Drum Advice

[Lame Guitarist]

Gave up Guitar and bands as I wasn't enjoying playing anymore and going to concentrate on other hobbies I have. The drums are a lot more fun to play so far and I have that same enthusiasm for learning as I do when I first picked a guitar up.

I just bought a shell kit, and am gonna put it in my garage but I now need to start saving the cash for Hardware and Cymbals.

Any drummers recommend what to get? There seems to be so many cymbals out there and sizes thats gonna stump me. Also Hardware. Whats all this double Brace malarky and that? and whats the tonal difference with different sizes of hi-hats?

I don't even know what kind of style I am gonna learn! lol.

[Lemonade]

Are you going to change your username to lame drummer?

[Lame Guitarist]

Are you going to change your username to lame drummer?

That's an idea! How do you do that?

[Lemonade]

Post a thread in Technical Problems, like this one:

http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/technical-problems/56786-username-change-pleeease.html

or PM Neil.

[The_Tank]

To be honest its up to the sound that your looking for, in my opion custom K's are always a good best as they have a well rounded sound that can be used in all types of music. Like most people that are just learning get one of those starter kits from bruce millers that usually have 12" hi hat, at 16" crash and 18" ride that usually a good basic start. There not usually the greatest cymbals but good for playing at home and getting a basic feel of drumming.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

I'm sure it will all depend on what you are looking to do with it. There'll be plenty of beginners guides on the Internet.

I would also suggest not learning a 'style', but learning to play drums first and then deciding what direction you want to use that in musically.

[Lame Guitarist]

I'm sure it will all depend on what you are looking to do with it. There'll be plenty of beginners guides on the Internet.

I would also suggest not learning a 'style', but learning to play drums first and then deciding what direction you want to use that in musically.

Right now I am grasping the basics. I won't have time to play in bands if I get that good, at least for a few years anyway. I do want to get really good at this though.

I am going to take proper lessons though

[Hugh_Jazz]

To be honest its up to the sound that your looking for, in my opion custom K's are always a good best as they have a well rounded sound that can be used in all types of music. Like most people that are just learning get one of those starter kits from bruce millers that usually have 12" hi hat, at 16" crash and 18" ride that usually a good basic start. There not usually the greatest cymbals but good for playing at home and getting a basic feel of drumming.

You're suggesting K Customs for a beginner?!? That's Zildjian's top of the range, and cost a bomb.

If you're wanting a decent value starter pack, look at either eg. Zildjian ZBT/ZXT or Sabian B8 Pro.

Re. hardware, it depends on what you're going to use the kit for. If it's just for practice, single-braced stands are perfectly adequate. If you're gigging a lot, you might want double-braced hardware cos it's more rugged....more expensive though. Dixon do reasonable cheap hardware.....Gibraltar stuff is better than Dixon, but still generally cheaper than most.

[Huw]

You're suggesting K Customs for a beginner?!? That's Zildjian's top of the range, and cost a bomb.

If you're wanting a decent value starter pack, look at either eg. Zildjian ZBT/ZXT or Sabian B8 Pro.

Re. hardware, it depends on what you're going to use the kit for. If it's just for practice, single-braced stands are perfectly adequate. If you're gigging a lot, you might want double-braced hardware cos it's more rugged....more expensive though. Dixon do reasonable cheap hardware.....Gibraltar stuff is better than Dixon, but still generally cheaper than most.

you haven't seen his guitar gear have you?!

Lame - what are you gonna do with all that stuff now (you crazy fool)?

[Lame Guitarist]

you haven't seen his guitar gear have you?!

Lame - what are you gonna do with all that stuff now (you crazy fool)?

lol, well I don't wanna sell everything cos maybe in a year or 2 I might go back to the guitar. I will probably sell a fair chunk though (I say that now but wait and see)

I got a DW shell kit, but its probably their starting bracket range for DW. I didn't want to buy a beginners kit as I wanted to get something I will stick with as I get better. I don't want to keep upgrading. I want to buy decent hardware as well so I don't have to change it in future. Although when it comes to cymbals its maybe best to buy a beginners set

[WeirdAl]

DW don't do entry level (unless it's a PDP by DW) so you will probably never need another kit as DW's are seriously nice haha

First suggestion I would have for you is to check out www.OnlineDrummer.com ... the forum is extremely good and everyone is very helpful. There is also a lot of videos and teaching material on it.

