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Thread: drumline versus drum kit

  1. #1

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    Hi I would like to know what is the hardest to learn, drumming on a drum kit or a drumline. It seems to me cause I have'nt tried it yet that the drumline is real fast drumming and looks like it is hard to learn. Any opinion would be appreciated. I play on a drum kit.

  2. #2

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    It's been a while (approx. 20 years) since I played in a drumline, but I found that much harder because of the required concentration. Every hit has to be exactly on time as even the littlest fraction where it's off will result in a messy end-result. When playing on a kit you are free to play everything a bit more relaxed and you play it different each time around.

    Regarding the speed the only difference is that on a kit YOU decide how fast you play. In a drumline someone else decides.

  3. #3

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    To be the best at either discipline is very difficult. That said, you can be a pretty average set drummer and get away with it, but in a quality drum line, the minutia and attention to detail to play complex rudiments in unison of sound and style with the rest of the players, all while moving makes it a daunting task. This time of year, these competitive drum lines are rehearsing 10 - 12 hours per day to perfect their craft. Imagine if we did that on our kits!

  4. #4

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    It depends on how far you want to take each of them. Which one will provide the greater excitement for you? Also, thinking about the time invested...that is, how long will you be able to play in a drumline vs drumset. There are folks on this forum that are in their 60s and still gigging around playing their drumset. I'm not sure there are any in that age group doing drum line anymore...Rock on !

  5. #5

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    I will tell you that playing in a drumline is alot easier than a kit. And for a few reasons why:

    1. Coordination. In drumline, you only have one thing to worry about. YOUR DRUM. In a kit, you're working the hihat, bass, snare, everything. And you have to keep the beat going.

    2. Cooperation. #1 kind of goes into this. When you play a set, you're all by yourself. nobody else. With drumline, you are divided into what line you are on: Snare, Tenor, Bass Cymbal. So you have other people to depend on. And That can be both good and bad.

    3. If you make a mistake, someone else probably covered it. Yes, that will affect your score in percussion, but people still hear the part that you're trying to play. When you play set and you miss a beat or note, nobody hears it. Now what you have to do is make that up. If you totally screw up, the band can't go anywhere. Even if they know their parts. They were depending on you and now since you couldn't play it right, they're lost, and now you have a less trusting audience.

    4.That cool and funky rythm is now easier to play because you have more people playing. You can't do that on a set, can you? No. It's impossible to play 5 basses, do a funky snare groove, manage hihat, and play toms at the same time. Not unless you have the necessary people to do it.
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  6. #6

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    I thought I would share this video of this girl playing a drumline piece.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g6TIFoV9dw&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- Tornado Snare Solo- Debora Müller[/ame]

    One thing to note is that you MUST be able to read drum notation to be in a drumline. For drumset, you have to be able to listen and play at the same time to be able to improvise on the fly.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by nio View Post
    One thing to note is that you MUST be able to read drum notation to be in a drumline. For drumset, you have to be able to listen and play at the same time to be able to improvise on the fly.
    True, you do have to be able to read music. Not specifically drum notation, but yes, rythms.
    PHROGGE'S AQUARIAN ARMY
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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by nio View Post
    I thought I would share this video of this girl playing a drumline piece.

    YouTube- Tornado Snare Solo- Debora Müller

    One thing to note is that you MUST be able to read drum notation to be in a drumline. For drumset, you have to be able to listen and play at the same time to be able to improvise on the fly.
    Awesome! A buddy of mine did this piece for a solo contest in Highschool, I did another piece by the same writer called "Stamina" very tough, but man was it fun to play, I wish I still had those chops! Here's a video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-oyL0JFVw&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-oyL0JFVw&feature=related[/ame]
    Last edited by Gretschhead; 07-01-2010 at 03:27 PM.

  9. #9

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    I see that the only difference is that a drumline is basically a solo on the snare compared to a kit where the solo is all over. Some drummers can play both ways with no problems while others only master one or the other. I remember seeing an episode of Tommy Lee goes to college and he was trying out for the drumline and was told he was not good enough at the try outs. He started yelling and cursing and taking is little fits like a big baby and kept saying do you know who I am " Tommy Lee the drummer for Motley Crue and your not going to tell me that I am no @&*%ng good. Just because he is good on drum kit doe'nt mean he is in a drumline. I also remember Nick Cannon who had never playing a drum in is life until he made the movie Drumline and he was awesome and now I hear he is a professional drummer in a band so it shows that you can master both ways if it is in you.
    Last edited by Pearl MCX Man; 07-03-2010 at 07:49 AM.

