What percentage of the time do we need more than a 4-piece kit to play music?

[JDA]

what-percentage-of-the-time-do-we-need-more-than-a-4-piece-kit-to-play-music.

~~~~~~~
About as long as the time it took to get to the end of "Sunshine Of Your Love" or "Presence Of The Lord"..
unless you want to sound or "be" "Roy Burns" playing either.....

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www.drummerworld.com

 

[multijd]

what-percentage-of-the-time-do-we-need-more-than-a-4-piece-kit-to-play-music.

~~~~~~~
About as long as the time it took to get to the end of "Sunshine Of Your Love" or "Presence Of The Lord"..
unless you want to sound or "be" "Roy Burns" playing either.....

Loading…

www.drummerworld.com

My father saw Roy Burns play at the Metropole in the late 50’s. He always said how much he liked his playing.

 

[JDA]

was it 1949?

 

[multijd]

I “need“ more than four pieces ~1% of the time. For production shows or if a score calls for it. Lately Ive been “playing” (@home) on a 9 piece kit and I love it.

 

[multijd]

was it 1949?

No. He was in the Marines stationed in Brooklyn late 50’s.

 

[JDA]

yeah You need more than a 4 Pc For some material

 

[mydadisjr]

Got to see Roy Burns do two different clinics for Rogers in Phoenix AZ in the early '70's. First time he was tired and had a cold or something, second time he TORE IT UP. Great player.

 

[paul]

I saw Junior Brown once, and his drummer played a snare drum and a crash ride. Worked for him.

To me, the minimal set is snare, bass, ride, hats. I don't 'need' any more than that. If I take drums to a rehearsal, that's what I take, and can't tell you how many times someone has said, "Wow! That sounds like a whole set."

But when I perform for an audience, my default setup calls for four toms and an assortment of cymbals, because that's my favorite setup. I choose my drums and cymbals based on how I'm going to play, and very occasionally the amount of space I expect to have, but never because of the 'inconvenience' of carrying another tom or two.

 

[Johnny K]

One of the best open blues jams I attended was the one where the guy who brought in the house kit only set up a snare, bass, HH's, 1 crash and 1 ride. Loved it!

 

[pedro navahas]

So if you play a four piece with a double pedal is that considered a five piece?

 

[Houndog]

I needed more when I played metal ,
I needed more when I played for the Elvis Impersonator.
I wanted more when I played classic rock .

 

[RIDDIM]

yeah You need more than a 4 Pc For some material

- I understand that argument, drank the Kool Ade and like having lots of sound sources. But knowing what I know now, I can get more out of a smaller kit in terms of orchestration than I could in 1967 or so. E.g., for the fills in Sunshine Of Your Love, it'd be easy to do at least 2 of them using alternating singles between kick and one of the 2 toms. That saves the need to carry 2 toms right there. Most hits of the last 70 or so years we can nail with very few sound sources.

 

[markrocks68]

For me, never.
Though some of my vintage kits actually came with 2 toms, I sometimes get crazy & set them both up!

 

[JDA]

what-percentage-of-the-time-do-we-need-more-than-a-4-piece-kit-to-play-music.

what type of music? bebop Polka?

- I understand that argument, drank the Kool Ade and like having lots of sound sources. But knowing what I know now, I can get more out of a smaller kit in terms of orchestration than I could in 1967 or so. E.g., for the fills in Sunshine Of Your Love, it'd be easy to do at least 2 of them using alternating singles between kick and one of the 2 toms. That saves the need to carry 2 toms right there. Most hits of the last 70 or so years we can nail with very few sound sources.

I just Like a 5 piece; is that alright with people..

I like having 5 Targets to mover around with...
6 - twin toms twin floors--- back in my younger days------Never more than that ---then or now.

never liked the three across the front or 4 across the front...

twin toms/ floor
twin toms / twin floors/
is Pa lenty

4 piece is ok for a lot of work; but when you want to get a little more melodic with the tom - 5 PC won't break your back --to carry

plus when a lot of amps around

we still play that----at 65 and + years of age (LOL)

I never went for the "Styx/ELO" sorta drumset... I'm earlier than that...

Plus I Love Elvin on the twin tom set I love the moves one can do...
Started on a 5 piece; went to a 4 piece for couple decades -lot of work/jobs- back to 5 Piece

I LIKE THE MOTION ....motions available with a 5.. would like a 6 even better but that's for bigger rooms and spaces and fewer situations but always in the back of my mind "twin toms twin floors"...Settle for twin toms.

 

[rstange1]

4-piece is normal for me. Sometimes less...

 

[hsosdrum]

The last time I played a 4-piece kit was when I was 16 years old. Then I got my second bass drum and throughout high school the bare minimum size kit was a 5-piece (standard 4-piece + 2nd BD).

When I started out on the road in '72 it was on a 7-piece (2-up/2-down/2-BD) with 8 cymbals and a 34" gong. A year later I switched to an 11-piece Vistalite kit and added a set of chimes. I replaced all that in 1984 with a 7-piece Gretsch kit (2-up/2-down/2-BD) with 10 cymbals. Since then I've bought two Ludwig kits in the same 7-piece configuration and am currently using 11 cymbals and a replacement 34" gong (the original was stolen).

IMPORTANT PART: I haven't played drums for money since 1977. I play strictly for my own enjoyment; the music I love is progressive, experimental, and fusion influenced — I don't play pop or R&B-based music. From '98 through 2015 I occasionally played private parties with an instrumental surf trio just for fun (no rehearsals, fun vibes). I always brought my entire rig (minus the gong, which doesn't fit in anything smaller than a van) except for two occasions where I had to use a smaller vehicle and so brought a 1-up/2-down configuration with only 5 cymbals. That smaller setup cramped my style to the point where I vowed never to use less than my full setup again; I even bought a new 7-piece set that would fit in my vehicle (smaller drums) so I would never have to bring less than the full monty to a gig again. And I never will. In short: I need my full 7-drum/11-cymbal setup 100% of the time, no matter what music I'm playing. Otherwise it's just not worth doing.

 

[JDA]

I like the Arm Exercise.OK?

 

[bassanddrum84]

90% of the time
I play one up one down just recently play two down and I playeverything from folsom
Prison blues to spirit of a radio and I can tell ya I’ve never needed a bigger kit to do rush. Does it sound record same ? Nope can I play it with out all the toms? Yep. This past weekend I played two shows one with two bands for a benefit. It had 8/10/12/14/16 4 crashes two China’s two hats a ride and splash. While I played it no problem i def didn’t need all that. It was fun to play. But after that playing my one up two down with three crashes a ride and hats I was much happier.

 

[hsosdrum]

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I like the Arm Exercise.OK?

And you'll get plenty of it with 2-up setups!

 

[AJMcHardy]

For the gigs in the book for this year, approx. 50% will be a two up one down setup.