Now to your questions ...

Double braced hardware is subjective. I have a couple of single braced Yamaha stands that are much more sturdy than most companies double braced hardware. What you are looking for is for thick, sturdy tubes. A lot of cheaper hardware looks ok but is actually really flimsy and will buckle if you try to put a clamp on it and will sway a lot of you mount a tom and a heavy cymbal on it.

I'd recommend taking a look at bigdog hardware (www.bigdogdrumstuff.com) as their stuff is actually pretty good and reasonably priced. The entry level hardware for a lot of the big name brands isn't that great; especially when you get can mid level bigdog for the same price. If you can, try to get boom cymbal stands rather than straight stands. They are far more useful and can be converted easily to be a straight stand. If you want to go straight for decent hardware DW and Yamaha are arguably the best out there.

Hihats become brighter and more responsive the smaller they get. I'd recommend going on the cymbal manufacturers websites as they have sound files that you can listen to of every cymbals they make. Heavier cymbals will be brighter and louder than thin ones. The smaller the cymbal, the higher the pitch.

The big 4 cymbals companies are Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste and Meinl; google them to get their websites and soundfiles. Bruce Millers and R&B pretty much only stock Zildjian which is a shame. Your best bet is to start out with a cymbal pack as it is a cheap option to get you started. These tend to contain 14"hihats, 16" crash and 20" ride. You can then expand from there depending on what you want and/or upgrade as and when you want.

I might get flamed for this but Zildjian entry level cymbals are terrible. I started out with a set of ZBTs and hated them. Paiste and Meinl make really good entry level cymbals and to be honest, Stagg are quite good for the money. I got a Stagg DH 10" splash for 25 and I prefer it over any 80 one I've ever tried.

I'll round this uber post off with a summary of the cymbal companies from my experience. Everyone has different tastes so this is purely my opinion ...

Zildjian tend to have extremely long sustain and are very warm sounding. K Customs (as mentioned by The_Tank) are best suited for Jazz and quieter applications yet I see a great many drummers from all sorts of genres using them and subsequently breaking them. One example was one of the drummers from dananananakroyd who had a massive crack in his 18" K Custom dark crash; expensive mistake as they cost a small fortune.

Sabian tend to be duller sounding with a shorter sustain. That doesn't make them bad as I swore by them for years. It makes them good for rockier music and metal. I don't have much experience with Meinl but from what I gather, they are quite similar to Sabian.

Paiste tend to be very bright and have a very distinctive sound. They are also well known for their big cymbals where 15" hihats, 20" crashes and 22" rides are available on most lines. There's even a couple of 24" crashes and few 24" rides which are staggeringly big. Paiste's entry level-intermediate cymbals are very good with PST3 and PST5 very worth a look at depending on your budget.

Wow that was a big post!!

[Lame Guitarist]

Awesome, thanks for that

[The_Tank]

You're suggesting K Customs for a beginner?!? That's Zildjian's top of the range, and cost a bomb.

I actually suggested a starter kit from bruce millers, so yeah. In your face.

I think got some sabian B8 for starting with sounded ok, a bit tinish, but good for practicing, three cymbals for about 100.

[dick]

I used Zildjian for a while, and every crash and china from Zildjian I've ever owned have cracked in under a year of me owning them. Granted it was the lower end zildjians, but even still, I've heard the same thing happening to A Custom and K Custom ranges.

I would avoid Zildjian at all costs, unless you want to be replacing your cymbals every few months.

Recently I switched to Paiste and I have cymbals from their 2002 and Signature ranges, they're much more sturdy than zildjians and they sound better in my opinion.

I haven't ever bought Meinl or Sabian simply because there's nowhere to try them in Aberdeen and the samples on their websites are shit.

So if you're a beginner drummer looking to buy cymbals, I'd say go for Paiste. Go on ebay and find yourself some mid range Paiste cymbals and they'll last you a good while!

