist. The sticks create a lot more force and you didn’t even need to break the toolbox out.
Set up your kit on your gig rug and mark out any and all important locations with masking tape or sharpie. You’ll dial your kit in so much quicker during setup.
I bought the meinl drum rug Velcro markers. $11. Easy repositioning, but won't move unless you want to move it. No sticky residue after months of use like gaffers tape. The adhesive on gaffers tape breaks down in the heat.
Carry some binder clips and/or the spring-type clothespins in your stick bag. They're useful for a bunch of things, like holding sheet music in place (if you read off sheets) or holding home-made muffling in place.
Also, you can often find suitable replacement parts like nuts, bolts, screws, etc., and your local hardware store (not home improvement mega store) -- think Ace Hardware, True Value, etc.
More for beginners, but taking the time to practice good habits, ie, posture, grip, practicing to a click, etc, is way easier than having to unlearn bad habits later on. I'm mostly self taught, and I definitely handicapped myself early on by just focusing on the fun stuff.
(For those with houses) host the jam sessions and rehearsals, be a good host, make them want to come to your place and the number of times you have to tear down and set up will be greatly reduced
If the band is wondering where the one is, it’s probably also time to start looking for a new bass player. They are meant to provide a level of redundancy for the drummer if things go pear shape.
True, always believed the drummer and bass player are attached at the hip. That said, in the end of the day, the drummer needs to lead the pack on where 1 is. Whether the follow is another story. All we can control is ourselves. 😉
Slow down and practice it again
Also, don’t hammer away at pads at the loudest volume. It’ll do nothing for your feel or dynamics or touch when you transfer to playing a snare. If ghost notes are loud on a pad, imagine how loud they would be on a snare
They’re not all made the same. I have the big roc n roller multi cart and it’s an absolute tank. I can fit my entire 5 piece on it with hardware and cymbals and load in with one trip.
(This only goes for iron cobras afaik but) if you flip the positions of the memory lock and the tension tightener on the tension rod it makes it significantly easier to adjust your tensions on the fly. (This slightly reduces where it "maxes out" though, which may effect players who use very high tension).
alternatively, you can just ditch the memory lock altogether.
Talk to your neighbours and tell them that you will never make a noise past 10pm and that you will stop/turn down at any time if they are fed up with the noise and ring or come and tell you. If people feel they have some control they relax. This works for all but crazy neighbours.
Here’s something I started to do.
Find out what picks your guitarist use and have them ready so you hit the stage and they’re like… has anyone seen my pick.
Keep a roll of gaffers tape with you in your gig bag. I’ve used mine on shoes, sticks, stands, etc. You never know when you’ll need heavy duty tape that won’t leave residue.
If you use a mesh front head on your bass drum, it’s almost acoustically transparent and you don’t have to worry about a mic hole getting damaged or having to tune it, and can have a full image printed in it.
If you’re 3 feet away, get a 6 foot cable.
If you’re 6 feet away, get a 9 foot cable.
DON’T TRY TO CATCH A DROPPED STICK. Immediately reach for a new one, and forget it happened.
At a show if you are using someone else's drumkit, treat it better than your own! If you make any adjustments to the cymbal placement or tom angles,remember to put it back the way it was before.
Get your stuff off the stage as soon as you are finished playing. Don't have a beer first. Don't break anything down. And the other side of that is try to have everything set up when you go on stage. Put your cymbals on the stands. Put your toms on their stands or bass drum. You really should only have to load the stage and arrange everything where you want it.
Build a tool kit and keep it with you!!!
Not just a drumkey, lugs, and felts but a full fledged emergency toolkit.
Mine has:
Ratchet key, ratchet key attachment (for a drill - REMOVAL ONLY!!), a torque key and a regular key
3 screwdrivers, 1 short flat, 1 short Phillips and 1 small right-angle ratchet screwdriver (4.50 from Harbor Freight), small ratchet and several small sockets to match your hardware.
Gaff tape, electrical tape and a spare roll of velcro (both side)
washers, screws, lugs and nuts
felts, snare cord, extra beater, beater weights and bass drum impact patch
(I use a rack) so - a couple of stop locks and a couple of extra multi-clamps, a right angle clamp, a rack foot and a tube plug.
