Kick Drum Placement

[palmerlouie]

kurt! YES....finally someone has questioned this.

why the hell does everyone set up with the bass drum dead straight? its so unatural. the reason weckl said in his videos "i like to play the pedal with my foot at an angle" is because its not really possible to play it straight!! you cant play the pedal straight up, unless your torso is facing left towards the hi-hat (which so many people do). they base their position around hi hat and snare, so when you go to the ride or any floor toms, your giving your torso stress because your having to bend round. very few people sit "central" at their drum set. if u look at pics a lot of people have their stool infront of the kick and snare to the left of that.....but the snare is the most important piece of the kit...the steering wheel if u like. the stool should be dead infront of the snare, with the double pedal and hi-hat (or just hi hat pedal) equally positioned either side of the snare, so your feet are at a 45 degree angle.

the only problem with having the bass drum angled this way is if you have your toms both mounted on the bass drum. this can be a problem. but the "standard" tom set up (i.e vinnie's kit set up) is also a little unatural. with the snare dead infront of you....your toms (if u have two) should sit on a stand either side of the snare....so, again, your central to them. if u have one tom its easier because u can hang it off a stand and place it anywhere. one other ajustment that has to be made, is that the hi-hat is more far away. this really took some getting used to....but actally its in a better place and a little higher.

these things mostly came from thomas....he taught me loads of stuff about this. and it took me about 2-3 months to sort out my set up. while there is no right or wrong way to set-up, these guidlines certainly helped me....and looking at nearly everyone elses kit....i just cant believe they sit that way...and that i used to. its as if everyone sets up wrong!! i saw a pic of dennis' kit and it made me gasp....his legs must be splayed everywhere.

i'll go find some pics and post so u can see what i mean.

[palmerlouie]

this pic totally demonstrates how not to sit. the stool is not infront of the snare and look at the bar of dennis'pedal, the left foot and leg is in a totally different place to the right. and he is not actually facing the audience....he is facing towards the left (completely towards the 8" tom).

however....dennis' hi-hat is probably the most important voice to him, so perhaps he needs it close. thats the only excuse :-)

[Kurt R]

That's pretty freaky on Chambers set up.

I'm goning to play around with my set right now even though the toms are mounted on the kick. Maybe I'll post a pic later on if I get it right.

[palmerlouie]

ok...now i cant post this actual pic...so go to:

www.sticktrix.com and then "gear" and then "pop idol tour kit"

that should bring up a pic of thomas' kit.

this is totally a natural way to sit. stool (and therefore body) directly infront of snare...pedals and toms positioned equally.

this stuff doesnt apply to guys using loads of toms or loads of chops! nowadays i often set up just bass drum with double pedal, hi-hat, snare and crash and ride. thats all. i use this to practice and when i played with a pop/funk band recently for a while. i just didnt need all the shit. just nice solid backbeat stuff....and the bass, snare and hats is what its all about. and this new and better way of sitting makes it feel soo much more natural and comfortable!

would a piano player sit and the piano and face the left...or sit right infront of the 1st octave? no.

the only guys i know of that set up like this is thomas, portnoy (when only using one bass drum) and mangini.

[chris perra]

i think the main thing about the suggestion of having your leg in a straight line with the bass drum is to keep your knee and ankle in a straight line. not neccesarily to have it right in front of the bass drum.

the angle of your legs should also take in to consideration your torso and waist movement. combining these two things should be enough to accomidate relaxed movement.

chris perra

[palmerlouie]

that probably is the reason. it is thought that your thigh, knee, ankle and foot must be in a straight line. but that is not natural. if one is to sit down on a chair...they will tend to sit with feet spread out slightly at a 45degree angle. thats just the way it is. you walk like this too, u dont walk with your feet dead straight......there are no straight lines in life.

[moosetication]

There's an interesting snippet on this at the beginning of the first disc of Portnoy's DVD. He's decribing his (essentially 5-piece) cut-down, single-kick LTE set and describing his initial difficulty when comparing it to his standard two-kick set. Then he just went back to basics, put his snare dead centre, the single kick where his right kick would normally be in the correct place for his right foot (that is, at an angle), and built up from there.

I also noticed Paul Doucette on the new MB20 DVD has a kick straight in front - but it seems to be for decoration only. He has another off outside his floor toms to the side, which seems to be his go-to kick.

I've been toying with my 5-piece kit in a kind of zero-effort fashion, using Visio on the PC. Sometime this week I'm gonna break it out of the bags in the garage and see what happens.

Anyone tried pedals like the Sonor GMP or the Point Tremolo Off-Set one - with the beaters on a central mount and the pedals are both actually slaves, one either side? That would allow for a more symmetrical set-up.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 25, 2004 06:54 PM: Message edited by: moosetication ]</font>

[Kurt R]

Today I was sitting at a bar stool thinking. When I set relaxed not thinking what my feet are doing they always seem to form a V around 45deg. Then I noticed that alot of people play drum with the kick straight infront of their leg. I was wondering if anybody has tried or liked playing with the kick at an angle like most dbl kick sets? I'm not sure if having it in a straight line or not would really matter in playing because most of the action comes from your ankle / foot anyway.

[Vdrummer]

We did a clinic with Wil Calhoun in June and he played a pedal like the Sonor GMP or Offset pedal, but his was made for him by Sleishman - at least I think that's the guy's name. I thought it was odd that he didn't use Sonor's version, as their pedals are very high quality, but not cheap!.

Brad

[burpen]

u guys r too by the book. do what feels right. i have my bass drum at an angle because thats how i like it and have had it that way after i had been playing almost a year. my hi hat pedal is angled as well. ba-hurten. [img]graemlins/smarty.gif[/img]