Top products from r/drums

I agree with the Vic Firth site. Also, after a few weeks of practice or so, get the rudiment you are practicing up to the fastest you can go, with maybe a little sloppiness. Practice at this level for a bit, and think of it as exercise to make you faster. There should be a little burn, and you'll be able to play slightly faster at the same level of control next time you practice. Then, dial it back to the fastest you can play while still remaining in complete control, and practice at this level the most. This is where control and good muscle memory will be built. (EDIT: But if you happen to find yourself getting sloppy at that speed, do not hesitate to slow it down further if you have to. Make sure you're doing every movement correctly and mindfully. When it's perfect at a slow tempo, then you can start taking it up a couple notches at a time until you're able to play it perfectly at a fast tempo. Remember to stay within your limits and watch your form for the most part, but there is benefit to be found in pushing those limits a bit in order to -gradually!!- get faster, as long as you aren't spending all your practice time in a sloppy speed-fest.) You will find that both your control and your speed will improve with each practice session, as long as you are properly applying yourself.

In terms of method books for this sort of thing, I would recommend Edward Freytag's The Rudimental Cookbook and Just Desserts. Both of these books start out simple and the solos get more complex and challenging as you progress, allowing you to expand your vocabulary and abilities along the way. Plus the solos are fun and oh-so-tasty. After a few months of proper practice, you could go from the simple stuff at the beginning to shredding through the crazy stuff at the end. It'll looks scary and intimidating, but once you've played your way through the book, reading even the most advanced solos will become a cinch and playing them will be pure enjoyment.

I would also recommend Scott Johnson's Progressions because, like the others, it starts out easy and the solos get more challenging as the book goes on. The idea is that you start out as a beginner and progress (geddit?) up to the level of a competent, DCI-quality player. And Scott Johnson definitely knows the skill drummers need to succeed at a DCI level.

Oh yeah I almost forgot Bill Bachman's Rudimental Logic. This book has like a zillion exercises, so it can be overwhelming, but it is still a great place to woodshed a rudiment and it actually shows you how to play the rudiment by breaking down the individual strokes involved, rather than just giving you exercises and telling you to "get to it". It shows you a bunch of hybrids as well as the standard 40 rudiments, and is supremely useful for introducing to your system of practice the concept of "the grid", which is itself a supremely useful practice tool for stick control and rudimental proficiency.

I would also recommend starting to youtube various drum corps to find exercises and pieces that interest you. That way you have something fun to work towards. I started with this video of the Concord Blue Devils playing The Ditty. This is what got me hooked. I had no idea that level of coordination and precision was possible. I thought there was no way I would ever be able to play that. However, after only a few months of practice, I was astonished to find out that I could. It's immensely rewarding. Plus, when you get these rams and such up to the proper level, you can play along with the youtube video of the drum corp playing it, which is really fun. The sheet music for most of the exercises you'll see is available from the specific corps for purchase, but if you can't find it or are poor, there are usually a bunch of transcriptions floating around the interwebs for your edification.

A few years ago, I purchased the Santa Clara Vanguard audition packet. I never auditioned, unfortunately, because real life and financial realities got in the way, but it was still one of my best purchases which I still use even today. It even comes with a DVD explaining the exercises (Progressions also has an immensely useful DVD and the Freytag books have an audio CD which is really useful to figure out tricky phrasing and rhythms). Anyway, the exercises in the audition packet are essentially what you need to have down pat in order to make it into whichever corps for which you're hypothetically auditioning, so they are incredibly good for you. Again, most of these exercises can be found in "in the lot" youtube videos, so once you have it memorized and down cold, you can play along with the videos, both for fun and to make sure you can play up to the appropriate tempo, while listening to the rest of the drumline.

I would also highly recommend Jim Chapin's classic Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer. This is a drumset method book, not a rudimental one, and it teaches you the "coordinated independence" necessary for jazz and bop playing. Once you get through this book, you will not only be a competent player in the jazz style, one of the trickiest idioms to learn and master, but your abilities on drumset across the board will increase dramatically. This book will give you the ability to play different, independent rhythms on each hand and foot, both separately and coordinated, and this ability will shine through, no matter which style you're playing. Being able to play with independence is one of the trickiest and most beneficial things to learn, from complicated polyrhythms on double bass to just getting that hi-hat chick on the two and four while your hands and other foot are doing different things.

It's like learning a basic drum beat. Many people tell me they can't even learn a basic beat because they can't do that many things at once. I tell them that the hi-hat pattern is just eighth notes, so just lay that down and forget about it, then you can focus on the rest of your limbs. Later, once you have that down, you can start varying up your hi-hat patterns. Same thing with the left foot in jazz. At first it may seem ridiculously difficult to keep the same pattern with the left foot while your other limbs are going all over the place, but eventually you can just do it without thinking about it, freeing up your brain to focus on your other limbs. Then you can also control and change up the pattern as your creative instincts dictate.

Anyway, I would really highly recommend any of these books. I went from someone with no rudimental chops and absolutely zero jazz vocabulary to someone with, at the very least, fairly good control and a decent vocabulary. The jazz part is especially great because I had no idea how to play jazz and really struggled until I found the Chapin book. Again, even if you don't play jazz, it is a tremendously useful thing to learn, and one of the trickiest. It's really, really useful. Trust me.

Also I just dug up a comment I made a month ago on the question "What rudiment(s) helped you progress most?" where I had a few ideas for stick control exercises and such. It's also really long, but I hope it's useful.

At any rate, I have a ton of useful exercises and tricks I use, some of which I even made up myself. If you're ever looking for ideas, feel free to message me. Hope this helps.


EDIT: Also, just as an aside, learn triple-stroke rolls. I didn't even know these were a thing until like five years after I'd started playing. Hell, I didn't even really know the difference between a crush roll and a double-stroke roll until way later than I should have. But triple strokes provide you with so much more opportunity to creatively vary up your playing and practicing. I would also recommend learning quadruple strokes, although I ended up learning those because a piece I was currently working on had them, so I was "forced" to learn them in order to play the piece. This also brings up the significance of what I said earlier about finding youtube videos and exercises and such that seem fun and that you want to learn. These exercises will contain rudiments and sticking patterns that you are unfamiliar with. While you might shy away from tricky things like this during regular practice, you are "forced" to learn them if you want to be able to play this fun piece, thus expanding your vocabulary further, so that the next time you see that rudiment or whatever in a different piece of music, you've already played it 10,000 times, and you can just sight read it and get to learning the things you haven't seen before.

EDIT 2: Also, 32nd notes seemed really scary to me until I figured out that they were just 16ths, but twice as fast. Fivelets and septuplets also seemed really intimidating at first, but once you start playing your way through them, you learn to feel them and eventually you'll be able to play them without even thinking about it. My point here is: Don't avoid something just because it appears scary. Dive right in and vanquish the beast with your sword of justice. It will be a bloodbath at first, but i guarantee that if you keep practicing it will eventually become second nature. If you avoid it, you'll never learn it, and it's remarkable how the things that seemed impossible a few months ago quickly become so easy, so practiced, so natural that you can do them at will, without effort. Muscle memory is the incredible gift from the gods to our nervous system, and it is a sublimely powerful tool. It would be a massive shame to let something of such awesome potential simply go to waste.

Very basic beginner tips:
You're spot on with picking up sticks and a pad first (I should also mention a metronome because drumming is ALL about keeping time, but this is bare basics so for the sake of my bad typing skills and your wallet I'm going to omit it, but know this HAS TO BE YOUR NEXT PURCHASE (also there's dozens of free metronome apps FYI)).

This is all you will need to begin drumming and it shouldn't cost you more than $30. As far as for what kinds/brands, just buy two matching sticks that feel comfortable in your hands and a pad that's 'bouncy'. (Don't worry about wood types or tips for the drum sticks yet, you're still a far ways away from that being a concern)

Now that you have sticks and a pad, the next move is to learn how to hold them. This is going to be hard without any visuals, so bear with me here lol. Hold your right hand forward as if you were to accept a handshake. With your left hand, place the stick in the center your palm so that the blunt end of the stick is facing the ground. Now close your fingers around it to create a fist. Adjust the height of the stick in your fist so that only 1 inch of the blunt end is protruding(sp?) from the bottom of your fist. At this point, it should seem like your holding the drum stick the same way that you might hold a hammer; you're close but there's two more VERY IMPORTANT steps. Next, adjust your thumb so that it rests on the shaft of the stick. (Imagine that with your fist you're trying to now give someone a thumbs-up and that your stick is just a big extension of that thumbs-up, that what this should all look like) Finally, while maintaining this hand position, turn your wrist 90 degrees so that your palm and stick are both facing the ground.
Now repeat with your left hand.