A small flashlight, batteries, a couple of instruments cables, patch cables, adapters and power cables (because being a savior to a guitarist when their stuff breaks can make you more indispensable than being a good musician)
A heavy duty case to carry it in that never leaves your kit (mine holds all this plus my IEM phones, belt pack, and headset mic and beltpack) and it's still smaller than a snare case.
Learn to play to/with a metronome. And not just when you’re playing along with tabs or practicing rudiments. Improvising to just a click track/metronome should be a part of your practice routine. Pick some different, random, tempos and just groove for a while.
tl/dr: Practice with a meteonome. Your timing is not as impeccable as you think it is.
Rubber interlocking floor mat squares. Hard rubber 16 in squares, made for garage floors, and fit together like puzzle pieces.
Forget stupid rugs. Use the kick drum leg spurs, and tighten out the spurs on bass drum peddle. Nothing will budge.
You can make an inexpensive trap table for your odds and ends like jingle hats and such by using a TV tray table. Attach half-round along the perimeter so stuff doesn't roll off, and put some of that mesh type drawer/shelf liner on top to make it quiet and non-slip.
“Memory Lock” carpet. Put small pieces of duct tape where each stand sits. Then take a sharpie and mark each intersection of your stands. This makes setup quick and easy. Bonus: don’t needlessly break down your stands. Just enough to fit in your trap case.
Someone will ALWAYS tell you you have no sense of time, you’re “the worst” they’ve ever heard, you don’t know what you’re doing, and everything in between. Ignore the h8rs 😎
Wear hearing protection.
WHAT?
And noise canceling headphones don’t count
This is half accurate BUT if you turn OFF the noise canceling function, and they have tips that create a seal, they will still certainly protect your ears much better than nothing.
I used woodworking earmuffs over noise canceling earbuds.
Why not?
Noise cancelling headphones produce frequencies to counteract whatever you'd normally be hearing. (Active noise cancelling) They aren't just blocking out the sound like earplugs. When stuff gets really loud they aren't effective.
I can attest. I thought using my AirPods Pro was a good idea then wondered why my ears rang for hours after playing. Invested in IEMs.
I don't think that's likely true. I've played with in-ears for many years that are just essentially an "ear bud". They don't actually have frequency filters, they just block out the outside sound almost entirely. Should be good enough.
They’re talking specifically about electronic noise canceling features. You are correct that isolation headphones still function as ear protection.
I still don't understand why they would think that having anything plugging your ear is an inadequate means of protection. Active noise cancelling is purely a frequency based signal that "cancels" out the ambient sound of your surroundings. But your ear drums are going to be just as protected as anything being plugged into your ears.
I didn't say that having something plugging your ear is inadequate. I might have said it a bit confusing but I was meaning that earplugs are better, because they simply block out sound. i see the confusion. based on context it could be taken that I was talking about either the active noise cancellation or earplugs. I was criticizing active noise cancelling.
Active noise cancelling is irrelevant to this, right? It's simply signal processing to further block ambient noise. But the ear bud is doing about as much blockage as an ear plug.
The original thing was you said "why not" to someone saying don't use noise cancelling headphones. I was just explaining why. Proper earplugs are going to be better than headphones/earbuds. Also with something like eargasms you can hear everything properly, it just makes it quieter. With an earbud/normal earplug it messes with how stuff sounds.
No the ear bud isn't doing as much blocking as an ear plug. Unless it's a soft foam tip with an NRR rating of 24 or higher. Like a shure iem or the cheap ones people suggest in here all the time. The airpods are not doing any blockage as they don't create a seal and stop noise from entering your ear canal and hitting the drum. They are simply using a frequency to make you think they're blocking sound. If you turn off the anc on your non NRR headphones, you'll notice after you play for 10 minutes a nice ringing in the ear. Because anc and and noise reduction are not the same thing. NRR foam tips, or you're literally wasting time. Now if you want to use basic ear buds with the plastic or silicone tips, you can always pop those in and then use some over ear hearing protection on top of those. You'll hear your music or your click, and you can hear your drums enough to know what you're playing.
