Here I’ll give you a brief history of the snare drum, this snappy instrument that a drummer can’t do without has had many different variations through the years and has consistently progressed as needs changed in sound and what the drum was used for.

The modern snare drum originally started out as the Tabor drum, this had a single gut snare across the bottom and was used in wartime played with a fife/pipe, most of the technology advancements in the snares history is due to its use in the military, the tabor was suspended by a strap from the forearm, the strap was placed somewhere between the elbow and wrist, this was so when played, the shell was parallel with the ground, the Tabor was also hit on the snare side of the drum.

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If you’re a small band and your using a PA System for on stage at the pub or practicing even, you have to take into account quite a few things to get your sound ok and keep more people into your gigs than walking out.

This can be a simple process and over the years (I can remember playing through some terrible PA’s), here I’ll list a few easy tips for you that might make a little difference to your sound and make you a bit more aware of what to listen and look for.

Using a Small PA System can mean a few constraints on your sound and also the volume you play at as you have to remember it’s the listener you have to think about not the neighbors 3 doors down being able to hear your searing guitar solo, also feedback is a big problem with little setups, especially if you don’t have monitor speakers.

Things to take into account when you have purchased a Small PA system maybe things like, am I going to amplify the whole band through these small speakers or just the vocals, Positioning of speakers, Do we need monitor speakers to hear ourselves, have I got good microphones and is the sound I’m amplifying quality enough to run through the PA.

Here is a few key points with a bit of an explanation on Small PA System setups, I’m sure there is more and I’ll add as I think of them and revisit.

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