Unlimited Gear??

[The_One]

Excluding issues about space, cost, and practicality etc, do you think that having unlimited gear would improve your music? Or help you make a whole lot more interesting music to what you are making right now? Not more towards the direction of improving your playing, but more towards the improvement of the sound of your music overall?

For example, say for a pop punk song, if a drummer had 3 different types of bass drums along with 10 other types of cymbals and 10 toms, wouldn't that be kind of neat?

Unlimited possiblities?? Yes/no?

[fishbulb]

Just the fact of having much more equipment doesn't make you play better. Playing more advanced comes from practicing, not investing in equipment.

Alternatively, if you do not have a cymbal, a china lets say, it would be in your fortune to have an unlimited supply of cymbals, to get a china if you "need" to use one for a performance.

[ofDooM]

It would be nice to have unlimited sticks and heads. Drumkeys too, I keep losing them.

[Electric Requiem]

Some splashes and smaller crashes as well as a china or two would definitely make my playing sound better.

[wesm9787]

I think adding some new and different sounds to your setup would definitely add more possibilites to your playing. Although I can't imagine it would actually improve the musicality of it. So I'm going to say yes and no to this one. Because it would give you more options, but how you use them would be entirely up to you. If you have 14 different chinas but don't know when to use a china and when to use a splash, it's going to sound like crap.

[DxRocker]

It would make you sound "different", but not "better" by any means.

All you really "need" is a bassdrum, snare, hats and crash. Maybe a ride as well. When you have that, you have everything you need to start recording albums. All the rest is just more and "different" options, not "better", but "different".

This is off course assuming everything is quality gear. Imo, 50% of your sound is determined by the gear you play. The other 50% of how you play it.

[oliv_da_skinmasher]

Exactly, the only thing that makes you sound better is you really.

[some jive turkey]

Imo, 50% of your sound is determined by the gear you play. The other 50% of how you play it.

Interesting thought.



Unlimited gear, would help any drummer.
I think sometimes some enthusiasm comes about from having something new to play. I love it when I get something new and get to use it on a gig.
Jazz drummers are well known to be fanatic about finding a good ride cymbal.
Changing snares from song to song, or different cymbals and stuff help keep an album's worth of recording from all sounding the same.

I think that gear can enhance the way you play. For example if you've been playing one type of snare for your first few years of drumming and suddenly you switch to a much more sensitive/dynamic snare, chances are you're going to milk that in your playing, since your snare is now responding that much more.

Having said all that, gear is still just gear. It doesn't play itself.

[We_Love_Lime]

Interesting thought.



Unlimited gear, would help any drummer.
I think sometimes some enthusiasm comes about from having something new to play. I love it when I get something new and get to use it on a gig.
Jazz drummers are well known to be fanatic about finding a good ride cymbal.
Changing snares from song to song, or different cymbals and stuff help keep an album's worth of recording from all sounding the same.

I think that gear can enhance the way you play. For example if you've been playing one type of snare for your first few years of drumming and suddenly you switch to a much more sensitive/dynamic snare, chances are you're going to milk that in your playing, since your snare is now responding that much more.

Having said all that, gear is still just gear. It doesn't play itself.


Very True.

[DrummingBen]

Gonna say yes to the musicality part. Hats, snare, ride, bass is obviously not going to sound a musical as 8 crashes, 10 splashes, chimes, jam block etc etc. But as has been said, it does not play itself.

[Berk]

Yeah I think it will.

Like whenever I get new gear Im always excited to learn or play.

[DxRocker]

I'll agree that it could "benefit" your playing as in: you can use a lot of different setups and change it up ever couple of weeks... This helps with inspiration: you get new sounds, new setups wich will invite new/other patterns.

Off course, the more different patterns you play, the bigger your "toolbox" will become to work with.

But still... I think there is a very big difference between sounding "different" and sounding "better".

Look at it this way (wich is a bad example maybe, I know), take Portnoy...
Does he sound "better" or "different" on LTE albums compared to DT, where he plays a MUCH bigger set?

I mean, you play at the level that you play and all the gear in the world ain't gonna change that.

If groove A sounds great on a beatles setup, then that groove A will sound equally great on Mike's Siamese monster, even though the groove will sound "different". It won't "groove" better, timing won't be better, dynamics will be the same. Only the sound will change. And assuming all the gear is of same quality, I don't see how that could be called "better" by any means at all.

I saw the term "musicality" here. I think that's not really fair. I've seen Weckl play heaps more musical on just a snare then Portnoy does on his Monster. "musicality" is also quite subjective.

On the latest drumfest, Eric Bosteels, a belgian drummer, totally blew me away, much harder then Dennis Chambers did. Bosteels played a setup consisting of a snare, hats, bassdrum, ride and one crash. It was amazing. I wouldn't know why it would have been even more amazing if he had splashes and toms as well. It makes no sense imo.