If done correctly, you should be making a 'V' shape with your sticks. As well, if done correctly, you should be able to hold both stick with only your thumb and fore-finger. (Just to cover all bases, your middle, ring and pinky fingers are simply there for minor support, most grip strength and stick control comes from finding the fulcrum (or balancing sweet spot) of the stick and pinching it with your thumb and fore finger)

Confused yet? Good! Just a few more things and I'll feel like I'm really doing you justice here lol:

Just start off at first by trying to get your sticks to hit the pad and bounce back at you. Don't 'bury' them into the pad; make them work for you, not against you. Don't worry about speed, intensity or consistency just yet, it will all come in time.
Obviously, alternate your hands. You'll find that you have a dominant hand (99.99% chance it's your writing hand) but don't forget that, unless you plan on starting a Def Lepard cover band, your going to need both hands, so give them both the appropriate amounts of attention they deserve!

Once you got both hands hitting with equal confidence, just go back and forth with your right and left hand and try to focus on making them both sound, look, and feel as even as possible.

New drummer LPT's:
-Buy a metronome ASAP.
-Forget about speed, it WILL come naturally.
-Buy, download, torrent, steal, GET this book and go through it. It is the golden standard for pre-drumkit drumming. If you master this book, you have mastered the concept of drumming.
-Hold off on a drumkit. They're big and expensive; you'll really want to make sure that you REALLY want to commit to drumming first.
-Finally, YOUTUBE will teach you all this and more for FREE!

Good luck, sorry for the novel but I really hope this helps.

Sources: drumming 12 years, currently professional touring drummer, tried to teach a friend how-to a while ago and he's... not terrible :P

Haha, yep that's me! Really into Melee, and I'm studying Audio at OU.



SO there's a whole lot you can do with a $1.5-2k budget. Most of my recommendations are going to focus on microphones, but if you're not trying to do that much recording, you can discard that advice and spend more budget on keys and synthesizers—however, making your own samples and working with them can be pretty cool, fun, and very professional-sounding. I'm speaking from already deep into this rabbit hole, so note my bias. BUT! For that budget you can basically get a near-professional quality mini-studio's worth of gear, if you so choose.

In my opinion, if you're just starting out, Piracy can save you a lot of cash that you can better put towards your gear. If your budget is ~1.5k, I would say pirate Logic Pro if you have a Mac machine, or Ableton/Adobe Audition if you have a Windows machine (PM me if you'd like ;) ). You don't really need all of NI Komplete when you're starting out, especially if you get Logic Pro, because they have a LOT of built in instruments. Also, NI packages can be piratable too. This is all assuming, of course that you're comfortable with pirating software, I understand if you're not, but it can save some cash, and you don't really need a license until you start making real good stuff that you plan on selling/making a business out of.

As far as gear is concerned, if you're serious about recording you might outgrow your Scarlett pretty fast, since it only has 2 mic preamps. You might want to consider a TASCAM 16x08 or a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. These will let you handle 8 microphones at the same time, which means you can also get a mic kit for your drums. This will get you the absolute best sound out of your drums (provided you learn to use them properly, of course). Learning how to mic drums is a really cool process and there's a lot of room for really making it your own and experimenting with different techniques.

As far as drum mics go, you have cheapest quality at Pyle Pro Mic Kit, Medium Quality at CAD Audio Mic Kit, High Quality at AKG Mic Kit, and professional quality with an Audix DP7 Mic Kit. Even with these, you're still going to want something versatile too.

If you want to also sample some stuff IRL or record other instruments, then get one or two good Dynamic Mics to handle Vocals, Guitar cabs, or wind instruments. You're spot on with the Shure SM57, that thing is a swiss army knife of a microphone and is nearly indestructible. You probably can't go wrong with a matching pair, but you could also go for a SM57 and a Sennheiser e609 to cover all your bases, as the e609 will probably sound better on a guitar cab if you're looking to record guitars.

Okay, now MIDI! The Akai Pro MPK Mini II is a good bet and will definitely do all that you need it to, but if you find yourself needing more keys, there are some good midi controllers out there for just about the same price, for example an M-Audio Controller. It doesn't have as many programmable knobs, but that shouldn't matter unless you're using it to control a software synthesizer, and you need to utilize cutoff, attack, resonance, etc. on the fly. If you're really set on electronic music, then the Akai may be right up your alley, since these knobs will give you more control over your tone.

Aside from that, if you have these tools you can do nearly anything. Check out YouTube tutorials, learn how to use a sampler, learn what the different knobs on a synth do, and get some basic production background and get started! Experimenting in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is really fun, so I think the best thing you can do when you're starting of is mess around and see what you can do. Best of luck, let me know if you have any questions.

1. Depending on where you live, you might be able to get through the early stages of your drumming life without a kit (acoustic or otherwise) at all. Try and see if there is any place near you where you can rent a kit for an hour. If you live in a moderately-sized city this shouldn't be hard.
   
   If you can find a place, this is a great option because it is a low cost, low risk (like you said, what if you learn drums aren't for you and lose motivation - you don't want to be stuck with a bunch of expensive drum stuff) way to play on a decent kit. This is what I did for a long time before buying my first kit.
   
   If you can't find a place or if you're insistent on buying you're own, I would look for a cheap used starter kit (high hats, snare drum, bass drum, maybe one tom, and a cymbal - should be able to get a decent kit for <$200) on craigslist or your local music store. I would not recommend a new kit, those will be significantly more expensive and you won't really even know what you're looking for in a kit anyway. I'm not personally a fan of electronic kits, but if you want to, try one out at a music store and if you'd like to learn drums that way, by all means do so.
   
   
2. Rudiments! Rudiments! Rudiments!. The links on the sidebar should help you out too. Also, there are a few big books that all drummers have practiced with, the most important of which is probably Stick Control. There are other ones too but get this. Practice with it. It won't be the most exciting thing you do at your kit, but it will make you a lot, lot better. Trust me. (You don't actually need a kit to practice, buy a practice pad!)
   
   Even with all this, I would still recommend that you get a couple of lessons. Even if it's just 1 or 2 lessons, it will really help you a lot to have someone to help you get started. The first time you sit down at the kit will be the hardest, and having someone to talk to and converse with will do wonders. If you can't get lessons, it will be harder but certainly not impossible. Remember that it's only going to get easier as you play more, so don't get discouraged.
   
   
3. Sometimes it can get really frustrating, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes your brain tells your hands or feet to do something and for some unknown reason, your limbs don't comply. This happens a lot at the beginning and you will get better as long as you practice, even if it doesn't feel like you're getting better. Honestly, all those rudiments and books I mentioned above are great, and will help you get good fast, but for God's sake just sit down and play. Play to a song you like, play random noises, improvise, try to compose a song. Whatever. Just play. If drumming is for you you should be having fun by now. You should never get too frustrated because you should be having a lot of fun while playing. So that's that.

I'm going to go ahead and link to a bookmarked post i have for playing live. Great great advice from /u/champaignthrowaway. His original post that can be seen here is locked, but toss him an upvote for the great guide if you see him around.

> Nutshell guide to IEMs for drummers:

> The most affordable way into it is a pair of Shure SE215s. They are inexpensive, sound very good in comparison to any normal consumer earbud on the market, and the generic fit actually does work 90% as well for most people. I use the foam tips on mine and they isolate completely and have never fallen out. They don't sound quite as good as full blown, custom molded, dual/triple/quad driver IEMS, but stuff like that is more in the $400-800 range and these are a measly hundred bucks. These come in clear or black, but obviously clear is the only real option since it looks so much more expensive and professional (haha).

> Moving into the custom realm, things can get pricey very quickly but it is absolutely worth it if you're going to use them a lot (bear in mind as well that you can use these for just listening to music and stuff too). The most affordable custom option that I'm aware of is taking your pair of Shure SE215s and having Sensaphonics make a set of custom sleeves for them. To get them made, you need to have impressions taken either by a local audiologist (any doctor who makes hearing aids can do this for you for a low fee) or by actually going into Sensaphonics in Chicago for a consultation. They'll take the impressions, help you figure out what you want exactly, and do a very extensive hearing test for you.

> Custom molds will fit well for anywhere from 3-10 years from what I can tell. Your ears do actually keep growing throughout your entire life. If you're a teenager you'll probably have to have them refitted after a few years. If you're older, the growth is very slight and they'll probably fit comfortably for a very long time.

> InEarz and 1964 are other popular companies that make a good product. Personally I prefer Sensaphonics because they are, as far as I know, the only company making them with 100% silicone, which is extremely soft and comfortable. The downside is that Sensaphonics is a bit more expensive than most other options. You honestly can't even feel them in your ear after a few minutes. Generic fit IEMs and custom molds made from harder materials usually get uncomfortable after thirty or forty minutes.

> If you want to use them live, there are some things to keep in mind. Firstly, it is of vital importance to have some sort of body pack with a volume control and a built in limiter. You are putting these things inside your freaking ears and giving some stranger behind the board control over what sound they make. If you have no safety measures in place and the engineer brainfarts out and grabs the wrong aux send, you are going to have a very, very bad night. You can seriously hurt yourself that way. Most sound guys wouldn't even agree to give you an IEM mix without you having a personal limiter of some sort, but it's worth mentioning because there are some idiots out there. I recommend the Behringer P1 bodypack. There are nicer options out there, but the P1 is cheap, simple to use, and will get you up and running.

