Caoboi

So I've been thinking about taking up drums for a relatively long time, and finally might crack now that Christmas is coming. I'm 15 years old, and have gone through the stage of taking up and quitting instruments of all sorts, hahaha.

I've always wanted to give it a shot, and finally brought it up with my dad about a week ago. Unfortunately, he says it would be too loud (there really isnt anywhere to put it in our house) for both the rest of my family and the neighbors. I thought for a solution, and it finally dawned on me while at my girlfriends house today messing around with her electronic drumkit.

So basically I'm asking, is an electronic drumkit a good investment for practicing purposes? I'm bound to suck for quite awhile if i get hooked, and i figure no one being able to hear me is probably a good thing for awhile. If this is a good solution to my problem, any suggestions on brand/model?

Thanks for all your help

MSPaintClock

For practice purposes sure! I don't have any idea on brand/model but if you want to get into a instrument go for it! I'll just be mad at you if you quit when you realize how hard drumming actually is. If you get this drumkit, stick to it.

Caoboi

Awesome and ill do my best, sticking with things has always been a problem for me but i really feel like drumming will be different, ive always had fun with it (used to own a set and mess around, mess around at other peoples houses, never anything serious) so we'll see. How would i go about actually learning it if i get serious? Would you recommend i go out of my way to get actual lessons?

Angel's Punishment

Yes, get lessons. However, I would recommend spending a couple weeks just getting used to it -- experimenting with how much force it takes to create a good sound, etc. There are plenty of sites that give you easy drum beats. For example, the basic rock beat:

hh:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
s :--x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x-
b :x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---

You probably won't be able to hold this beat perfectly right away, but it won't take long as this is a very simple and well known drum beat.

then you can try slightly harder ones like this:

hh:x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
s :--x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x-
b :xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--

Slightly more difficult, but not too hard to master.

After you have those down perfectly, you should have a basic but solid foundation. After that, get lessons.

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[SIGPIC]http://i34.tinypic.com/30vd34o.jpg[/SIGPIC]

MSPaintClock

Yeah if you feel passionate about it go get some lessons. And ignore that ugly tablature you see from the other poster, just go buy a book.


Amazon.com: Stick Control for the Snare Drummer: George Lawrence Stone: Books

Pick this one book up, you'll need it. Practice your rudiments:

40 Essential Rudiments

Don't worry about the set stuff, it's more important that you learn how to use your hands efficently. You can always **** around and figure out the set stuff, but the stuff I gave you is the stuff that really matters.

Angel's Punishment

I'd recommend getting books recommended by your teacher. There are many crappy books out there, so you don't want to waste your money.

And you'll have to get used to looking at my "ugly tablature" if you want to learn stuff from online tabs. By all means, ignore my post and ignore learning online tablature, you can always just buy every drum tab book there is. If you just want to try out some other tabs, no point at all in getting it for free, is there...

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Caoboi

Hahaha as much as i appreciate the help from both of you, you overestimate my abilities. Although I agree I should spend some time getting used to it first, i have no idea how i would play what you just wrote in that post. Like at all. Is it possible for you to give me a brief synopsis of how to read that?

MSPaintClock

Stick Control is a good ****ing book and any other book will due when you're a beginner and just want to learn some beats.

Angel's Punishment

...where did I say Stick Control was a bad book?

And no, sometimes it won't do. When I started playing guitar, i got a couple guitar books. When I started lessons, I realized the books had stressed wrong points and essentially taught me badly, so I had to unlearn all I had learned before returning.

It's essential to get a good or at least decent book when beginning so you don't regret it later.

edit: Caoboi, sorry didn't see your post. I'm editing it right now to say how to play it

2nd edit: Let's take this one...the counting is under:

hh:x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
s :--x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x-
b :x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---
1 2 3 4-1 2 3 4- 1 2 3 4-1 2 3 4

Count 1 2 3 4 evenly.

On each of those 4 beats, hit the high hat (hh) with your right drumstick.
On beat one and three, hit the bass drum.(b)
On beat two and four, hit the snare drum.(s)

hh has an "x" on every beat.
So pretty much, on every beat you're hitting the high hat. Then, you are alternating the bass and snare drums -- bass, snare, bass, snare, bass, snare, bass, snare.


It'll sound like this. http://www.geocities.com/drummershaven/basicbeat.wav

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MSPaintClock

Whatever. Disturbed.