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Gear4Music

Good starter drums?

Started by SJG, July 23, 2013, 03:48:14 PM

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SJG

What are some good starter drums out there? What price range would you recommend someone have when wanting to buy starter drums for learning, not for including in a band or something like that?
Shawn Gossman
Occasional Picker

badgerific

If you're looking to learn but not too worried about playing in a band I'd try pick up a cheap second hand set. Lots of starter kits go for £100 or less because people buy them and get bored and want to get rid of them for the space.

Once you've got a cheap starter set I'd recommend changing the heads over to a nicer set, something like evans or remo. This will make your cheap kit sound so much better. I really like the sound of the evans G2 so I'd recommend those. Upgrading to a nicer set of cymbals will be beneficial too as the paper thin starter kit ones don't last long and sound terrible. Something like Sabian Solars are a great upgrade and can be picked up for a reasonable price second hand. Then you'll probably want to upgrade a few bits of hardware like the kick pedal and high hat stand.

Once you've done all that you should have a nice kit to play on that doesn't feel and sound as cheap as buying a brand new starter set and costs around the same.

Scarebear

When you say "not for including in a band" are you talking about drums just for practicing and/or learning? I'm not a drummer, but I've been reading a little bit about the electronic drum kits that folks like Roland make. They seem cool to me and offer the noise reduction that people around me would appreciate if I was to take up the drums ;)

Where I live they go for about $1K new it seems.
scarebear.rocks - terrible guitar playing verbalised as terrible writing.

AtrumKithara

I agree with the above, any used set will work for starters and just upgrade parts as needed.  Quality pedals, cymbals, and stands can be transferred to a high quality set if you decide to do that later.

I bought one of the fairly cheap all inclusive sets online $300 US (due to no local store at the time and only expecting to be able to use them for a year because my temporary living situation allowed it for that long) and it was ok for banging on, getting a feel for where the drums are, how hard to hit and stuff.  The cymbals sound like garbage, but if you play them to death while learning and then buy a good set, your good set will last longer.  The hardware was functional but low quality and I don't expect the set would hold up long if used for playing out, but it was not so cheap that it was like a toy set.  Poorly machined rims, flimsy throne and a poorly made hi-hat pedal were the biggest issues.  For slightly more I have seen much better brands/quality used, but sometimes they don't include pedals and other hardware.

Drums are an easy way to drive people crazy.  Even electronic sets can still be heard throughout walls and ceilings/floors, the beating of the rubber pads, though not nearly as loud as acoustic drums is still there.  It also sounds less musical for those who are not playing.  On the plus side, you can run music or metronome to play along with through headphones instead of having to blast it over the drums and if you are in a house your neighbors probably won't notice.
www.atrumarte.com  - Unique instruments for unique musicians.

badgerific

If you plan on playing acoustic drums I'd recommend getting acoustic drums if you have the place to accommodate playing them as electric drums feel completely different. Especially cheaper electric sets.

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