Dear new drummers, whether you are a young, adult, or elderly person, it’s totally okay to be overwhelmed with so many questions before and after buying your first drum set.
As I already mentioned before, the drum throne is the most important part of your hardware, and thus I want to know every little detail when it comes to buying it and using it.
In this blog, you are going to learn:
- How to sit on your drum throne
- Where to sit on a drum throne
- How high should my drum throne be
- How to adjust drum throne height
- How to lock drum throne height
- How to determine your drum throne height
- How to sit on drum throne to help with knee pain
- What company makes the most comfortable drum throne
If I somehow forgot any important questions, please feel free to let us know below. I will make sure to provide all the right answers promptly!
How to Sit on a Drum Throne
Correct body posture – First and foremost, make sure you always use the correct posture. You will do that by simply sitting on your so-called sit bones.
If you are unsure where those bones are, simply place your hands underneath your butt, and you can feel the protruding bones on your hands. Your posture will significantly improve if you let these bones support you while sitting on your drum throne.
Relax your body – Make sure your body is relaxed and that you are not sitting towards the front of the cushion of your drum throne. If you do that, you will have tension in your joints, making it difficult to play freely.
The right leg is aligned with your bass drum – Don’t sit directly in the center of the bass drum. Make sure your right foot has easy access to the pedal. Now you are in the ideal position for reaching the rest of the drums.
Where to Sit on the Drum Throne
There are two types of drummers when it comes to sitting position. Both of these positions have their advantages so let’s check them!
Drummers that are sitting at the end of the stool:
- Have more freedom
- Increased mobility
- Provide greater flexibility
Drummer that are sitting on the whole stool:
- Higher level of comfortability
- A greater degree of stability
- Holding your body posture up
Things to AVOID!
Don’t sit too low! – Drummers who do that very often end up with lower back problems.
Don’t sit too high! – Your leg can become easily fatigued if you sit too high as well.
How High Should My Drum Throne Be
There is one rule of thumb, or let’s say two!
The hip bone is higher than your knee – The height of the drum throne should be adjusted so that your hip bone is slightly higher than the top of your knee. You can move your leg naturally without any struggles whatsoever in this position.
Stand next to your drum throne – Sounds weird? That sounds just about right! Well, when you stand next to your stool, adjust the height, so it is just a little bit higher than your kneecaps.
Also, check to ensure your seat isn’t too close to the drum set. If so, you will end up with a fatigued and cramped knee.
You should position your snare drum at least one inch or even more above your knee as well, so there is no contact between them!
How to Determine Your Drum Throne Height
The main determinator for your drum throne height is your knee!
Depending on where you stool is, raise it or bring it down until you get to the top of your knee. This can be roughly, you don’t really need a measuring tape!It is one of the most popular and used methods when it comes to adjusting the height.
Why?
Because when you sit down, the bottom of your hip is almost aligned to the bottom of your knee. This will result in an around 90 degrees position, which is the most comfortable one plus it’s a great position for ergonomics.
Your feet are nicely planted on the floor, not too high, not too low, and you are able to do any natural movement thanks to this position.
REMEMBER!
This is only a starting point! When you start drumming you can see if the height is too high or too low for you and you can adjust it to your own preferences!
How to Adjust Drum Throne Height
The drum thrones have a few different ways of adjusting their height. I’ve made sure to explain each and every one.
Sliding tubes and memory lock adjustment – The adjustment of sliding tubes is relatively simple. The process is similar to that of adjusting cymbal stands.
All you need to do is loosen a clutch beneath the seat, allowing you to slide up or down the metal tube based on your height preference.
Spindle adjustment – You can adjust the seat height one-handed by rotating the top of the stool clockwise or counterclockwise according to whether you want the drum throne to be higher or lower.
It offers a drummer unlimited height adjustments, so no wonder why it is the most popular and easiest mechanism out there.
Nut and bolt lock – Typically found on insufficient and low-quality thrones, this mechanism should be avoided at all costs.
This type of height adjustment is used for every cheaper drum throne, and there is a normal high chance of wobbling and breaking. Being very uncomfortable, this mechanism is the main culprit for bad body posture and a limited range of heights.
How to Lock Drum Throne Height?
Drum memory locks are specialized brackets made of metal that attach to parts of a drum kit. The drum lock will help you lock your drum throne at the desired height.
Using drum memory locks is very easy:
- First, loosen memory locks so they can move freely
- Then set your stool in the desired height
- Finally, tighten the memory lock back up securely against the stand
They come in a variety of sizes and shapes and a lot of drum thrones have this feature. However, the ones that are lower in quality usually don’t have this option.
How to Sit on Drum Throne to Help With Knee Pain
If you have knee pain after a long session of drumming, it means you need to improve your body posture and your kick drum technique!
If you are playing drums for the first time or are still a newbie, it should be considered an inevitable part of learning!
On the other hand, if you have been playing for several years and this issue has just occurred, and it won’t go away, you should visit a doctor!
But, before I go to our healthcare provider, here are some tips on how you can improve your sitting when drumming, thus alleviating your knee pain!
- Stretch before playing. This might help relax the muscles and loosen them up.
- Experiment with the height of your drum throne seat. Your stool shouldn’t wiggle or rock around when you play but rather be solid.
- Move forward or backward from your drum set. Maybe you are sitting too close or too far away, so you are constantly dealing with fatigued and cramped knees.
Summary
I did my best to explain each and every way of how to sit properly on your throne, how to determine the perfect height, and what are the companies that are making the most comfortable stools.
If I have omitted any important question, Drum That is always open for suggestions, and looking forward to answering anything you are struggling with!
Drum That, Drum Professional dear Drummers!
Denis Loncaric
My name is Denis. I am a drummer, percussionist, music enthusiast, and blogger. Drums have been my passion for 15 years now. My idea is to write about the things I like and I am interested in. I want to share my drum passion with fellow musicians who walk, talk, and breathe drums.
Hi, thanks a lot for the important advices. You are definitely helping alot of drummers around the world.
On things I’d like to ask you is to illustrate all scenarios with photographs or drawings, e.g. A knee next to the snare drum showing the one inch gap etc…
Hi John, thanks for commenting, at the moment I am more behind my laptop writing but I hope in the future will get some time to cover this with videos. Cheers