ha, that's almost like enough for some of the dude's friends to be like: Rob, bro, we need to take you out of that studio for a while! You might need some fresh air!
Ok, the mallet hack is pure genius. And, you just saved me $19.99. You are providing the most relevant drumming content for free on the Internet. Thank you so much. Stay cool.
Several great hack ideas from you and your fans, here is a few more I've used cut up newspaper inside my bass drum for a muffle, , hand towel on toms to get that Beatles "Come Together" tom sound, metal chain from a light switch ,to make a sizzle cymbal, moleskin foot patch from the drugstore, on the batter head of a bass drum, where the beater meets the head, rope on my drum throne to my bass drum lug , to stop the walking bass drum,, multi color tape, to mark my cymbal stands, blue for small crash, red for ride cymbal, green for large crash, etc
Nice job! Here's my hack.... I was playing a big gig, probably 2000 people (a downtown event) and I split my snare drum with about 2 songs to go AND it was that rare gig where I had no extra snare accessible (no roadie, snare in truck, etc. Bad planning on my part but I hadn't broken a snare head in years..)...WELL.....the snare head was split in the center...in between songs, I ripped the whole head out, grabbed my 10 inch rack tom and placed it inside the snare, lowered the stand and it worked like a champ. I finished the gig without any problem. That's my hack...
A great hack for controlling floor tom ring or even large tom toms, place 1 to 3 cotton balls inside the drum. experiment with how many work best for each size drum. They will work like a mechanical gate. I use 1 on toms 12" through 14" and 3 inside floor toms 16" & 18" . When you hit the drum, the cotton ball will bounce up allowing the drum to ring, when it falls back to the bottom head it will dampen the ringing or over tones. Even the most perfectly tuned drum can hit a frequency in various rooms that causes your engineer to either apply his own gates which sound terrible, or they are asking you to muffle the drum in some way...I hope this helps someone who is struggling with a drum thats running away on the gig....
I will definitely use the cymbal felt idea for mallets thank you. One time I forgot my drumsticks. left the whole stick bag in the practice room. luckily I was playing at a bar that serves food and was able to get a pair of wooden spoons from their kitchen. played the whole gig Grasping onto the spoon part with the handles as drumsticks
that's a nice one! especially these times where I find even felt beaters make sound an emad like plastic. I also have a kick practice pad that I find a little too noisy, I'll definately try this one on it!
But if I take off my thick winter sock - how do I keep my foot warm?!? Hopefully the gig has a condom machine in the bathroom, I can just pull a Trojan on my foot.
My drumset students love it when I teach them the felt washer mallet hack. It has saved a couple could-be embarassing moments when my jazz band's drummers forgot their mallets at a gig. The t-shirt over the snare batter head is my favorite.
Haha I forgot my snare stand also at an outdoor gig so I flipped my throne, used it as a stand, grabbed a seat and used my cymbal bag so it was high enough XD Doh!
I had to put my snare on the throne myself long time ago cause when I got to church my dad told the snare stand was missing I had I picolo snare drum at that time
My hack is i always bring a rope to tie my bass drum on my throne cuz some of my past gigs. the floor was slippery enough to make my bass drum move forward when i kick.. saved me alot of times. specially when i cannot find a blanket XD
I remember using that trick back in Middle School days...it worked! But, the dang hi-hat stand started moving forward and I didn't have another rope! :-)
These are great and I’ve definitely used all of these. In fact, I find myself using gel on my cymbals just to mix things up and make them sound different. Car mats when you forget you drum rug is an obvious one. I’ve gigged with vintage gear enough to say that Gaffers tape is must and can get you through a ton of issue that arise during gigs.
My number 1 hack is gaff tape, you can use it on drums and cymbals for overtones and volume control in a pinch although a moongel is better, tape moving snare stands to the floor and cables but can also be used to make a cymbal sleeve if there aren't any on a club kit/backline. I even use flashy tape to mark my stuff!
I’m firm believer in “never over-tighten” anything on a kit. Nevertheless, sometimes to get something to hold, you gotta reef on that thing. Sometimes so hard it hurts your hand. Well, save your hand, the hack is to use two sticks as leverage to twist/torque that wing nut TIGHT.
Hey Beat down, You are a life saver. Today during rehearsal we were practicing King & Country's Version of The Little drummer boy. Someone brought an extra Snare Drum that sounded like CRAP and I didn't have time to tune. I remembered this lesson and went to our supply room and got a sheet of paper and placed it in the Snare. It worked perfectly. Thanks Brother! 👍
#4 my favourite before and after; a reminder: instant groove and swing is not included in Moongel packs! I’ve used a promotional beer tray liner as a snare damper pad, it just happened to fit. #5 definitely going to save stick room next live practice.
$5 patio seat cushion from Walmart. Use as your kick drum muffling. Doesn't over do it like a pillow or blanket and cheaper than DW and Evans kick drum muffling.
Great video Rob. Thank you! I love the mallet hack & wish I had thought of that before. One thing I do to get an instant super fat snare is to drop an extra head upside down on the top of the snare.
I haven't played seriously in years but I still love your vids. Once during a gig the string that holds the snares to the head broke. I used my shoelace to replace it. I left it on there for good since it worked so well.
Great job Rob, I forgot my mic stand and luckily we were playing at a place that had pool tables, so I rigged up a pool cue to an extra stand I wasn’t using with duct tape and made a mic stand, the band was very happy . Keep up the great work Rob,thanks!