> Secondly, it will be a bit of an awkward adjustment period especially if you are not in a position where your band is running it's own monitor mix (and if you are in a band like that, you're probably not reading this because you already know all of this stuff). Some engineers will know how to deal with IEMs and can give you a good mix complete with ambient/crowd noise, some will just throw everything up to the same level and leave you in some weird sounding isolated freakish space. At smaller venues that don't mic everything you'll obviously be missing some stuff. Not having overheads is weird - unless you get a lot of cymbal bleed through your other mics you might tend to over crash. Some live engineers like to gate the hell out of all the mics as well, which exaggerates the problem. It just takes some getting used to. You know how vastly different a show feels when your monitors and stage sound are good compared to when they are shitty? Yeah, well your monitors are now inside your freaking head and everything is even more exaggerated. So communicate a lot with your sound guy/girl and hopefully they will do you right. Oh, and at least once you're going to stand up and walk away from the kit without remembering to unplug and you'll probably knock something over or damage a cable. Live and learn, haha.

> * Last small thing - if everything goes right you'll have an awesome IEM mix at your show. That's awesome. That also means you'll probably hear every single mistake your bandmates make. So be ready for that, so that you don't get thrown off or make a funny face when the guitarist botches a note or the singer is half a step off.

> edit: Thanks for gold, kind stranger. If the mod/s want this in the sidebar or something that's fine by me. Somebody let me know if that happens and I'll clean it up a little bit.

• Drum lessons or stay at home learning from me and a resource?
  
  I definitely recommend drum lessons if you can. Especially since you have no real knowledge of drumming, this will help immensely. Someone to tell him "No, hold the stick like this" will help in the long run and save him from making habits out of bad technique. This doesn't mean that he can't learn by himself, it just means he will learn quicker, and hopefully have good technique.
  
  
• If we go for drum lessons, is there a text book he'd learn from so there'd be daily practice homework? If it's learn at home from us, what book?
  
  Yes. As soon as he starts lessons I'm sure the teacher will recommend a few good books. They aren't really textbooks, though, as much as drumming exercises. I don't know a whole lot about different books, but I have heard good things about Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. Other than that, any basic rudiments book will be fine something like this.
  
  
  
• Drum pad and sticks or hand drums? Or both?
  
  Interesting question. I'm not really sure how to answer this. Does he want to play hand drums or a drumset? I know when I first started I thought hand drums were dumb (My only experience was playing a djembe in a drum circle in 6th grade music class with a bunch of rhythmically challenged idiots). There was something about all the drums and cymbals put together that just made it so powerful and awesome to me. I'd say whatever he likes to play, let him play. If he falls in love with the bongos, so be it.
  
  
• We're moving into a house in 4 months... adult drum kit or kid size stuff? I know there's stuff marketed to kids online, should I stick with the adult size stuff?
  
  This is a tough one too. I've never really messed with kid's drums, but I'd say take him to guitar center and let him play the full size kits. If he can play it comfortably and is able to hit all the cymbals with a little adjusting, I'd say get a full size kit. I just wouldn't be a fan of getting a kid's kit that he'll grow out of in a couple years. If you have the extra cash, though, it'd probably be more beneficial to get the kid size drumset.

In addition to learning songs you like, rudiments are always a good foundation. I've never used Stick Control, but I like these (free) resources:

http://vicfirth.com/40-essential-rudiments/

http://www.snarescience.com/index.php

All good hand exercises, some of them (singles, doubles, paradiddles) are good for your feet as well, although I wouldn't bother doing flams and drags with your feet. Also splitting rudiments between a hand and a foot is good, as is playing rudiments with two limbs and having your other two limbs play a repeating pattern underneath (ostinato).

If, as you say, you "listen to really heavy music, super fast drums" and you wish to be able to keep up, you're certainly going to want to get your single stroke rolls (hands and feet) pretty fast.

Edit: And make sure to use a metronome, especially when you are first starting out.

2nd Edit: I suggest buying a double pedal sooner rather than later if you like / plan to play music that uses a lot of double bass, even though most people on this forum will probably tell you otherwise.

3rd Edit: Every drummer's technique can look a little different and still be "good" (at least imo), but I think this is a good video on hand technique. As are these.

YouTube lessons can be helpful, but almost certainly never as helpful as an instructor. YouTube lessons can't see you making mistakes and can't correct them. You can't talk to YouTube lessons. They're alright for beginners but I would definitely recommend getting some one-on-one advice, even from people who aren't professional teachers.
There's this amazing book called Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer (https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040 ) and it's full of great practice exercises that can help both you and your son. It's not a full kit book, but it's meant to strengthen your sense of rhythm and technique, and can help with speed aswell if you use a metronome. If you don't want to buy the book, I'm sure there's a .pdf somewhere, but the book is always better in my opinion.
Don't waste your money on Drumeo and Drumeo Edge. The whole Drumeo program is basically watching somebody else play drums and trying to mimic it. I can't speak for other online drum lesson services as I don't have much experience with them.
Find some music you like on YouTube, and use the speed feature to slow it down and really listen to what the drummer is playing. You can start slow and break it down and slowly increase the speed until you're playing it just as fast as the drummer in the song. It's a great way to teach yourself how to learn songs.
Learning drums takes a lot of patience (and can be quite expensive!) so I'd advise you to take great care in how you hit your drums. Drumsticks aren't very expensive and neither are drum heads, but when you're nailing them so hard you break one a day, it adds up quickly. Same goes for cymbals, but those are quite expensive aswell.
When you buy the second kit, I'd advise you to invest in a mid-range kit, not too great, but not garbage either. When you listen to songs and then your drums sound crappy, it's quite discourage. Get some mid-range cymbals as well, Paiste offers some pretty good beginner's cymbals.

> Is taking on a drum student and saying something like "This means I need to learn to play kit!" really fair to the student?

Maybe not... but I've played kit before in bands (when the drummer takes a break from his throne for a pit stop at the porcelain throne...) and always been complimented on my timing. I just don't have the rudiments across different drums, so I feel like I should learn that. I've no aspirations to become a percussion instructor or put it on my business card, but it is music, and that one has always been on my card :-)

___

 

> How you teach little techniques (holding the stick, hitting cymbals, foot technique) will affect the student for the rest of their playing career.

Yes, and I've seen people learn technique on a variety of instruments that hindered their playing forever. Even (especially?) if they learned from a teacher with a music-ed degree. Seems that's always a risk, particularly when people don't shop around for teachers. But I totally get where you're coming from, esp as a trained musician yourself. I will say a couple of things to that, and I will avoid being defensive. If any of this reads as such, try to find a different voice in it.

First, even to my cello students, I don't just teach cello; I teach music, and I tell them this. For other students I teach music, theory, and composition. For this student, I told his parents that I'm not a kit drummer, but I can teach him music; and if he can play music, he can play music on drums [insert list of self-taught drummers here?]. I have experience with hand percussion (professional, if you count using a cello as a cajon... ¡kek!), but I don't call myself a percussionist or drum teacher. I do say I have a drum student, though, which gets a laugh from some colleagues. I've coached for other instruments and ensembles, all the way up to conservatory level especially for audition prep. I wish I auditioned for Curtis and Julliard when I was a teenager, but no, I had to feel cool and go to Berklee instead. (Big mistake; hindsight is 20/20, right?)

Secondly, this student was taking lessons with a teacher at a store last year and quit. His parents encouraged him to try a different teacher and I'm working on getting him excited about music. I can't force anyone to learn who doesn't want to... but I can show him good music, watch his reaction to find what music actually moves him, then get him to stop "practicing" and start "playing!" I always say that doctors practice for a living; musicians get to play :-) When he started with me he brought Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer and explained why he hated it. Fair. I hate it too! So we work on other stuff. Should I teach him traditional grip or match? French grip? Open handed instead of cross? Open handed traditional so the right hand holds the stick underhanded?? I'm gonna find what works best for me and teach him that way. Gotta be careful because I'm ambidextrous & do some things left handed (golf, soccer, snow and skateboard goofy-footed, use tools in either hand, etc). More likely I'll find a way that works for him and teach him that way. He'll be self-taught with a coach. Does that sit any better with you? ^(this isn't personal, but I genuinely appreciate this feedback, it's useful self-reflection!)

Coordination and timing are big obstacles to overcome, but the more you play, the more naturally it comes. I never took lessons until I could get college credit for them (roughly 5 years after I started playing), and most of that was so I could learn to read music and maybe pick up on a few things. The biggest help for me was the fact that I could learn by ear, so if I heard it enough and tried it enough, I could figure out pretty much any song I wanted to play.

I would definitely invest in Stick Control, even if you can't read music. It's easy enough to read and it's really helpful in breaking habits when you have to think about what hand you're supposed to be striking with.

