First step in buying a drum kit is estimating the budget. Drums come with wide range of price tags. But the advantage here over other instruments is that one need not buy all the drums and the accessories in one go. They can be purchased one by one as and when the budget permits and can be assembled as per convenience. One can start with single drum and sticks and increase one by one gradually. Starter packs and junior drum sets are good money savers while performing quality music.

A complete drum set consists of Kick Drum with Pedal, Snare Drum with Pedal. Hi-Hate Cymbals with stands, Crash cymbal, Drum Throne and Drum sticks, and also a Floor Tom and a second mounted tom. Here are some important components of drum kit.

Normally, shell packs do not include stand and other accessories. Inexpensive shell kits are made of mahogany or basswood where as the higher end models use birch or maple in order to produce rich tones. The stands in which the drums and cymbals are fitted are known as hardware. Good hardware is made of chrome as they can withstand the heavy beatings. Bass Drum is a big drum fixed on the floor and a foot pedal is used to play them.

Snare drum is kept on a stand between the player’s legs and has head top and bottom. Tension rods are used to fasten the heads with the rims. There are series of parallel mounted metal strands tightly stretched across called snares. Snares can be adjusted using a switch provided in the side of the drum.

Toms are other drums that come with drum kit. Tom drums have deep round tones and are mounted on Mounted Toms. Toms with legs are called Floor Toms. Cymbals are one of the important elements in any drum kit. They are made of an alloy of brass and bronze. There are different types of Cymbals that produces variety of accents and variations. For beginners cymbal starter pack is the best option which consists of a crash cymbal, a ride cymbal and a couple of hi-hates.

Drum sticks are simple but are very important elements of drum kit. Many drums come with sticks and others do not. It is very important to check whether the sticks are accompanied with the drum. If not, it should be purchased along with the drums.

So, if there isn’t a rule regarding drum care, what do you do? As with your clothing, you follow the recommendations of the manufacturer. When you buy a new outfit, you check the label for laundering instructions – or you should – and the same is true of your drum set. Cymbals for the most part can be cleaned with a window cleaner, but how you clean your drums needs to be depends upon a variety of factors including material of the skins and of the outside. Steel is not recommended, though sometimes used, and there will be a different method than other material, which is usually simply soap and water or even glass cleaner for a shine.

As a drummer, you should be proud of your skins and want to keep them clean in between performances. It doesn’t take more than perhaps a half hour a day to keep your set looking in top condition, but you want to make sure that you know exactly what you need to do before you even take the set home. If you order your drum set online, be sure you read all of the instructions regarding care and maintenance before you ever set up the kit, because some kits require oiling before you ever use the drums for the first time. Failing to do that when required can result in your drums sounding out of tune or not blending in with the rest of the musical instruments in the band.

Bear in mind that your drums are a major investment, and if you want them to last you for years to come, you have to take the time to take care of them from the day you first own them. You do not simply leave them to collect dust when you are not using them nor do you only take them in for maintenance when they don’t sound as good as they did when they were new. Regular cleaning and routine maintenance will be your drum kit looking and sounding new for many years to come. It is unnecessary to buy a new set every few years if you take care of what you have from the start.

To learn to play the drums perfectly, it would be a good idea for you to take drum lessons. There are many music schools in the country that are offering drum lessons so you will not really have much problems finding one that is suitable for you. To find the best music schools, ask for referrals from friends and family members who are also into music. If you are still a student, you may also ask your teachers and school administrators for help in finding a good music school. Asking referrals from people that you know is very important because this can give you some ideas on what you can expect from a certain music school. Moreover, since these people know you and care about you, they will be more careful is giving you referrals and will make sure that you get the best education that you need. In event where you do not know anybody who can give your referrals to a good music school, it would be a good idea for you to conduct your own independent research. The library and internet can offer you a wealth on information when it comes to music schools.

When taking drum lessons, it would be a good idea for you to have your own drum set or drum kit. Note that a musician should feel comfortable with his or her own set of musical instruments so it would be best for you to practice using your own drums. Companies like http://Yourdrumset.com are offering a wide variety of drums, musical instruments and accessories such as, drum stand, cymbal stand, hi-hats, drum hardware, series, EX, ELX, masters, bass drum pedal, snare drum, sensitone, tympani, marimbas, chimes, drum sticks, drum thrones, drum racks, African drum, afro percussion, bongo drum and conga drum, so you need not worry about finding the right musical instruments.

Taking your time is choosing your musical instruments. If you are not sure what type of drums is suitable for you, it would be a good idea for you to discuss this matter with your music teacher. You music teacher will have some ideas on what suits you best so do not hesitate to ask him or her about her opinion.

In order to be an outstanding drummer you’ll need to keep good time, and practicing with a metronome can help you do that. A metronome can improve your time keeping almost by magic. And, we know how important time keeping is, particularly for a drummer.