[SkaRabbit]

Hell yeah it would help. I Always have the problem of having to mix genres with the same sound in songs.

I think it helps with frame of mind which helps playing. I always play better on gear i am happier with.

E.G One of our new songs blends inbetween skacore and drum and bass. so the differnt sounds would open up my playing and i think the benefits from the extra sound would incline me to play better. having a nice drum and bass sound along side ska and heavier stuff would be sweet.

[Little Android Man]

Just the fact of having much more equipment doesn't make you play better. Playing more advanced comes from practicing, not investing in equipment.

you completely missed the point.

[Charlie Daniels]

For example, say for a pop punk song, if a drummer had 3 different types of bass drums along with 10 other types of cymbals and 10 toms, wouldn't that be kind of neat?

Unlimited possiblities?? Yes/no?
Interesting topic.

On these kind of matters, I'm a fundamentalist. A bass drum has a role to play in the band, and that role is purely rythmic. Therefore, any alteration in sound characteristics (that would come from having more than 1 type of bass drum) will distract the listener away from hearing only it's rythmic aspect.

[metallas]

Actually yes at some point. In my last recording I had some cool ideas, but I couldn't apply them do to lack of drum gear (I wanted some splashes and chinas)

[oops]

Would have to say yes and no. Of course, having the worlds largest set will NOT make you the worlds greatest drummer. Having heaps of choice in sounds will be bad for most people, because they will over play. But yes, having a choice of anything will be great, because you can change sounds to suit the song. I watched a jazz drummer today, and he had one cymbal stand, but he changed it midway through a song, taking off his splash, and putting a china on instead. Different part of the song, different kind of feel he wanted to create, so he changed the cymbal.

[metallas]

I am inspired by the quality and the quantity of a kit. Many of us do.
Except for the smart asses that will rush to say "I don't",and that they think that if they have a 4pc kit with 2 cymbals and apair of sticks, will sound like buddy rich. Yeah right!
You will sound good on a small kit , only when you will have mastered it, when you will be TOTALLY independed from hardware.
You think that if you switch from matched grip to traditional grip and getting a 4pc kit, you will become within a small period of practicing "a small buddy rich with the creativity flowing in your head". That's an illusion.
In the mean time, you drop your jaws when you listen to virgil donati or terry bozzio tornado around their massive kits. (I don't say that thsese guys mentioned can't rule on a small kit. Don't get me wrong)
I blame those who always rush to say "You don't need a big kit, Simplicity is the key".
MY creativity comes when I sit on a good kit, that sounds exaclty how I want it to sound, and where the hardware and the set up suits me.
I AM NOT BUDDY RICH. I AM TOTALLY DEPENDED FROM MY HARDWARE.IT'S NOT BAD. IT'S TRUE!
When I play my teacher's recording custom kit, I play more creative things than the things that i would play on a crap kit. The fact that i like the sound, the finish, the look, the fact that i know that they are top notch drums makes me feel GOOD. <-----That translates in better playing. Great kitsmake my mood. I get excited. I am not BORED. So I simply play better.
True to be told. Despite practicing, drumming is also about how you feel when you play. If you feel uncomfortable you are most likely gonna sound uncomfortable.
Now don't try to exadurate some of my statements in order to prove me wrong.
IN THIS POST I NEVER SAID THAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE SOMETHING WITHOUT PRACTICING. PRACTICING IS MUCH AS IMPORTANT AS OR HIGHER THAN GEAR.
BUT FOR ALL THOSE NON LIKE BUDDY RICH'S LEVEL, GEAR IS VERY IMPORTANT.GEAR IS A VERY IMPORTANT MEAN OF INSPIRATION (YES SMART ASSES, LISTENING TO MUSIC IS ANOTHER ONE IMPORTANT TOO!).
:chug:

[DxRocker]

I think you are missing the point a bit there metallas.

Sure, when getting some new gear on your kit, it can be a source of renewed inspiration ("can be", so not necisarily). But so can a lot of things. It can be a new bass player as well... Any change really, ranging from sound to setup to location where you play.

But the cheer fact is... will you sound "better"? No you will not.
If I suddenly get the inspiration to play groove X, does that mean I was technically unable to play that groove yesterday? No... I just didn't come up with it then.

Also, I think it is important to note here that while you have more "inspiration", the same can absolutely not be said about creativity.
Creativity to me, is doing a lot of different things with the same stuff.

If tomorrow I replace my hats with mini-hats, my crashes with china's and my toms with roto's... My grooves will sound completely different. And withing that context of the different sound, chances are big that I'll play different fills as well (hitting china's instead of toms for example), or to say it differently: with the new sounds at my disposal, I might orchestrate my paradiddle in a different manner.

