Idk where else to put this, but I need to vent. I played a backyard show on saturday with a friends band, and after I played I had to pack up on my own. So I had 2 friends help me with my rack, and when I came back, I found out that some fuckhead stole my fucking AXIS pedals!!!!!:fuck: I save for almost 2 years, and some dick just takes them!

I feel ya. I had a $90 6" Zil-Bel that I used at a show and I walked away from my kit after tearing it down in the corner and when I came back the fucker was gone. I made the guy that set the show up make an announcement and none of those fucking undulating taint wrenches came forward.

A 90$ and Axis pedals are things of completely different leagues -_-

Sorry to hear about your Axis pedals man, that's really horrible.

And back to dynamics, yeah the musical context will always tell you how to play which is why drummers should LISTEN more than every other musician in the band imo. Also, am I the only one that doesn't like the HHX line? I had gotten 2 years and years ago... I'm not impressed with them. I'll definitely go with Paiste. On another note, Zildjian K Custom Dark Crash 20" sounds AMAZING, you can even ride it as a jazz ride.

I've seen a lot of HHX bashing. I was turned on to them by Tomas Haake. I was under the impression that they were light cymbals but apparently they can handle Meshuggah.

The K Custom Dark Crash is beautiful. I also really like the 24" K Light Ride. Regardless of it being called "Light", it is one dark cymbal.

Drums sound awesome when hit softly as well, ghost notes on the snare are just pure sex to listen to...I've started putting them into everything I play, even metal.

I agree. I do it when I'm rocking a double bass groove. It just helps to keep time, too.

I want to start drumming. Anyone have any advice, or know which page I can find advice on? I don't want to spend a huge amount of time looking through all these pages, and the search is being kinda odd... maybe it's my browser...

If you want to start playing an instrument, I highly reccommend getting lessons. There are things (posture, technique, etc.) that the internet can not help you with, but a physical teacher could.

Thanks. Anyone know what I should look for in terms of drum kits?

Buy a few high quality pieces over many crappy pieces. It's better to have 2 toms and 3 cymbals that sound awesome than 5 toms and 10 cymbals that suck.

Also, learn to tune your drums.



Oh definitely, ghost notes are awesome. Drummers that hit like pansies aren't.

Ghost notes sound really good on snares. I'm starting to learn to do that more and more, as it'll give me versatility and more control over my drum stick.

And it also permits you to play some mean funky grooves, helps you in jazz, improves your coordination too. You have every single reason to learn how to ghost notes properly on a snare. Actually you NEED to learn it imo

Exactly. They sound really good when done right.

If you want to really practice your ghost notes and dynamics, try learning Jeff Porcaro's beat on the song Rosanna by Toto. It's really really great practice because that beat has so many different dynamics etc. Pay close attention to what he's doing. Most people on youtube horrible butcher that beat

One of my favorite beats to play. It's mesmerizing just watching him play it on YouTube. He is so fluid and soulful.

Thanks, Matt! I guess once I start lessons or something, an instructor will help me more with finding the right high quality pieces and such.

If you look a page or two back in this thread you will see that me and another member posted some beginner tips to another poster, you should find a few helpful hints there.

I highly recommend checking out drummerworld.com, the forums there are full of professional drummers (including Derek Roddy and George Kolias) who will give quality advice for free.

Yep there a must have in any drummers vocabulary. Often the difference between an average drummer and a great drummer is their control over ghost notes and dynamics in general.

If you play them on off beats they add a real sense of groove, however if you play them on the beat (with the hi-hat for instance) then they can be added to less groovey music (metal for instance) and can give a noisy sort of feel to things. Nice!

Hey guys,
I guess this post belongs here, however correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyone has any tips on how to start drumming or buying a drum set?
I've been air drumming (I know it's stupid >_<) and I decided to buy a drum set.
I do not want to take lessons because it's too expensive here and probably my parents won't have the extra money to spend on this.

Any help will be much appreciated!

As a drummer of 7 years, and guitarist of 7 years, the best thing to do starting out is to play along with songs you like! Start off with the easy stuff obviously...Lessons are a complete waste of time, trust me, I took them and after about 3 sessions I quit...For drums, all you have to do is listen! No chords, everything is easy figure out, from snare to bass pedal to cymbals etc...