1. Having to physically kick the bass drum because the foot pedal strap had broken, and no spares. Not a hack, but a situation. Quickly learned that most of your weight is in your leg.... 2. If no blanket/carpet. Have a rigged up a steel cable with loops at each end in your bag, so you hook under one bass drum spur, the cable goes round the back of your throne column and the other end hooks under your other bass drum spur. So if the bass drum moves you follow :-). Actually you tend to stay put - actions and reactions and all. Newton was probably a drummer.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions :-) I was setting up for a gig earlier this year with a back line drum kit that wasn't mine & the stage was dimly light. As I was backing off the wingnut for my cowbell to fit over the bass drum hoop it fell off onto the floor and because the wingnut was black, I spent 20 minutes looking for the bloody thing. I could've not worried about it, but we had 3 or 4 songs that cowbell was going to be used, so I had to find it. I eventually found the wingnut wedged between the bass drum hoop and the bass drum pedal, sneaky little thing :-) When I got home, I got out a White Paint Pen & put large white dots on anything dark in colour on my drum kit, that would be hard to find on a dark stage. I never want to go through that again, especially with these old eyes :-)
HANDS FREE CYMBAL CHOKE. Simply use a remote hi-hat pedal, it ties in VERY well into the breaking rig from a bicycle. Mount it so it moves with the crash (plenty of ways to do this). CRASH.....step on the "HAT" pedal and the break pads will grab the top and bottom of the cymbal and instant choke. Works best when the brakes are moved as far towards the bell as possible.
I've definitely put my wallet on my snare before just to appease a disgruntled sound guy. If you cut the hoop off an old head and put it on your snare, you've got the "big fat snare" sound. scotch tape and a dime will give you a sizzle cymbal. If your floor tom always rings too much you can cut a small hole in the resonant head, similar to what you do with a kick drum. If your snares ring too much when you strike your rack tom, you can tighten up the resonant head of your snare just around the snare bed. 1/2 turn per lug, just on either side of the snare bed.
I wish this vid came out before I spent $20k to avoid “hacks”!! 😂 Seriously, though the moon gel on the cymbals just kept us all from dropping a ton of cash on K Istanbul’s!! Great video!! ❤️🥁🥁🥁
I got a funky hack. Its saved me from the bass drum sliding nightmare more than once and it happened by accident initially. I always carry a small blanket or as the band likes to call it. The blakey. I use it to cover the lacquer finish on my bass drum. Well one day we get to the gig. We're up next. The previous band/drummer takes his rug off the stage 😲 So what do I do? You guessed it. I threw my blankey on the floor. It's something I carry to every gig now. I jst load it in with my bass drum case. It saved me again just last week. That Duct tape is a must.
That's solid advice dude. Kick drum always slipping forwards. Gonna bring a blanket to the next show. And i'm gonna be duct taping the heel of the kick pedal. Thanks guys!
Some cool hacks man...! I turned up at a gig once after chucking all hardware in one bag due to space and left my tom legs at home.... time to think up some makeshift legs... I used some drum sticks, perfect height and sturdy enough. Also due to the taper I didnt need to worry about clamping for the height. Drummers are engineers no matter what anyone says.
Try using your wallet instead. There is less of a chance you'll crack your wallet. Lol I've been using this trick for just about 15 years, now. I shouldn't have assumed it was common knowledge.
In my younger years I used to Keith Moon my bass drums across the floor. I used 20lb dumbbell weights in front of the bass drum spurs to keep them planted.
Interesting stuff. I use cotton balls in the toms at times, works great. You hit the tom, cotton ball jumps, the skin resonate's, cotton ball falls back down and kills the sustain. Works better than monngels that are allways stuck on the skin...
Great ideas. Never underestimate a zip tie. I was playing a gig at the Pasadena, Texas rodeo hall. During sound check the link between the pedal and the bottom fitting on the pull rod broke. Panic until the bass player, who had a day job installing water systems, comes up with a big zip tie. It was the right width to fit and I adjusted the length easily. Although I have changed to a DW hi hat stand I still have the old Ludwig Classic stand. I still use it occasionally and the zip tie is still working 30 years later. Needless to say I added zip ties to my emergency kit.
Much love brother I am constantly coming up with drum hacks love yours , I live in a retirement community so I use microfiber polish rags to quiet the drums. Too many others to list
This is one I use every time I have to play in a small room....towel over the snare drum. And, if you have to, use small cymbals. I remember using a regular ride with a 10" and 12" splash cymbals...along with the towel over the snare, it was perfect for the room.
Hi Rob, I just discovered your site. I've watched three of your lessons and learned a lot. I'm an old fart - 77 years old, not a professional drummer, but love bebop drumming, swing and big band jazz. I am truly mediocre but love playing. I gig every two weeks at a local jazz jam session and also play in a quartet with other old farts - a doctor, a teacher, an architect, and a truck driver. I'm the retired teacher. Why do I get to play so often? Because I can keep really good time. I'm a shitty soloist. Play with other musicians much better than I but they like the fact that I'm not "buddy rich'n" (banging all over the place). So thank you I'm joining up and learning to become a buddy rich, ha, ha. Love your show. A real cool cat.
If you forgot to bring your carpet at a gig, use some gaff tape and tape the spurs and the heel plate/s of your pedal/s. I’ve tried it one time when I forgot my rug, and it worked like a charm. Totally worth it.
Tho it was the 90’s I used Maxi pads to dry up the kick and floor toms,they work to deadn up anything in a pinch. They can even help a slightly out of tune kick&toms sound much better too! Best thing is they can be cut up,gutted for thickness and are ready to adhere to anything!
