okay so I want to make a quick video
about kids drum sets and three things in particular first how to select a good
one second how to make the most of the one you got
and then third steps you can take as a gigging drummer to convert a good kid
good kids drum set into a mini kit for gigging use for professional use so the first thing when you're picking a
kids drum set is that you want to look at the hardware specifically you want to
look at the rims this is a pro drum is a small professional drum but you want it
to have these same characteristics you wanted to have metal rims that are
flanged in other words, to have this sort of scooped shape to them if you put them on
end that have square-ended real tension rods so these bolts are called tension
rods and they have a square end that is standardized to a drum key and then they
fix into these nuts that are on these lug these lugs on the outside of the
shell now that's the way a real drum should be made if it's some other way
it's tacked on or it's rope tuned understand that is more of a toy and not
not as desirable with the bass drum the only variation here is that the hoop
instead of being metal probably it may be made of metal it'll appear to be more
wooden it'll be thicker about an inch thick and should be held on with claws
that are similarly held back into lugs with tensions that means as real drums
and the only other things that you wanted to have ideally all the minimum
components of a real drum set which would be as a snare drum which a snare
drum is the kind of drum that has wires that are either underneath or inside
curved against the head snare drum a rack Tom that's the one that comes up on
top of the bass drum the bass drum which is the one you hit with the pedal and
then the floor tom which has legs and is sort of next to the snare the other two
components would be that you want some sort of ride cymbal which has a stand a
standalone cymbal and then you have a hi-hat which is the two cymbals to clap
together on a pedal driven stand those are the minimum components of the drum
set and they of course you'll also have a pedal and a stool of some
sort now that you've selected a good kids
drum set the next step is how to get the most out of it and this is really going
to come down to just a couple of things the first is tuning the heads and in the
example that I'm going to play after after these tips and tricks I'm using a
stock factory kids drum set that all I've done to it is to tune it if you
want some tips about how to tune drums I have a whole video on that which leak to
up here it goes into depth and there are also several other YouTube videos that get to
the point quicker than I do so tuning it has the main thing and then
the second thing is setup if you're not a drummer if you're not familiar with
how to set up drums here are a couple key points so you're gonna want the
snare if your right handed player on the snare goes just here left and it goes
above your knee line and it should be mostly flat maybe slightly angled
towards you your floor tom the Tom that's on legs should be the same height
as that and it's gonna be on the outside of your right leg
so the snare goes between your legs and the floor tom goes outside your right
leg same same height the hi-hat the cymbals that clap together is to your
left it's when your left foot did you actuate that and it should slightly
overhang the snare so it should start to eclipse it but not get completely in the
way because you're doing a crossover typically to do the patterns there the
bass drum should be right in front of you you hit it with your right foot and
the rack Tom the time that is mounted on the bass drum should be not flat but
tilted probably 20 20 to 30 degrees towards you it should not be too steep
you're not hitting it straight on you want to be able to pass your hands
without a whole lot of repositioning the angle so you're coming from down here
relatively flat slightly up and back flat and then the ride cymbal goes
typically to the right and you need to make sure that it's high enough and
position so that if it were to be hit that it does not strike any of the
of the tops that are nearby finally if you're gonna convert your
kids kit into a mini kit for pro or gigging use and I could be because you
know a lot of times you can fit that into one bag in between that one back
for that one bag for the lightweight hardware one bag for the cymbals over
your shoulder you are loaded out of your car and into the club in one trip and
that's great if parking is tight that's great if it's a small stage
that's great if you have very little room to backline that's great if you're
outside busking it's great if you're in a farmers market
under a little tent with the whole band a whole bunch of reasons plus it's great
to challenge yourself that you know break your muscle memory and
re-approached the kit fresh with a new outlook so to have a sort of a secondary
kit that's a change of pace is can be a lot of fun and then finally it can be
really engaging for the audience we open for a Danish punk band called power solo
and they were really great band really great live show but on their US tour
they were playing their drummer was playing a little tiny mini kit that they
just put you know they converted and done a few few basic modifications to
and he's playing it just crazy animal style and the audience loved it just ate
it up and it was just a great gimmick and really paid off and so you know it's
interesting to see something different than that what you expect anyway there
are basically four critical steps that you're probably going to want to take to
convert the kit for adult use the first most important step is that you must
swap out the cymbals the cymbals that come on kids drum sets are going to be
sheet brass here and be thin if they're gonna be brittle the ones that are on
the kit that you'll hear me play in a minute are actually about as good as
they get they sound right at least and a lot of times they're sort of pie plate
clanging and don't really sound right don't sound like cymbals these was lee
sound like cymbals but they're still not gonna hold up to the rigors of being
played by an adult for an hour a night just not gonna work what's gonna happen
I'm gonna crack that cymbal I'm gonna press down and with a normal
pressure on the hi-hat and invert them it's just not gonna be good
so swapping the cymbals is the most critical step the second basically the
1b step is you got to replace those heads the factory heads are going to be
thin they're gonna be resonant quality thickness you want to have those be
batter quality thickness and so just any Hetal do you know Remo Aquarian
Evans any any good maker doesn't matter just upgrade the heads and you can get
specialty heads for 16-inch kicks at least I know that Evans and Aquarian for
sure make them also I like the Remo fiber skin head as a sort of a jazzier
version of a 16 inch bass drum head but you got to swap them out for real heads
that's the second thing the third thing is gonna be you were gonna almost have
to swap out the pedal you don't have to but it's a very good idea and if you do
I recommend you swap it out for a pedal with a base plate so that you are adding
just a little bit more Anchorage to the whole system and that you're less likely
to push it away it's more likely to stay in place some people think you need to
put it put the bass drum up on a pedestal if you're gonna use a full-size
pedal I find that it's sufficient just to drop the beater a little bit and then
it's fine to hit the upper not dead center but basically like two-thirds the
way off the head still sounds great that's me that's my ear and then finally
you're gonna need to use an actual stool because the stools that come with those
kits are for kids and they're not gonna be comfortable if they even hold your
weight so just do yourself a favor and make sure that you're sitting
comfortably and have fun it's it's a lot of fun to play those kits and it's
pretty pretty cheap to put them together if you kind of like your P's and Q's