I would recommend buying a used drum set (with a lot of cymbals) and buying a double bass pedal of some sort (I use iron cobra, they kick ass imo)...

I really hope you're trolling. Although I'm a self-taught drummer, I would never discredit formal lessons and how much of a help they can be. Saying that lessons are a complete waste of time is alarmingly ignorant, and that goes for learning any instrument, not just the drums. Now, that doesn't mean that you NEED to take formal training, and in his case I believe he said it would be too expensive, but it's not a bad idea either.

As far as buying a kit goes, don't go all out. Hell you wont even know if you'll stick with it until you've been playing for at least a few months. Buy used, but that doesn't mean you have to get a crappy kit. You won't need anything too large when you start, just enough to learn the basics (separation, stick control, rudiments, etc.) The nice thing about drums is as you get better, your kit can get better (and larger) as well. You wont need a hell of a lot of cymbals either, just the essentials. Hi-hat, ride, and two crashes to start. And I wouldn't recommend starting out with a double kick pedal, get used to playing with the single first and go to a double when you feel ready. And in all honesty playing on a smaller kit gives you more room for improv and IMO helps give you a better appreciation of the drums as an instrument and how versatile they can be.

Hope that helps a bit, and if the dude above me was trolling, well then you got me. Otherwise....wtf dude, seriously.

I agree with the above. I took some lessons at an academy because I got a drum scholarship through my high school and they helped a lot. I wouldn't say they were a waste of time at all.

And starting with a double kick is bad. Most people that do so end up hanging on that and don't learn how to be versatile on the drum kit.

Completely agreed!

Also, lessons will help you get good technique. Without good technique you'll hit a wall for sure. Also, a teacher is always a good person to have so he can point out what you need to work on since he is (should) be an unbiased person.

Teachers can also help you branch out into other genres which is essential to being a good drummer imo. Plus when you get to a higher level you can challenge your teacher etc hehe. For example, I've been with my teacher for a long time and so to help each other out we'll give each other tips or give ourselves something to practice that is ridiculously difficult.

On another note, I've been recently practicing my coordination and I'm seriously surprised. I finished learning doing a rumba clave with my left hand while my left foot is doing a mambo clave, my right foot is doing quarter notes and my right hand is keeping the back beat. I'm starting to switch it around too etc. It's a great exercise for coordination, try it!

Is your right hand doing singles in groupings of three? When I practice Latin rhythms I like to do a 123_123_, hitting the bell on three and resting on four, or doing 1_341_34, with one being the bell and resting on two. Adds a nice flavor. But yeah, congrats on your achievement! I love that feeling of like, "OH! That's how it sounds when I do it right!"

About the lessons, you are completely right. I wouldn't have gotten the hang of the Moeller Technique or double-stroke rolls without lessons.

I'll try 1-2-3 with my right hand, didn't think of that. Seriously, try what I described, great coordination exercise since it's so hard to do two different claves on one side at the same time while your other side does something else. It's pretty fun too!

I also wouldn't be able to use Moeller technique properly without my teacher heh. He showed me so much useful tricks.

I've been a drummer for a good 5 or 6 years now and I've gotten myself a problem. I cannot for the life of me get the double bass down for any amount of time over a few seconds, does anyone have any badass techniques that I could try out?

Not a drummer, but this is general musical advice. Get a metranome, find a speed you can do it perfectly at for about 2-3 mins. Set the metronome up 5 bpm. When you get it perfect at this speed for 2-3 mins, set the metronome up another 5 bpm. Practice regularly and you'll have it locked down in no time.

The single most badass technique of all time is patience and determination. As Onward said, get a metronome, wood shed at a tempo you can do and gradually work your way up. Find some songs with slow/mid tempo double bass and learn them. Play along to them often. I sympathize with you as double bass is one of my biggest weaknesses, mostly because I was busy learning other things. I've been spending a great deal of time lately on it and can currently play Caught in a Web by Dream Theater without faltering at all.

I have the Flo Mounier dvd. It has some great exercises and drills for getting your chops up, but you're not going to learn much beyond being a ruthless death metal beast. Still, chops and endurance are a part of any style of drumming, this dvd just has an emphasis on double kick and blast beats. If you're a fan of Cryptopsy you'll appreciate all of the drumcam performances. If you want the pure blast beat theory, go with Derek Roddy's Evolution of Blast Beats. Once again, you won't find anything beyond athleticism, but if you want to get into extreme metal drumming that's a pretty essential aspect.

