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Drums Havent been used in years, what do I need to do?
BrotherVoodoo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I borrowed a friends drums but he's gone AWOL and so I don't have his help with the drums but I have questions and no idea what I'm doing.
First I don't know how to set them up completely? So if anyone knows any good online tutorials.
Also, what do I need to do as far as adjustments or other things to avoid problems?
First I don't know how to set them up completely? So if anyone knows any good online tutorials.
Also, what do I need to do as far as adjustments or other things to avoid problems?
BrotherVoodoo on
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Well I found this video for setting up the drum kit; as far as it goes, it works. I'm sure the one you have is very similar to his.
1. Set your toms up reasonably flat, with no more than a slight tilt. You will see some people, yes even professionals, with aggressive 45 degree tilts on their toms. This is stupid. Undoubtedly, someone's going to come in here and fire their mouth off that "some people play that way, it's preference". No. It's fucking stupid. Think about how your wrist action works, remembering that most of your drumming power and finesse comes from your wrist. Hold your hand where it's supposed to be while you play, and see how much power you can get off a single stroke with a flat drum. Now do it with one of those ridiculous angles. You'll notice the stick doesn't go near as far. I also promise you it's not hitting the drum as solid. Honestly, one of the first impressions I get when I play with a new group is whether or not the drummer is doing this.
2. Go buy new heads. You can find videos on how to tune them (I'm at work and can't really look), but basically you will lay the new head on the drum, finger tighten all screws until they actually start to cause resistance, and then EVENLY tighten the screws by alternating opposite ends of the drum. What I mean by this is tighten one screw a bit...then tighten the screw opposite it on the drum an equal amount. Continue screw by screw, and then repeat until the drum is the right consistency. It's hard to explain on here how tight the head should be...but you'll notice the sound. You want your snare (most people anyways) to be tight as fuck. Toms should be crisp but not as tight. Additionally, if you take your finger or a drum stick and tap all around the outside of the head, it shouldn't sound different at different points...that means you didn't tighten evenly.
3. You may need new springs for the bass drum pedal. If you notice that the pedal doesn't rebound well off the drum, or if it is "too easy" to press down, come back here and we can talk about some tricks there.
4. While there are lots of different opinions on how to do this, I would recommend trying to keep your snare and toms as close to the same height as possible. This may or may not be feasible given your setup, and some people would violently disagree with me on this and (unlike with sharply angled toms) not be incorrect in their reasoning. But personally I found myself quicker, less prone to errors, and more solid when I rose my snare a bit, lowered my toms, sat up straight, and freely moved between them.
I'll come back here if I think of anything else. I'd recommend if you're really serious about getting into drumming, to get a few lessons using JUST a snare drum/practice pad and get your fundamentals down before you form any bad habits that are hard to break. Just remember, there's no "right" way to set up a kit but there are definitely some wrong ways.
PSN: TheScrublet
I violently agree with what you said!