Where Do I Play Drums if I Don’t Have Space?

It seems right now like everywhere you go rent is going up. Whether you are just wanting to rent a single room or a 5 bedroom house it’s going to cost you more. Sadly, this means that if you want to save money on where you live you’re probably going to have to find a smaller place. And while this might be the best decision for saving money on rent, it might not be the best decision if you need a place to practice your drums.

But even though you might feel like you have to move into a tiny place and give up on your dreams of learning the drums this might not necessarily be true! I’ve seen many drummers make due with their small bedroom or studio setups. As well, I feel like like somewhat of an authority on this topic since my current setup (which I’ll show you at the end of the article) is currently in the hallway of my apartment! You really can play the drums even if you don’t think you have the space for them.

If you don’t have space in your place for a drumkit you can do a few things. Aside from playing an imagination-powered drumkit, you could try switching to an electric kit, you could make better use of your room’s corners, or you could take down and store your drumset after each use. Let’s take a look at all these options.

Using An Electric Kit

If you’ve ever played an electric drumkit you’ll know that they are much more compact than a standard acoustic one. Just about every component on them is smaller since you don’t need bulky shells for tones to resonate. Because of this an electric drumkit almost half the footprint of an acoustic one. 

However, something people don’t always consider about their space when they buy an electric kit is where they’re going to put the amp. Since all the electric drumkit’s noise comes from a line-out connection you’re going to need to plug the drum’s signal into some powered speakers it you want them to make any sound. Luckily amps are nice and box shaped and they’re a lot easier to fit under a side table or tuck beside a bookshelf. 

If you’re really wanting to save space (and money!) you can always do without the amp and just play into headphones. However, it will be more difficult to play with other musicians should they come over to jam, as well as show off how good you are at the drums 😛

Taking Advantage of Corners

If you had a nice, big, open room it would be really nice to put your drums smack-dab in the middle of it. But if you only have a tiny living room which also houses the couch, TV, coffee table, and a bookshelf, then this might not be the best option. In this case the best thing you could do is take advantage of your corners. 

There are a two different ways to set up your drums in a corner: either facing in or facing out.

If you face your drumset in you’re going to have a little more space that if you face out. You can also store your drum throne when you’re not using it to save even more space. However you are going to have a hard time jamming with other musicians as you’re faced away from anyone else in the room. You might also feel like you’re standing in the corner like a disciplined child.

If you face your drumset outward you might take up a little more space, but you’ll be able to play facing the room. This is important if you think you’re ever going to play with another musician. You just have to remember to give yourself enough space on one side to squeak past to get to your drum throne. I find it’s easier to give yourself that space on the hi hat side of the drums.

Also, if you choose to face outward be aware of the space that you leave your elbows for drumming. It’s very easy to underestimate the amount of space you’ll need to actually move your arms, and the last thing you want to do is change your technique to work with the space you have. Sometimes it helps to position your drums so that your back is parallel with the wall instead of your back facing the corner. That way you can get closer to the wall without the corners infiltrating your elbow space, and it also makes it easier to get behind your drumkit.

Taking Down Your Drumkit

The third option if you really wanted to save space would be to take down your drumset every time you play. This might sound like a drastic option, but if you only use your drums once a week to practice and the other 99% of the time they’re not even being used, then this makes a lot of sense. 

Once you get good at setting up acoustic drums it only takes about ten minutes. Then when you’re done playing you can stack them up into a little drum tower. Like this!

Electric drums are even easier to store. A lot of times you can easily collapse the drumset without taking it apart making tear-down and setup a breeze. 

If you are extremely low on space, an electric drum kit that I highly recommend is the Roland TD-4KP. It’s super easy to fold up and store behind a dresser or under a bed. Check it out!

Another great thing about this drumkit is that it’s one of the cheapest electric kits out there, but Roland doesn’t sacrifice build quality or sound quality. I own one of these kits to give out to my private students, and it sounds just as good as my more expensive electric kit. You don’t have the ability to tweak many settings, but the defaults are dialled in so well I don’t think I’d ever want to.  

One more point to add: While taking town your drumkit every time you play is the best solution in terms of reclaiming your space, it could be demotivating. It’s a lot easier to practice if your drumset is already set up and ready to play if the mood strikes you. 

Conclusion

So even though many of us are living in smaller and smaller spaces, this doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice our favourite multi-limb coordinated musical hobby. We can either switch to an electric kit, take better advantage of our corners, or take down our drumsets entirely. If you have any others that you’ve thought of leave me a comment so that anyone who reads this can get even more ideas.

And, as I promised, I’m going to give you guys a look of my own cozy set-up. I knew I could use myself as an authority on small practice spaces because I don’t even have the luxury of a room to house my drums: They’re in my hallway! 

So first off here are some photos of the space:

This space is only about 6” by 12”, and about 2 of those 6 feet need to be clear to get through the hallway. As you can see I have a compact electric kit (a Roland TD-11K if you’re interested) which faces out, since I’m in a band and need to be able to play with other musicians. I leave my drums set up since it’s easy enough to get past them, though I often scooch my kick drum trigger out of the way. I also have some pretty massive old stereo speakers which I use when I’m playing with others. They’re placed in the least intrusive way possible.

Before my drums were there the hallway wasn’t really used for much since it is a bit of an awkward dead space. But now, it’s a place to play drums, to teach drums, and to even have band practice! And I’m able to fit this all into the little corner behind my banister.

So there you go! If I’m able to do it with my hallways I hope you can do it with your home too, whatever the size may be.