Drum Sets

[Dragon__lance]

Hey, i was just wondering if any of you play drums, cause i'm thinking about getting into it. Would anyone care to start me off in the right direction with a  recommended drum set to buy, guides, etc... (btw, do you need a lesson teacher for this, because i'm thinking about just self-learning, also, and how hard is it to play drums?, thanks for any feedback )

Edit:My price range would be a preferred 500$

[spengo]

I play drum set. My set sucks balls though lol. All I can say is get sabian cymbols, they pwn. Cost an arm and a leg tho.

[Speler]

My brother plays drums and my grandpa used to be a profesional drummer who gave my little brother one of his drum sets.  It's actually worth about 25K and sounds awsome.  I'd recomend getting a drum teacher but if you have freinds who play drums that you can ask questions to and are willing to spend some money on books you can get pretty good self teaching.  Not really sure about sets by price range though though... if you want I can talk to my brother about it for you.

[spengo]

25k... O_O $25000.00 is one hell of a drum set... That's a friggin lot of zeros!

[Ranman]

$25000  O_O

That would buy a nice computer and a new car!

Priorities

[Speler]

We didn't pay 25k at any point, neither did our grandfather, at this point in time though we could sell it for that much.

Back on topic or I'll get my knife.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Lol I could get a car for that O_O, I dont play drum or any instrument

[Dragon__lance]

Any info would be great. I'm looking at what brands would be nice cause i know some drum sets are just horrible in quality.  

[Halifax]

Drumming rocks mayb we could have and internet band let me start it off

beep...beep beep...beep

lol j/k

[Speler]

Zildian cymbals are nice, and Pearl drum sets could be pretty cheap and are worth the price.  I recomend spending most of that money on a descent bass drum, snare, and cymbals/high-hat.  That's really what you need to get started.

[Dragon__lance]

How do the sets work? Would the bass, tom, and snare come together, but then have to buy the HighHat/cymbols seperate?

[Speler]

That is often how it will work, but more often it will be a snare, bass drum, high hat, crash cymbal, and one or two toms.  My brothers drum set also has cowbell, woodblock, 4 or 5 toms, 4 or 5 cymbals, several different bells etc. so as you can see they range alot but all that is really necicary for you to play is a bass drum, snare, high hat (these first three are most important), crash, toms are not necicary but ussually come with the set (and do help greatly for many songs), everything after this is GREAT, but that's really the bare essentials, without the above you won't be doing much.

[ryantmer]

Also, unless the kit is put together with several different companies making the separate components, generally the cymbals of a kit won't be very good. Not all the time, but you'll want to buy toms, snare and bass from one company (if you like loud drumming, Gretsch is I believe a good solid drum with good sound), cymbals from another (Sabian, definitely) and (strange as it may be) buy a bass kicker from another company, because bundled ones tend to be relatively flimsy (no suggestions for companies here, I guess go with what feels right...).

And none of this is from personal experience, but I know severla drummers in my calass, I like to percussion-ify when I can, and my uncle has been drumming for quite some years (25?) and I have talked to him about it.

[katmaster]

I've been playing set for almost 3.5 years and I agree with ryantmer. Most set packs that come with every thing (drums, cymbals, hardware) are for beginners and aren't like super good. But since your just starting and want something cheaper something like a yamaha or a pdp set is around 500 with everything. Sabian's are by far the best for rock. Pdp also makes really good bass pedals. Remo Pinstripe heads are godly, but a bit pricey. Vic Firth for sticks. A good set up is: Snare drum, bass drum, 2-3 toms (three is better for complicated stuff, but not a must), hi hat, 1-2 crash cymbals (if you can get 2 it's really a whole lot better), and a ride.

You can check out www.musiciansfriend.com for sets. It lists what packs have what, how much, and reviews and rateings by people who actually bought it. Really good.

I taught myself to play, but for getting started it's good to get some sort of lessons. It would have gotten me better a lot faster. Also, drums are much harder then most people think. Since their main purpose is to keep everyone else on beat, a metrenome is really, really good to have too. Sorry for rambling, I really enjoy drums