  10. #10

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    i played both. thats a really tough question to answer. as a former drumline, when i see ya guys put up vids playing set i can pick out right off the bat who played DL and who didnt. like people said earlier with the DL u have to be exact, and so many people are not. i see a lot of guys who can play fast and fancy, but lack the precise and exact timing that DL's should have.

    kinda of a mix of info, hope it makes sense.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pearl MCX Man View Post
    I see that the only difference is that a drumline is basically a solo on the snare compared to a kit where the solo is all over.
    !!! Only on Snare? You haven't heard very many cadences, have you? Nor have you tried Tenors or Bass. In our first cadence, we have a Tenor solo (Tenor captain only) and we have another in our second one. In Spider, a popular cadence used by many drumlines with many different variations, the bass keeps going with the same rhythm as the snares and tenors do doubles underneath the bass. We have another cadence where each tenor player gets to show off by making their own solo between main riffs.
    PHROGGE'S AQUARIAN ARMY
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  12. #12

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    They are equally hard but both require completely different skills.

    The guy who lives across the street from me is a pilot for United Airlines. His hobby is flying his old bi-plane. His words, the jet airliner requires alot of concentration because of all that is going on but they are forgiving. The bi-plane requires complete focus all the time because there is nothing forgiving about the plane. The bi-plane is just as hard to fly as the jet but what you focus on is completely different. It's the same when comparing a kit to a drumline.

    I thought it was a good analogy.

  13. #13

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    Can't say I've ever done DL, but it really seems like apples and oranges. I sure as hell can't do those rudiments at those speeds (or at all, for some of them), but I also know 100% sure that no DL-exclusive player would be able to hammer out a complex rhythm on a double bass kit while still working with the snare/tom/cymbals.

    They might be both percussion, but they're so different it's like asking if a saxophone is harder to play than a trombone just because they're both brass instruments.

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by SomeGuyDude View Post
    They might be both percussion, but they're so different it's like asking if a saxophone is harder to play than a trombone just because they're both brass instruments.
    Um... Saxophone is woodwind.
    PHROGGE'S AQUARIAN ARMY
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    RIP frank. You'll never be forgotten.
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  15. #15

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    I think both have their own sets of difficulties. Drumline requires speed and precision, whereas drumkit requires 4 way co-ordination and such. It's really hard to compare each, because of the differences. Either way it's drumming and will make you an overall better percussionist.

    Um... Saxophone is woodwind.
    ...I hope that was a joke...

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by ludwigkid View Post
    Um... Saxophone is woodwind.
    ...I hope that was a joke...
    Surely not....
    Quote Originally Posted by wikipedia
    The saxophone (also referred to simply as sax) is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument which is a member of the woodwind family

  17. #17

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    FWIW, any instrument played with a reed, oboe, sax, clarinet, accordian, bagpipes, and even the origianl pump organ, etc., is a wood wind. Reeds were once nothing but wood hence, woodwind. Brass instruments are classed as an instrument that is played with a metal mouthpiece, trumpet, trombone, coronet, etc. Mouthpieces were once all made from brass. Percussion instrument is any instrument that is struck as in drums, bells, tymps, etc. A string instrument is an instrument that is played, obviously with strings. Oddly enough though a piano is a percussion instrument because the strings are struck by hammers. When I started playing lessons for drummers began on the piano. In many ways it's a shame that process has evolved to skipping the piano except in the most traditional of teaching methods.

  18. #18

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    Check this video of bill bachman playing the quads and then look at his videos playing a kit. He does it all, drumline or a kit.

    http://www.vicfirth.com/education/te..._lesson4B.html

    Drum kit videos here under media and videos:

    http://www.billbachman.net/
    Last edited by Riverr1; 07-11-2010 at 08:29 PM.

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by mepbuzz View Post
    surely not....
    curse you wikipedia!!!

  20. #20

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    Imho! I play alot of different instruments and by far the hardest task I have ever undertaken is learning rudiments and gaining control of them as well as speed. Although everything takes practice and muscle memory, I find the discipline of the drumline to be superior to anything else I have learned. I have been taking DL lessons for about a month now and have learned things that never came to me as a set player. Both difficult yes but DL wins it for me. F/T

  21. #21

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    EVERYONE should learn rudiments, drumline just forces you too. I see no proof here that drummline would be harder, just more strict.

  22. #22

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    I didn't think drumline was too difficult. Maybe when I first started to march. I could always play right on time. The hardest part about drumline IMO is getting everyone else to play the right part on time.
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  23. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by ludwigkid View Post
    I think both have their own sets of difficulties. Drumline requires speed and precision, whereas drumkit requires 4 way co-ordination and such. It's really hard to compare each, because of the differences. Either way it's drumming and will make you an overall better percussionist.



    ...I hope that was a joke...
    saxophone of course belongs to the woodwind family....it's the sister of the clarinet - very same source of sound and almost identical fingerings...

    all the horns -- are brasswind

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