Drum Lesson #3
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Setting up the drum set is important in preventing tendentious of the wrists and ankles. There is a common misconception that the Bass drum has to face directly forward.
Any musician that practices for a long time with their bass drum facing directly forward is going to have problems with their ankles. To rectify this a new concept needs to be considered. The first step is to pace the drum throne (drum seat) down where you want to set up your drum kit. Make sure that there is no way your elbows will hit the wall behind you if you are near one. If you hit your elbow hard enough it will hurt a lot and maybe even shatter your elbow if your not smart. You can't place it up against a wall and expect to pay attention each and every time your elbows come close to the wall. Give yourself plenty of elbow room.
Now you want to have four drum sticks in your hands. Close your eyes, walk over to the drum throne and sit down naturally without thinking about it. When you open your eyes place one drum stick on each side of your feet. Two drum sticks on the outside of each foot will mark off where your Hi hat pedal and bass drum pedal will be going. This is how your feet are when sitting on a stool. they both point outward so you want your bass drum to be at an angle to prevent tendentious. Now to prevent back problems you don't want your throne to be too high or low. Chiropractors may tell you to have your legs at a 90 degree angle, so your knees not too high or low to your hips.
Many people will position their toms on top of the bass drum in all sorts of different angles. I've seen Jazz musicians have them totally horizontal because they go faster. I've also seen heavy metal drummers position them extremely vertical. I prefer a little exercise to get the right angle. There is a drum fill to have a single Bass drum sound like a double bass drum. You want to bounce your left stick off your right tom and have it land on the floor tom. Bounce like it is one movement so it hits the right tom bounces to the floor tom in one streamlined move. You then want to hit the floor tom immediately afterwards with your right stick and then the bass drum once with your right foot. Start slow to get the bounce and then go faster to get the similar sound to a double bas drum.
The snare of course should be level with your pants button or however you feel comfortable. You should be able to reach out and touch the bells of all your cymbals. You want to position one cymbal directly above another cymbals bell. This way you can snap your wrist while using the bell to keep the beat and have the up stroke hit underneath the upper cymbals bottom side. If you have enough cymbals to have one on both your right and left side do it. If your main concern is hitting the snare drum on 2 and 4 of a 4/4 pattern, then those other 16th notes can be up on those cymbals. This is why it's important to keep the palms of your hands facing down and not sideways while playing. Your want to use the wrist muscles under your thumbs side for speed and to snap the stick to hit the bottom side of the top cymbal that is hovering above the lower cymbals bell. Now you want to practice using your fingers to increase the speed while holding your drum sticks. keep the index finger and thumb to secure the drum stick. It is very important that the drum stick rests on the first indentation of your index finger and a gap is made between your thumb and finger. To test it pull on the stick with your other hand if it doesn't move your set. If there is a line between your thumb and index finger then your drum stick will slip out of your hand and bonk a club's patron in the head. Not a good scene if that person is the girlfriend of the biggest bouncer.
You want to practice doing this double cymbal technique with the left hand hitting the snare on 2 AND 4. Then you want your right hand to hit the snare. You then want BOTH HANDS HIT THE SNARE ON 2 and 4. Switch it off so the left hand is on the high hat. As long as your count 1 E + A 2 E + A 3 E + A 4 E + A while the band is jamming and you snare is hit on the 2 and the 4 of each measure keeping the beat you are all set.
As for the hi hat you want to position them for the "Crane Position." ( Sounds like a martial arts film) Tendentious of the wrists happen because drummers over extend their wrists.
They hold the stick low and raise it straight up to accent their notes. If you ever noticed a crane bends it legs so it's knee is the highest point of the whole extension of their body. YOu want to do the same so your wrists are bent and while your hand droops it is onto of the intended drum or high hat being hit. To accent the note, the drum stick only has to be level with your wrist. Now keep this in mind for what I am about to tell you using the hi hat and your ride cymbal. If your used to hitting the side of your hi hat not with your drum sticks tip but it's shaft, that's alright. Hit with a straight wrist, hit the side of your high hat cymbal. now slightly bend your wrist upward so the tip hits the top of the high hat. Wrist comes down so it is straight and the side of the sticks shaft hits the side of the hi hat cymbals. bend your wrist at a 90 degree angle and keep going until the tip of your stick hits the top of the hio hat. Do this as fast as you can. Now if you do this with the above double cymbal technique at an open mike night and you'll be cranking at the open mike nights. For your ride cymbal you want your shaft to hit the bell and when your wrist goes into the crane position to have the tip hit the smooth area outside of the bell area.
You want to have your bass drum and hi hat pedals positioned in a special way. I took lessons from James Riley.
A few years ago he was Modern Drummer magazines Drum Clinician of the year.
For the last ten plus years he has gone on tour with Rascal Flats because he is their music director. He was even on the grammy stage with them. Well He graduated one year ahead of me from Natick High School in Massachusetts. I was lucky to take a few lessons from him. When he came back on break from the University of North Texas State he showed me a cool move. You hit your bass drum or hi high pedal in the middle with your toe. You then move it so your heel hits the same spot. You repeat this toe heel movement so when it's fast it rocks. If you want to get really fancy he also told be to keep an extra floor tom by your hi hat so you can hit that when the opportunity provides itself.
That's it make sure your toms and cymbal bells are at arm's length one last time and your seat is comfortable for that toe heel move and your good to go. One las tthing is how you hit the crash cymbals.
You want to either sweep your hand either inward or outward in a half moon way. This will make the cymbal tone be controlled to either loud or soft. Just bashing the cymbal will have it sound like a trash can cover is being hit and it will wear down the life of your cymbal.