Playing Someone Else's Kit

ron s

Senior Member
I know there was a thread about this not too long ago. I did a search, but I could not find it.

I just want to vent a bit-My bass player is in an originals band. We are a classic 60/70/80/90's cover band.
He is used to the original scene where you typically play with 2-3 other bands and every drummer uses one kit. This was pretty well established in the other thread.
It was easy for me to read the opinions of both the "suck it up and play the kit" and the "I want to play my own gear" camps. I thought we were past this since we are an established cover band- we have more than enough songs down to play the whole night and we always play gigs where we are the only entertainment for the venue.

Well- my bass player wants to help some of his friends who play heavy metal covers and they need an opening band to do a set on the 24th.
I have two gigging sets that have everything I need and are set up the way I want them.
I have to play the gig on a drumset I don't know, set up for someone I've never met.
Now I feel the OP pain directly.
I am sure the gig will go ok- I can dumb down any parts that I'm not comfortable with and get by, but I take a lot of pride in playing these songs the same way every time- same fills in the same places etc. The guys have often remarked that they appreciate the consistency,and it helps them with dependable cues etc.

I know some drummers have to play backline kits on a regular basis, but we are not in a situation where we need an opening gig- plus we play a totally different type of music than the band we are opening for.

I will suck it up and get on with it-take one for the team- keep the peace- and maybe some other clichés as well, but I don't have to like it.

One more thing- we most likely will not be getting paid for the one set.
I am going to look at it like this- Mr. Bass Player owes me one.

Again- just venting- I know opinions vary on how much if at all it is a "hardship" to play on another persons kit.
 
Why don't you bring 2 sets? By the time the others get situated, you could whisk off the first set and put up an already adjusted set in 4 minutes time.
 
I had to play another drummer's kit last Saturday and rather enjoyed it. It was a little different set-up than mine, but it was comfortable. The reason I liked it was because he had a nice old Fibes kit and some nice Zildjian K cymbals. We had the soundguy make a recording and the drum set recorded really well. It wasn't a fiberglass kit though. He said it was gumtree wood and something else. Whatever, it sounded good.

Last time I had to play another guy's kit was not quite as comfortable as this Fibes kit, but it was a cool old OCDP kit that I liked too and he had a china, which I never use. If it's not too crazy a set-up, I think it's fun trying out other people's stuff and getting a feel for a different brand, and various different cymbals. That's why I'd like to get a mini 14" China; because I played one on that kit.
 
Again- just venting- I know opinions vary on how much if at all it is a "hardship" to play on another persons kit.

Make sure you bring along the things that are the most "personalized", if that makes sense. Snare, bass drum pedal, cymbals, sticks (natch), and maybe your own hi-hat stand. This way you can try to work with what is provided and swap out the parts that don't feel right for you. The bass drum pedal and snare are the real "feel killers" for me.

Contact the drummer of the other band to find out how similar (or far away from!) his kit is to yours. Also ask how tall he or she is. I've played on kits that were set up for people much taller than me without a lot of time to tweak things and it is not fun at all!

If the kits are similar to (or not too different from) each other and the other drummer is willing to let you make a few reasonable changes (move a cymbal arm a little bit, raise/lower the snare stand a little bit), then you should be OK. On the other hand, if you play on a four piece kit and he thinks he is Mike Portnoy with 3 rack toms and 2 floor toms and every boom stand and tom arm is memory-locked to death, then you might have a little more difficulty navigating.

Just have fun with it since it is a free gig. Don't forget to tell us how it all went afterward, though. Sometimes those "you wouldn't believe the kit I had to play on last night!" war stories can be pretty hilarious.
 
Why does it have to be a chore? I get excited about playing other peoples kits.. different sounds and setups inspire different things.

If you play 60/70/80/90's covers then all you would need is a standard 4 piece set, which is central to just about anyone's kit.

Only thing that bugs me when using other ppls kits is getting the snare at the right height/angle.
 
Why does it have to be a chore? I get excited about playing other peoples kits.. different sounds and setups inspire different things.

If you play 60/70/80/90's covers then all you would need is a standard 4 piece set, which is central to just about anyone's kit.

Only thing that bugs me when using other ppls kits is getting the snare at the right height/angle.
That's true about the snare. It was kinda low and slanted too much for me.
 
It's very simple. Do what BradgunnerSGT said.

Bring your own snare, bass drum pedal and hi hat.
This stuff is what you use to play most of the drum parts.


.
 
Personally I dislike playing on other people's kits - I always end up dwarfed behind someone's power tom kit or unable to adjust the height of the stands because the other drummer has memory locks on everything and doesn't want them touched. I like my kits, I like playing out on them, and the excitement of playing a show diminishes a wee bit for me if I don't get the enjoyment of bashing away on one of my own kits. One of my bands has a show coming up and I just found out that the main band wants us to share back line so I'll be using their kit. I already know that their drummer is ginourmous, and sets his cymbal stands up so high that they probably need one of those warning beacons flashing on top so planes don't crash into them. I'm not the tallest person so this is problematic when the owner of the kit doesn't want anyone messing with his set up.
 
Also, who said you have to cater to him? I'd say use the set you like and let him adapt to it.
 
One more thing- we most likely will not be getting paid for the one set.