Really, the most important thing is just keep playing. Tap along to the radio. Tap along to everything. The more you play, the faster you'll break yourself from coordination/timing issues and the better you'll be. /u/crabjuice23 suggested trying different genres of music. I 100% agree. Play along to anything you can. If you hear something you like but can't quite stick it, slow it down in your head and keep playing it until it's comfortable and you'll have it full speed at no time. Patience is huge.

keep it up dude! Seeing as you are a young drummer, I want to offer some advice for you to improve. You seem to lose some stick control throughout the song . I would highly recommend you work on improving your technique by going through books such as Stick Control for the Modern Drummer. You can use this as a warm up and play like 4 lines perfectly multiple times or something similar. This book is only a suggestion, there are many ways to improve technique. You just have to make a conscious effort to work on it. A good mixture of practice vs playing will keep you engaged and feel great about improving at the same time.

When I was your age, I spent a lot of time focusing on different patterns and independence and didn't really work on technique until a bit later, and I can say from experience that even though I was practicing a lot, I wasn't practicing near max efficiency because I didn't make technique a priority early on. Working on your rudiments and having great technique makes basically anything easier to learn and makes it sound 1000 times better.

I hope you find this helpful. I use to teach mainly beginners and intermediate players and if you ever want some advice or guidance feel free to shoot me a pm. Keep drumming!

edit- I looked through some of your other videos. I think your stick control was a lot better in some of them. You definitely have talent and I hope you keep at it and keep improving!

If you can spare the money I most definitely recommend finding a teacher. You will want to start with rudiments (they can be boring, but you'll be glad you did them in the long haul) and while you can pick them up from books, having a teacher giving feedback helps a lot. You don't have to stay with a teacher on the long-term, if you make it clear that you just want a solid base most teachers know what you mean and want.

If you don't have that money, these are three books I highly recommend to anybody who wants to play any percussion instrument:

http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

Description: This book is full of rudiments. Like ctrocks said: This book is evil. You will most likely both grow to hate and love it. Hate it for both how boring rudiments can get (to me, at least) and how hard they get. But love it for the results and seeing how all those rudiments advance your playing immensely. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.



http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343162586&sr=8-1&keywords=Accents+and+Rebounds

Description: The 'sequel' to Stick Control. This book adds accents and even more difficult rhythms. I would suggest picking this up at an intermediate level.

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5

Description: Don't let this book fool you. It all starts out really simple. But this is one of those books that really lays down a foundation you will be very grateful for. And when you're getting to a more advanced level, you will see how you can translate a lot of these syncopated rhythms to the entire drumkit. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.


http://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

Description: This book is very well named. You will want to grab this book after you got the basics down, imo. You want to work on the independence of your limbs as soon as possible, but not too soon. Yet again: rudiments. But now rudiments that require all limbs.


http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-For-Modern-Drummer/dp/0757995403

Description: We're starting to get into the bigger leagues with this book. I honestly don't quite know how to describe this book except for the word: challenging. Challenging in a very, very good way. I recommend picking this up once you're starting to get into a more advanced stage.


These books are for the basics, imo and in the opinion of many fellow drummers as far as I know. But don't forget: the books are merely tools. You don't want to be only playing rudiments, you'll go crazy. I tended to go for a trade: every half out of rudiments rewards me with a half our of putting on tracks and rocking out. Resulting in one-hour sessions a day. Hope this helps!

Edit: Feeling bored so added more books and descriptions.

1. If the reviews for that pad's good, then get it. I own a Billy Hyde drum pad and a Vic Firth drum pad. Both are good, but I prefer the Billy Hyde pad as it's less bouncy. However, when building stick control it's good to have some bounce.
   
   
2. The one practice pad is fine for now. When you practice, you can play seated and use your left foot (or both) to tap out pulses like you would a hi-hat. For example, tap out quarter notes with your left foot while your hands play eighth notes alternating.
   
   
3. For the Ted Reed book you should be fine for most of it. Another book you should (MUST) get is George Stone's Stick Control.
   
   
4. Ted Reed's book can be played using a practice pad and a drum kit.
   
   
5. Honestly, I'd get a private tutor right away then drop them later if needed. They'll help you save a lot of time with technique and direction. Starting a new instrument can be frustrating, so having some guidance is a huge benefit. Also they'll help prevent you from developing bad habits.
   
   
6. You can tap your feet while practicing seated. However, to learn foot technique you'll need a pedal. You can buy drum kits for cheap second hand online, which are fine for practicing. Check out kijiji. They may not sound like a professional kit, but they operate the same. I still practice on my old starter kit while I have my nicer stuff at my jam space.
   
   Hope this helps somewhat.

For beginner-level jazz drumming, John Riley's The Art of Bop Drumming is a fantastic resource to get you going. It builds from the basics by starting you with just the hi-hat/ride ostinato, then adds in comping ideas that you can use with the snare or kick, then starts to combine them. Later it has a nice selection of 1-bar phrases and soloing ideas as well as brush techniques. Riley does a good job of explaining his notation and how to play through the exercises.

In between the exercises are high-level descriptions of jazz playing (explaining the framework of a jazz tune, the drummer's role in a jazz combo, how your playing can influence the other musicians). The CD includes some tunes, and there are lead sheets in the back of the book, so you can get a feel for what the musicians are basing the songs on.

For rock/funk drumming, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Gary Chaffee's Patterns series. I started my formal lessons by working through the Fatback Exercises in his Time Functioning Patterns, and they are incredible. You play a fixed cymbal pattern (eighth notes, for example) and a fixed snare pattern (strictly on 2 & 4), then go through every iteration of bass drum 16th note phrasing that can accompany your snare drum without kicking on 2 & 4. It works out to 128 different patterns (2^7) contained in 3 pages. It took several months before I could play through all of them consecutively, but I was blown away by how much more flexible my playing around that 2 & 4 snare framework became in such a short time.

If your coordination is already good enough to breeze through those exercises, you can change the cymbal ostinato, and then it's a whole new game. You can add in a tricky pattern with your left foot if you're really feeling adventurous. There's a tremendous amount of work to be done with just 3 pages, and there's a lot of other material in the book - his jazz section provides a similar resource for improving your flexibility when playing swing time (triplet-based), and the linear section provides a very cool system for developing fills, solo ideas, or full linear grooves. For a beginner, I think the Fatbacks are where it's at, but here's a video of a guy looking at some of the other exercises (a different 3-page section) in a more advanced context.

There are some cons to the Chaffee book. Notation is weird, and he doesn't do a great job of explaining it himself. To save space, he frequently notes his exercises as single beat or two-beat phrases rather than full measures, so you have to repeat them to get a full measure. He also uses a minimal staff, so a snare-kick exercise like the Fatbacks only gets 1 staff line (two spaces). If I hadn't had a teacher explaining the exercises to me, I would have found them very confusing. Since the ideas here are so flexible, it can be hard to sense how they'd be used in a more musical context. Compared to the Riley book, which has some really nice, musical comping phrases, the Chaffee stuff is broken down into such small blocks that it doesn't flow on its own. That makes it incredibly powerful for building your flexibility as a player, but it can be frustrating sometimes to work through exercises that don't sound good when repeated as a half- or quarter-bar phrase, even if they'll be interesting once you've incorporated them into your arsenal.

TL;DR: Riley's Art of Bop Drumming, Chaffee's Time Functioning Patterns as beginner resources with advanced potential

learning jazz is the same as learning pop punk is the same as learning any other style you can think of. Think of how you learned to play stuff like Coheed (not exactly simple music), you can take a similar path to learning jazz. Here's what I would suggest,

Listen to lot's and lot's of jazz. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, as well as Workin with the Miles Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Quintet, Cookin with the Miles Quintet and Relaxin with the Miles Quintet are great places to start. (check out the musician's that played on those records and check out their records)

Learn how to write drum music and write down the things you hear on those records. Listen to what the other musicians play and think about how the drummer reacts to those things.

Play lot's and lot's of jazz. Put some head phones on and play the ride cymbal pattern along with your favorite records. Play the things you write down while listening.

These things alone will give you a ton of stuff to work on and will improve your playing a ton.

If you want to work with a book I suggest this one buy John Riley, http://www.amazon.com/Drumming-Book-Manhattan-Music-Publications/dp/089898890X

good luck and have fun!

Harrison's dvd will still be good for you. I feel he does a good experience in explaining how he plays and his breakdowns of complicated Porcupine Tree stuff, which really help you get an idea of good ways to play polyrythms, independence, and just some great playing.

But if you're really looking for technique sorts of things, I always recommend Thomas Lang - Creative Coordination and Jojo Mayer - Secrets of the Modern Drummer for feet and hands, respectively.

They are both highly acclaimed due to their fantastic presentation and production value, along with two of the great modern masters imparting valuable knowledge to whomever takes the time to learn it!

Check this book out!


As for your left foot, play simple beats like these with your left foot on bass drum instead of your right. Work on getting your left foot up to the level your right foot is at.


Something else you might want to consider is this book. Playing those patterns (e.g. LRRLRLLR) with your feet will be hugely beneficial to your playing.


Don't worry too much about speed just yet. That's something that will improve in time. As your speed increases, you should consider using some sort of technique like the those outlined in this video. You'll find that playing fast double bass is easier when using one of those shortcuts, as it were.