You may wonder what the big deal is and think, “No one is gonna be able to distinguish any small changes in tempo in the middle of a song.” Well, that may be true, but the major importance of keeping good time is at three different places in a song…

1) The times when you break away for a fill and come back to the original rhythm. 2) If the song contains pauses and later returns to the original rhythm. 3) If the song contains different tempos and returns to the original rhythm.

A metronome is such a vital tool in music education that most teachers of guitar, piano, and violin all utilize the power of metronomes within their lessons. How then, even more important for the time keeper of a band to practice with a metronome.

I can’t stress enough the importance of practicing with a metronome. Once you go out and invest in one, start out by setting it at 80 beats per minute and play along with a standard 4/4 disco beat. This is a good pace to begin. It will give you enough time between beats to concentrate and land your beat in sync with the beat of the metronome.

You will see that when you first start practicing with a metronome it can become very discouraging, but then you will eventually get the hang of it and keep pretty good time. Then it may become a little boring. It’s at that point where you must challenging yourself a little bit more.

Adjust your metronome to a few more beats and increase your speed. Not so much where you will sacrifice your form, though. You don’t want to become sloppy. Once you feel like you are really getting good at staying in sync with the metronome using a 4/4 beat and at various speeds you should begin to practice a variety of different rhythms, also at various speeds.

Practicing with a metronome will improve your drumming dramatically, so if you don’t have one, get one. You will be amazed at how much it will increase your level of playing.

Muscle memory plays a major part In the world of drumming as well as other things. Think of when you were first learning to ride a bicyle. You had to concentrate very hard to make all your body parts move in just the right way, as well as balance just right so that you could ride. it seemed very difficult but once you got the hang of it, then riding became a very natural feeling. this same thing happens in drumming. When playing a new beat at first may feel very awkward and difficult but with some pratice and repetition that beat begins to feel good and gradually becomes much easier. After some practice these motions require less concentration.

Scientists have discoverd internal brain stuctures that work together with input/output brain structures to form fleeting images in the mind. using these images we interpret input signals, process them and formulate output responses in a deliberate and concious way. Scientists refer to this as kinesthetic memory or neuro-muscle facilitation. where “seeing, thinking, and doing” gets cut down to just “seeing, and doing”. muscle memory comes into play by eliminating the thinking process. your muscles begin to know just what to do. and this is when one developes efficentcy to become a much better drummer. once you are capable of playing a beat with out thinking then your mind is free to think of how to make that beat more creative by adding fills, accents, etc. The motions of the basic beat are now almost effortless.

It takes a certain amount of time for your drum beat to feel effortless. First you must create the new motions or pattern, the next step is feeling at ease with those motions. this will not always happen over it can take sometime depending what time signature you are playing. I feel Sometimes its best to make a recording of the new material you are working on. That way when you want to play it again you will have that tape to help guide you.

When the motions of the basic beat become almost effortless. That is where the saying practice makes perfect comes from. How can you be at ease with a beat that now seems hard to you now? Practice and practice some more. and eventually you will be playing that beat with the same amont of effort it takes to walk. When you can play a drum beat and keep a conversation or read a book that is a good indication that your muscle memory has developed just right.

Helping you march to your own beat!

When your band plays a song, do you play that song the same
way every time? If not, you should. Here’s why…

It can all be summed up into one word called
“predictability.” So many drummers will never play a song
the same way twice. This, many times, throws the other
musicians off, potentially causing a drag in timing or
increasing the chances of a mislead cue.

As the drummer in a band it is your responsiblity to provide
the foundation for the music. This meaning that everything
you do behind the drum kit is vital. Anything you do out of
the ordinary, or something the other musicians are not used
to hearing you play in a particular song really has the
potential to screw things up.

Experimenting is definitely a good thing, and that’s why we
practice, but there just comes a time when experimenting is
over. You must decide what you’re gonna do and then stick to
it. Never throw in something that the other musicians are
not expecting or you can end up with some serious choas.

Predictability is a must! The other musicians must know what
you’re going to do before you do it. An outstanding drummer
is predictable, prepared and organized, ready to bring his
or her goods to the table. Personally, it has always
bothered me when a band mate would come to play and he or
she would just not be ready. Situations like that are just
not fair to everyone else who is ready.

It’s been said that when prepardness and opportunity meet,
success occurs. I don’t know what kind of “success” your
hoping for, but one thing is for sure, you will more likely
meet with it by being organized when opportunity knocks.

If you’re wondering what a bucket list is then definitely see the movie – it’s great with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Until then just know that it is a list of all the things you told yourself that you wanted to do and haven’t done it yet. I’m not dying or anything but if I’ve got less years ahead than I have behind me then I’d better get started. and learning to play the drums is on my Bucket List.

Bought the Learn and Master DVDs and they are taking me through some pretty basic steps. That’s good because other than sitting at a friend’s drums I’ve never had any experience.

Still finding cool stuff on the internet – gonna keep posting it here. I hope you like it. Leave a comment so I know you are there!

1. Develop Confidence
Many wanna-be musicians will choose the drums because they are shy and want to remain in the background (that’s where I was when I started drumming back in 1976).