That right there is my problem with free gigs. I'm all for doing a buddy a favor or playing a sweet charity gig but these gigs usually devolve into this. Sort of the "give a mouse a cookie" phenomena. You're already willing to play for no compensation, now you're playing at midnight or 1am and we need you to supply your own PA and only play songs in the key of Ebm in 7/8 time.

But hey, it's great exposure.
 
I call that "Box of chocolates playing" cause you never know what you are going to get-it's an adventure LOL. I'm never as comfortable playing on someone else's kit -really it is just I can't close my eyes and play as on my own kit. If it is a drum problem it is usually the feel or sound of the snare or the kick pedal springs are fully tightened=I usually loosen the spring fully.
 
Why don't you bring 2 sets? By the time the others get situated, you could whisk off the first set and put up an already adjusted set in 4 minutes time.

Larry, I already suggested that, but the club is sticking to the "one drum set" rule.

I have the other guys ph # and will call him to see what's what.
Yes the triangle of bass pedal, snare, and hat are most important, but as someone else said, I really enjoy my gear.

Open mikes and such I find it enjoyable to mess around on an unfamiliar kit. When we are out as the band, I hold my playing to a higher standard.

Maybe he will have a similar setup and I will have the best night ever?
 
Had a so so experience a couple of weeks ago when my band sat in on an open mike that our bass player helps run. The guy had DW's and they sounded o.k. for the room nothing special. I sat behind them and every head was tensioned about 1/8 to 1/4 turn from hand tight. It was a bit of a challenge but I pulled it off. I've run into this one other time before how do people play that way. Also, one of his crashes was on a spare tom arm 1" above his tom and far away I actually pulled a chest muscle and was in pain for a few days.
 
Open mikes and such I find it enjoyable to mess around on an unfamiliar kit. When we are out as the band, I hold my playing to a higher standard.


Good point !..................


.
 
I did the gig last night. it went off well-even though it was a fish-out-of-water gig in that we were opening for an 80's hair metal band. We managed to get some of the leather clad peroxide-blondes dancing with our classic rock.

the set was not bad- the new maple shell PDP set- the setup was very uncomfortable however- picture Nikko McBrain's Iron Maiden set- toms were nearly vertical with the heads facing directly at me, high up. Cymbals were way up in a "look at my arms way up in the air" manner. I lowered the hi-hat down, but the cymbals could only go so low before they hit the microphones. I chewed up my sticks because kept hitting the cymbals on the edge, even though I was trying to get the sticks over the cymbals.
It always amazes me how many different ways drummers can be comfortable with cymbal and tom placement. The guy was about the same height as me too, so it was not a matter of physical difference, just preference.
My arms were actually tired after the set from reaching so far up for the ride and crash cymbals.
My rack toms are at a moderate angle and all my cymbals are low- I don't look as "cool", but they are within easy reach. I like my ride cymbal so that I can play it with my elbow still very close to my body. I find this comfortable and less tiring by the end of the night.
I have seen some kits with the opposite extreme where the toms are perfectly flat- such that you could put a drink on them. To each his or her own...

All in all it went ok, the band sounded good, and I made a few errors due to the odd (to me) placement of the equipment, but nothing the crowd would notice.
hopefully we get a full night gig from this, but it's not something I would look forward to doing again.
 
here is a sample of the gig. The tom angle actually looks reasonable from here, but on my set up you cannot see the bottom heads. I think you can kind of see that I am reaching for the cymbals, though I am trying to look natural.
I prefer the cymbals just above the drums, but this was as low as I could put them, as they would hit the mikes.
We made the best of it and had fun.




https://youtu.be/giplrvvE8mw
 
I've seen this both ways: sometimes a drummmer backlines his kit, other times they swap out in between sets.

If you get the kit set up off-stage, you should be able to whip it on stage when it's your turn and then whip it off when you're done.

That being said, if I was playing for free I probably wouldn't want to go through the hastle of bringing and setting up my drums... I might just bring a snare and maybe my cymbals.
 
If I don't know the other player or how his kit will be set up, I'll bring my throne, snare with stand and hats with stand. Usually some cymbals as well in case they have really odd tastes like super dry clangy rides. Switchover is faster than most guitarists can lay out their pedals. I play one up so I'm used to the ride not being way over to my right. But if it's not too many songs (no more than 1 set) then I'll work my shoulder over to keep the peace.
 
I did bring my hat stand, seat, snare, and cymbals, as well as my pedal.
I ended up using my seat and bass pedal.
Cymbal adjustability was limited by the mike placement on the toms. I guess some like their cymbals way up high- maybe it looks cool-.
It was a bit uncomfortable, but we did ok.
 
When I have to play another's kit I try to bring as much as I can get away with, including all stands: snare, kick pedal, cymbals, even my throne - pretty much everything but the shells. It's just as quick to swap out an entire cymbal stand as to adjust the existing stands to a new height, so no one gets too bent out of shape about it.

The bonus is getting to try out new drums and heads in a live performance setting without putting down any dough.

My setup is really simple, though - if I had a more complex setup, I'm not sure how well I'd cope. Sometimes I'll just use the kick and floor tom of the backlined kit; fewer elements to throw me off.

I find that the hi-hat stand is a pretty personal item as well; spring tension and clutch durability vary too much for me to willingly take a chance.

And, I'd like to underscore bringing your own throne. Using a wobbly throne, or one that can't be adequately adjusted, has usually proven the single most uncomfortable factor in using a borrowed kit.
 
Back
Top