How do you position your snare drum?

J

jay norem

Guest
And why? I've just started thinking about this. I've noticed that some drummers position their snare with the strainer on the left, the hi-hat side so to speak. Myself, I've always positioned it with the strainer between my legs, facing me.
Is their any difference? I don't see how there could be, but anyway I started wondering about this.
 
Last edited:
I do what your example drummers do. I have just always put it there.
 
Sinsyk, your signature is great. Did you say that, or someone else? Either way, it's spot on.
So you position yours with the strainer on the left. Thanks.
 
just put in where it feels most comfortable, im still trying work on where to put it myself and ive had the same kit for about 1 year now.

Oh yeah, I'm just talking about where your strainer ends up.
 
I position my strainer in the 9 o'clock position. Always have. I think that is how I began and never changed. At a recent rehearsal I set up three snare drums, 2 to hi hat left and one in front. I positioned the strainers on the left so they faced into me. This allowed me to get the drums close together.

I angle the drum slightly toward me with the center of the head slightly above belt buckle height.
 
I used to position the strainer right in front of me, until it started scraping me on the legs. Now it's in between the left and in front.

It's positioned at 7:30 I would say...? XD
 
I position the strainer at 9 o'clock. That facilitates switching the snares on and off when my right hand is busy. It's just the most comfortable position for me to reach. My snare drum is positioned flat, too.
 
I put mine at 9 o' clock. I'm right-handed. The snaer is relatively flat, too. I also place it a little further to the right (almost overlapping the bass drum pedal) than most. I've found that it's more comfortable to postion my body more centered behind the bass drum than straddling the snare off to the left side.

When I play classical gigs, the throw-off is at 6 o' clock. The reason for this, as I was trained, was that you want the snare wires directly underneath your sticks at all times. You get a good tone out of an orchestral snare when you play about one-third of the way between the dead center and edge of a drum. So, you just move your sticks up and down to find a good tone, and you're still over the wires.
 
Mine's at 9 too, weird that it seems to be like that for most people.

As for the angle, slighly tilted towards 2 o'clock, because I play traditional.
 
Sinsyk, your signature is great. Did you say that, or someone else? Either way, it's spot on.
So you position yours with the strainer on the left. Thanks.

Its at the end of the Jojo Mayer dvd. So no not mine, even though I would like to say it is.
 
I always set up my drums so the badge faces aways from me (except the bass drum, that's the only drum where I can see the badge)... so on my Gretsch snare, the strainer lever is on the left. on my old Ludwig snare, the strainer lever was on the right.

strainer lever position isn't really an issue for me, as I rarely, if ever, play with the snares off.
 
Interesting. I seem to be the only one who positions his snare drum with the strainer between my legs, or at the 6:00 position. And I've always done that, and there's no reason, I've just always done it that way.
So far no one except Caddy has said that they do it for sound considerations. His explanation for putting the strainer at the 6:00 position for orchestral drumming was very interesting, and it makes sense.
The 9:00 location, though, seems to be the winner here so far.
 
Interesting. I seem to be the only one who positions his snare drum with the strainer between my legs, or at the 6:00 position. And I've always done that, and there's no reason, I've just always done it that way.
So far no one except Caddy has said that they do it for sound considerations. His explanation for putting the strainer at the 6:00 position for orchestral drumming was very interesting, and it makes sense.
The 9:00 location, though, seems to be the winner here so far.

I'm with you on the 6:00 position. I do it for the reasons caddywumpus mentioned and have been taught to position it that way. It makes sense to me.
 
I'm with you on the 6:00 position. I do it for the reasons caddywumpus mentioned and have been taught to position it that way. It makes sense to me.

It does make sense. You're alway playing over the wires. I never thought about it before.
 
For me, I always find it easier to activate/deactivate the snares with a quick motion towards me. This was because the position of my fingers while gripping the stick yeilded lots of economy of motion. Therefore, my PDP LX snare throwoff was at 6:00 because it had a throwoff like shown in the first pic. But my Black Panther throwoff I keep at 9:00 because, as in the pic on the right, it allows the same motion. Clear as mud? I hope the photos help...also, I keep the snare pretty flat, too. I find that allows for easier rim shots.
 

Attachments

  • 616.JPG
    616.JPG
    125.7 KB · Views: 879
  • mydrumssnareside.JPG
    mydrumssnareside.JPG
    162 KB · Views: 855
It does make sense. You're alway playing over the wires. I never thought about it before.

Well, I don't actually play over the wires all of the time when playing kit. I tend to move my hand side to side for different "colors" constantly (over the wires, because on my kit, I always put the wires 9:00 to 3:00) and I often play over the areas without the wires because you can get different sounds. It's not as immediately sensitive and gives a fatter sound, I have found. So, really, I play all over the drum for different nuances. In an acoustic setting, it sometimes gets noticed, but not at all when miked up and through a PA.

Other drummers I've played with tell me that I put too much thought into it, but I don't think so. When I'm creating art, I want all of the subtleties in it that I can muster...
 
I've only got three basic snare sounds, I guess, those being soft, medium and loud. And I never turn my snares off since there's no reason to do so in the music I play. I just try to keep my head down and keep time. It's a good night for me if no one notices how badly I'm playing. I live a very simple life.
 
Back
Top