Here's a fairly simple exercise for working on speed: Set a metronome at 100 BPM. Play four measures of single-stroke eighth notes leading with your right foot, followed by four measures of sixteenth notes, then four measures of triplets, repeat leading with your left foot. Once you're comfortable at this tempo, increase the BPM to 120. Repeat. Increase to 140. Repeat.

Again, the most important thing is getting your left foot up to par, so don't focus much on speed until you're comfortable with where you left foot is at.



Most importantly though, have fun!

Stick Control. Most drummers will say it's best to start with this book but I'll be honest- it's not fun. Don't expect to be wowed by drumming with this book. It's meant to build good form/technique and other solid fundamentals that are very important to drumming.

Either way, if you're looking for something a bit more exciting, I'd say search youtube for beginner lessons on the kit and/or your pad.

Good luck!

You did use the term "ear buds" throughout your post but if you wouldn't mind considering a larger, over-the-ear set of headphones, I love my Vic Firth stereo isolation headphones. I use them whenever I practice to protect my hearing, but as you said, it also gives my set a great tone even in my less than ideal practice space. And when I need to play along to some songs, the isolation works great.

http://www.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-Stereo-Isolation-Headphones/dp/B0002F519I

They're almost 60 bucks right now which I think is a little pricey (iirc, I bought mine at closer to $40?) but if you want to save a few bucks you can get a similar product from other brands.

I think you're talking about this Pyle pack maybe? Definitely a no-no. Like we mentioned, if you're paying $100 for a decent mid/high end microphone, there's no reason you'd pay $100-200 for seven of them. Their frequencies, their durability, their sound reproduction, everything about cheaper microphones (particularly "sets" like this) are awful.

I haven't tried the Pyle series (that I mentioned above in that link) personally, but from what I've read, if you're trying to get anything more than a half-decent sound, you want LESS but BETTER mics, not MORE but WORSE mics. Quality >>>> Quantity in this instance.

Heck, I've gotten a fantastic sounding kit with a Shure SM57 and an AKG 120. Single AKG 120 as overhead, Shure SM57 (as it's the only other mic I had at the time) on kick drum, a few feet away. A light bit of EQ, some compression. It was quite good. If you'd like, I can send you the video in a private message. (It's linked to my main YouTube account)

Comparatively, these $100-200 7piece combos are like USB Rock Band/Singstar microphones but with XLR/Audio Interface capability (pre-amped). Not worth the money at all. They're marketed towards beginner players who absolutely must get something. At that price you're better getting a ZOOM H2/H3/whatever the current one is. $200, built in stereo audio recorder, some shoot HD video as well.

How about spending some time working through a book?

• Stick Control is great for getting your hands to do what you want, but might be a bit boring as /u/virusv2 said.
  
• A Funky Primer is pretty good overview of rock patterns, and will get you comfortable with basic independence of your limbs.
  
  I have been working through both and am enjoying them! Another thing that has really helped me is transcribing drum parts and learning to play them that way. I did this with a Tool song and it was unbelievably illuminating. Really makes you think about what the drummer is doing.
  
  PS: Nice username :P
  

Just want to echo that 30 minutes a day is more than enough. Of that time, I would spend 10 minutes on rudiments and the rest on whatever you want.

>What all will I need to get started? Practice pad, sticks, kit, metronome?

If you buy an electronic kit, I wouldn't worry about practice pads. I'd recommend picking up Stick Control, learning the rudiments, and an introductory book such as Fast Track or Tommy Igoe's beginner DVD. Once you feel more comfortable, I'd recommend picking up Groove Essentials and New Breed.

For stick, I generally recommend starting with Vic Firth 5B hickory sticks. Of all the sticks I've tried, those are the most absolutely average. Weight, balance, size, etc. From there you can move into thinner (5A, 7A) or thicker (2B) as you want, but 5B is a good starting place, hickory is the best wood to learn with (and play with forever, imo, but that's debatable), and Vic Firth is fairly consistent.

Vic Firth's stick size comparisons. The standard sizes used by the majority of drummers, from smallest to largest, are 7A, 5A, 5B, 2B. Everything else is just incredibly minor tweaking that some people like.

Pad, sticks, metronome, a copy of Stick Control.

You'll want to try different sizes of sticks and find what feels best in your hand. Any metronome will do, really. I have the older version of this one and it's good: http://www.tama.com/eu/products/accessories/RW200.html

I like this practice pad: http://vicfirth.com/products/accessories/practice-pads/slimpad/ - it's got a quiet side and a loud side, and it's large enough to put on my snare drum if I want to hear the snares while practicing.

Stick Control looks like this: if it's at the music store, get it! http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/

Take your shiny new pad, sticks, and metronome, and work through Stick Control according to the instructions at the beginning of the book. Work on rudiments also, here's the best reference I've found (it's full of videos demonstrating each, plus basics like how to hold the sticks): http://vicfirth.com/40-essential-rudiments/

No, it's never too late to start something that you could love doing until the day you die! Drumming is THE BEST, and drummers get the hottest girls anyways haha. If you've always wanted to give it a shot, do it!!

You could actually make a lot of progress being 18 with more focused practice than kids that start "playing" at 6 or so. Don't let age dictate anything regarding music, seriously.

Get a practice pad, some sticks, grab a copy of Stick Control and you're well on your way to drumming.

I'm willing to bet your college has a music program, yes? Students can usually get a discounted rate taking lessons from one of the instructors on campus, and you might be able to get access during off hours to a drum room. We had that at UMass when I went there years ago, so I would bet yours has it to.

Seriously, play the drums. It's one of the greatest decisions I've made in life.

I think he has a fantastic set to learn on as is. Learning on a simpler setup like this will reinforce his understanding of the basics and the roll of the drummer as a time and rhythm keeper, but that's just my opinion, and my opinions are sometimes stupid. As far as upgrades go, if he likes rock and metal, a china cymbal would be fun, and bigger crashes never hurt. He'll eventually want a double pedal, but I recommend getting a single pedal down first. My biggest piece of advice though is to get him a copy of Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. I "taught" myself how to play for 9 years, neglecting the rudiments, and it really, really hampered my progression as a drummer and a musician. Stick Control is a must-have if you're asking me. I hope he has fun playing!

Edit: typo

1. http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040
   
   rudimentary technique book, one of the standards.
   
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/Fundamental-Studies-Snare-Garwood-Whaley/dp/1617270245/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398263911&sr=1-10&keywords=whaley
   
   another rudimentary book, another one of the standards.
   
   
3. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/microMETROBL?device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CM2KgZzr9r0CFchQ7AodyicAQw
   
   first metronome i pulled up under 20$. essential.
   
   
4. http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Weapons-Modern-Drummer-DVD/dp/B000S6TNLI
   
   DVD by Jojo Mayer, who has (imo) one of the best stick techniques in the business. Really great video examples of proper stick grip, and various techniques regarding rebound and bounce.
   
   
5. Have fun!! Never forget about innovation and creativity. You can use the best technique in the world, and still sound absolutely inhuman and arrhythmic. Don't be afraid to just play what you feel.
   
   edit: me not word good. changed #4 around for redundancies.
   
   

In ears are not that far out of budget, honestly. I am a drummer in a similar set up and I use this headphone amp ($50). You have to run a LINE level signal (not amplified) out of the board, so you'll need a free aux output.

next question is headphones. At first I was using my normal ear buds (klipsch S4) and those were OK - sometimes played with one in, one out. Other times I used various over the ear cans I had. Basically you just need a little extra, you don't need 100% awesome sound.

I recently got sure 215's ($90), which are awesome for my needs. they block out even more sound - which makes it more important to get a good mix.

So thats what I use, and what I'd recommend.

However, nothing wrong with using a monitor wedge, if that works better for you. I'd be most concerned about my hearing - IEMs keep lots of the sound out, and total volume a lot lower.

Vic Firth SIH1's. They are on sale on Amazon for half off their original price. They sound great, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've had a pair of these for over a year and used them extensively for drumming as well as ear protection while using power tools. They still work perfectly despite the beating. I've never bought a pair of headphones that lasted this long. They are amazing:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002F519I/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=35968974026&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15295670295523471202&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3srhpdtrhq_b

Any reason why your teacher is telling you that you have no chance??

For my audition I just played a few drum set grooves (swing, bossa nova, samba, 3/4 swing, and a ballad), sight read a snare drum solo, and sight read a marimba piece. I had already spent a semester in the percussion ensemble (because I originally wanted to be an English major, but after meeting the faculty of both departments I settled on music) so my teacher already knew me and had a good idea of my skill level.

My first semester was mainly rudiments and solos from Cirone's portraits in rhythm. Pretty much snare drum only focusing on building my technique. My next semester I got started on Frank Malabe's Afro-Cuban book and John Riley's Art of Bop Drumming. Beyond that I worked through Riley's Beyond Bop Drumming, Ed Uribe's book on Afro-Cuban drumming, and his book on Brazilian drumming. After that I spent a lot of time working on solo transcriptions, playing pieces that my instructor and I picked out for drums and vibes, jamming with my instructor on vibes or on drum set, and working on pieces that I was writing. By the end at lot of what I was doing was driven by my interests and what I wanted to work on to improve.