But am I being more creative? No... I'm just hitting other things, I'm still playing my paradiddle though!

So no matter how much can be said that gear works for inspiration etc etc, the fact remains that he who plays the small set (or at least: always the same set) and gets away with everything, will be the most creative.

You'll be running out of orchestration inspiration quite fast on a small kit. You'll be forced to come up with new patterns to actually do something different. I find myself also being guilty of using different gear in order to come of as being "more creative", while in fact - I'm doing the same stuff I always do, but just hitting different things.

Nothing bad in that by any means. You do what you do and fight with the weapons that you have.

But it's important to be aware of the possibility that if you have a lot of weapons, you'll pass more easily on applying certain weapons in more then one way... if you catch my drift.

An example of that might be the double pedal. Those who play one, are easily tempted in not focussing enough on single playing.
As a result, they are playing certain grooves double, while they could easily be doing it single... I see that a lot.
It's not the best example, I know, but I guess you see what I mean.

[Sunshine]

Honestly, I wouldn't want unlimited equipment.
I'd prefer a smaller set with reallyreallyreallyreallyreally amazing equipment.

[dairyairman]

i would like to have a lot of different cymbals, snares, etc. available so i could set them up for different situations. i wouldn't set them up all at once, but i'd like to have a bunch of different things in my gear bag for different styles of music, venues, and other situations. of course, i would also want to have a crew available to carry it all around for me, and set it up according to my wishes.

[Undisco Kidd]

I would build a wall of cymbals. That way I could be concealed 100%, then I could play naked.

So, yes. Gear would be awesome.

[MisurCanavi]

Jazz drummers are well known to be fanatic about finding a good ride cymbal.


You have never been to cymbalholic have you?

Jazz drummers are ****ing crazy about finding NUMEROUS good rides.

[440561]

Honestly, I wouldn't want unlimited equipment.
I'd prefer a smaller set with reallyreallyreallyreallyreally amazing equipment.

Same here, but if I could I would have a big kit, with lots, and a small kit set-up "emo" style for giging at that. In fact, someone just said all you really need is snare bass and hats and maybe ride. Yeah, but sometimes you can play really neat stuff using toms based on a rock rhythm using the floor tom. Nevertheless I may try with just snare bass and floor tom (keeping all my cymbals, just limiting the actual drums. Or I might limit my cymbals too...

[Drummer300btx]

your sound is only limitied by your own creativity. but unlimited gear wouldnt hurt!

[fishbulb]

you completely missed the point.

How so.

[oliv_da_skinmasher]

You have never been to cymbalholic have you?

Jazz drummers are ****ing crazy about finding NUMEROUS good rides.

I'm not jazz but i'm going mad trying to find a perfect ride

[SkaRabbit]

if i still had my beginer kit with **** plastic cymbals i dont think i would be as good as i am now...

[wesm9787]

I would build a wall of cymbals. That way I could be concealed 100%, then I could play naked.

:lol: Same here. Minus the playing naked. I just like cymbals.

[Sunshine]

I dunno...I think like.
A 5 piece.
Maybe 6.
Beautiful sounding.
With awesome heads.
Amazing hats.
A crash, or two.
A ride, or two.
A cowbell, even.

...and that's all I'd really want. I'd rather sound awesome and do everything one possibly COULD with that than have 8 million pieces.
And I hate chinas/splashes, or those I've heard anyway.
[Granted MOST I've heard were broken, for some reason guys around here play with completely trashed splashes and chinas...but I've heard whole ones as well and didn't like them much more.]

[Caleb3221]

I just accidently lost a long post, so I'll retype it in condensed form.

I used to be of the opinion that a good player could sound just as good with horrible equipment as with great equipment, and that equipment was largely irrelevant. I now see the error in my ways, mostly due to 1) learning other insturments and studying music as a whole instead of just as a drummer and 2) studying and talking with people who are deeper into the overall music process rather than just the drumming side(and even those who are deep in drumming)).

Anyway, I think this is espeically noticable in recordings, but true of everything: A great sound can really make a song. One example in recent popular music: the first track of Radiohead's Kid A: If that keyboard intro didn't have the power and tone it had, to really fill the soundwaves, it would not have nearly the impact. The same is true of drum sounds all over the place. A great drum sound can really define the mood of a recording or performance. Once again, to recordings, David Bowie would not be David Bowie, and Roxy Music would not be Roxy Music, without those distinctive drum sounds. Same thing with Carter Beauford, and Elvin Jones. In my own playing, when I listen back on myself playing jazz on a "rock" kit, it sounds off even if I play the same. There are billions of great jazz tones, but unless you are getting the one you expect and want out of your drums for what you are playing, you are shafting yourself on the sound.

