1 Handed Groove Zendrum Layout

This is a far more detailed explanation of layout than the Manoteo page. I suggest you have a printout, or be familiar with the annotation system.

After I had my first ZD for a few weeks and had beaten myself into a state of bliss with it and tried dozens of layouts, I decided it was time to sit down and really hammer down what would work best for me.

The most important thing to me was to acknowledge that the Zendrum is not a drumset. The hands must accomplish everything.

Using a footpedal was out of the question for me, I wanted to move. And that also meant all of my work was done with the Zendrum
strapped on.

A little math helps you realize you can accomplish far more with a Zendrum. On a drum set, you have 2 sticks and 2 feet.

That's 4 simultaneous striking surfaces, with A LOT of limitations. Let's destroy those limitations - after all, the left foot of a
standard drummer is hi-hat/2nd bass. What a waste of a limb! OK, some people rig a cowbell or such.

So I started my concept by deconstructing the way the 4 limbs play and redefining them.

For this initial idea, lets assume a standard 4/4 rock beat, which easily translates to jazz, funk and assorted other grooves.

In a basic beat, you have the following "spheres" played by the limbs:
Right hand: Cymbal (ride/hat, crashes, fills to toms/snare)
Left hand: Snare (crashes occasionally, hat, fills to toms/snare)
Right foot: bass
Left foot: hi hat open/close (maybe bass)

Without getting fancy, this is pretty much the job of each limb.

You easily have at least 4 striking locations on each hand. Technically, I would say 7 - 5 fingers, the heel of the palm and the ball of the palm. But the ball of the palm is not terribly accurate and the pinky is, well, kind of weak. So for basic limb replacement, we can say Palm, thumb and some fingers. Depending on the beat, sometimes each finger is a different part, but usually I use my index finger as one part, and then my middle and ring fingers for the next part. The pinky hangs out until way more complicated things occur.

I usually group my middle and ring fingers together due to that pesky galenial tendon problem. For those who don't know what this odd misconstruction of the human body is, try this: Lay your right palm on a desk. In sequence, raise and lower each finger, keeping your palm down. Now bend your middle finger under your palm, so the first knuckle touches the desk. Now raise your ring finger. You can't. You may as well try to levitate. Humans can't do it. Sure, maybe a millimeter if you strain. This is due to the fact that the tendon that controls these two fingers joins at the base of the wrist. You THINK you have control over these fingers. You don't. Each movement of either uses the same root tendon. SO,
if you tried to use each seperately while playing Zendrum, you would rapidly tire that tendon which is controlling both fingers and splitting the job. Instead, help the tendon out. It wants to move both fingers at the same time, so let it. For quick riffs and fills, fine, split the fingers. But from a kinesthetic point of view, don't hurt yourself.

OK, so I have now redefined my number of limbs on one hand to 1)palm, 2)thumb 3)index finger and 4)ring/middle finger.

What else is unique to Zendrum from a standard trap kit? Easy - distance. I can easily slam my hand down and hit all eight pads on the tail of the ZD. So I can also figure which drums are often hit simultaneously, and cluster them, so that I can easily target multiple drums in a single strike.

When wearing a Zendrum, the right hand is master. It can easily tap each pad. The left hand can wander L1-L5, T1, F1, F2, C1-C4. The R
series is a stretch, and some cool over the top moves can access T series. Attempting to play the E pads with the left can be done, but starts to resemble yoga positions.

Just letting your hands fall naturally puts the palm of the right hand somewhere on the ZD face. F3 is nicely hit by the heel of the palm. After playing Latin percussion, I was very comfortable to allowing the heel of my right palm act as the "bass". Angle the hand comfortably, and the fingers land on C3. Hi hat. Extend the index finger, or rotate the hand slightly and C2 is a wonderful candidate for Snare. An astoundingly simple triad of bass/hat/snare happens with minimal movement. C4 takes the Open hat. I now have the four basic limb jobs covered while barely fluttering my hand to play a basic rock or jazz beat. And my left hand is free to play other instruments, hail a cab or pluck Buffalo Wings from the bar.

Of course, reaching the left hand under to the C group allows for ghosted notes on hat and snare. C1 becomes Bass Drum 2 for sixteenth note triplet riffs on bass - the right hand hits the downbeat and continues the snare and hat as the left on C1 plays the next 2 sixteenth note triplets with a hit from index and then ring/middle in rapid succession.

Wheres the ride? T4. Here, index takes the ride, ring/middle take bass, and a shift of hand gets the C2 snare. You can easily move your hand to hit any 2 of this second triad. E1 becomes a ride bell for flavor. E2 becomes a second Snare sound, since the triad of E1 as cymbal, F3 as bass and C2 as snare is a bit of a stretch, especially if running sixteenths. Hand tired? Play snare with the left for a few beats.

For Tom runs, I want both hands easily hitting the drums, and I don't want to dupe any toms. 4 toms is a nice number. I run them hi to low from L2-L5. Crashes fill in F1 and F2 - dominated by the rhythmic right, available to the syncopated left, and looks cool off a right hand thumb while hitting the snare and bass.

R1 can become my cowbell as needed. Here's where the mighty pinky shows from time to time. L1 and T1 I like as snare type accents for the left hand to mess with while the right hand plays the beat. Usually a clave and a clap or something like that. T2 and T3 are Guiro and Triangle or other accessories as needed.

R2-R4 generally are Latin Accents - woodblock, cuica, clapper. E4 is always a splash cymbal, just for visuals sake of hitting it and a crash to F1 at the same time. E3 is usually some set specific sound like a whistle.

Minor adjustments to the set, such as L1-L5 as shaker, congas and bongos, allow for your left handed percussion guy to join your right handed traps guy. Open hat/closed hat, snare, bass, cowbell are easily absorbed by the right hand to have congas, bongos, claves and shaker played by the left. You're easily covering the parts of 4 players. But that makes sense - you have all of these striking surfaces to your hand. ONE FINGER on the left hand becomes a clave, which was traditionally played by TWO HANDS. That mighty finger replaces an entire percussion guy.

BUT

It's all about style, kinesthetics and personal taste. Use this as a jumping board if you wish. Use it forever if you wish. Throw it out if you wish.