As far as the music department as a whole I took your standard history, theory, aural skills, and piano classes, along with tons and tons of ensembles.

If you are looking for some cheap but effective mics I would recommend the PDKM7. I have this set and it works but is not suitable for studio recordings obviously.

I agree with what /u/isaacpercival said if you want some higher quality stuff. The AT2020s are awesome.

1. Buy a practice pad + a pair of good sticks (Either 2B's or 5B's, personally I would go with the heavier 2B's to start out)
   
   
2. Buy Stick Control
   
   
3. Supplement going through Stick Control with These Rudiments
   
   
4. Find a drum teacher. Seriously. I would put this first but it's nice to have an okay background before going to lessons
   
   
5. Don't practice mistakes. When practicing, make sure your posture is good, i.e. back straight up, hands at the proper position. Don't practice mistakes.

As I mentioned to my co-worker, it's good to find a teacher who you can meet with semi-regularly (even if it's only once a month)... mainly so you don't form any habits detrimental to your progress. Young students (pre-teen beginners) generally need to meet with a teacher once a week or so because it holds them accountable for practicing on their own time. As an adult student, less frequent meetings are possible because you're pretty much only accountable to yourself. It's your money and your work on your own will determine your progress.

However, if financial restrictions didn't allow you to have any meetings with a teacher at all... YouTube is an incredibly rich resource and learning tool, as are DVDs like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Weapons-Modern-Drummer-DVD/dp/B000S6TNLI

Get the Wuhan Western Cymbal Pack. I did a shootout vs my Zildjians here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_sDbRj8VI

The pack of wuhans are hand hammered B20 (same as the big boys) and about $250 for the set. I keep them on my practice kit mostly, but the 16"crash has wormed its way into my main kit cause I love it so much.

I don't like ANY of the big manufacturer's low end stuff. may as well just hit pie tins in the kitchen... these are actually very nice.

EDIT: I should add, my high-end Zildjians are nicer, no question about it. but for an inexpensive set of cymbals, you can't go wrong.

EDIT 2: Amazon Link - https://www.amazon.com/Wuhan-WUTBSU-Western-Style-Cymbal/dp/B0002D0HO4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510924233&sr=8-1&keywords=wuhan+western+style+cymbal+pack

I have the Vic Firth headphones right now and they are really great. They actually make my okay-sounding kit sound pretty good! They pick up just the right amount of resonance and tone from my toms, bass drum and snare. I suggest you use these when you're practicing because they are pretty big and look a little funny.

For practicing at home, I really like the Evans RealFeel practice pad. I went for the 12" so I can use it in my extra snare stand easily.

As for sticks, you can either go for what feels the best for now or go on the heavier side for chops building as /u/justawildyaz said.

Personally, I love these ProMark Neil Peart signature sticks.

Good luck, newbie. Rock it.

Get yourself a good practice pad!

My Personal Favorite: Aquarian Tru Bounce

Another Option

And start practicing RUDIMENTS.

This site will show you the sheet music, as well as a video and audio sample so you know what to play. These rudiments are your basic drumming vocabulary - everything we play as drummer's uses rhythms and techniques that can be developed through practicing these. With a pad, you'll learn to develop control over the stick, which is the hardest part of getting started.

When you have the chance to get on a kit, it'll make the transition easier!

That's a pretty clever use of that book, thanks for sharing.
I was doing exercises from Jim Chapin's "Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer" with a similar mentality, rotating which limb got which part. Butch Norton has a similar series of articles on independence and limb rotation. Really really cool stuff.

I've had some experience modding hearing protection, and I've found an easy way to do it is to find a pair of those on ear headphones (the music kind) that aren't joined by a hard strap, just the cable. If you wear those normally, under the hearing protection, they are more comfortable, sound better and allow for better sound isolation than ear buds. You just need to make sure your hearing protection fits over them.

Or just buy something like this:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0002F519I/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479067515&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=vic+firth&dpPl=1&dpID=41ErUt8ZpML&ref=plSrch

First you're going to want to start by focusing on your stick grip. Learn how to hold the sticks and whenever you play always pay attention to your form and grip. At least at the start.

Next, go for rudiments. they can help you get your chops up while get you better at reading snare music.

After that, get some snare solos and try them out. Remember to concentrate on your grip and form.

Also this is a great book. One of the best snare books out there:

http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040

And remember, practice makes permanent, so make sure you're holding your sticks in a way that won't hinder your playing and make you have to relearn it all later on. Have fun!

WALL OF TEXT AHEAD.

I am a guitarist/bassist turned drummer as well. I've recently discovered that it's much easier to keep time and play syncopated rhythms on the kick if you change the tension to loose. Check this video out if you haven't yet. Dave's slide technique changed the way I kick, and my knees don't hurt nearly as much.

As for finding "independence" of your limbs, repetition is key. Do it slowly, and create muscle memory. Another way I've been able to start attempting more complex things is that I visualize the rhythms themselves in "shapes", similar to what I would do for a chord progression on guitar or bass.

I visualize a line where my arms have to move in order to hit the correct drums and cymbals. I do this slowly and build up speed and eventually I can get it down.

Also, BUY A PRACTICE PAD! THIS ONE! I bought mine a few months ago since I used to live about an hour away from my kit, and I would practice rudiments daily and then apply them on my kit at the end of the week. I can do a lot of the rudiments now, which helps you learn how to save your arms from getting tired, and you learn more wrist control to find more efficiency out of your stroke.

TL;DR: Make sure you set up your kit correctly, practice slowly to build muscle memory, and eventually you can start creating what you head in your head.

>I prefer the music when you can hear everything at a lower volume, it actually allows you to hear more of it

I think part of the issue here is with cheap quality hearing protection. I've heard people say 'but I lose too much of the sound with earplugs'. This is only true for really cheap foam (or whatever material) earplugs that'll set you back 20c.

As somebody else recommended, etymotics are great, really cheap and I have some myself (Hearos, identical but rebranded) and you don't really lose the highs.

If anybody is reading this and thinking that they should look into it, grab a pair from Amazon for $10. Very worthwhile.

http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-ETY-Plugs-Protection-Earplugs/dp/B0044DEESS/

Never did this book, but the one I always recommend and should be a part of any kit player's canon is The New Breed by Gary Chester. It's the best way to learn true 4-limb independence.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Breed-Systems-Development-Creativity/dp/1423418123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317505773&sr=8-1

Here you go dude. These will be totally worth it.

Awesome set up space. I live in the city so I know how precious good jam space is!

The Art of Bop Dumming by Jon Riley

Progressive Steps to Syncopation by Ted Reed

Jazz Drum Studio by John Pickering

Buy any or all three of these. Perfect place to start. And start listening to a lot of jazz. Good luck, dude. Jazz is great.

Play through Stick Control ^you ^own ^Stick ^Control ^right?
with your feet. After you get that down try left foot-right hand or left hand-right foot while keeping a quarter (or half or etc...) pulse with the unused hand. Play with a metronome, start slow and have fun.

If you're able to have a book with your pad; this book is and/or should be a staple in every percussionist's diet. Such a good daily routine for every skill level. It's pretty much accepted as the best option to keep up your chops and versatility!

I would highly recommend the book "Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer" by Ted Reed. Phenomenal book that can teach you a lot and can be done with just a practice pad and sticks. It's easy to find at any music store and there may be some PDFs on the interwebs somewhere...

If you aren't looking to join a band or take it too seriously browse through some YouTube videos, pick up a book or two and just have fun with it! Once you find out if it's something you really love doing then you can invest in lessons/a drumkit.

https://www.amazon.ca/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953

Rudiments, and a metronome are great suggestions.
Id recommend getting going on some sight reading too.


Here are a couple great books I used starting out:
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer -I still use this one regularly 20 years later. It's a classic.
The Art of Bop Drumming


Here's a great list from Modern Drummer of some other good instructional books. YouTube is great, but don't forget the basics.
https://www.moderndrummer.com/2013/04/25-timeless-drum-books/

i'm a beginner too, self-teaching. do you have a metronome?

i bought this 4 way coordination book. its straight forward and you can do it on or off the kit. these are exercises to get your limbs on time and independent. they are extremely challenging, especially as you build speed.

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/ has some interesting stuff to check out, i am working off "Beginning Snare Video Lessons" to build my actual stick/bounce/finger technique. it's all about perfecting technique slowly if you want to get blinding fast.


i've had experience with music my whole life though (can already read music, understand time signatures, etc), and this is the path that i am sure i want to take to get where i want to be. you might find it very dull and want to just dive into playing along to songs?

That's called traditional grip. By the sounds of it you play matched grip, with both palms facing down. It comes down to personal preference before all else really, both grips have minor disadvantages and advantages but not enough for either to be 'better' (This can start major arguments among drummers, though...). The origins of the two are different, with traditional grip originating with snare drummers (Early snare drums were placed over the shoulder on a sling, necessitating that one hand be higher than the other), and matched grip coming from other forms of percussion ranging from xylophone to timpani.