The truth is your body may be in the background, but your musical presence will definitely be noticed!

If you are going to be the drummer in a band, then you will be the anchor of the band. The other musicians will be relying on you to provide strong beats that will keep everything together. Everything you do behind your drum set will not only be heard, but felt, simply because you will be the all-important time keeper.

This notion of wanting to be a drummer so you can hide behind a drum set is ridiculous. You’re gonna hide from no one! That’s why it is imperative to develop confidence in your drumming, and the first way to do that is to forget about the notion that you are hidden. Your mind set should be to establish your place in the band. Know who you are and why you’re there. The rest will then fall into place.

2. Love Your Instrument
If any musician really wants to master their instrument they must absolutely love it. What do I mean “love it?” The best way to understand this is to relate loving your drums to loving a person.
Many people think “love” is a feeling, but it’s not a feeling. For example; I love my wife, but I don’t always like her (I suppose she can probably say the same thing about me).

Love is an action word. It means to adore, care for, learn about, edify, be loyal to, be devoted to, be committed to, support, protect, and promote. When you do these things the feeling of love automatically comes.

So, how can you tell if you really love your drums? You can tell if you love your drums by the priority you put on them. They must have some priority in your life , otherwise your drums are just a little hobby that you will only be mediocre at.

3. Remain Humble
If a drummer really wants to increase his or her level of playing it is critical to remain open minded.

The mind is like a parachute, it only functions when it is open. That’s why it is so important to remain humble. Arrogant drummers never grow beyond their current level of drumming because they don’t think there is any more they can learn. How foolish! There is always more to learn… and any advanced drummer can learn from an intermediate, or even a beginner!

As you continue to learn you will then be able to teach. When you begin teaching, you will be amazed at the additional things you will learn (if you are currently teaching you will understand).
It’s critical to continue to learn and grow if you want to increase your level of drumming, and remaining humble is the only avenue through which you can do this. As with anything else, you must absolutely be confident in what you’re doing and knowledge can make you confident.
Please don’t mistake confidence with arrogance. Confidence is what makes a good drummer a great drummer. Arrogance is what makes a good drummer a lonely drummer! I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to play music with some cocky jerk who thinks he or she is better than everyone else.

Conclusion
When you develop confidence in your purpose as a drummer, learn to love your drums by giving them some priority in your life, altogether with remaining humble, your level of drumming will increase considerably.

1) Skill – can you keep up?

I have auditioned many guys thought they could play but couldn’t keep proper time or didn’t know what chord changes were going on, got lost in every song – just couldn’t keep up musically.

2) Listening – are you paying attention?

I have played with a few really skilled musicians who paid absolutely no attention to what was going on around them. It was like they had spent years practicing by themselves in their bedroom. They could play amazing things but what they played made no sense in the context of the band. The notes you play should complement what everybody else is doing and the song should work as a whole.

3) Personality – are you a nice person?

This is a big deal – I have played some shows with great players who live their life a sentence or two from a punch in the face. Remember when you were a kid and folks told you “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I have met many great musicians who desperately need to revisit that concept. They were so full of negativity that it was really hard to be in the same room with them for very long.

Setting up your kit on a good thick rug or a carpet that the spikes at the end of your bass drum legs can sink their teeth into will generally help keep bass drum creep at bay. (If your bass drum legs don’t have spikes, replace them with ones that do. Any decent drum shop will carry replacement bass drum legs at a reasonable price.)

Make sure your carpet is large enough to fit your whole kit, including your throne. The weight of your body on the throne will help keep the bass drum from sliding away with the whole carpet.
Adjust the bass drum legs so that the front of the drum is an inch or two off the ground and the drum is resting at a slight angle. This shifts more of the drums weight onto the legs themselves and helps the spikes dig in more effectively, which should put an end to most bass drum creep problems.

Sometimes, especially for those of us kicking the drum pretty hard in loud situations, setting up on a carpet is just not enough!

Here is an additional little trick that will END bass drum creep problems.

Take a three foot long 2”x4” piece of wood. I have some nice fabric glued around it to make it look pretty, provide some protection to the drums, and prevent splinters. Now mark your carpet where you want the front of your bass drum to sit. Drill three quarter inch diameter holes through the wood – one hole in the middle and one near each end.

Using some nice, big, 2 inch washers and 1/4 inch thick bolts – actually bolt the wood to your carpet at the front edge of your bass drum. Make sure to put the flattest part of the bolt on the under side of the carpet so that your carpet still lays pretty flat. I also like to put a layer or two of gaffer’s tape over the end of the bolt so that it does not scratch up any nice wooden floors that happen to be underneath the carpet.

Now when you set up just slide the front of the bass drum right up against the piece of wood you have bolted to the carpet, and it will not slide any further!

It works best if you get the wood wide enough that the legs themselves actually bump up against the wood block although it will work fine with the rim of the drum against the wood block – just be sure to cover the wood with foam or thick fabric to prevent the wood from damaging the rim and lugs of your drum!

Let me know how well it works for you.