So, I think unlimited equipment will DEFINATLEY help your sound. There isn't a great universal drum sound: that's why everyone dosen't tune drums the same. I know I get a bunch of milegae out of multiple snares and cymbals: some gigs I'll take my supraphonic, crank it next to my vintage kit with some somewhat muffled heads and a fairly drak sound, put on my brightest cymbals, and rock the **** out to drive a harder rock band. Some nights I'll pull out my USA Customs with paper-thin heads and my maple snare with calfskin up top, tune everything high and open, and drive a jazz gig. Especially when recording, having more options is never bad. There's a reason a lot of studios have a wall of snares you can choose from if you want a different sound-they really CAN add a lot to a recording. EVen going to live shows: When the mix is bad, you complain about it. That says something. It's important enough that a great or horrible drum(or anything else) sound can really alter the experience. This post made no sense I hope someone understands my point.

[TravisBarkerrules]

I would be to busy setting **** up all the time, I wouldn't ever play.

[metallas]

I just accidently lost a long post, so I'll retype it in condensed form.

I used to be of the opinion that a good player could sound just as good with horrible equipment as with great equipment, and that equipment was largely irrelevant. I now see the error in my ways, mostly due to 1) learning other insturments and studying music as a whole instead of just as a drummer and 2) studying and talking with people who are deeper into the overall music process rather than just the drumming side(and even those who are deep in drumming)).

Anyway, I think this is espeically noticable in recordings, but true of everything: A great sound can really make a song. One example in recent popular music: the first track of Radiohead's Kid A: If that keyboard intro didn't have the power and tone it had, to really fill the soundwaves, it would not have nearly the impact. The same is true of drum sounds all over the place. A great drum sound can really define the mood of a recording or performance. Once again, to recordings, David Bowie would not be David Bowie, and Roxy Music would not be Roxy Music, without those distinctive drum sounds. Same thing with Carter Beauford, and Elvin Jones. In my own playing, when I listen back on myself playing jazz on a "rock" kit, it sounds off even if I play the same. There are billions of great jazz tones, but unless you are getting the one you expect and want out of your drums for what you are playing, you are shafting yourself on the sound.

So, I think unlimited equipment will DEFINATLEY help your sound. There isn't a great universal drum sound: that's why everyone dosen't tune drums the same. I know I get a bunch of milegae out of multiple snares and cymbals: some gigs I'll take my supraphonic, crank it next to my vintage kit with some somewhat muffled heads and a fairly drak sound, put on my brightest cymbals, and rock the **** out to drive a harder rock band. Some nights I'll pull out my USA Customs with paper-thin heads and my maple snare with calfskin up top, tune everything high and open, and drive a jazz gig. Especially when recording, having more options is never bad. There's a reason a lot of studios have a wall of snares you can choose from if you want a different sound-they really CAN add a lot to a recording. EVen going to live shows: When the mix is bad, you complain about it. That says something. It's important enough that a great or horrible drum(or anything else) sound can really alter the experience. This post made no sense I hope someone understands my point.

Agree. :thumb:
I will say something that an older student of my teacher told me.
He is in abroad studying jazz drumming. One day dave weckle went to his college for a clinic. He didn't bring his Big Yamaha kit. He played on a mid kit without mics, with few cymbals etc. Do you know what my mate said?
He said "Kostas, he wasn't tha Dave Weckle we know. Although he played some stuff, it was totally different from what you hear on live concerts where he uses mics and stuff".
Even though I am a little skepticall about DAVE fuccing WECKL not sounding good, how much can my mate have exadurated about his "not good" performace?

[jiashen]

When I play really neat equipment I'm happy, therefore I play better.

[DrummingBen]

Agree. :thumb:
I will say something that an older student of my teacher told me.
He is in abroad studying jazz drumming. One day dave weckle went to his college for a clinic. He didn't bring his Big Yamaha kit. He played on a mid kit without mics, with few cymbals etc. Do you know what my mate said?
He said "Kostas, he wasn't tha Dave Weckle we know. Although he played some stuff, it was totally different from what you hear on live concerts where he uses mics and stuff".
Even though I am a little skepticall about DAVE fuccing WECKL not sounding good, how much can my mate have exadurated about his "not good" performace?

It's possible that he just "perceived" that he wasn't as good, kinda like a placebo effect.

[iamjoe2]

lets face is were drummers, if we want big kits, but i wouldent want unlimet ed stuff...

then you get crazy

then you use a diferent kit on every song you play

then you lug it around if you play live

then you break your back

then you become a vegetible because your doc botched the sugery

it goes down hill from there