Just stick with what you're doing but focus on your actual technique. Look into the tutorials online a mentioned and make sure you get a practice pad and a metronome. If you can dedicae even 10-15 minutes a day to sit down and play on the practice pad, staying in time with the metronome and going through the rudiments (Single stroke, double stroke, the various paradiddles and flams, all that). From there look into doing accented patterns from a book like Syncopation and combining these with rudiments.

I'm pretty sure this is the book I'm referring to.

http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-Modern-Drummer-Independence/dp/0757995403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394506238&sr=8-1&keywords=advanced+techniques+for+the+modern+drummer

Thanks for calling that other one out though, I'm going to go check that out! Chapin writes some good stuff.

Jim Chapin's Advanced Technique for the Modern Drummer is a must have for learning independence. Also, learn your rudiments. Get a copy of Alan Dawson's Rudimental Ritual and work the hell out of it. Charley Wilcoxon's Advanced Swing Solos is a great practical application of rudiments as well. These books are tough but if you take them slow at first, little by little you will figure them out and build up your chops. Finally, listen to and watch a lot of jazz drummers. Find your favorites and get your hands on everything they ever recorded. Play with the records to help develop your musical sense.

Lawrence Stone's Stick Control & Master Studies by Joe Morello

Great books to utilize while simultaneously working your sheet music skills. Good luck

1. Transcribing, as others have mentioned. And listening in general. You don't have to get the entire solo; picking out bits and pieces is fine, especially when parts are really complex.
   
   
2. Books. Of the following, I'd say definitely get the first two, then any one of the other three:
   
   4-Way Coordination, so you can do what you want when you want.
   
   All American Drummer, so you can swing that snare like Philly Joe. Also move around the set.
   
   Modern Reading Text in 4/4, because Louie Bellson knows his big band rhythms. Play them across the entire set and sing along. Use rests and busy rhythms to set up the big hits.
   
   Syncopation for All and Syncopated Big Band Figures. More of the big band rhythm stuffs.
   
   
3. Practice soloing. Start with 4s and 8s. Play time for 4, then solo for 4. If you're using the big band books, improvise a solo, then set up 4 bars. Rinse, repeat.
   
   Get really used to 4s and 8s before moving on to longer solos. Try starting with a simple idea and develop it; don't play a bunch of different, random crap for 4 bars: 2-3 beats of a rhythm, and keep working with it. You'll find you can express yourself much better after some practice.
   
   Also, metronome. Always, always the metronome.
   
   
   

Depends how deep you want to go.

First of all, always use a metronome. Your rudiments will sound exponentially more clean and solid if you develop a solid time feel.

If you really want to create a strong foundation, start with Stick Control. As the book says, practice each line 20 times with a metronome. Play only on the snare drum and make sure all of your strokes are perfectly even. Start practicing at 80bpm, then work you way up to you highest tempo in increments of 5bpm (play each line 20 times for each tempo). If you have any issues with timing or evenness, practice the line another 20 times at the same tempo. This method will give you an incredibly solid sense of rudiments, but it is fairly boring and quite time consuming.

If you just want to jump straight into the kit, then watch the Thomas Pridgen video mentioned by /u/flavenstein. There are tons of Youtube videos out there about applying rudiments, so really just find the ones that sound the coolest to you and learn them.

I've been using the Alesis DM6 USB (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C4SM5W) for about 6 months and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd recommend it as a solid beginner/intermediate set.

I think it's easier if I just explain what I use.

My drums are mic'ed into the Scarlett 18i20 interface which offers output mixing through its software. I then have my DAW (Reaper) recording while the interface sends the raw signal into a mixer which sits next to the kit (this one). I can then run another output from the PC with the track/click I'm recording to, and mix those two signals accordingly. I then use these in ear monitors which do a good job of blocking out my drums' acoustics and let me listen to just the mix at whatever volume I'm comfortable with.

Pretty simple setup.

Try one of those DW practice pad kits. They're about 163 dollars on amazon.com right now and they'll supplement you with everything that you'll need to start building your stick and bass drum chops.
Some of the best drummers started with literally nothing, so just make the best of your situation and go two feet off the cliff!

http://www.amazon.com/Drum-Workshop-CPPADTS5-Anywhere-Stand/dp/B000UJEGT2

http://www.amazon.com/Drum-Workshop-CPPADTS5-Anywhere-Stand/dp/B000UJEGT2

This is probably what you are looking for. At $170 it's way cheaper than a full on electronic set, but gets you the ability to practice with the pedal and moving around a set. Great for dorm rooms or small practice space.

These have proven quite serviceable.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FW0IHA?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

I'm not under any illusion that they're terribly high quality, but they get you in the game and you can replace with better mics as you go.

Also, if you're going to record you're going to need some way to get the music from the mics into your computer, either a digital interface or a mixer with a digital out. If you're only recording (not going to play live) then you probably want the interface, though I know next to nothing about them. Lots of info on YouTube.

(if you get the mic pack above make sure whatever you get has phantom power so you can use the condenser mics).

I bought myself an Alesis Nitro Mesh Kit a few months back and I've been loving it. I play it way more frequently than I did my acoustic kit and I've yet to have my neighbors come over and bitch about the noise! It has its flaws to be sure, but all in all it's a great kit for the money.

I found the Alesis Nitro Kit and the Alesis DM6 for $275 and $300 respectively.

They're slightly less than Amazon price. But there's nothing else under $400 on my local Craigslist and $400 is the max I wanna spend until I know I'm going to stick with it.

Do you have any recommendations on either of those or any others around $300-$400 that will give me the best value?

As they told u, start simple and slow. Also, check this book: https://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708 .
"4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set". It sounds overwhelming but the exercises are very simple (think stick control from gls and add left and right feet). Most importantly do each one slow! don't go up on the metronome until you are comfortable with an exercise.

There is not a single right way to hold drum sticks, only degrees of wrong. The best thing to do in my opinion is read as much as you can, watch a lot of videos, try everything and see what works for you.

I highly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Weapons-Modern-Drummer-DVD/dp/B000S6TNLI

He's not a 'one size fits all' kind of guy. He goes through a lot of different grips that you can try out and find what's best for you.

Start by learning some basic rudaments and slowly improve your speed doing them. http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.php is pretty good and had videos on each rudament. I also invested in This, and this which I found were really helpfull.

Edit: I invented a book instead of buying one

http://www.amazon.com/Haskell-Harr-Drum-Method-Orchestra/dp/1423420268
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-For-Modern-Drummer/dp/0757995403
http://www.amazon.com/International-Drum-Rudiments-Book-CD/dp/0739013106
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Realistic-Rock-Drum-Method/dp/0897244869

get these books and read them and you will truly learn to beat smith. starts with the hands first then the feet, then the hands and the feet. i live by these books and remember that slower and more accurate practicing is 1000 times more important that fast and sloppy. get solid and have fun swingin.

http://www.amazon.com/Drum-Tuning-comprehensive-guide-tuning/dp/0964465817
this is a stand by too my man

The New Breed by Gary Chester is a classic, difficult book focused around developing independence between your limbs. Definitely high-five yourself if you can make it through the whole thing. If you can't, don't worry--it's also a wonderful tool for pulling yourself out of a creative rut when you start to feel like everything you play sounds the same.

These work perfectly. Great sound and drowns out abundant noise.
Shure SE215-CL Sound Isolating Earphones with Single Dynamic MicroDriver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PO10E2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8WJKDbSJ3BXSW

Depending on the quality of their setup, a nicer practice pad for the snare would be a terrific gift, and only cost ~$30.

These are the pads I would recommend:
Durable, Reliable. What I use at home

Precise rebound for marching band or metal

Flagship practice pad. Beautiful feel/response, but $50 I/O $30

Best thing I've found and that is very cost effective is to just get these and wear them over your earbuds.

My personal experience on the subject: If you're going with maximum hearing protection (just jamming) there's absolutely nothing that'll block more sound than your standard foam earplugs (up to 37db). As for equipment you can play a clicktrack or a song through, I have tried numerous headphones (vic firth, extreme isolation,.. ) and NONE of them provided enough isolation for me to properly hear the clicktrack or nuances in a song.

If you want to play to a clicktrack or a song I would suggest going for in-ears. I recently bought these and haven't looked back since: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE215-CL-Sound-Monitor-Clear/dp/B004PO10E2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342337766&sr=8-2&keywords=shure+se215

They isolate sound quite like earplugs would (due to the foam tip) and the clarity of the music is phenomenal for a sub 100$ earphones. If you ask me, in-ears are the only proper way to listen to music or a click track while playing.

I recently bought a bottle of groove juice for cleaning cymbals and it works great. No idea if it will clean that though. I have used brasso on cymbals before and it cleaned them up nicely ... being ex-military in a sea faring service I know the power of brasso and it can remove that corrosion.

I know that this isn't at all what you were asking for, but it might be useful to you. These are earplugs that don't block EVERYTHING so you can still hear the music while your drumming, but the drums don't kill your ear drums.

