Buying A Drumset

Haluwasa · #1 (**permalink**) 04-16-2012, 01:53 PM

First off, you'll have to excuse my ignorance. I am just starting off playing drums.

I'm looking to buy a drum set and a friend of mine has some extra parts he is going to sell me for cheap. They include a snare, hi hat, some symbols with no stands, and I think a bass drum.

what i'm wondering is, can you buy the parts separately and build the set? or do you have to have everything in the same brand?

also when buying toms lets just say (PDP M5 Tom Drum | Musician's Friend) would that be the first tom? or the second tom?

If anyone could give me some advice that'd be great

There is a drum set at my church and I love playing it, so I figured I should get my own set.

blevinspercussion · #2 (**permalink**) 05-10-2012, 12:06 PM

When buying a drumset, I would recommend getting all drums for the same manufacturer and series. Otherwise the tonal qualities of the drums will not be consistent. The hardware and cymbals, however, can all be from different manufacturers. My main kit, for instance, is a Pearl Export Select with Pearl and DW hardware and Sabian, Zildjian, and Paiste cymbals.

The tom that you linked to is an 8" diameter tom, which would typically be used as a first (high) tom. I really don't see drummer use 8" toms very often (especially for rock music) and very, very rarely do I see anything smaller. My drumset is a 7 piece (bass, snare, five toms...though I typically use it in a four to six piece configuration) and my highest tom is a 10".

My suggestion is to visit some music stores and try to find a good kit that is within your price range. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, so you should purchase a kit that will last you a while, but one that you can easily sell if things don't work out. I am a die-hard Pearl fan, so I would suggest a Pearl Forum kit (about $400, new with no hardware or cymbals) or a Pearl Vision kit (about $500-$650).

You should buy cymbals separately. You can buy a cymbal pre-pack that contains a full set of student models cymbals, such as the Sabian SBR performance pack, which contains a ride, crash, and hi-hats for about $230. If you decide to get more serious about your drumming, you will want to start looking at professional model cymbals. I recommend buying them individually, and ONLY after hearing them first (i.e. not through mail order). Every cymbal, even if they are the same size, model, and manufacturer sounds different...so you really need to play test them before buying.

On a side note:

Get drum lessons.

Seriously. Do this. Find a good teacher who has a good amount of gigging experience and who will teach you how to read music, play rudiments, and play a variety of different styles of music. If you don't do this, you will regret it if you decide to get serious about music and you have to unlearn a ton of bad habits.

Good luck and -- above all else -- have fun!