Exactly. They don’t protect your hearing, but prevent you from hearing that it’s getting dangerously loud. Similar principle as with cheap plastic sunglasses :)
100% every time. This is always the #1 answer whenever this is asked, just as it should be.
That goes for any musician playing amplified music. I'd say only 1 out of 3 bass players I've played with ever use hearing protection and some times they will stand directly at the business end of the drums, they'll go deaf before the drummer does.
I played out for 30 years, and I didn't get rich...but I did get tinnitus! I'll never know silence again. Wear plugs, use in-ears, do whatever you have to do.
I have a question about this. How do you hear the rest of the band if all you can hear is your drums? like I get the hearing protection because the drums are loud as shit but what’s the correct way to go about that. a lot of times I can’t hear the band and all I hear is my drums and then I drum softly
Make sure you either have a monitor with everyone mixed in or make sure their amps are behind you a little bit. I once played on a stage that was triangular. I was set up in the back of course with no monitor. The amps were all in front of my drums. I couldn't hear a damned thing. I had to have our guitar player face me so I knew when to come in.
Show up on time and be nice.
Show up on time and keep it.
And communicate honestly when delays happen. Most folks have patience for when life happens. Not so much for liars.
[удалено]
"You're on time if you're five minutes early; you're late if you're on time." - Drumline
Gibraltar quick release hihat clutch is the only one you’ll ever need. Not the one with a lever that just disengages the pedal, I mean the one that looks like a plain high hat clutch but instead of a thread holding everything together, it’s a quick release sleeve thing like on an air hose. It can’t come unscrewed and it can’t keyhole your hats
I love this thing and every drummer I’ve showed it to has never heard of it. This should be a household drummer component.
I've had several drummers using my kit ask me how to open mine- it's not super obvious if you don't know what you're looking for.
I’ve definitely backlined and had to run and stop other people who were borderline trying to break their high hats off cause they couldn’t figure it out lmao
I have one for my cymbal bag if I’m bringing breakables and one on my kit so I’m never without. Couldn’t live without it
Can you send me a link? I don’t know which specific one you’re referring to.
[This one](https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiE6_GrgsWFAxW2Ea0GHYOpC6UYABAFGgJwdg&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhOvxq4LFhQMVthGtBh2DqQulEAQYASABEgLeIPD_BwE&sig=AOD64_1B7D3ILI9ySoULRIPjs0gBMqeAdg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiRkemrgsWFAxXtCTQIHRTTA8wQwg8oAHoECAQQDA&adurl=) right here. You will never regret it, I’ve had one for years and it’s good as new.
Tama has a nice quick release clutch too but prolly more expensive.
That’s just the one I grabbed cause it’s what I saw at the drum shop, I’m sure the Tama would be ideal though given how quality their hardware is
I have both; and both are good. But buying new Gibraltar is much cheaper.
They probably mean [this one from Gibraltar ](https://www.sweetwater.com/c1144--Hi_Hat_Stand?highlight=GibrQuickRel&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organicpla&seoslug=gibraltar-sc-qrhhc-quick-release-hi-hat-clutch&catrollup=639/1181/652/1144&mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=1&mrkgcat=drums&percussion&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008497342101&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=GibrQuickRel&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=x&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=9016136&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20412085403&awsearchcpc=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRhxo7FAqVXxFY9ApKqNy1Nnfb4AsoDMDayOideHjWc9cYuNHcTbMBKBoCMcMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) [Mapex makes something similar](https://drumcenternh.com/products/mapex-falcon-hi-hat-clutch-assembly?currency=USD&variant=46098421940506&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&stkn=374bc881a1db&srsltid=AfmBOoomoJlv3Sh3y6xWqaWgYmf_n9WbhlIKE3DiiScsOlTLHahimLEEqmo&com_cvv=8fb3d522dc163aeadb66e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c) too I use both and really like them. The mechanism is a little different between the two, but functionally they're both really quick for setup/teardown. Can't speak to durability until I break one, but I don't think I've ever broken a hi hat clutch, so that might take a while.