I carry various assortment of tools in my stick bag. I also carry my cymbal stand parts and other little extras in an empty “Stacks” plastic container. You can also use an empty Stacks container as a extra stick holder. Just drill a little hole on the bottom to one side slide it on your floor Tom leg at the top and you got an instant stick holder.
Yep I've used the mallet one before , great hacks, the other thing I've used for cymbal damping is ....wait for it...... Old Sock's !! ( Clean of course) put a hole in the end and through the cymbal holder. Gives you really dry and quick if necessary. As always Rob you've always got something great to share thanks man !!!
Really great stuff, Rob! My best hack was breaking a bass drum head with no spare, and putting a mic on an Anvil briefcase... Actually sounded pretty good.
Rob, love the videos. Thanks! I have two I've used. 1) Top head on my snare drum let go around the epoxy'd edge. Turned snare over and played on the bottom. Tough to avoid hitting the snare wires, but it got me through the gig. 2) I usually have spare parts but... (yeah, I know). Snare strainer cord broke and I had no spares. Had a pair of sneakers out in the car, so I used a shoe string. Keep the faith, man.
Love the felt-on-the-end-of-the-stick!!! You're right, a great idea hiding in plain sight. I always pack a flashlight, leatherman tool and roll of athletic tape about 2" wide. I use the tape for muting or if a drum mount is slipping or to prevent a blister. It's fabric tape so not much dexterity is lost. I always make sure I have a small hand towel too.
I have a bunch of those small grippy rubber mats that are supposed to hold a phone on a dashboard - I cut them in half and put pieces under the heel of hi hat pedal, heel of bass pedal, and feet of bass drum spurs. No drum rug required on hard floors! I don’t like moongels, they’re unstable and can get ‘juicy’ and weird (TruTones are better). But for drier cymbals, I take 2 small strong magnets, wrapped in heat-shrinkwrap, and put one on bottom/one on top of any cymbal. Move the pair around for different effects. Cotton balls in the floor tom is a great one (iirc it’s a Greb trick) that I learned from Sounds Like a Drum. I have 5 in my 15” ft right now, kinda pulled into a flat, oblong shape. Cut 3 pieces of the gray, thick, squishy pipe insulation and tape them to the arms of your snare stand (a cheaper version of the Little Booty Shakers). Let’s the snare really resonate and breathe. Not a hack so much as a secret weapon: Gibraltar floating floor tom feet! Best $5 you ever spent, I recommend 2 sets - 1 for floor tom and 1 for your bass drum spurs (assuming you have spurs with changeable feet). What a difference in sound, you won’t believe it.
Mr Beatdown, you are the coolest and most entertaining man I have watched on Y.T. You are Flamuelle L Jackson Man. I watch you every day and never get tired of your sense of humour and absolute stylish approach to the drums. You have My Man, inspired me to go traditional. I have always, except for a brief time around 11yo when I emigrated to Australia and became a marching snare drummer. I didn't get it back then however, watching you, "I Dig", I seriously and excitedly dig. A little bit about me. I am now 65yo and live in Northern New South Wales in a sub-tropical region. I have played drums since the age of 7 and am self taught like yourself. I'm a Zeppelin head, I dig Cozy Powell and Alex Van Halen. My style is a combo of all those however, I need's some soul, some finest, some Ching a ling and, you are that teacher. I will, in a short time, flick y'all some cash for showing me how to do what iv'e been searching for ---- JAZZZZZZZZZZ --- and lots of it. I work now as a watercolorist and primarily paint for a living. I was a builder and Design Architect however, clients, clients are wankers so I now keep to my chops and brushes. Love your work and I'll grab some merch at some point too. Keep up the great work Rob. Kind regards Kev
This is a special effect hack thats super cool sounding, particularly for down tempo, slow and sparse grooves. Take some long ceiling fan pull chains; the ones that are a string of metal balls. Loop one end of it around the ride cymbal stand post above the bell and let it dangle all the way to the edge of the ride. Super Sizzle. Experiment with different size bead balls.
beat down bobby, your awesone i use sand paper grip tape on my hi hat pedal to keep my foot from slipping...also to reduce my floor tom ring..i tape a small piece of cloth under the bottom head. i am a beginner drummer. thanks for all you do. i enjoy your theatrical moments before you start each video. your a great artist.
Years ago while playing in a metal band, I put my beater through a pinstripe bass drum head! Right in the middle of the show! So... I flipped the bass drum around and played the resonant side for the rest of the night.
For some reason my brushers weren´t in my stick bag on a gig so had to improvise. Ended up playing with dish brushes from the kitchen :) They sure were laughing when I told where are those needed.
I thought these where great drum hacks! I’ve been drumming for 20years. I’ve never seen hacks like these used before in the church world. Thank you for sharing.
