How To Assemble and Setup a Drum Set

Drum & Percussion Product Specialist Craig Toutant walks you through the entire process of setting up your first beginner acoustic drum kit, from unboxing, to assembly, to positioning and tuning. He shares a few tips and tricks to keep the entire process tidy and quick, so if you follow along with this video as you set up your drums, you'll be playing in no time!
00:00 Intro
00:21 Unboxing
10:32 Assembly
20:27 Setup
28:17 Tuning
The drum kit used in this demonstration is a Mapex Venus 5-piece drum kit with cymbals and hardware in Aqua Blue Sparkle: www.long-mcquade.com/277591
DISCLAIMER This video is intended to be an instructional video for beginning drummers either purchasing or renting their first drum set. As such, only the basics of setup and tuning are covered in this video. There are lots of other resources online and on KZbin for more advanced setup options and fine-tuning techniques. If you have any specific questions about drum kit setup and tuning, please ask in the comments and we will reply as soon as we can!

[@1952RL]

Excellent instructional video, I am 70 years old and setting up my drums for the first time!. Thanks!!

[@davidarmstrong2503]

AWESOME 67 and just ordered my first drum set. we are never to old.

[@Ca_milo_G]

42 here , first drumset bought today

[@longandmcquade]

These three comments were amazing to read. Rock on all of you! 🤘

[@charlenewilliams546]

Thank you for this video. I'm 35 weeks pregnant and I bought my daughter a second-hand drum kit for her birthday. With your help, I set the kit up all by myself❤.

[@longandmcquade]

Fantastic! 😍

[@jahmariemorales7698]

nice video: and i am a blind jamaican drummer.

[@israelCommitsGenocide]

@CyberSkul1 blind people can still use computers, they have programs that read whats on the screen to you.

[@martymcfly696]

Cyberskul1 voice to text most likely

[@Minister_for_Grass]

@CyberSkul1the voice

[@AadraRecaps]

I just used this to set up an entire drumsets for my church, like right now. Thank you❤❤❤

[@WickedWestCreations]

I just bought my first kit! Mapex Armory Tanzanite burst. This video was perfect thank you!

[@longandmcquade]

Fantastic first kit! You jumped right into an intermediate-level kit which saved you a step, and now that kit could easily last you a lifetime.

[@a.sbundu8380]

This video really helped me today. I bought a kit for my 3 yrs old son. I used your video to guide me along. Thanks a lot

[@longandmcquade]

Great to hear, that's the intent of this video. You're very welcome!

[@Pr0fess0rG]

Awesome. Thank you. Well-paced and crystal clear. And just the right amount of information.

[@longandmcquade]

Great to hear, thanks for watching!

[@johnnybravoBoyah]

Just assembled my wine colored ludwig backbeat 5 piece , I just have to hook up all the drums to stands etc.. this is the BEST video ive searched. Others have some lame guitar going crazy in background as they talk 🤷‍♂️. Anyhow i ll be finishing my tomorrow My first drums & i just turned 61 yrs old lol *ill be referring to ur video tomorrow too 😁

[@longandmcquade]

Thanks, we're happy it helped!

[@Diamond2009now]

Thanks for the video. Very comprehensive and easy to follow.

[@tumwebazebetty2841]

Wow that's really helpful may God bless you Bro

[@longandmcquade]

Glad it helped!!

[@DWP13]

That you for this! I’m waiting on my Venus set to arrive tomorrow!! Can’t wait.

[@bachanmon6511]

Thanks a lot from India 🙏

[@alyssamiller5258]

this video was extremely helpful and one of the only ones that i could really understand and follow easily. thanks!!

[@longandmcquade]

You're very welcome!!

[@j.r.dewyer7163]

Thanks! It was a great help!👍

[@UnknownUnknown-fe8dt]

Great video!!! this is one shows you step by step and also shows you how to do it props to you!!

[@longandmcquade]

That was the goal of this video! Thanks for watching!

[@kieranwilson9086]

Excellent Video. No BS and to the point. Well done and thank you!

[@longandmcquade]

Thanks Kieran!

[@chadniere6376]

Thank you so much sir❤❤ appreciate what you are doing.... Helps me a lot

[@game0nnemesis]

Thank you!

[@lilian896]

Thank you for this video!❇

[@longandmcquade]

You're very welcome Lilian!

[@davidarmstrong2503]

Thank You so MUCH You are very Helpful

[@curlyfries3767]

Thanks so much for this video, I was completely lost and overwhelmed when unpacking my drumset and stumbled upon this video and helped me alot as im starting my musical start in drums, amazing video thank you so much.

[@longandmcquade]

We're so happy to hear this helped you! And we love curly fries. Clearly the best in the fry family.

[@Mort849]

Yeah same the first time I tried setting up drums I somehow made a circle then found this video and they are now completely setup

[@pierreiskanderofficial]

I just bought this exact same kit!

[@pjjp3862]

nice assembling and set up all i wanna hear is right in this video

[@richardharrisonchasseurdim8142]

Thanks Loads!