[HateEvent]

I've had my Zildjians for a couple of years and have no complaints. One of the guys I work with has had some of his for 10-15 years and they're still crack free.

[Drummerboy]

I think when it comes to cymbals it all depends what sort of style you want to play? Personally I have Zildjian and I think they are great - cymbals should not break unless you really go over the top with them. I use A customs mainly as I'm in a blues band (Son Henry band) and so its a good series to use. On the hardware front I use both Pearl's top line stuff and the new DW 6000 lightweight series. If you want heavy duty I would recomend the Pearl stuff as it really is the best. For lightweight the DW's I mentioned are great but if your on a budget then the big dog drums stands are great as well. What kit did you get anyway?

[Drummerboy]

I've had my Zildjians for a couple of years and have no complaints. One of the guys I work with has had some of his for 10-15 years and they're still crack free.[/quote

]

Totally! Had mine for a few years now and they are still going strong...

[Drummerboy]

DW don't do entry level (unless it's a PDP by DW) so you will probably never need another kit as DW's are seriously nice haha

First suggestion I would have for you is to check out www.OnlineDrummer.com ... the forum is extremely good and everyone is very helpful. There is also a lot of videos and teaching material on it.

Now to your questions ...

Double braced hardware is subjective. I have a couple of single braced Yamaha stands that are much more sturdy than most companies double braced hardware. What you are looking for is for thick, sturdy tubes. A lot of cheaper hardware looks ok but is actually really flimsy and will buckle if you try to put a clamp on it and will sway a lot of you mount a tom and a heavy cymbal on it.

I'd recommend taking a look at bigdog hardware (www.bigdogdrumstuff.com) as their stuff is actually pretty good and reasonably priced. The entry level hardware for a lot of the big name brands isn't that great; especially when you get can mid level bigdog for the same price. If you can, try to get boom cymbal stands rather than straight stands. They are far more useful and can be converted easily to be a straight stand. If you want to go straight for decent hardware DW and Yamaha are arguably the best out there.

Hihats become brighter and more responsive the smaller they get. I'd recommend going on the cymbal manufacturers websites as they have sound files that you can listen to of every cymbals they make. Heavier cymbals will be brighter and louder than thin ones. The smaller the cymbal, the higher the pitch.

The big 4 cymbals companies are Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste and Meinl; google them to get their websites and soundfiles. Bruce Millers and R&B pretty much only stock Zildjian which is a shame. Your best bet is to start out with a cymbal pack as it is a cheap option to get you started. These tend to contain 14"hihats, 16" crash and 20" ride. You can then expand from there depending on what you want and/or upgrade as and when you want.

I might get flamed for this but Zildjian entry level cymbals are terrible. I started out with a set of ZBTs and hated them. Paiste and Meinl make really good entry level cymbals and to be honest, Stagg are quite good for the money. I got a Stagg DH 10" splash for 25 and I prefer it over any 80 one I've ever tried.

I'll round this uber post off with a summary of the cymbal companies from my experience. Everyone has different tastes so this is purely my opinion ...

Zildjian tend to have extremely long sustain and are very warm sounding. K Customs (as mentioned by The_Tank) are best suited for Jazz and quieter applications yet I see a great many drummers from all sorts of genres using them and subsequently breaking them. One example was one of the drummers from dananananakroyd who had a massive crack in his 18" K Custom dark crash; expensive mistake as they cost a small fortune.

Sabian tend to be duller sounding with a shorter sustain. That doesn't make them bad as I swore by them for years. It makes them good for rockier music and metal. I don't have much experience with Meinl but from what I gather, they are quite similar to Sabian.

Paiste tend to be very bright and have a very distinctive sound. They are also well known for their big cymbals where 15" hihats, 20" crashes and 22" rides are available on most lines. There's even a couple of 24" crashes and few 24" rides which are staggeringly big. Paiste's entry level-intermediate cymbals are very good with PST3 and PST5 very worth a look at depending on your budget.

Wow that was a big post!!

Ok I'll agree with you on the Zildjian front - their entry level stuff is rubbish. But the rest of the range is good. Won't agree with you on the DW front though ha ha!