omg , only 2 weeks ago was in a theater gig with my Floyd band and I forgot my hi hat stand , luckily I play a remote hi hat always closed on right side of kit as well as normal hi hats , just moved it over . my band have never let me forget it
Awesome hacks...the cymbal and snare I will use at my next practice jam fo sho! My very first hack: Encyclopedias for a drum set...back in the 70's couldn't afford a set of my own while starting out. My first set I practiced on was the Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia set. Set them up leaning against pillows and used them as toms to practice runs on. :)
Love the tips! One tip I can give is to get one of those sink chains, which connects to the sink plug, from the hardware store. It costs coins and you can drape it over your ride for some extra sizzle. (get one that looks like tiny balls stringed together, rather than an actual chain, for a better sizzle)
Great stuff, the wallet on the snare, or a pack of cards back in my day ;-) Theatre weights on the BD and HH to stop them moving around on heavy gigs, silk scarves under the heads for 'pudding' sound, reversing the sticks for heavy gigs, electrical tape under the cymbals for dark sounds - cutting the bass drum front head open, leaving about 2" of head all around, and sticking a pillow in for Reggae sounds etc. Pencil mark on the snare showing where the back of the stick goes for the best 'cross stick' sound ;-)
Great vid Rob, I use DrumDots on my 21” ride for Jazz gigs to dry it out 👌🏼.. I once had to use a back line kit with a really thin Bass Drum hoop on it - my pedal clamp wouldn’t tighten on it - so I used the cardboard sleeve from my Vic Firth sticks folded down its length on the hoop to pad it out. It was solid! 🤘🏼✌🏼
ANOTHER useful Video and entertaining at no extra charge. BTW, #5 hack ..........could have used that one a zillion times !!! BTW, here is my "hack" , to protect the skinny HI Hat ROD when packing up , turn it around and insert it back into the top section of the HI Hat, ...... then use the clutch to hold it in place at the opposite end and protect it from getting crunched and bent . Doesn't work with every Hi Hat out there .......BUT , it might with yours. HAPPY FOURTH AMERICA !!!
I like the moon Gel on the symbols hack. Right now our drum set is in a small room and we have very loud symbols. They almost take the fun away from playing the drums. I will definitely try your idea. Thanks a bunch!
I like your shirt... ;-) and your hack with the papersheets helped me so much to make my snare sounds like a much more expensive one. Like a nice DW or something...
I have found my home base for instructional drum cats....Rob is funny and damn good at the same time.....It's not always just great drumming if you have the personality of a rock....
Took me awhile to realize what you were doing in the beginning and then it hit me that you grabbing some thumbnails and I was dying laughing! Literally the best intro anyone could ask for haha
I use non-retractable brushes. I wrap the handle with gaff tape for a nice “fwack” and wrap the wires with a pipe cleaner for storage in my stick bag. That keeps them from getting bent in the bag.
Had problems holding on to the left hand stick traditional grip, it slides, ended up rubbing in wood glue (bond crete/ aquadhere) into the shaft of the stick, it helped a lot.
Pretty common one, but using your keys as cymbal sizzles. I do this a lot on my ride cymbal for small jazz gigs where that is my only cymbal besides my hi-hats. It is nice because it doesn't resonate as much as regular sizzles so you can still ride on it comfortably. Then you can hit it like a crash and the keys' effects come out a little more.
The paper hack can also be done with a spare (smaller) head turned upside down and just layed on the snare, effectively thickens up the skin. Just make sure the metal rim sits higher than your snare hoop so it doesn't collide with it and you're good to go
The first 1:55 was the best TH-cam footage I've seen in ages. :-)
Jajaja yeah I agree.
TOTAL friggin accident, man. lol
@@RobBeatdownBrown See, viewers rarely get to see those kinds of moments, Rob. I chuckled the entire time & watched it again & still enjoyed it.
Rob Brown no way. Haha.
ha, that's almost like enough for some of the dude's friends to be like: Rob, bro, we need to take you out of that studio for a while! You might need some fresh air!
Every time he refers to us in the camera as "man" I feel like he's talking to me directly. What a personable dude.
Haha me too
Every time I watch one of Robs videos, I walk away a better drummer. Every single time.
Agreed.
Agreed
Same here, no joke
Yess I’ve actually gotten better with my independence and other things he really is a good teacher 🙌🏿🔥
Ok, the mallet hack is pure genius. And, you just saved me $19.99. You are providing the most relevant drumming content for free on the Internet. Thank you so much. Stay cool.
Several great hack ideas from you and your fans, here is a few more
I've used cut up newspaper inside my bass drum for a muffle, , hand towel on toms to get that Beatles "Come Together" tom sound, metal chain from a light switch ,to make a sizzle cymbal, moleskin foot patch from the drugstore, on the batter head of a bass drum, where the beater meets the head, rope on my drum throne to my bass drum lug , to stop the walking bass drum,, multi color tape, to mark my cymbal stands, blue for small crash, red for ride cymbal, green for large crash, etc
Nice job! Here's my hack....
I was playing a big gig, probably 2000 people (a downtown event) and I split my snare drum with about 2 songs to go AND it was that rare gig where I had no extra snare accessible (no roadie, snare in truck, etc. Bad planning on my part but I hadn't broken a snare head in years..)...WELL.....the snare head was split in the center...in between songs, I ripped the whole head out, grabbed my 10 inch rack tom and placed it inside the snare, lowered the stand and it worked like a champ. I finished the gig without any problem. That's my hack...
I would have use my 14'' floor tom head
@@charlesbeauregard3618 yeah but I was playing a 22, 10,12,16 at the time.
@@charlesbeauregard3618 Thanks Charles, from now on I'll always have another (very good!!!) reason as to why I always use a 14" floor tom.
That’s some quick thinking, man. Problem-solver!
Wow!
A great hack for controlling floor tom ring or even large tom toms, place 1 to 3 cotton balls inside the drum. experiment with how many work best for each size drum. They will work like a mechanical gate. I use 1 on toms 12" through 14" and 3 inside floor toms 16" & 18" . When you hit the drum, the cotton ball will bounce up allowing the drum to ring, when it falls back to the bottom head it will dampen the ringing or over tones. Even the most perfectly tuned drum can hit a frequency in various rooms that causes your engineer to either apply his own gates which sound terrible, or they are asking you to muffle the drum in some way...I hope this helps someone who is struggling with a drum thats running away on the gig....
A bit like Benny Greb.
