Do you judge a drummer by their kit?

ElectrAcoustic · #1 10-15-2007, 06:49 AM

I've noticed over the years that my favorite drummers rarely have much more than a snare/kick/floor tom setup.. the ones I've seen with the HUGE mondo kits, can't play their way out of a lame rock gig... I've also heard really great drummers make awful kits sound spectacular. Is it just me or have you all seen the same correlation?

pointbass · #2 10-15-2007, 06:54 AM

I've learned to never judge a musician by their gear ..... just let 'em play a little bit and you'll get all of the answers you need ......

bmc · #3 10-15-2007, 06:57 AM

There is no corelation between gear and musicianship.

Bryan316 · #4 10-15-2007, 07:10 AM

Crappy musicians can play on crap gear or great gear, cuz some people just have cash to waste. But great musicians never seem to play on crappy gear.

The good drummers I know around here have very nice kits. A few have enormous Niel Peart Mike Portnoy monstrosities, a few have 5-piece kits of exquisite quality. It depends on their style.

My drummer plays a 9-piece with 14 or so cymbals. My project's drummer plays a 6 piece with 12 or so cymbals and a digital sampler for goofy fun stage stuff. But a good friend in another band plays on a 4 piece with only maybe 6 cymbals and he DEVASTATES that poor kit every show. But his kit is a very nice maple Tama Star Classic with suspension mounts for all his toms and cleanly polished Zildjian K and A Custom bronze on top and double-braced hardware that's stable as a bomb shelter.

But when I see a drummer get on stage with a Pearl Forum kit and huge cracked chunks outta his cymbals and duck tape all over his drum heads.... I'm usually never impressed by their abilities.

OH! And racks do NOT automatically make you a good drummer! I've had that expectation shattered quite a few times!

Tony G · #5 10-15-2007, 07:13 AM

I have more respect for musicians that take care of their gear, but that doesn't have anything to do with how good they are at playing. I've seen some pretty good drummers that just throw their kit around and it looked like garbage. There is no reason to treat your gear like that. Treat it with respect and keep it in good condition, and it will love you for it.

mlowe · #6 10-15-2007, 07:14 AM

No, I've heard some amazing percussion played on cardboard boxes and plastic containers that is better than a monkey on a Brady.

One of the most amazing guitarists I've ever seen, way beyond his acknowledgment, fame or commercial demand plays a squire strat with a 50w marshal. All up his gear cost him $900. His playing has so much feel, it's constant goosebumps. He can play absolutely anything he hears. Evey time I see him play it's an experience.

I do believe that very poor gear can degrade your ability to learn if it forces you to learn a bad trait. The other factor is inspiration. If it sounds so bad, you may be unmotivated to pick it up.

Denis Chambers imo has the best snare sound. I think it really stands out from any other i've heard. No idea what or why but it is clean and sharp.

NickyBass · #7 10-15-2007, 07:18 AM

Nah. I do prefer certain kits over others, but if the drummer is grooving, I don't care whether he's rubbing two pixie sticks together or playing a $20k 100 peice kit.

mlowe · #8 10-15-2007, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectrAcoustic

I've noticed over the years that my favorite drummers rarely have much more than a snare/kick/floor tom setup.. the ones I've seen with the HUGE mondo kits, can't play their way out of a lame rock gig... I've also heard really great drummers make awful kits sound spectacular. Is it just me or have you all seen the same correlation?

I agree with your view only there is a few exceptions I think like Weckle, Donati & one or two others. Maybe Mel Gaynor?

Come to think of it, as simple kit and playing I really dig the drummer out of Blondie. I think he really made a huge part of their music.

ElectrAcoustic · #9 10-15-2007, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmc

There is no corelation between gear and musicianship.

