Did you know that most drummers who give up blame their kit set-up?
No - well that's because I made that up - but it could easily be true!
Don't be a statistic!
So you've got this big pile of drums and you're not entirely sure what to do with them and
whenever you put them together they end up looking more like this - and you wonder why
it hurts to play them?!
Well in this lesson I'm going to show you how to set up a basic 5 piece drum kit and
I'm going to give you 5 golden rules for setting up any drum kit.
Welcome to Beginner Drums!
First of all there is no right or wrong way of setting up a drum kit.
So don't worry about getting things exactly the way I'm going to be talking about things
here.
You set it up how you're comfortable playing the kit and you'll find over the years and
over time you'll adjust bits of the kit and get things exactly how you like it, but this
is just really a basic guide so you understand from square one - from first getting your
kit and you have no idea how to set it up - this should give you a good grounding on
where to start.
Technically we're going to be starting with the bass drum but you'll not be able to see
the stool very well once the bass drum is in - I've got little marks on the floor so
I know where I'm going to be putting it and the main reason for that is otherwise the
lighting, camera etc. won't really match up.
With the stool again, have it at a height that's comfortable - I've got my legs pointing
down slightly at a slight angle, you can probably see there they're not quite horizontal, just
at a slight angle pointing downwards.
So, first things first - bass drum...
Line it up on my dots...
So the reason I'm starting with the bass drum as opposed to anything else is that the bass
drum is the hardest thing to move around - get that in the right place and then work away
from there.
When you're setting the bass drum up you want to make sure that the spurs at the front are
fully extended and that they're pointing forwards not backwards.
You can have these at any angle you want but if you point them backwards
the bass drum is going to flop forwards so you don't want that.
So point them forwards slightly.
Most bass drums have got spikes - I find I never really need to use the spikes but if
you do find your bass drum is drifting away from you you might want to use the spikes
- with these particular ones you just screw this back and the spikes extend like that...
But you don't want to be using spikes if you can get away with it because they will damage
whatever floor surface you're on and you don't want to get a bill from whatever club you're
working in.
So put them away and use the locking nut to keep them in place.
The next thing to do is to put your bass drum pedal and hi hats in - I use a double bass
drum pedal but it's exactly the same rules if you're just using a single pedal.
Connect up you bass drum pedal and then get your hi hats and position them comfortably
with the pedal under your left foot (assuming you're right handed that is).
Get yourself behind the kit, get one foot on the bass drum pedal and you just want your
legs a comfortable distance apart - you don't want your legs over here - that would be ridiculous.
At the same time if you have your legs really close together you're not going to have enough
room for your snare drum.
So this distance works really well for me and you'll see once we get the snare drum
in I really couldn't have them much closer together than that, so we're going to do the
snare drum next.
So the snare drum goes in the gap between my two bass drum pedals - or between your
bass drum and hi hat.
So that's where my snare drum is going - that's quite comfortable, it means I can use my double
bass pedal, as I say you couldn't get it any closer or my knees will hit the snare drum,
but that's comfortable and I can get on to my hi hat nicely.
In terms of the height of the snare I have it at roughly waist height and that works
quite well for me, I can get on rim shots, I can do normal snare playing and it's a comfortable
height.
Once you've got your snare at a comfortable height get your hi hats at a comfortable height
relative to the snare.
Once you're comfortable with the position of your bass drum, snare and hi hats it's
time to add some toms.
Now this kit, and pretty much any piece of drum hardware that you buy, will have a thing
known as memory locks on them.
I'll probably do a separate video on memory locks just so you can understand the best
way of using them.
The great thing about memory locks, the whole point of it, is that you don't have to think
about where you're putting it - once you've got it at the right height you set your memory
lock in the right position and then I know that's the right height for that tom.
But, you don't know what the right height for your toms are 'cause this is the first
time you're setting up the kit!
So for the minute if you've got memory locks loosen them all so they're not getting in
the road.
So this is a 5 piece fusion kit and that normally means you get 2 toms that mount on the bass
drum and the low tom mounts on a cymbal stand.
It's actually more common for the low tom to stand on it's own 3 feet - known as a floor
tom.
Either way we've got 3 toms here - high, mid and low.
So with the toms you really want to start by getting the high and mid toms in the right
place relative to the snare drum.
So the way I like to have it is to have my toms as low down as they can possibly get
without hitting the bass drum, but also not having them at too much of a steep angle.
My mid tom is relative to my high tom.
It at roughly the same height and angle.
So play your kit and move your toms to the most comfortable and natural position and
remember what might be comfortable for you might not be comfortable for someone else
- ultimately it's up to YOU how you set up YOUR kit!
Once your toms are done the final thing to do is add your cymbals.
Now again, with this kit, it might me slightly different on yours, but with this kit and
this being a mounted tom it's attached to my ride cymbal stand.
So that goes there.
So the crash cymbal I've got in this nice little gap here - between my hi at and high
tom.
It's not impinging on anything - always check when you're putting your cymbals in that when
you hit them they're not going to hit any drums and that's fine there.
It gets a lot trickier when, in my full kit configuration I've normally got a couple of
splash cymbals here as well and it can get a little bit tricky to get the crash cymbal
and the two splash cymbals in a position where they don't hit each other but in this set
up where we've just got a crash here and a ride here it's nice and simple.
So the crash cymbal, I don't want it ridiculously high, if I'm doing a roll from my high tom
and need to hit the crash cymbal I don't want to be hitting it all the way up here.
So that's just a comfortable height for me.
So remember there's no right's and wrong's - you set it up how it's comfortable.
If you've already got it set up in a way that works for you leave it at that.
You can always tweak it over time - as I say this is more for people who are new to drums
and want to have their kit set up right from square one.
Finally here's 5 golden rules to remember when setting up a drum kit.
Rule number 1: Make sure no part of your kit is rubbing on any other part of your kit.
Metal on metal will rattle and eventually scratch your nice shiny hardware - metal on
wood will scratch your lovely drums within a matter of seconds!
Rule number 2: Your cymbals should never be touching anything metal.
Make sure your cymbal tilters always have a plastic or rubber bush between the screw
thread and your cymbal.
Rule number 3: Make sure your cymbals always have the correct size felts on the top and
bottom.
Remember METAL ON METAL IS BAD!
Rule number 4: Make sure your hi hat clutch always has a felt or rubber on both sides
of your top cymbal and that the bottom cymbal isn't touching any metal at all.
And finally Rule number 5: If you're not using rubber feet on your stands make sure you protect
the floor with mats or a proper drum rug - spikes are sharp and can easily damage floors.
So just remember when playing drums you want to make life easy for yourself!
If you find that one of your drums is in a position that just doesn't feel natural then
move it - nothing should feel strained or awkward when moving around your kit.
And remember we're all different - just because your favourite drummer has his kit set up
in a particular way doesn't mean it's going to work for you!
Your kit set up should be as unique as you and that's a beautiful thing man...
Yeah whatever, see you on the next one and don't forget to subscribe!