I will definitely use the cymbal felt idea for mallets thank you. One time I forgot my drumsticks. left the whole stick bag in the practice room. luckily I was playing at a bar that serves food and was able to get a pair of wooden spoons from their kitchen. played the whole gig Grasping onto the spoon part with the handles as drumsticks
You can buy packs of gel inserts for your shoes at any shoe store - same stuff as moon gel and dirt cheap!
Window clings or sticky hands from the coin machine.
I didn't get the intro at first 😂. It took me almost the whole intro until i realized you were posing for thumbnails 😂😂
Is your kickdrum too loud ?
Take off one of your socks and stick it over the beater. Especially thick winter socks work fine !
that's a nice one! especially these times where I find even felt beaters make sound an emad like plastic. I also have a kick practice pad that I find a little too noisy, I'll definately try this one on it!
But if I take off my thick winter sock - how do I keep my foot warm?!? Hopefully the gig has a condom machine in the bathroom, I can just pull a Trojan on my foot.
My drumset students love it when I teach them the felt washer mallet hack. It has saved a couple could-be embarassing moments when my jazz band's drummers forgot their mallets at a gig. The t-shirt over the snare batter head is my favorite.
Haha I forgot my snare stand also at an outdoor gig so I flipped my throne, used it as a stand, grabbed a seat and used my cymbal bag so it was high enough XD Doh!
Sheeesh. That must've been crazy
I had to put my snare on the throne myself long time ago cause when I got to church my dad told the snare stand was missing I had I picolo snare drum at that time
Is it me or Rob is getting better and better ? Wow, nice feel and tight playing in those few measures.
Using a boom cymbal stand for a cowbell or tom mount. I've used this so many times. It's definitely saved me at some gigs.
the cell phone trick might also be a good exercise for beginner drummers to hit the snare at the right spot!
dreu that would be an unnecessary and expensive mistake. Why not something less valuable like a pencil eraser
(it was a joke)
honestly a good one, discpline stick placement, we all have probably an obsolete phone somewhere laying around by now..
My hack is i always bring a rope to tie my bass drum on my throne cuz some of my past gigs. the floor was slippery enough to make my bass drum move forward when i kick.. saved me alot of times. specially when i cannot find a blanket XD
Jerimo Dave Reyes check out KickStrap. Works great. Fits in stick bag for insurance of no slide.
I remember using that trick back in Middle School days...it worked! But, the dang hi-hat stand started moving forward and I didn't have another rope! :-)
These are great and I’ve definitely used all of these. In fact, I find myself using gel on my cymbals just to mix things up and make them sound different. Car mats when you forget you drum rug is an obvious one. I’ve gigged with vintage gear enough to say that Gaffers tape is must and can get you through a ton of issue that arise during gigs.
Gaffers or duct tape can be used for (almost) everything.
My number 1 hack is gaff tape, you can use it on drums and cymbals for overtones and volume control in a pinch although a moongel is better, tape moving snare stands to the floor and cables but can also be used to make a cymbal sleeve if there aren't any on a club kit/backline. I even use flashy tape to mark my stuff!
I love the little jazz (Dry cymbal) exert... what a touch!
I’m firm believer in “never over-tighten” anything on a kit.
Nevertheless, sometimes to get something to hold, you gotta reef on that thing.
Sometimes so hard it hurts your hand.
Well, save your hand, the hack is to use two sticks as leverage to twist/torque that wing nut TIGHT.
The amount of times I’ve cursed the cement head that decided to take a freakin Craftsman adjustable wrench to the hi hat clutch 🤬🤬
still a lot of numbnuts bringing wrenches to rehearsal rooms out there, so yeah the torque trick works everytime!
We also used the paper trick when I was in high school to give toms a punchy faux-skin-head sound. Play it with rods and you have a cool effect.
Get a Sharpie and mark your stands when they are set up where you want them. Makes it quick to set up again.
The one minute long silent introduction is hilarious 😂
Hey Beat down, You are a life saver. Today during rehearsal we were practicing King & Country's Version of The Little drummer boy. Someone brought an extra Snare Drum that sounded like CRAP and I didn't have time to tune. I remembered this lesson and went to our supply room and got a sheet of paper and placed it in the Snare. It worked perfectly. Thanks Brother! 👍
#4 my favourite before and after; a reminder: instant groove and swing is not included in Moongel packs! I’ve used a promotional beer tray liner as a snare damper pad, it just happened to fit. #5 definitely going to save stick room next live practice.
$5 patio seat cushion from Walmart. Use as your kick drum muffling. Doesn't over do it like a pillow or blanket and cheaper than DW and Evans kick drum muffling.
Great video Rob. Thank you! I love the mallet hack & wish I had thought of that before. One thing I do to get an instant super fat snare is to drop an extra head upside down on the top of the snare.
I really like the instant hi-hat stand trick.
I haven't played seriously in years but I still love your vids. Once during a gig the string that holds the snares to the head broke. I used my shoelace to replace it. I left it on there for good since it worked so well.
Great job Rob, I forgot my mic stand and luckily we were playing at a place that had pool tables, so I rigged up a pool cue to an extra stand I wasn’t using with duct tape and made a mic stand, the band was very happy . Keep up the great work Rob,thanks!
1. Having to physically kick the bass drum because the foot pedal strap had broken, and no spares. Not a hack, but a situation. Quickly learned that most of your weight is in your leg....
2. If no blanket/carpet. Have a rigged up a steel cable with loops at each end in your bag, so you hook under one bass drum spur, the cable goes round the back of your throne column and the other end hooks under your other bass drum spur. So if the bass drum moves you follow :-). Actually you tend to stay put - actions and reactions and all. Newton was probably a drummer.
