Less is More

[johnnyringo]

We played an outdoor patio gig at a place downtown called Pat O'Briens. I knew loading in and out would be a pain and there was a chance of t-storms, so I decided to go small. Fortunately the only rain we saw was a few hours before the show. My band mates flipped out a bit when they realized I had no toms, but I'd played this way before and I knew I could pull it off. It makes you approach the kit differently, we play mainly classic rock so I had to change up my game a bit. It can be quite challenging and fun scaling down sometimes.

[marko52]

Pretty liberating to go with a bikini kit. Done it lots of times. It's just hard to leave your matching toms at home, when you've worked so hard to find them.............marko

[human71]

to my world ! My two main gigging/pub kits are a vintage Stewart kit consisting of a 20x14 bass drum, nicely paired with a vintage (and rare) 10 lug, imitation Slingerland Supreme 5x14 steel snare drum..The other is my tiny powerhouse Sonor jungle kit, consisting of a small but beastly 18x17.5 force 2007 all birch kick, and a 3007 black galaxy sparkle 5x12 maple snare drum. They are my go-to kits now, as i'm in between "full drum kits"..I've learned to compensate and play more with using hi hats and kick drum patterns instead of toms, and i realized i was getting some cool and interesting sounds out of such small kits. Best part, and now you know this too, is set-up and especially tear-down are a breeze.. I'm literally done fully setting up with my vocal and kick mics in less than 20 minutes..Perfect for a gigging work horse drummer.. Hope you'll ignore your guitar players opinions on the matter, as i'm sure they'll thank you later..For me it was the opposite..When i finally started using a full kit at one of the bars i play, they all got discouraged, but quickly changed their tune when they realized i wasn't rambling over the kit for as many tom fills as i could throw in like when i was in my 20's and early 30's.. Trust me, if you do it often enough, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner !

cheers,
Rob

[Creighton]

Not the bandmates problem whether tom or not. Glad you had fun and the others will get used to the sound !!!

[R.Adam McHugh]

I love the small set-up. I do a semi-regular cocktail bar gig with just a snare and a pair of brushes. Now THAT makes you think about your playing!

[bumzdrummer]

I'd like to see more pics of setups w/o toms. I played a gig with a pro that used only a snare and kick, but he used a double BD pedal. Very cool and interesting for "classic" rock/pop.

[mlayton]

'64 Ludwig Club Date 22" bass and Pioneer snare in Sky Blue Pearl...Bikini setup! Tom mount used as a cowbell mount. Hats and a crash/ride with rivets. Lot's of fun.

[DrumBob]

Doing a two piece set is fun once in a while. I've done a bunch of small pub/unplugged gigs with just a snare, bass and hi-hat. You definitely need to rethink your approach.

[MickM]

Sturgill's guy is workin' it here.

YouTube (Short URL)

and here

YouTube (Short URL)