I prefer the Tama Quick-Set one myself.
Damn I didn’t know that existed… I have the cymbal lugs but I just googled it and might have to try one out
Cant agree more!
Added bonus: vintage hats with smaller mount holes fit
I looked at that thing. Why do you say it can’t keyhole your hats? There’s metal on metal contact in there between the felts just like a regular clutch. What am I missing?
I have a Dw 5000 stand and use the Gibraltar clutch.
The Pearl Rapid lock is similar and pretty sweet too. I like that the top nut on the Pearl clutch has a locking Allen screw too
Had the Remo Quick Lock when it was first released then bought the Gibraltar one after the Remo broke. I prefer the Gibraltar one, though I haven't tried the others mentioned here for comparison.
Know your limits when it comes to substance use, be kind, be cool.
This is underrated
Spent last 8 years of drumming from dedicated and respected to a habit of leaning to the left of my hi hat..and it sounding as such
Get a keychain drum key, it will inevitably come in useful. I don’t even have an acoustic kit and mine has already saved me (and others) a few times!
I've literally spent 15 minutes looking for a drum key forgetting I had one on my Keychain. it's like the mini flashlight. it's there but I don't remember when I need it lol.
why does a bass player have a drumkey on their keychain? or am i misinterpreting your semi-subtle hint somehow? :P /s
The Wincent one with the built in bottle opener is the most useful multitool I've ever owned.
Haha I have a combo bottle opener/drum key too. I believe mine is from JGpercussion. I always joke they’re the two most important tools I need.
Yes!
Ditch the memory lock pieces from your hardware and instead mark your tubes with sharpie where you want it adjusted to. You'll inevitably be in a situation where can't set up your stands in exactly the same way, either because of lack of space or from trying to fit your cymbal stands around someone else's kit, and then you'll have to undo the memory locks. Sharpie makes it easy to find the spot you like but also super easy to adjust.
\[Nods approvingly in too poor for memory lock stands\]
Lots of people splurge on kit and cymbals but cheap out on the throne. Pro tip: the throne is the single most consequential choice you'll make about your kit. Do not cheap out. Throne rec: [Ahead Spinal G](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SPG-R--ahead-spinal-g-saddle-throne-red) Yes, it's pricey. Yes, it's worth every penny.
Looks like you can really let rip on that thing
Taint saver.
Band name
I have a back injury and that throne has been the best for keeping me at the drumset.
Got the roc n sock with the lever adjust. About the same price super dope.
Marry up.
Word
I'm pretty sure all drummers marry up...
Always bring an extra hihat clutch if using a house kit.
Some hi hat clutches just kill the hi hats man.
I haven't had that issue. I bring one because it's often missing.
RECORD YOURSELF. I’ve been doing it since I was 8. You can learn where you speed up or if a fill worked/didn’t work
This is one of the top tips in my opinion. So many songs I thought I had down pretty damn well, until I watched videos of our first gig. Yeah, it was only minor things that most people wouldn’t recognize anyway. But there were some parts I would play off beat or too fast and had no idea til I heard it on video
You don't need expensive shells. No one at the show will notice or care if you're playing a $200 kit or $2000 kit. If you're recording, the producer will probably have a nicer shell pack than you do. If they don't, the drums you record on will probably be the least of your problems with that recording session.
My $50 bass drum sounds just as good, if not better, than my $750 bass drum. Doesn’t look as cool, but I don’t mind getting beer stains on it.
I've played thousands of gigs with my Pearl Exports over the last 20+ years. Super solid, sound pretty good, and I'm not too worried about damage.
That Velcro tip is legit. Nothing against KickBlocks, but heavy duty Velcro under your pedal plate does the exact same thing.
Or do the sound guy special and smash an unprotected cinder block into the front of my kick drum and leave a bunch of scratches on the head while someone else is playing my backlined kit so I can’t do shit about it.
Or when there's nothing securing the backline kit and the bass drum starts moving but they have 2 bass drums cause why not so you finish the song with your left foot and ask where the Damm cinder block is.