[@efraingarfias7856]

Only can say thank you very much I just got a set for my 4 year old and I didn't have a clue . Now thanks to you I do😅

[@longandmcquade]

Amazing, we hope your 4-year-old enjoys playing on their now properly setup drums! 😁

[@d-repaslp.]

Just got this for my son now rock for daddy you 4 year old

[@ACEMON-XD]

Noice! Merci bucketz ;)

[@scattered_ii7389]

Much appreciated

[@longandmcquade]

🤝

[@gezusmofo]

Thank you! ^_^

[@binyamgelana3995]

U helps a lot❤

[@longandmcquade]

Great!!

[@jampa-]

What is the measurement of those tension rods? I need a couple for my low tom.

[@longandmcquade]

Tension rods come in many different lengths. 35mm, 41mm, 52mm, 58mm, 112mm... We'd recommend you bring one into your local shop to match up the length.

[@alexgarciavideos]

i the "star pattern" tuning a preference or does it have to be that way?

[@longandmcquade]

It's the preferred way to ensure you maintain equal tension across the drumhead. If you just go around the drum, the rim will pull down on the drumhead collar on one side and will cause the head to slip and not stay centered on the bearing edge.

[@amarisphillips5943]

Thanks home boy if you ever need a foot massage, you know your man. 🙌🏼

[@watermelon_lolli5873]

How tall is the leg supposed to be??

[@lisagaut9353]

Where do I get a drum key?

[@just.normalhuman]

Like in the video you'll prob get one in the kit or u can buy one online idk tho I'm not an expert

[@longandmcquade]

Most drum sets will include one in the box. Or you can buy one separately here: www.long-mcquade.com/departments/297/Drums/Accessories/Drum_Keys.htm

[@user-yd5vd7cu5m]

💯👊✊

[@game0nnemesis]

How do you know what stands go to what

[@longandmcquade]

Great question. Check out 25:04 and Craig answers this question. The difference between the two cymbal stands in this kit is that one is a straight stand and one is a boom stand. The boom arm allows for more placement options because it can extend out over other pieces of your kit to get it to a comfortable playing position. Typically in a setup like this, the boom stand is used on the ride cymbal, and the boom arm allows the cymbal to reach over the rack tom or floor tom. If you try to use a straight cymbal stand for your ride cymbal, it might work, but you'd notice that the ride cymbal feels too far away and you might not be able to reach it comfortably. So we recommend using the boom stand for the ride and the straight stand for the crash. Bonus tip: Always make sure that the boom arm is extended out directly over one of the legs. That will make it stable. If you place the boom arm in between two legs, it would be easy to tip over due to the weight of the cymbal.

[@srijanathapa4043]

Elves😮😮😮😮

[@davidmcaninch4714]

I prefer to have my toms in front of the snare drum and ride cymbal over the kick tilted towards me a bit, for ergonomic purposes. Ergonomics are not “just a big part of it,” ergonomics is everything when it comes to setting up drums. If you don’t have an ergonomic setup, you’re not going to be successful. The problem is they don’t typically teach you this in your beginner drum classes. I think ergonomics should be one of the most important lessons to teach beginners because it’ll give you good playing habits, not instantly, but it’ll help you learn to play correctly. And I like to tune the drums *BEFORE* I set them up, particularly the bass drum.

[@ikigai47]

(raises hand from back of class): Question teacher. Why wouldn't you immediately replace the heads rather than putting the cheap Chinese heads on that come with the kit? Are you affiliated with Mapex or something? Nothing wrong with it if you are of course, just curious

[@longandmcquade]

Craig is affiliated with Mapex, but that has nothing to do with why we didn't replace the heads in this video. We didn't for two main reasons: 1) Because that's not what most people would do when buying a new kit, and is not what we do when assembling kits for display in stores. This a beginner-level video, using a beginner-level kit, intended for a beginner-level player who likely wouldn't fully appreciate the sound difference of new heads. The price for new heads on a kit like this is not an insignificant amount, so we would always recommend new drummers learn, play, and "beat the snot" out of the factory heads, and replace them once they got their use out of them and they're all pitted and worn out. 2) It is unnecessary for the purpose of this demonstration. Craig properly put on, seated, and tuned the drum head, so it doesn't matter if it's the factory head or not in order to show how it's done. Also, two toms and the snare drum come pre-assembled, and dismantling those 3 additional drums and consuming new heads out of our inventory would have been a waste of time and expense while the process remains pretty much the same. Thanks for watching!

[@ikigai47]

@@longandmcquade - Understood. Thanks for taking the time to explain and great video. I too was assembling a Mapex while watching this. Played for years but never assembled a bass drum from scratch. From my experience the Chinese Remos are so bad so I was really curious why you weren't throwing them out as step #1 haha. Have a good weekend

[@elfurrohetero3518]

21:12 ThAt BrEaThInG...

[@TriggerThat]

hold on.... do I have to, I don't know if I should, is it appropriate, do people even do this anymore? ok then... FIRST!

[@lifewithyumarlewin]

you can et a drum key from a music stor or when you ot your drums the drum key will be in the box