Some more questions for drummers

Cafe Society
1

Let’s get right to 'em:

  1. What’s the deal with putting tape and pads on the drum head? Also, what’s with the pillow in the bass drum? Couldn’t the drums be manufactured in a way so that you didn’t need this?

  2. I’ve seen some right-handed drummers switch to a left-handed style in certain songs (that is, playing the snare with the right hand and the hi-hat with the left). Is this a common thing?

  3. Drum heads: clear vs. white - a difference in sound or personal preference?

  4. What makes one manufacturer better or worse than another?

  5. How often do you need to tune the drums?

  6. Some drummers angle the hi-toms towards themselves, while others (eg. Clem Burke of Blondie) will set them horizontally. Again, is this just a preference or is this advantageous in any way?

  7. I see that the majority of drum kits are set up the same way. Are there any drummers with “odd” setups?

  8. How many drums is too many? Neil Peart seems to have every type of drum there is. Is this just for show or does he (or any drummer) need that many things to hit? :smiley:

  9. Gongs? I remember someone say (sarcastically, I’m sure) that if the drummer had a gong, you shouldn’t take the band seriously.

Well, that’s enough for now.

Thanking you in advance…

2

I’m only a part time drummer, but I’ll take first shot at these.

1. What’s the deal with putting tape and pads on the drum head? Also, what’s with the pillow in the bass drum? Couldn’t the drums be manufactured in a way so that you didn’t need this?

In both cases of tape and pillows, it helps reduce ring.

Some snares have a pad inside which can be adjusted to reduce the ring as well, but most other drums don’t have this.
2. I’ve seen some right-handed drummers switch to a left-handed style in certain songs (that is, playing the snare with the right hand and the hi-hat with the left). Is this a common thing?

I haven’t really noticed this and I always play pretty straight forward, so I’ll let someone else answer this one.

3. Drum heads: clear vs. white - a difference in sound or personal preference?

Different drum heads make different sounds and react differently to how they’re played and with what (sticks, brushes, mallets, ect). Normally drummers have heads they prefer.

4. What makes one manufacturer better or worse than another?

For me, it is two things. Tone of the drums and the hardware on the drum. Cheap drum sets might sound ok but their hardware is one of the worse things about them. Stuff breaks, comes loose, etc. After you replace that stuff you might was well have bought a better set to begin with.

**5. How often do you need to tune the drums? **

I used to tune the set before each recording to have the drums mesh better in the song. Sometimes I’d want a crisper snare sound or a lower, more floppy tribal floor tom. As for other people, like live drummers,. I dunno. I’ve only played in studios.

6. Some drummers angle the hi-toms towards themselves, while others (eg. Clem Burke of Blondie) will set them horizontally. Again, is this just a preference or is this advantageous in any way?

I always had my toms at an angle for the ease of hitting them.

7. I see that the majority of drum kits are set up the same way. Are there any drummers with “odd” setups?

My old drummer had to hi hats. One in the regular place and the other over the floor tom. The foot petal for the “remote” hi hat was controled by a cable.

I think you’ll find most drummers have the basic 5 piece setup in the normal places but place their splashes and crashes as well as electronic pads in places that work best for them.

8. How many drums is too many? Neil Peart seems to have every type of drum there is. Is this just for show or does he (or any drummer) need that many things to hit? :smiley:

Personally, I think half of Pearts set is for show.

9. Gongs? I remember someone say (sarcastically, I’m sure) that if the drummer had a gong, you shouldn’t take the band seriously.

That sounds about right to me.

3

Nope. Peart uses ALL of 'em.

As does Barrimore Barlow of Jethro Tull fame.

But few drummers need that many. You have to be playing some wierd shit to need them.

4

I know this question has been asked before, but I’ll ask it again since this thread title inspired me.

What’s with the grip where the drummer holds the stick kind of across his hand instead of holding it as he would, for instance, a candle or a hatchet? Is it a jazz drummer thing? Does it have a particular name?

5

I assume you mean “traditional grip”, where the stick is held between the fingers across the palm. It’s from early military band marching drums where a snare was slung across the shoulder on a strap. The left hand couldn’t get to the skin without a grip like that because the drum sat at an angle. When drum kits were invented about 1840 all the early drummers were from marching bands.

6

I’ll take a shot at this. On preview Don’t Ask beat me to the first one, but I’ll leave my response.

What you see there is called “traditional grip”. Going way, way back, the snare drum was a large drum worn with a sling over the shoulder, used for a marching band or an army. Think about a large tub slung over your shoulder; most people are right handed, so the accepted way to carry the snare was ‘tucked’ under the left arm. Now, the head of the snare, in this position, would be angled away from you, pointing up. Hitting the head with a stick in your right hand would be pretty easy, but hitting it with your left hand became pretty awkward, requiring your left elbow to be sticking out at the height of your head. So, to counter this, the stick in the left hand was held perpendicular to the forearm. The traditional grip surivived into the creation of the trap kit (short for contraption; it was a way for a percussion section, usually performed by three musicians, to be done by one) and on through jazz. It’s still used by many people, but it’s association is with jazz, for many reasons. Jazz typically emphasizes lighter snare work, ghost notes, whereas with “rock” the beat needs more power, which is easier to do with matched grip. Traditional grip is also harder to learn, which has led to its falling out of favor.