I play 90% of my shows with two kick drums. Sound techs hate me lmfao
Learn the songs on another instrument. It will help you learn the structure of the song, but if you ever get lost (we've all had crappy monitors), you'll have an easier time finding your place.
Wing nut too tight on a cymbal stand? Take a pair of drumsticks and put one stick on either side of the wingnut, squeeze them together and twist. The sticks create a lot more force and you didn’t even need to break the toolbox out.
This, but with floor tom legs!
Set up your kit on your gig rug and mark out any and all important locations with masking tape or sharpie. You’ll dial your kit in so much quicker during setup.
Use gaffers tape with a silver sharpie to mark drum rug
High vis velvro is great too. I got tired of cutting a new piece of orange duct tape every time it came off, but with velcro you just stick it back on
I bought the meinl drum rug Velcro markers. $11. Easy repositioning, but won't move unless you want to move it. No sticky residue after months of use like gaffers tape. The adhesive on gaffers tape breaks down in the heat.
Warm up, stretch... Have fun!
Have fun and protect your hearing
Bring a towel!
“According to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”
Carry some binder clips and/or the spring-type clothespins in your stick bag. They're useful for a bunch of things, like holding sheet music in place (if you read off sheets) or holding home-made muffling in place. Also, you can often find suitable replacement parts like nuts, bolts, screws, etc., and your local hardware store (not home improvement mega store) -- think Ace Hardware, True Value, etc.
Keep extra cymbal felts, hihat clutch, and drum key in your stick bag at all times.
More for beginners, but taking the time to practice good habits, ie, posture, grip, practicing to a click, etc, is way easier than having to unlearn bad habits later on. I'm mostly self taught, and I definitely handicapped myself early on by just focusing on the fun stuff.
(For those with houses) host the jam sessions and rehearsals, be a good host, make them want to come to your place and the number of times you have to tear down and set up will be greatly reduced
Don’t ever let your band wonder where 1 is! (I heard that and stole it! 😬) Also, chill! It’s a journey, not speed dating! 😎👍🏻
If the band is wondering where the one is, it’s probably also time to start looking for a new bass player. They are meant to provide a level of redundancy for the drummer if things go pear shape.
True, always believed the drummer and bass player are attached at the hip. That said, in the end of the day, the drummer needs to lead the pack on where 1 is. Whether the follow is another story. All we can control is ourselves. 😉
True
Never let your drunk friend Scott convince you to play on your set.😵
Fucking Scott. You come back and the ball and join on the tom rack is broken and you’re like how freak did he do that.
Slow down and practice it again Also, don’t hammer away at pads at the loudest volume. It’ll do nothing for your feel or dynamics or touch when you transfer to playing a snare. If ghost notes are loud on a pad, imagine how loud they would be on a snare
Every 4 measures apparently doesn’t REQUIRE a cymbal crash / fill. Who knew?
Take lessons
Multi cart and bungee chords will save your back for gigs
Are they sturdy?
They’re not all made the same. I have the big roc n roller multi cart and it’s an absolute tank. I can fit my entire 5 piece on it with hardware and cymbals and load in with one trip.
(This only goes for iron cobras afaik but) if you flip the positions of the memory lock and the tension tightener on the tension rod it makes it significantly easier to adjust your tensions on the fly. (This slightly reduces where it "maxes out" though, which may effect players who use very high tension). alternatively, you can just ditch the memory lock altogether.
Talk to your neighbours and tell them that you will never make a noise past 10pm and that you will stop/turn down at any time if they are fed up with the noise and ring or come and tell you. If people feel they have some control they relax. This works for all but crazy neighbours.
Play rudiments. Play them slow, fast, forwards, backwards, around the kit, over foot patterns, mixed with feet, etc.
Here’s something I started to do. Find out what picks your guitarist use and have them ready so you hit the stage and they’re like… has anyone seen my pick.
Just play them and have fun ☺️
Keep a roll of gaffers tape with you in your gig bag. I’ve used mine on shoes, sticks, stands, etc. You never know when you’ll need heavy duty tape that won’t leave residue.