I disagree.. every drummer I've seen over a number of years with a mondo-huge kit can't groove worth a damn (plenty of bells and tone variations but no groove) and most every small kit drummer excels... no matter the condition of the kit.. IMO

mlowe · #10 10-15-2007, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectrAcoustic

I disagree.. every drummer I've seen over a number of years with a mondo-huge kit can't groove worth a damn (plenty of bells and tone variations but no groove) and most every small kit drummer excels... no matter the condition of the kit.. IMO

That sounds like less notes more groove on the bass. More focus on the beat and less on monster tom work.

bmc · #11 10-15-2007, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectrAcoustic

I disagree.. every drummer I've seen over a number of years with a mondo-huge kit can't groove worth a damn (plenty of bells and tone variations but no groove) and most every small kit drummer excels... no matter the condition of the kit.. IMO

Neil Peart vs Steve Jordan.

bluestarbass · #12 10-15-2007, 07:45 AM

Not so much on on size but how well they upkeep their drumet, yes. Most drummers are not gearheads ive found and alot of them let decent drum sets go to hell. Trying to record a drumset that rings and sounds aweful is terrible. No matter how nice or big or aweful the drum set is keeping it in shape should be priorty 1.

Nikoubis · #13 10-15-2007, 08:13 AM

Would you let a drummer judge you by your gear?

elros · #14 10-15-2007, 08:21 AM

The gear can say something about the person, just like their appearence. IMO. But it never says everything, and it might not be the truth either.

skaliwag66 · #15 10-15-2007, 08:24 AM

Hell no, I like drummers who play one those small kits (60's style). One kick, one snare, one tom, one floor tom, one crash, one ride, one hit hat.

Less is more.

skaliwag66 · #16 10-15-2007, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectrAcoustic

I disagree.. every drummer I've seen over a number of years with a mondo-huge kit can't groove worth a damn (plenty of bells and tone variations but no groove) and most every small kit drummer excels... no matter the condition of the kit.. IMO

+1

ba-dum-ba-dum · #17 10-15-2007, 08:29 AM

Our drummer would would like to think so:

Bryan316 · #18 10-15-2007, 08:46 AM

My drummer's kit...

My drummer likes a very tight, close, fast kit. So he has barely a fingertip's space between his toms and all his cymbals very low and close to him. He recently had another drummer check out this kit, and go home to redo his drum placement to get the same tight close setup. Worked very well for him. But then last month we shared a gig together, and he jumped on my drummer's kit for a minute, got frustrated, and jumped off. "I spent two whole weekends getting my kit tight like this, and your kit just pisses me off! How can you play with everything so damned close???" Apparently he has longer arms than my drummer. Heh heh. He's also looking into Axis pedals now. We're such a terrible influence on all the bands we know. HEE HEEEE!!!

**Mark Wilson** · #19 10-15-2007, 09:25 AM

I judge Drummers by how much drool is hanging from their mouths.

Bard2dbone · #20 10-15-2007, 09:28 AM

I've mostly only worked a lot with three drummers. Strangely, all three now play slightly oversized kits.

The first one goes all the way back to high school. He got a deal on a Slingerland seven piece kit back in1982 and still plays the same one.

The next drummer was the guy from my longest term band. We were together for mime years and for all that time he played a Tama five piece kit. But just recently, he bought a huge Pearl kit, a nine or ten piece monster. He bought it from...

...my third drummer, the one from my last band, had a room sized kit when we all got together. He was a serious Peart worshipper, so he had actually built up a kit to be like Neil's kit AND THEN ADDED A PIECE OR TWO!!!! We all told him he was on his own for load in and load out with a monster like that. So he decided to sell it and get something more manageable. He sold it to my previous drummer, also a Peart worshipper, and bought a Roland V-sessions kit. He later added another Tom pad and a couple of trigger pads until every channel on the controller is filled, but it looks a seven piece, because the extra triggers just look kind of blank.

All three drummers are very capable. Mark, the first one has the best feel of the bunch. He is comparatively a minimalist player, but every note he hits is exactly the right one.
Ron, the second one, is the most technically capable of the three. He doesn't have much soul, though. He can reproduce any groove ever, perfectly, but he requires a lot of coaching sometimes to come up with an original groove that is up to his level of skill.
Greg, the most recent guy, isn't as technical as Ron, or as soulful as Mark. He is in between. If he was as technical as Ron and as soulful as Mark, he'd be making a really good living as a studio drummer. Fortunately he isn't. He's just a really good drummer I happen to have known for several years and worked with for a couple.

And these guys aren't the only drummers I've ever played with. They're just the only ones I'd tell people about.