Yeah like other people have said, there is no secret, just patience, determination, and a metronome. What sort of speeds do you struggle at? The problem I'd imagine is your left foot.

Like Pfuntner says find a comfortable tempo and do single strokes for 20-30 mins daily (you can do hands at feet at the same time), I've been doing this for a few years and it's really helped out with both my hands and feet.

Also try blasting and use your left foot only, this will really give it a kick up the arse.

As you get faster, you will start using your ankles instead of your whole leg, this is natural but can be tricky to get down at first.

I didn't think much of Flo or Roddy's dvd's to be honest. They contain very basic, rudimentary material, and all the blast beat stuff is unneeded since there so simple. There is a wealth of information and tutorials for them on the intersplice already.

There are loads of dvd's which give you much more information than any metal drumming dvd, my favourite of which is Jojo Mayer's secret weapons of the modern drummer dvd, a must have for any drummer in any style.

How long did it take you guys to become decent or even good drummers? I know there are a multitude of factors that play a part in getting to be a mediocre or good drummer but any input would be helpful. I live in Denver,CO(Don`t know why that matters) and I have been really thinking about getting a kit lately. I have never played an instrument before mind you but music is one of the few things that I have continually had an interest in and it seems like a rewarding activity to do. So a little help would be appreciated.

Just bought a 16" Alpha Paiste China. Sounds pretty good for the money. Going to buy an Alpha 18" medium crash next week to. The Alpha series has some really nice sounding cymbals i think.

Ok, I'm looking into electronic drum kits because I can't have a normal drum set in my home. I'm looking for something I can get to sound as close to a normal drum set as possible. Thanks in advanced.

Nice, how is that China working out ? May I ask what you did pay for it?

I'm going to update my cymbals this summer, finally. I want a new ride, crash, china and hi-hat. But since I'm not rich, it'll be a new ride and crash hehe (cymbals are goddamn expensive!). Anyway, I went to a local music store and I found two rides which I liked a lot: Paiste 3000 reflector 20'' ride and a Paiste innovations 20'' ride. The 3000 reflector being 40 euros cheaper then the latter. Does anyone have on of these cymbals by any chance? If so, how do you feel about them?

Does anyone have some good recommendations for a china, crash and-/or hi-hat? I prefer Paiste. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a china though.

My drum teacher swears by Paiste and all of his cymbals that I've heard are really really great although he mostly plays rock/blues.

I was wondering though, how versatile are the paiste cymbals? I play jazz and metal so it seems very difficult to find cymbals that I can use properly and respectfully in both genres.

The china has a really nice sound to it i think. Really impressed with it. Got a nice bright sound to it and quite loud. I payed £120 including postage for it. I don't know how much that is in your currency though.


I couldn't tell you properly mate. I've only just starting to upgrade my equipment from crappy bottom end stuff. Couldn't tell you how versatile they are bescause i haven't used Paiste before. Only just starting to use them now. I can tell you that my China sounds really good though and if that's anything to go buy the Paiste Alpha series is looking to be pretty good. That's all i know so far. Sorry.

My teacher actually brought me two Paiste rides to try out today. The 2002 and the Big Beat. The Big Beat is pretty low pitch for a ride but it's meant more for jazz (although Bonham used it). It was pretty good for a cymbal but the frequencies of it would easily get eaten by a metal band so I'm not sure it's very versatile but I liked the sound quite a bit. As a jazz cymbal it was great though, lots of wash

The 2002 was much brighter and had a weird resonance sound. My teacher explained to me that this ride is great as a live ride but can either sound great or poor depending on the acoustics of the rooms and that it's a horrible cymbal for recording (it resonates way too much when you play alone although with a band, most of the resonance would be eaten up). The resonance almost sounded dissonant to my ear which was weird, I never heard anything of the kind. Didn't sound like a good jazz cymbal either, too high pitched and not enough wash for my tastes.

paul spain of castero is a savage drummer not exactly heavy metal but still metal like

I've been drumming for a couple months now but there has been one thing that's really been annoying me: How do you get the "Metal" sound with the hi-hat? like the hi-hat in most double bass songs.

That and how long did it take you to get used the loudness of drums? I currently take lessons in a tiny room and it's pretty loud even though i play kind of softly.