I cut out a piece of seat belt to replace a broken strap once. Got me out of a jam but had to finish the set with no kick. I bring along a spare now.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions :-)
I was setting up for a gig earlier this year with a back line drum kit that wasn't mine & the stage was dimly light. As I was backing off the wingnut for my cowbell to fit over the bass drum hoop it fell off onto the floor and because the wingnut was black, I spent 20 minutes looking for the bloody thing. I could've not worried about it, but we had 3 or 4 songs that cowbell was going to be used, so I had to find it. I eventually found the wingnut wedged between the bass drum hoop and the bass drum pedal, sneaky little thing :-) When I got home, I got out a White Paint Pen & put large white dots on anything dark in colour on my drum kit, that would be hard to find on a dark stage. I never want to go through that again, especially with these old eyes :-)
lol I bought a small flashlight that goes in the stick bag. Paint pens are great too.
@@dmutant2635 I now have one of those small led torches that goes on my key ring also :-)
5 of the BEST non destructive hacks ever. BRAVO.
HANDS FREE CYMBAL CHOKE. Simply use a remote hi-hat pedal, it ties in VERY well into the breaking rig from a bicycle. Mount it so it moves with the crash (plenty of ways to do this). CRASH.....step on the "HAT" pedal and the break pads will grab the top and bottom of the cymbal and instant choke. Works best when the brakes are moved as far towards the bell as possible.
I've definitely put my wallet on my snare before just to appease a disgruntled sound guy.
If you cut the hoop off an old head and put it on your snare, you've got the "big fat snare" sound.
scotch tape and a dime will give you a sizzle cymbal.
If your floor tom always rings too much you can cut a small hole in the resonant head, similar to what you do with a kick drum.
If your snares ring too much when you strike your rack tom, you can tighten up the resonant head of your snare just around the snare bed. 1/2 turn per lug, just on either side of the snare bed.
I wish this vid came out before I spent $20k to avoid “hacks”!! 😂 Seriously, though the moon gel on the cymbals just kept us all from dropping a ton of cash on K Istanbul’s!! Great video!! ❤️🥁🥁🥁
There are so many good drumming instructional vids on TH-cam, several I consider valuable, but Rob is the best teacher of them all.
I got a funky hack. Its saved me from the bass drum sliding nightmare more than once and it happened by accident initially. I always carry a small blanket or as the band likes to call it. The blakey. I use it to cover the lacquer finish on my bass drum. Well one day we get to the gig. We're up next. The previous band/drummer takes his rug off the stage 😲
So what do I do? You guessed it. I threw my blankey on the floor. It's something I carry to every gig now. I jst load it in with my bass drum case. It saved me again just last week. That Duct tape is a must.
I put my throne under the blanket too, to further keep it from sliding
@@vasilias2230 same here. The 1st time I tried it I wasn't sure it was gonna work. 🤘 I started duct tapping my bass pedals too. On the back/heel part.
That's solid advice dude. Kick drum always slipping forwards. Gonna bring a blanket to the next show. And i'm gonna be duct taping the heel of the kick pedal. Thanks guys!
Some cool hacks man...! I turned up at a gig once after chucking all hardware in one bag due to space and left my tom legs at home.... time to think up some makeshift legs... I used some drum sticks, perfect height and sturdy enough. Also due to the taper I didnt need to worry about clamping for the height. Drummers are engineers no matter what anyone says.
I cracked my phone screen on Friday because I forgot to take it of my floor tom
Try using your wallet instead. There is less of a chance you'll crack your wallet. Lol I've been using this trick for just about 15 years, now. I shouldn't have assumed it was common knowledge.
I cracked it on my snare🙃
I cracked my floor tom head because I forgot to take my phone off it! 😁
Could be me hahaha
Same but I was just reading charts off it
In my younger years I used to Keith Moon my bass drums across the floor. I used 20lb dumbbell weights in front of the bass drum spurs to keep them planted.
Great hi-hat and mallet hacks! Thanks Rob!
Interesting stuff. I use cotton balls in the toms at times, works great. You hit the tom, cotton ball jumps, the skin resonate's, cotton ball falls back down and kills the sustain. Works better than monngels that are allways stuck on the skin...
Great ideas. Never underestimate a zip tie. I was playing a gig at the Pasadena, Texas rodeo hall. During sound check the link between the pedal and the bottom fitting on the pull rod broke. Panic until the bass player, who had a day job installing water systems, comes up with a big zip tie. It was the right width to fit and I adjusted the length easily. Although I have changed to a DW hi hat stand I still have the old Ludwig Classic stand. I still use it occasionally and the zip tie is still working 30 years later. Needless to say I added zip ties to my emergency kit.
That's pretty cool, man👌🏾
Much love brother I am constantly coming up with drum hacks love yours , I live in a retirement community so I use microfiber polish rags to quiet the drums. Too many others to list
This is one I use every time I have to play in a small room....towel over the snare drum. And, if you have to, use small cymbals. I remember using a regular ride with a 10" and 12" splash cymbals...along with the towel over the snare, it was perfect for the room.
Hi Rob, I just discovered your site. I've watched three of your lessons and learned a lot. I'm an old fart - 77 years old, not a professional drummer, but love bebop drumming, swing and big band jazz. I am truly mediocre but love playing. I gig every two weeks at a local jazz jam session and also play in a quartet with other old farts - a doctor, a teacher, an architect, and a truck driver. I'm the retired teacher. Why do I get to play so often? Because I can keep really good time. I'm a shitty soloist. Play with other musicians much better than I but they like the fact that I'm not "buddy rich'n" (banging all over the place). So thank you I'm joining up and learning to become a buddy rich, ha, ha. Love your show. A real cool cat.
