Playing a four piece

To me, the pinnacle of excess and distraction isn't the monster kit (they are not terribly common) but the double pedal, which is everywhere. I do not think I have ever seen double pedals on a 4-piece, but they are on all monster kits and around half of the mid-sized kits.
 
I recognise and respect both sides but I cant really get into the extreme of either side.

I used to play a 9 pc Pearl dbl bass monster but I dont really dig giant kits much anymore, just a bit overkill for me.

Cant really get with a tiny kit either, at least not for an extended period of time.

Gotta have my somewhere in between 6 pc, 3 up, 1 down. Its Just how I roll I guess. :)
 
Deathmetalconga said:
I do not think I have ever seen double pedals on a 4-piece, but they are on all monster kits and around half of the mid-sized kits.
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The four piece kit in my picture had one. In high school bands most people use 4 piece kits because they are cheaper, but they NEED a double pedal. I don't think I've seen one come through a school talent show without one.
 
I often chuckle that some people will discuss the benefits of a 4 pc kit, but have 8 or 12 cymbals, and in reality, have more things to hit than than many drummers who have one or two more toms but use far less cymbals.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Use what you want and what is appropriate for the given situation.
 
sticks4drums said:
Sorry I brought it up on here. Wow! I will be over at the monster kit thread. It is safer over there.
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yes, leave the guys with the 1 string guitar and 13 note keyboard here..... who needs more than 1 octave? ;-)

Love the monster kits when using sticks..... when using brushes I'm satisfied with snare / bass / hats and 2 cymbals.... but I'm tempted to add a couple of toms.....
 
I guess in a way I progressed. Fifty years ago I started playing a three piece kit, then a four by adding my dad's 16" floor tom. In 1965 I bought my very own kit which was a 5 piece. Now I'll play any kit up to seven pieces. It's all up to the individual. No real debate, just play what you want.

Dennis
 
sticks4drums said:
Well many of you know me as the guy with the huge 14 piece Saturn. This weekend I took my little 4 piece Saturn Jungle kit up to my guitarist cottage to work out our new songs. Believe me, going from 14 to 4 is quite an adjustment. I will be building a 6 piece Saturn kit in the near future for gigging purposes, so this will help me simplify some of my fills.

I have heard many people on drum sites say that using a smaller kit makes them more creative. I have always taken offence by this statement. I think I might of been reading into it wrongly. It doesn't make your drumming sound more creative, you just have to learn to create things with less drums.

Friday and Saturday, I was struggling to play the little kit. I kept looking for more drums to hit. It really handcuffed my playing. By Sunday I was flying on this thing. I just learned how to do more with less. This was not a good thing sound wise to me. Just a practical thing. If you have to carry your kit around from gig to gig, you want to have less things to set up. You can still play what you have to play, you just won't have all the different sounds at your disposal.

When I sit back and listen to the simple iphone recording I did for our practice, the songs sound the same structure wise. I just don't hear the palate of sounds I normally do with more toms and cymbals to play.

Is less or more drums, better or worse. My answer would be play what works for your style of music.
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Well, duh!

If a little kit is not the way you roll, then don't roll that way. Roll your way. And if that's 14 pieces and x-amount of cymbals, then that's what you should do. Louie Bellson did it right - he insisted on using what he used and he didn't listen to anyone else about it. He just did it.

Now, to take away a little sunshine from that statement though, Louie was known to be an absolute monster player on anything he could get his hands on. Be it a lone snare drum, or a "little" four-piece kit, or his double bass explosion kit. Are you on that level?
 
DSCRAPRE said:
The four piece kit in my picture had one. In high school bands most people use 4 piece kits because they are cheaper, but they NEED a double pedal. I don't think I've seen one come through a school talent show without one.
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If someone "needs" double pedals, then they may also need a monster kit with seven toms, two snares, a gong drum, remote hats and 15 cymbals - for all the same reasons. I think the difference in perception is that monster kits are not very common, while four-pieces are very common. People can add (what I think) is unnecessary gear like double pedals, then look down their noses at monster kit players and all their "unnecessary" gear.

Personally I find that not using double pedals forces me to be more creative, to do more with less. I find no limits in just using a single bass pedal.
 
I recently decided to downsize my kit from a 5 to a 4 piece. One reason was that I liked my ride in the position that my rack tom used to be. Also even though it was only a five piece I felt like just by having that other tom there was forcing me to use it more. I felt like I was doing more rolls around the kit not actually thinking about what fills I was playing. I felt like I had to in a way get back to my basics of drumming. Most people start out learning on just the snare, and then expand out to more drums. I feel like I am progressing my skills and my technique more with less drums because I am forcing myself to be more creative with less. I may end up adding my other tom back eventually, but for now I actually like the 4 piece set up and have not found it limiting so far.
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
So where does that leave the humble Duallist?? :)
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The Duallist is a single pedal with the ability to chose a beat on the upstroke. I really have nothing against double pedals, or monster kits for that matter. I just see threads over and over and over again with people saying "I don't need a monster kit to be creative." OK, good for them. In that same spirit I'd add: "You don't need double pedals either to be creative." Both are just excess, which is fine and dandy with me.
 
I think it is all abou tdoing what works at the time. I don't feel constrained either way playing a large kit or a small kit. Recently I took only part of my kit out for a jazz gig.

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But I love playing on the larger version alot as well. I know what people are saying about worrying about not playing this drum or that drum...at first. But honestly I think that wear off with experience.

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TNA said:
I recently decided to downsize my kit from a 5 to a 4 piece. One reason was that I liked my ride in the position that my rack tom used to be. Also even though it was only a five piece I felt like just by having that other tom there was forcing me to use it more. I felt like I was doing more rolls around the kit not actually thinking about what fills I was playing. I felt like I had to in a way get back to my basics of drumming. Most people start out learning on just the snare, and then expand out to more drums. I feel like I am progressing my skills and my technique more with less drums because I am forcing myself to be more creative with less. I may end up adding my other tom back eventually, but for now I actually like the 4 piece set up and have not found it limiting so far.
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I went the other way: I've played 4 for a long time and just recently got back into the 5. But the funnier thing was that I went from three cymbals down to two, though. So the amount of pieces ends up the same!
 
At home I change my set-up quite alot.

At the moment I have my 4 Rack Toms, Two Floors, My Bass Drum and my Snare set up but at gigs I only really play a four piece if it's a house kit. If it's my kit I'd use a 5 piece maybe 6 (3 racks two floors). But I really like playing with two floor toms reason why :


  • At the moment, I don't have a double pedal. Though, I do plan to invest in one for optional reasons so my 16" Floor Tom acts as another bass drum at times. And I like playing that way.

    I prefer the floor tom to another rack tom. I only really use the second rack tom at times.

    You can reach any frequency with a floor tom with the right tuning.

I like my current set up. I just need to get another Mapex cymbal stand and a Tom Stand so I can actually position my 13" tom right.

But whenever I play a four piece, I can get some ideas out of it and set my cymbals up in better positions.
 
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