From: cook@bebop.esd.sgi.com (Doug Cook)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.percussion
Subject: Re: "My first set," sort of... ideas? (LONG)
Date: 4 Jan 93 17:28:14 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA


In article <1993Jan3.201418.26785@midway.uchicago.edu>, dlg1@quads.uchicago.edu writes:
> Any suggestions for a first set to play jazz and bop (as opposed to
> metal and other things that require big racks...)? My guess (as a beginner)
> would be an 18" or 20" bass, with a snare, mounted upper tom or two, 
> and a ride cymbal and hi-hat as the minimum. Added could be a floor tom
> and a crash? What do you think of as a minimum set for jazz and bop? Any
> suggestions as to kits, or do you assemble components like with good
> stereos?<g> What is a minimum set likely to run? Which cymbals are best
> for this type of music, and what sizes?

First of all, I've seen drummers that sounded great with all kinds of
different sets. And just about every drummer I know has different
preferences in terms of "sound" and equipment. Therefore, take these
and any other comments with a grain of salt. Find what YOU like.
This will probably take some time. 

You probably don't need too many drums to start out with; a 4-piece
(snare, bass, 2 toms) will get you a long way. Choose the toms to
go with the bass. Each drum should have its own range (pitch-wise),
so this means smaller toms (or tuned higher) for a smaller bass drum.

An 18" bass would limit you to small-ensemble jazz stuff. It doesn't 
have the punch you'd need to play funk or fusion, or to cut through
a large/electric band.  On the other hand, it does have that great
high-pitched, mellow 18" sound, and you probably don't WANT to cut 
through too much, particularly if you're playing with an acoustic bass.

A 22" bass is going to give you a nice, satisfying "thud." This works
really well for funk and fusion, rock and blues. If you can manage 
not to lay into it too hard, you can make it work in a small
ensemble setting (a little more difficult if the bass is acoustic,
since the bass drum shouldn't cover up the bass player). This is
what I've done for a long time (though I'm getting an 18" soon).

A friend of mine got a 20" Gretsch bass drum, thinking to have the best 
of both worlds: a drum that could be unobtrusive in small settings,
and still have the "oomph" to make his blues and fusion gigs work.
The problem was that he was never really happy with the drum; it was
too big for the jazz and too small for the blues.

Tuning is one of the biggest factors in the sound of a drum kit. There 
are some old drums around that one can pick up cheaply that sound 
wonderful when properly tuned (again, "properly" is subjective). 
If you're checking out a set, and you don't like the sound, check
out the tuning. It may be that you can tune the drums differently
to get the sound you want. "Most" jazz players tune their drums
fairly high, particularly when a small bass drum is in use. 

As far as the snare goes, I'm partial to wood snares. They have a
warmer sound that works really well with jazz.  Tuning is particularly
important on the snare drum. I have a 14" Slingerland snare from the
early 60's that my dad got used for $40 when I started playing, 15
years ago. For years I thought the drum was crap because it never
sounded the way I wanted. When I showed it to one of my teachers, he
said, "Oh, I have one of THOSE!  They're great! You just have to tune
it like this!" After some tuning (and, later, redoing the bearing edges
on the drum) it sounds fantastic.

Perhaps the most popular cymbals used in jazz are the Zildjian K
series; they generally have a warmer, darker tone than the so-called A
series cymbals (if you can't tell from the sound, you can tell which is
which by looking at the Zildjian logo: the K's say "K. Zildjian," the
A's say "Avedis Zildjian"). There are other good cymbals available
(notably Paiste), but the K's might be a good point of reference.
They're not particularly cheap, but I see them used all the time. 
Note also that two K's of the same type may sound radically different,
(they're hand-hammered) so listen to each one. 

You'll probably find that cheap high-hats are more tolerable to
listen to than cheap ride cymbals. It's definitely worth your time
and money to look around and find a good set of cymbals, particularly
the ride. As someone else has pointed out in this newsgroup, you
can tune your drums if you don't like the sound, but you're stuck
with the cymbals.

More-or-less "standard" sizes for cymbals are 20" ride, 14" high-hats
(except with the Zildjian K/Z pair, in which 13" appears to be the
popular size), 14"-16" crash. Again, your mileage may vary.

> I just got a used 20" cymbal as a gift, together with a cymbal 
> stand that's solid enough that the cats can't knock it over, even 
> with all five working together.<g> I picked it up yesterday and set it
> up. Is there any way to reduce annoying overtones? This sounds good
> for the first three or four strokes, then a deep ringing overtone builds up
> that swallows what I'm trying to play. It's one of my brother-in-law's
> that he gave me to practice with, he didn't use it for gigs. Since
> I'm a beginner, I'm not in a position to know whether this is just the
> mark of a crummy old cymbal, or if there's just something else I should
> be doing to make it sound better... (Like switching to brushes?)<grin>

Some more tricks with cymbals that I've learned:

The sound of a cymbal varies greatly with the stick used. If you 
don't like the sound of a cymbal, and you're stuck with it, try 
varying the stick. If you have a lot of ringing, perhaps a light
stick with a small, hard bead (7A or such) would help. When you're
at a store checking out cymbals, try different sticks (different
bead sizes/shapes, wood/nylon) to get an idea of the range of sounds
you can produce. 

"The obvious": Try not to lay into the cymbal too hard when you play. 
I have a 22" Zildjian K jazz ride that sounds great when I'm playing
in a restrained fashion. For a lot of tunes, it just doesn't cut it,
though (has this amazing roar that builds up while playing), so I
picked up a 20" K Custom that I use for most stuff.

Another old trick is to put a piece of duct tape on the bottom of
the cymbal, a couple of inches in from the rim. I've seen other 
drummers do this, but I haven't tried it myself, so I can't say how
well it works. Experiment with it...

It may also be that the cymbal is just not what you want. If you end
up going out and buying one, and you have other cymbals already,
bring them with you! I learned this lesson the hard way. Got into a
store, found a crash cymbal that I thought I really liked, took
it home, and discovered that I hated the way it sounded with my other
cymbals. Now I always take the time to set up my cymbals at the 
store and listen to them together with all the proposed "new cymbals."
It makes an incredible difference.

Hope you find a great set, and enjoy playing-

	-Doug

Doug Cook  	(cook@sgi.com)		| 
Software Engineer, ISD Digital Media    |    "Exuberance is Beauty."
Silicon Graphics, Inc.			|		-Wm. Blake
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.percussion