Best show on the internet.. and it qualifies as educational as well!
Cool compliment, man. Thanks 🙂
If you forgot to bring your carpet at a gig, use some gaff tape and tape the spurs and the heel plate/s of your pedal/s. I’ve tried it one time when I forgot my rug, and it worked like a charm. Totally worth it.
Tho it was the 90’s I used Maxi pads to dry up the kick and floor toms,they work to deadn up anything in a pinch. They can even help a slightly out of tune kick&toms sound much better too! Best thing is they can be cut up,gutted for thickness and are ready to adhere to anything!
I carry various assortment of tools in my stick bag. I also carry my cymbal stand parts and other little extras in an empty “Stacks” plastic container. You can also use an empty Stacks container as a extra stick holder. Just drill a little hole on the bottom to one side slide it on your floor Tom leg at the top and you got an instant stick holder.
Yep I've used the mallet one before , great hacks, the other thing I've used for cymbal damping is ....wait for it...... Old Sock's !! ( Clean of course) put a hole in the end and through the cymbal holder. Gives you really dry and quick if necessary. As always Rob you've always got something great to share thanks man !!!
Really great stuff, Rob! My best hack was breaking a bass drum head with no spare, and putting a mic on an Anvil briefcase... Actually sounded pretty good.
Thas pretty gangsta, right there 🤘🏽
Rob, love the videos. Thanks! I have two I've used. 1) Top head on my snare drum let go around the epoxy'd edge. Turned snare over and played on the bottom. Tough to avoid hitting the snare wires, but it got me through the gig. 2) I usually have spare parts but... (yeah, I know). Snare strainer cord broke and I had no spares. Had a pair of sneakers out in the car, so I used a shoe string. Keep the faith, man.
Love the felt-on-the-end-of-the-stick!!! You're right, a great idea hiding in plain sight.
I always pack a flashlight, leatherman tool and roll of athletic tape about 2" wide.
I use the tape for muting or if a drum mount is slipping or to prevent a blister. It's fabric tape so not much dexterity is lost. I always make sure I have a small hand towel too.
Lol!!!!!! So as soon as I sit down, I make a funny sound and point...!? Got it! Lol.
Beginner here !!! love all ya work, this vid was awesome. Anyone could watch this and get it. thanks brother.love the humour 🙂
I have a bunch of those small grippy rubber mats that are supposed to hold a phone on a dashboard - I cut them in half and put pieces under the heel of hi hat pedal, heel of bass pedal, and feet of bass drum spurs. No drum rug required on hard floors!
I don’t like moongels, they’re unstable and can get ‘juicy’ and weird (TruTones are better). But for drier cymbals, I take 2 small strong magnets, wrapped in heat-shrinkwrap, and put one on bottom/one on top of any cymbal. Move the pair around for different effects.
Cotton balls in the floor tom is a great one (iirc it’s a Greb trick) that I learned from Sounds Like a Drum. I have 5 in my 15” ft right now, kinda pulled into a flat, oblong shape.
Cut 3 pieces of the gray, thick, squishy pipe insulation and tape them to the arms of your snare stand (a cheaper version of the Little Booty Shakers). Let’s the snare really resonate and breathe.
Not a hack so much as a secret weapon: Gibraltar floating floor tom feet! Best $5 you ever spent, I recommend 2 sets - 1 for floor tom and 1 for your bass drum spurs (assuming you have spurs with changeable feet). What a difference in sound, you won’t believe it.
This channel is a blessing in my life, keep up the good work, appreciate it
Thanks, man 🙂✌🏽
Gaffe or Gaffers stage tape is a drummer's friend. The practical uses are limitless. Great tips, Rob!
Mr Beatdown, you are the coolest and most entertaining man I have watched on Y.T. You are Flamuelle L Jackson Man. I watch you every day and never get tired of your sense of humour and absolute stylish approach to the drums. You have My Man, inspired me to go traditional. I have always, except for a brief time around 11yo when I emigrated to Australia and became a marching snare drummer. I didn't get it back then however, watching you, "I Dig", I seriously and excitedly dig. A little bit about me. I am now 65yo and live in Northern New South Wales in a sub-tropical region. I have played drums since the age of 7 and am self taught like yourself. I'm a Zeppelin head, I dig Cozy Powell and Alex Van Halen. My style is a combo of all those however, I need's some soul, some finest, some Ching a ling and, you are that teacher. I will, in a short time, flick y'all some cash for showing me how to do what iv'e been searching for ---- JAZZZZZZZZZZ --- and lots of it. I work now as a watercolorist and primarily paint for a living. I was a builder and Design Architect however, clients, clients are wankers so I now keep to my chops and brushes. Love your work and I'll grab some merch at some point too. Keep up the great work Rob. Kind regards Kev
"Flamuel L Jackson" 😂😂😂
This is a special effect hack thats super cool sounding, particularly for down tempo, slow and sparse grooves. Take some long ceiling fan pull chains; the ones that are a string of metal balls. Loop one end of it around the ride cymbal stand post above the bell and let it dangle all the way to the edge of the ride. Super Sizzle. Experiment with different size bead balls.
Those are some beautiful [sounding] cymbals my friend.
Love the mallet hack Rob!!!!
Great video and ideas. Some I have heard of and used a few times, and others were new to me and I look forward to trying.
beat down bobby, your awesone
i use sand paper grip tape on my hi hat pedal to keep my foot from slipping...also to reduce my floor tom ring..i tape a small piece of cloth under the bottom head.
i am a beginner drummer. thanks for all you do. i enjoy your theatrical moments before you start each video. your a great artist.
