Different drumming styles?

Question

Ok, so recently I noticed alot of drummers are doing away with the standard 5 peice set, and adopting sets including just one rack tom, and two floor toms. With the standard cymbals of course. My question is, because I am fixing to take up drumming, what are the advantages to this 1 rack-tom, 2 floor-tom style?

Answer 1

I play drums professionally, and have several kits. They range in size from 4 to 7 pieces and I can mix and match whatever I want.



Although I have numerous choices, I find that most of the time I play the 4 piece kit with one mounted tom and one floor tom. The kit I bring most often to gigs came with a second mounted tom, but 99% of the time I leave it home.



Over many years of drumming, I've found that groove trumps flash almost universally. I simply don't need many drums to do what I do. Another mounted tom also forces me to put the ride cymbal in an uncomfortable position, too far to the side.



Most of the newer music I listen to, places great emphasis on the beat, and not so much on fills. Four drums is fine, and if you want to add a 5th, another larger floor tom will give you a real big sound. It stands up well to loud guitars.



Rock drummers tend to use more cymbals, and the single mounted tom setup leaves room for them.



Hey, when the gig is over I guarantee they'll remember you if you kept a great groove.



peace



.

Answer 2

Wow, excellent answer Franco. I totally agree with his philosophy. I found that when I changed to the one mounted tom setup my style changed as well. My main kit is a 6 piece Pearl Master Series, but the 10" and 13" toms stay in the cases now. I've never really been one for the Neil Peart style of drumming although I appreciate what he does. I just really like a solid back beat (groove). I find that with many drummers playing a 5 piece or larger set that their fills seem to be very linear, i.e. snare to tom1 to tom2 to floor tom. The smaller setup forces you to be more creative and move back and forth between toms and snare within one fill. To me this is just a much more interesting and tasteful type of lick. Also I love having that space where the 2nd tom used to be for my ride cymbal. To me that is the most comfortable placement for the ride. I also just think it looks cool. Generally you only see better drummers with this setup because is really does force you to use more creative fills. Also as Buddy Rich said in his Modern Drummer interview..."if you need more than 4 drums and 3 cymbals you ain't worth a sh1t." Also as Franco said about groove trumps flash. Here is the thing, some other drummers may be impressed by flash, but other drummers aren't the ones hiring you. The other members of a band really appreciate a drummer that wants to make them sound good instead of trying to show off every lick they've ever heard. I have always worked on being a solid back beat drummer and after 30 years I have been hired for every audition I ever went on and the musicians hiring always point out that they like the fact that I keep the groove tight and don't step all over what they are doing.

Answer 3

once you hear recorded drum tracks, they constantly have some form of result or have been tweaked to sound unique. specifically situations there are even 2 kicks from distinctive drums layered over on yet another. As for listening to it stay, it relies upon on the sound engineer who's blending the coach. outcomes and EQ of the drums relies upon on how the engineer thinks it is going to sound and to the drummer's liking.