Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Vern, 

You might want to try some adjustments on your kit and
on your technique.  I used to have bad back problems
when I would play long gigs. (2 to 3+ hours)  A nice,
comfortable drum throne goes a long way.  I would
experiment with a few different heights to see what's
most comfortable for you.  One of the best things that
I've found is to not orient myself to the kick drum. 
I actually read an article in Modern Drummer about
this a few years back.  It was written by a drummer
who noticed after playing a steady, nightly gig for a
few weeks in a row that he was having really bad back
pain.  His chiropractor asked him about his playing
technique and if I remember right, I think he even
came out to watch him play.  In watching the drummer
play, the chiropractor noticed that while his feet and
legs were centered on the snare drum to be able to
access the kick and hi-hat pedals, his upper body was
oriented toward the front of the stage, facing the
kick drum straight on.  This resulted in him playing
in a slightly twisted position for hours at a time and
this twisting was aggravating his sciatica.  He solved
the problem by setting up his kick drum skewed to one
side (as though he had an imaginary second bass drum)
and having his feet, legs and upper body all parallel
to the front of the stage.  It doesn't look as
"symmetrical"  from the audience's perspective, but
it's a hell of a lot more comfortable.  The other
solution would be to leave the bass drum straight
while you face the front corner of the stage, but
there must be something psychological about playing
live that makes drummers feel like they have to face
forward. I've been setting up that way for years and
it really seems to help.  
   One really nice thing about electronics is that, in
terms of volume, you can let them do the work. 
There's no need to smack them so hard that your wrists
are hurting.  You can adjust velocities,
sensitivities, or just turn up your amp or your
headphones. I have found that using heavy, double
ended sticks with no taper or bead really helps when
playing on electronics with the hard, rubber surface. 
Switching to those really helped my wrists.  One
detrimental thing that I've seen some students do is
to set up their ride cymbal in a really awkward
position, either too high, or too far to the right
(for righties) or too far back when setting it low
(over the floor tom).  Anything that causes you to
have to adjust your body or arms into an "unnatural"
position is going to cause some discomfort in the long
run, and most likely is going to cause bad technique,
also.  
  In general, I would think that trying to minimize
the actual causes of pain ergonomically is better (and
cheaper) than trying to medicate the symptoms.  I'm
sure for most people some kind of combination of the
two is the most realistic solution. Hope you find some
relief soon. 

Joel 




		
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