idodrums.com Drum Kit Buyers Guide I get asked quite often about drum kits by my students, what to look for and how to know it is right for them, I think that a lot of what makes drumming fun is how personal something as simple as a drum kit can be. There are many times where I have played a gig on someone else s drum kit, and though it was a great kit, it just wasn t right for me. However, we all need a place to start, there are many variations of drums and drum kits, but one has stood the test of time... Crash Cymbals Drum Cymbal Hi-Tom Mid-Tom Hi-Hat Ride Cymbal Snare Drum Lo/Floor Tom Bass/Kick Drum Forgetting the Cymbals (in Orange) for now, the drums in the picture above is the most basic drum set up. It is a 5 piece Rock size drum kit. Drum kits come in 3 main size sets, Rock, Jazz & Fusion. For now, while we are learning we will be sticking to the Rock sizes. Rock Drum Sizes; 14 Snare 12 + 13 Rack Toms (Hi & Mid) 16 Floor Tom 22 Bass Drum
What do I get? It is important to know what you are going to get when you buy your first drum kit. Because what you get with it can vary. With most entry level drum kits you seem to get included; the drums, drum heads, cymbals (usually 1 Cymbal and the Hi-Hat), all the stands, a Bass pedal and a stool. So usually you can set the drum kit up and play it almost right out of the box. The Drums The drums can be made up of different types of wood, which all make different sounds, depending what it is made of. The expensive drum kits are simply made of a different type of wood, compared to the beginner kits, which are still well built, but are built for practice more than for live playing or recording. Try Googling Beginner Drum Kit, and there are a whole load of kits out there, but I think that you really need a drum kit that inspires you to play, a kit that still looks good and sounds good, that you can still tune and can play in your friend s band with. I think that s what really changes you from someone who just plays now and then to someone who really makes time to practice and lose themselves in their instrument, inspiration. There are 8 huge companies in the drum making world, Mapex, Gretsch, Pearl, DW, Sonor, Ludwig, Tama and Yamaha. I can guarantee that you will get a great quality drum kit off one of these brands and they all have their own beginner ranges. Although these companies are the ones to keep an eye out for, I really believe that, for practice especially, there is no such thing as a bad drum kit. Like I mentioned earlier, if it gets you playing and practicing, it s worth every penny. The only thing I would urge you to look out for is cheap imitation drum kits, sometimes you may see drum kits going for what you might think to be a too good to be true price, and quite often it is. The problem with these kits doesn t usually lie in the actual wood, but more often in the hardware or the pedals and so on that come with it, which mean you have to spend more money to replace these parts.
The Cymbals The way that cymbals are priced is exactly the same as the drums, they are all made of different amounts of metal, making for a different sound, cymbals are all made of a variation of Bronze (an alloy made of Tin and Copper) but the quality of which varies depending on the manufacturer, so the cheaper cymbals contain more Tin than a more expensive cymbal (Copper is the expensive part!). The entry level cymbals don t sound quite as warm and well rounded as the more expensive types, but again, if it gets you playing, that s what really counts, we re not looking to go into a studio any time soon after all. One of my favourite things to do when I was starting out was really upgrading my cymbals, I ve gone from spending very little and worked my way up on individual cymbals over time and have enjoyed and looked forward to every one. So don t rush in to buying a really expensive cymbal. To begin with, all you really need are the Hi-Hats, these are essential to the most basic drum beats, they are essentially what you build the rock drum beat up around, so make sure you get hold of a set of these. As with all of the things we have mentioned, you will start off with an entry level set and will work your way up as and when you need to. As with the drums, there are several well known, quality guaranteed cymbal companies as well, Meinl, Zildjian, Sabian and Paiste are the biggest brands, I would recommend sticking with them, as they also make great entry level cymbals. As you expand on your cymbals, you will want to look at getting a Crash cymbal and a Ride cymbal, for years I survived playing gigs with an entry level Zildjian ZBT Ride, it sounded great both live and on recordings, so I spent my money improving my Crash, as I feel that that is the part of your drumming which really sticks out, when you hit a Crash cymbal, you re really giving something an accent, or are really trying to make something heard, so I found that as I played differently I was after a different sound, and where with a drum you can tune it differently or use different heads, with a cymbal you get what you get and you can t change it. So as you move up through the cymbals I can t stress enough the importance of making sure you hear how the cymbal sounds, it s so important, however, like we ve been discussing earlier, an entry level cymbal is great for getting you started until you find the sound you re after. A great website for browsing and hearing lots of different cymbals is www.mycymbal.com I recommend checking it out to hear the differences yourself.
So what do I recommend? Taking everything we have discussed here, I have always suggested to a budding drummer, that they don t go for the cheapest drum kit on the market, there are sites where you can easily get hold of an unbranded drum kit for little over 100, but have always found that people who do own a drumkit like this, have no motivation to practice, the kit tends not to sound very appealing, or is too difficult to get set up properly, often really putting people off. My suggestion has always been to look at around at least 300, although this may seem like a crazy amount of money to start a hobby with, I think you have to remember just how long these things last, and that if you use this kit and practice on it, which you will want to when you get a great sounding kit, it really is worth every penny, I have loved every moment that I have been playing my kit. After all, when you ve practiced enough, that s only 2 paid gigs and your drum kit is paid off! I hope you have found my guide helpful in one way or another look out for the intermediate buying guide on the idodrums download section too, for ways to expand your drum kit when you find your style and start looking to upgrade your kit. Please don t hesitate to email me any questions... Chris@iDoDrums.com And check the www.idodrums.com downloads section for more.