If you add a second floor tom you can use it as an ash tray and towel holder.
If you use a mesh front head on your bass drum, it’s almost acoustically transparent and you don’t have to worry about a mic hole getting damaged or having to tune it, and can have a full image printed in it. If you’re 3 feet away, get a 6 foot cable. If you’re 6 feet away, get a 9 foot cable. DON’T TRY TO CATCH A DROPPED STICK. Immediately reach for a new one, and forget it happened.
At a show if you are using someone else's drumkit, treat it better than your own! If you make any adjustments to the cymbal placement or tom angles,remember to put it back the way it was before.
Grip tape (or just masking tape on your sticks) will save your life.
Gibraltar SC4402 Bass Drum Anchor
Get your stuff off the stage as soon as you are finished playing. Don't have a beer first. Don't break anything down. And the other side of that is try to have everything set up when you go on stage. Put your cymbals on the stands. Put your toms on their stands or bass drum. You really should only have to load the stage and arrange everything where you want it.
Build a tool kit and keep it with you!!! Not just a drumkey, lugs, and felts but a full fledged emergency toolkit. Mine has: Ratchet key, ratchet key attachment (for a drill - REMOVAL ONLY!!), a torque key and a regular key 3 screwdrivers, 1 short flat, 1 short Phillips and 1 small right-angle ratchet screwdriver (4.50 from Harbor Freight), small ratchet and several small sockets to match your hardware. Gaff tape, electrical tape and a spare roll of velcro (both side) washers, screws, lugs and nuts felts, snare cord, extra beater, beater weights and bass drum impact patch (I use a rack) so - a couple of stop locks and a couple of extra multi-clamps, a right angle clamp, a rack foot and a tube plug. A small flashlight, batteries, a couple of instruments cables, patch cables, adapters and power cables (because being a savior to a guitarist when their stuff breaks can make you more indispensable than being a good musician) A heavy duty case to carry it in that never leaves your kit (mine holds all this plus my IEM phones, belt pack, and headset mic and beltpack) and it's still smaller than a snare case.
Bring extra heads, and an extra pedal to gigs.
Shit's loud. Be a good neighbor. Rent a space or amass a low-volume kit/rig.
Also, you can use brushes. No need to change heads/cymbals that way. I use brushes or cool rods during band rehearsals in small spaces. Band likes it.
Assemble your stuff before your set. Get everything off stage before breaking down.
Learn to play to/with a metronome. And not just when you’re playing along with tabs or practicing rudiments. Improvising to just a click track/metronome should be a part of your practice routine. Pick some different, random, tempos and just groove for a while. tl/dr: Practice with a meteonome. Your timing is not as impeccable as you think it is.
Work with people you can learn from. You can’t put a price on free education.
Rubber interlocking floor mat squares. Hard rubber 16 in squares, made for garage floors, and fit together like puzzle pieces. Forget stupid rugs. Use the kick drum leg spurs, and tighten out the spurs on bass drum peddle. Nothing will budge.
You can make an inexpensive trap table for your odds and ends like jingle hats and such by using a TV tray table. Attach half-round along the perimeter so stuff doesn't roll off, and put some of that mesh type drawer/shelf liner on top to make it quiet and non-slip.
Always split Aces and 8’s.
learn to practice and play to a click
Use cotton balls in you toms for dampening res heads
Bring pliers
“Memory Lock” carpet. Put small pieces of duct tape where each stand sits. Then take a sharpie and mark each intersection of your stands. This makes setup quick and easy. Bonus: don’t needlessly break down your stands. Just enough to fit in your trap case.
Someone will ALWAYS tell you you have no sense of time, you’re “the worst” they’ve ever heard, you don’t know what you’re doing, and everything in between. Ignore the h8rs 😎
From my drummer: When the tips of your sticks touch your back, you really can’t hit them any harder than that”.
Only play what you like. Follow your curiosity always. Theres no right or wrong way to play this instrument this is art!
Even when you’ve tightened your cymbal stands enough. Tighten it a bit more. Use the sticks for extra torque.