Re: What annoys you on peoples drum sets?
The problems that people have when they set up their kits seems to come from two main places: their lack of knowledge, and their desire to look cool.
The first is a simple one, and I know I had this problem. The tom angles are a good example--it's not wrong, per se, the drums can still be played in that form, but it's just not the most efficient method. As Nutha Jason alluded to, it basically makes playing the drums harder than it needs to be. When you're new and don't know how to set up a kit, of course you're going to do things that may not be optimal.
There was a thread a while back asking what would happen if cavemen were given a drumset--as in, how would they set it up, and how would they learn to play. Same principle here--just because a setup looks good to a person doesn't mean it's the best way to do something. If I'm learning how to play tennis, I may feel like the best way to play is to grip the racket with my teeth. That doesn't mean it's the best way to do it though, and when someone comes along and tells me to hold the racket in my hand, it will cause an immediate improvement in my playing.
I have a much greater problem with the second one, which happens when people try to look cool. It's great to have a drumming idol and someone to look up to, but that doesn't mean you should have to look up at your cymbals when you're playing
When people feel like they have to set their drums up in a certain way because it makes them look cool, there is indeed a problem. The cool factor doesn't come from how the set is configured, but by how the drummer uses it.
There is no right way to set up a kit. If there was, every drummer in the world would have an identical drumset, and who would want that? There are, however, some "do's and don'ts" to kit setup. Things such as setting your toms up in a ergonomic way and having your snare tilted at a correct angle for easy access to rimshots are all things that beginners can benefit from hearing.
We don't need to sit there and tell people "Your high tom should be 5 inches away from your snare drum and 4 inches from your next tom" but there is nothing at all wrong with saying "If you put your toms close together, you'll be able to move between them faster."
