Bass Drum Levelling
Proper levelling of your drum kit’s bass drum can save your expensive investment from certain damage. When I first starting playing drums I had no idea there was a certain way to set up your bass drum to “level” it properly. I just clamped the kick pedal on and played away not knowing that I was potentially stressing the edge of the hoop and the drum itself by not having properly levelled the bass drum to the floor.
When the pedal is clamped onto the back (batter) side of your bass drum it lifts the drum off the floor by around an inch or so. If the same isn’t done to the front of the bass drum it will not be level to the floor and in turn will cause the pedal itself to rise up at the heel end. It will not sit flat until you put weight on it and start playing (careful!) and this is when the dangerous torqueing of the drum and hoop takes place. Something to most definitely avoid.
To properly level the bass drum my method is as follows:
Once the drum is in place and the pedal is mounted go to the front of the drum and by way of the front legs, raise the drum to the same height off the floor as the rear where the pedal now is. I simply insert my fingers into the space between the drum and floor and judge the distance by that. I initially went as far as to attach a small stick-on level on the top of my bass drum but found that often for outdoor functions my drum riser itself was not always completely flat so the device was irrelevant. The finger gauge method is sufficient in my opinion and gets me a quick, accurate reading - enough to safely protect the drum. Incidentally the kick pedal will now work more efficiently when it is sitting flat and not the out-of-level situation I described.
And while you are down there crawling on the floor with your bass drum consider purchasing a good drum rug for yourself to facilitate quicker and easier set ups. Want to know how? Stay tuned for the up coming article that will discuss the benefits of a drum carpet and how to “memory lock it” with an easy, low cost idea.
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