Man! I thought I was crazy for the paper trick. So useful. Appreciate you.
Years ago while playing in a metal band, I put my beater through a pinstripe bass drum head! Right in the middle of the show! So... I flipped the bass drum around and played the resonant side for the rest of the night.
They should pay us extra hazard pay for all the problems we solve on the spot.
AND all the problems we solve for everyone else!
For some reason my brushers weren´t in my stick bag on a gig so had to improvise. Ended up playing with dish brushes from the kitchen :)
They sure were laughing when I told where are those needed.
You should've whipped out your phone cam for that one for sure
I thought these where great drum hacks! I’ve been drumming for 20years. I’ve never seen hacks like these used before in the church world. Thank you for sharing.
Great video. I have used all of these except the hi hat hack. I will now. I never thought of that one. Thanks.
omg , only 2 weeks ago was in a theater gig with my Floyd band and I forgot my hi hat stand , luckily I play a remote hi hat always closed on right side of kit as well as normal hi hats , just moved it over . my band have never let me forget it
Awesome hacks...the cymbal and snare I will use at my next practice jam fo sho! My very first hack: Encyclopedias for a drum set...back in the 70's couldn't afford a set of my own while starting out. My first set I practiced on was the Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia set. Set them up leaning against pillows and used them as toms to practice runs on. :)
Love the tips! One tip I can give is to get one of those sink chains, which connects to the sink plug, from the hardware store. It costs coins and you can drape it over your ride for some extra sizzle. (get one that looks like tiny balls stringed together, rather than an actual chain, for a better sizzle)
What a damn great trick with the moongel on the cymbals
Great stuff, the wallet on the snare, or a pack of cards back in my day ;-) Theatre weights on the BD and HH to stop them moving around on heavy gigs, silk scarves under the heads for 'pudding' sound, reversing the sticks for heavy gigs, electrical tape under the cymbals for dark sounds - cutting the bass drum front head open, leaving about 2" of head all around, and sticking a pillow in for Reggae sounds etc. Pencil mark on the snare showing where the back of the stick goes for the best 'cross stick' sound ;-)
Great vid Rob, I use DrumDots on my 21” ride for Jazz gigs to dry it out 👌🏼..
I once had to use a back line kit with a really thin Bass Drum hoop on it - my pedal clamp wouldn’t tighten on it - so I used the cardboard sleeve from my Vic Firth sticks folded down its length on the hoop to pad it out. It was solid! 🤘🏼✌🏼
I do that on my home kit to save the wrap and finish on the hoop lol
Awesome hints! I love the gels on cymbals to turn them into dry sound!
ANOTHER useful Video and entertaining at no extra charge. BTW, #5 hack ..........could have used that one a zillion times !!! BTW, here is my "hack" , to protect the skinny HI Hat ROD when packing up , turn it around and insert it back into the top section of the HI Hat, ...... then use the clutch to hold it in place at the opposite end and protect it from getting crunched and bent . Doesn't work with every Hi Hat out there .......BUT , it might with yours. HAPPY FOURTH AMERICA !!!
I like the moon Gel on the symbols hack. Right now our drum set is in a small room and we have very loud symbols. They almost take the fun away from playing the drums. I will definitely try your idea. Thanks a bunch!
Excellent! Thanks for sharing. I especially like the No-open hi-hat and may use it along with my regular hi hat stand (like you said.)
I've used 3 out of the 5! The only 2 I haven't done before were the hihat stand and the mallet.
Such great videos! Thank you Rob!
Man, greeeeat ideas. And you really can play jazz... great groove.
Duudee, that last trick is crazy man... awesome video!
Some of the slickest ideas I’ve ever seen.
I literally did the snare drum/cell phone trick last night at a school play, on the fly it was a last minute thing, Awesome stuff...
After all these years I have forgotten just about everything one time. Thanks for the hi hat tip, that will prevent some anxiety dreams!
I like your shirt... ;-) and your hack with the papersheets helped me so much to make my snare sounds like a much more expensive one. Like a nice DW or something...
Groove Responsibility! That is perfect!
I have found my home base for instructional drum cats....Rob is funny and damn good at the same time.....It's not always just great drumming if you have the personality of a rock....
Took me awhile to realize what you were doing in the beginning and then it hit me that you grabbing some thumbnails and I was dying laughing! Literally the best intro anyone could ask for haha
I use non-retractable brushes. I wrap the handle with gaff tape for a nice “fwack” and wrap the wires with a pipe cleaner for storage in my stick bag. That keeps them from getting bent in the bag.
Great stuff! Thank you, Rob! Those last two were astounding!
Had problems holding on to the left hand stick traditional grip, it slides, ended up rubbing in wood glue (bond crete/ aquadhere) into the shaft of the stick, it helped a lot.
Pretty common one, but using your keys as cymbal sizzles. I do this a lot on my ride cymbal for small jazz gigs where that is my only cymbal besides my hi-hats. It is nice because it doesn't resonate as much as regular sizzles so you can still ride on it comfortably. Then you can hit it like a crash and the keys' effects come out a little more.
Damn what a freaking groove you got playing those jazz paterns
Thanks man 🙂
I tried it. And it really works.
The paper hack can also be done with a spare (smaller) head turned upside down and just layed on the snare, effectively thickens up the skin. Just make sure the metal rim sits higher than your snare hoop so it doesn't collide with it and you're good to go
And loosen your snare tension! Find the fat spot.