When playing one up and one down...

Zickos

Gold Member
...do you put the small tom left or right? Why? I normally play a 5 piece and am thinking about going to 4 and would like some ideas.
 
...do you put the small tom left or right? Why? I normally play a 5 piece and am thinking about going to 4 and would like some ideas.

If you mean in the left or right rack position, I put it on the left so I can get my ride cymbal where the right rack usually goes. That's the main reason/advantage of doing it IMO.
 
If you mean in the left or right rack position, I put it on the left so I can get my ride cymbal where the right rack usually goes. That's the main reason/advantage of doing it IMO.

^ this.

I usually play a 10" and 12" rack tom. But when I go to one tom, I move the 12" over to where the 10" usually is.
 
Yeah, the whole reason to play a one up kit is to have the ride in a comfortable position. Rolls around the drums are easier with them up in front of you and no major gaps. But I spend more time on the ride cymbal than I do making continuous rolls around the kit.
 
If you mean in the left or right rack position, I put it on the left so I can get my ride cymbal where the right rack usually goes. That's the main reason/advantage of doing it IMO.
+1

Though, the one thing I don't like about that is the distance between toms.
 
Good God how do I get those 7 minutes back? Hahaha!

I get having options but nobody ever talks about loading-in and set-up times ;)


You lasted the whole 7 minutes?!! My hat's off to you Bo. About 2 minutes or so was all that I could stand.
 
You lasted the whole 7 minutes?!! My hat's off to you Bo. About 2 minutes or so was all that I could stand.

I kept waiting for something to happen. Really. Now I feel ripped off.
 
Yeah, the whole reason to play a one up kit is to have the ride in a comfortable position. Rolls around the drums are easier with them up in front of you and no major gaps. But I spend more time on the ride cymbal than I do making continuous rolls around the kit.

When I committed to one rack tom, I thought it was because I wanted my ride in a little closer. But it ends up I just can't handle having two toms up there. I find I have my ride cymbal a little further out so I can get a nice healthy swing at it, and I can't do that when it's so close in to me. This probably happened over time because when I had flat based stands, I could get the ride cymbal in closer. Then when I started using the bigger stands, a straight cymbal stand has to stay farther away because of the legs. I tried using a boom, and that helps, but now I'm not used to it being in so close!
 
Zickos, do you play your usual two tom setup in front of and right of your snare, or left and right of the snare center? That would matter as to wear you leave a tom in a position you are used to striking it in. You might also consider the position of your hats if moving them further right would make things more comfortable (assuming you are a right handed player crossing over to play the hats).
 
Bo, I don't want to hijack this thread but I'm interested in hearing what you meant regarding you can't stand 2 toms up, because you said it didn't regard comfort. Is it a matter of sound; wider intervals between your toms? Or something else...

You have my curiosity. :)
 
I played on another guy's kit a couple of months ago and he had the rack on the right. I had to switch it for our set 'cause that's just too weird for me. I asked him why he had it that way and he said it's 'cause they were that way on his electronic kit and he wanted to match because that's what he was used to. He also had his floor toms really close and cymbals really high, it was just weird. I had to move stuff and thank goodness he let me because I would not have been able to play at all. He played well on it but I don't know how.

Like most others who use one up I like the ride placement. You get used to the tom gap. I don't put my tom too far to the left so the gap isn't very big.
 
Bo, I don't want to hijack this thread but I'm interested in hearing what you meant regarding you can't stand 2 toms up, because you said it didn't regard comfort. Is it a matter of sound; wider intervals between your toms? Or something else...

You have my curiosity. :)

Sorry to answer this question here and possibly hijack this thread, but what I meant was that whenever I have more than two toms, I start focusing more on fills than on groove. I sound completely stupid when confronted with a lot of things to hit, so a while ago I truly committed to one rack tom. I can handle adding an additional floor tom, but it's rare if I use more than one rack tom.

I'm probably being silly, but I feel better and think I play better when I remove options.

And it just isn't comfortable to me to have the ride cymbal so close in - i get it, and I used to do it, and I may do it again, but I get a healthier swing with the cymbal just out a little further. Not as far out as if I had the additional rack tom, but maybe half-way out. And when I'm on my 24" bass drum, with the stand as close I can get it to the bass drum (no boom, just a straight stand) the cymbal is automatically in that "healthy swing comfort zone" for me. That's all I meant. There's no cosmic reasoning behind it. Thanks for asking though!
 
I play a one up, one down kit, but not to get the ride cymbal closer because I play open handed with the ride over by the hats. I have a crash cymbal where most drummers would put the ride. I understand what Bo said because I play better with two toms too. Peace and goodwill.
 
Zickos, do you play your usual two tom setup in front of and right of your snare, or left and right of the snare center? That would matter as to wear you leave a tom in a position you are used to striking it in. You might also consider the position of your hats if moving them further right would make things more comfortable (assuming you are a right handed player crossing over to play the hats).

The snare pretty much is between the toms but a little to the left.
 
I do like my ride in the 1-2 o'clock position and 1U1D definitely makes it easy.

For me I think that the music that we play just doesn't require more drums. When I was primarily playing my 2U2D rig, I never felt that the music needed that many notes.

I have taken my rack tom away and tried the Matt Halpern thing with just one floor tom and nobody during rehearsal even noticed except for afterwards someone commented that the "kit looks smaller".
 
I've played a one-up one-down for so long that when I sit in on a strange set, I ask to remove one of the rack toms. It's distracting now.


I play a 14" rack tom and an 18" floor tom. I place the rack tom directly in line with the snare. You could draw a straight line from the center of the throne through the center of the snare and the rack tom. If there was a straight line from the center of the rack tom to the floor tom, the edge of the ride (22") probably grazes that line. As far as ride angle goes, the bell is about the same height as the rack tom and the edge is is about half-way between the height of the rack and floor toms.
 
Back
Top