Tuning drums is a painstaking art. Heads come in all different thicknesses, which effects the tone. The relationship of the thickness of the top head, the bottom head, the tension of both heads relative to each other, the thickness of the shell, the shell material, the rigidity of the rims and the means of hanging the drum ALL impact the tone. It’s exhausting. The general consensus is that the thinner the head, the more resonance it brings to the drum and the better it sounds. That’s all fine and good, but thin heads break more easily, so a drummer has to find a compromise between durability and the tone they’re after. Clear heads are generally thinner (with some exceptions) and smooth, whereas a white head has another plastic coating on it to give it some durability. White heads also have a texture, which is used on a snare in brushwork; they’re attempting to mimic the feel of animal hides that were traditionally used for heads.

Nearly every drum manufacturer makes a line of crappy drums, all the way up to their show pieces. Unfortunately, like the variety in head, there is no good answer as to what makes a drum sound good. A lot of it has to do with prefence and the taste of the day. For example, most top of the line kits are maple. Why? Well, people right now like the sound of maple, or they think they do because that’s what their favorite drummer plays. But there are plenty of other woods to make drums out of that all impart some quality, like birch, which is regarded as being “punchier” and lounder. All drum makers have a slightly different approach. What angle do you cut the bearing edges? Do you use a thin shell (gretsch) or a thick one (rogers)? Reinforcing hoops inside (Slingerland)? Die cast hoops (gretsch again) or bent (nearly everyone else)? Pairs of lugs on each end of the drum (lugwig, tama, yamaha, premier) or one continuous, high tension lug (ludwig, tama, yamaha, premier… they can’t make up their mind either)? The short answer is “whatever works for you”. That aside, a high end kit typically has some features. Well cut, sharp bearing edges that are flat. Some means of handing the drum that allows it to resonante. A shell made out of a single type of wood. Solid, durable hardware. Now, I could name exceptions for each item I listed, and this is very much a product of our times. A kit from 40 years ago would break each and every rule I listed, yet they can be the most coveted kits around (see the gretch roundbadges, the rogers kits, … the list goes on.)

7

I had always kind of wondered why drums were called a trap kit.

8

I’m pretty horrified by all my typos, but I’ll let someone else come up with a comment about “the variety in head”. Damn.
Some interesting kits:
Bill Bruford. Here is a link that shows how his setup has changed over the years. I find this one the most interesting.
On the other extreme, you have Terry Bozzio and his kit, which has to be seen to be believed

9

Interesting how Bruford goes from traditional to full-blown synth and back to traditional.

As for Bozzio’s setup - somewhere a roadie cries.

10

They are, in the way of heads. Most bass drumheads are predampened in some way in an often successful attempt to afford a loud-yet-not-ringy sound. Also, fancy dampening devices are manufacturered for the dampening of bass drums. Sometimes, though, this is all dropped in favor of a bass drum dampened with a pillow, blanket, etc., since it’s much easier for soundmen (especially live) to work with. Some people (myself included, at times) also appreciate the sound of such a dampened drum.

Ah, yes, open-handed technique. It’s a more economical way of playing, theoretically, and a changed approach can affect the feel of the song for the better.

Plenty, though not as many as there should be, perhaps; . The most common “mutation” would be reversing the order of the toms to encourage creativity in fills and such; traditionally they are placed from highest to lowest. Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, studio great) plays such a setup.

Another permutation would be placing the hi-hat cymbal at a different height or position entirely to facilitate either open-handed technique or better execution of dynamics, or both. Still others place a smaller bass drum to one side, a floor tom to the left of the hat, etc, etc. All of this is usually to enhance creative playing.

11

Traditional grip is also preferered for drum corps (marching band) type drumming because it allows you to do more interesting “visuals” or “flashes” – think flipping and twirling sticks, along with more creative choreographed stuff. Watch a drum corps and they’re constantly adding visuals to the music. Another benefit for trap drumming is it makes it easier to do cross sticking – where you lay the stick across the (usually) snare drum head and use hit the rim with the butt of the stick, more often used in jazz. Some also like it because it indicates a greater dedication to the instrument, i.e. it’s harder to learn to play traditional, so when you see someone doing it, you know they’re probably a serious drummer (of course there are exceptions on both sides). Also, usually once people learn traditional grip it’s feels wierd to go back to a matched grip, so they stick with trad.

Finally, it just looks cooler.