Etymotics

If you have cast bronze cymbals, pretty much anyone will tell you not to clean them, including myself. Sheet bronze cymbals (zildjian ZBTs, Sabian B8s, etc.) however probably sound better clean.

http://www.amazon.com/Groove-Juice-GJCC-Cymbal-Cleaner/dp/B000BUCV3S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1333246108&sr=8-2

I use JVC Marshmallows which have the same material as a lot of ear plugs as my earphones for playing along. They're cheap and just right for the job. Also, they have great sound quality, especially for the price. For added noise canceling pick up a vic firth noise canceling ear muff and wear it over the earphones.


Or just skip the two steps and pick up these although they don't cancel nearly as well.

Cheapest option is to wear normal earbuds under some earmuffs/ear defenders you can get from the hardware store. (I use this combo often as I have good earbuds and don't want to fork out for other headphones). Link is just an example in case you use a different name for them, not a particular recommendation. https://www.amazon.com/Ear-Defense-3000-EN352-1-Safety/dp/B011KBE9FY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481383884&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=ear+muffs&psc=1

If you want to spend a bit more something like the Vic Firth's work well without breaking the bank https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-Stereo-Isolation-Headphones/dp/B0002F519I

The Vic Firth S1H1 has a lot of positive reviews on amazon . It feels like the brand would deliver on these headphones. Does anyone have this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-Stereo-Isolation-Headphones/dp/B0002F519I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324932293&sr=8-1

I have a pair of vic firth isolation headphones that broke from years of use, so I just cut the cords off and use them. I've used these, and various other like those...

But honestly, I'm most comfortable playing with cheap bulk earplugs, from like walgreens or something. Just my personal opinion.

Another guitarist learning drums here! And yeah, drums are a bit on the physically exhausting side (admittedly I'm out of shape though), wow I knew I was uncoordinated, but I didn't really realize how uncoordinated I was until I started trying to play drums. I bought copies of 4 Way Coordination and The New Breed.

I'd call New Breed a 'difficult but worth it' workbook for actually getting your hands and feet working together. And 4 Way Coordination more of a 'learn to control them separately' (little tip: make sure that your hands are on different drums for the melodic exercises).

As mentioned, check out: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Weapons-Modern-Drummer-DVD/dp/B000S6TNLI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313733873&sr=8-1

If I had to guess, you are holding the sticks too tightly; the energy goes into your hand instead of into the stick rebounding. Are you pushing into the drum? Or do the sticks sing?

My soft little programmer hands have no problem when I play like a retarded ape and beat the shit out of the drums for 2 hours straight.

For drum set books, I really like Mel Bay's Complete Modern Drum Set

It will give you at least a working idea of a wide variety of styles.

If you're looking to build strength and independence in your limbs, 4-way coordination

My old college professor actually studied under Marvin Dahlgren.

And finally, Gavin Harrison's books have been blowing my mind lately:
Rhythmic Illusions

Rhythmic Perspectives

400 dollars wont get you anything great but this one isnt too bad.

https://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Nitro-Electronic-Snare-Cymbals/dp/B07BW1XJGP/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=electric+drum+set&qid=1571062145&sprefix=electric+drum&sr=8-3

You can also check your local music store for something you like.

The biggest thing I can think of is for you is to practice musically and not just straight forward notes. Throw accents in, change up the dynamics.
Here is a prime example from Jojo Mayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTM7khtBeXc
I can also suggest to you some books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1892764040/temancom
This is possibly the best drum instruction book on the market, it will do wonders for your playing.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
And this book too, work your way through these books and you can do anything.

Ah memories. Yep I started with How to Play rock'n'roll drums, Syncopation and this book way back in the early 90's. Then later on went to Advanced Techniques, Future Sounds and The New Breed for different permutations and limb independence. And 'trying' to pick apart and play Dave Weckl's Island Magic.

Does anyone else remember those drum solos like calypso eclipsed and aint it rich?

These headphones by Vic Firth cannot be beat, especially for the price. I've had a pair for years. They sound good and protect your ears well. The other option I can think of would be custom fit in ear headphones but those are well outside of your price range.

Groove Juice, works awesome. Be careful with the markings/labels/ink it will remove them if you aren't careful. You can tape off the ink if you're worried about it. Let the spray sit on the cymbal for about a minute (you can be fairly generous with the spray), then work it in with a toothbrush and rinse off.

http://www.amazon.com/Groove-Juice-GJCC-Cymbal-Cleaner/dp/B000BUCV3S

This is all great advice- the Riley book has been open on my music stand for years and I am still a long way from 'finishing' the exercises. I also recommend 4 Way Coordination,playing exercises in that book is very humbling and eye opening.

I can personally vouch for these.

Also, kids, this is why you upgrade your cymbals first.

But seriously, shop used, and disregard brand unanimity. Buy the best, best-sounding, best priced cymbal of each type you're shopping for.

I'm not sure about your skill level so it's hard to make a general suggestion, but I've found that Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is great set of exercises for all skill levels

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953

Not sure if this works with your budget, but I've been using the Vic Firth headphones for a while and they work great:

http://www.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-Stereo-Isolation-Headphones/dp/B0002F519I

Do you have cymbals? Do you want lessons? Honestly I would go to craigslist and search up a full kit (look for decently kept pearl forums, tama swingstars, pacific x7, yamaha stage custom). If it comes with everything for $500 then great. You might have to spend around $100 for some new heads but that's okay. Then take that extra cash and get some lessons, stick control and a metronome.

Definitely something used, don’t buy new. You can get a decent used set with stands/cymbals for probably $300-500 that will be fine for a first kit for someone with little-to-no drumming experience. Maybe even cheaper.

Edit: a good book

Would you say a mic set like this would suffice as a first set of mics? They sounded reasonable on youtube demos and reviews. Should I invest in slightly higher-quality mics, or would these be good enough for basic recording?

Also, is there a difference in sound/quality between EQ-ing on an audio interface vs. EQ-ing on computer software such as Audacity?

A lot of people do not like to polish their cymbals because (if i'm not mistaken) the dirt and grime gives them a dryer, darker tone. I only noticed a difference on my Paiste crash, as I scrubbed off some patina on it's underside. It's now more washy and bright sounding, I personally think it sounds better. All of the other cymbals besides my splash were not significantly dirty, though. They only had fingerprints and some stick marks, so I doubt it affected the tone much.
If you're thinking of cleaning/polishing your cymbals, just be careful of what you use. I've heard some cleaners can take off logos. I use Groove Juice and it works great.
http://www.amazon.com/Groove-Juice-GJCC-Cymbal-Cleaner/dp/B000BUCV3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370841152&sr=8-1&keywords=groove+juice

Not OP, but check out Stick Control by George Lawrence and The New Breed by Gary Chester.

These two books helped me get over the hump of knowing what I wanted to play, and actually being able to play it effortlessly and cleanly.

Thanks for the reply! I have my eyes on Alesis Nitro Mesh kit for sometime. The reviews are good and it's not that expensive.

There’s a legendary book about this exact subject, it’s essential for any drummer to spend time with it. What a lot of people like to do is take the rhythms from the book and orchestrate them around the drums for some really fun sounding licks and exercises.

I have an Alesis nitro kit im a beginner as well and it’s pretty cool, you can buy an extra Tom and crash as an add-on and the module has lots of customization, you can find other pages for cheaper, as well as the mesh kit

You should buy Stick Control.

It'll help you with the basics. The first page in the book is one of the most useful pages in any drum book ever.

Shure SE215 In-Ear monitors, ran me under $100 off of amazon, not bulky at all. I use them everyday, but they are also great for noise cancelling during drumming.
http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE215-K-Isolating-Earphones-MicroDriver/dp/B004PNZFZ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1450858577&sr=1-1&keywords=shure+se215

This one right? That's awesome. I may have to invest in this book. Thanks!

If you own stick control I would recommend going through that while doing quarter notes with your left foot and hitting 1 with your kick.

There are many ways to do this, but this is how I started and I thought it worked well. You can also just incorporate your left foot into any rudimental stuff you are playing on the snare or around the kit. For example, try playing a paradiddle. If you can do that, then try to keep time with your left foot on 2 and 4 while doing it. Then try hitting all the downbeats with your left foot. Then try eighth notes, etc. . . .


If you practice this enough, eventually you will forget about your left foot entirely and it will just be second nature!

Alesis DM6 is the best kit for under $500. They usually retail at $650-700 but on Amazon, brand new kits are $350.
http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-DM6-Five-Piece-Electronic-Drum/dp/B002C4SM5W

Alesis DM10 is a big upgrade, but on Amazon the kit is $750. I've seen it on ebay for under 500, but they've all sold quickly.
http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Studio-Six-Piece-Professional-Electronic/dp/B0038YX39U

At the very least you should get a practice pad, Stick Control and a metronome to work on rudiments and technique. I've been unable to play real drums since 2007 so I've been playing my RealFeel pad and a bass pedal pad for years now and my drumming has never been better. I recently arranged a series of pads into a practice kit and it's been working great.

Of course you'll have to temper your expectations, playing this way won't seem as fun at first. My point is, don't let your living situation slow you down!

His DVD Secret Weapons of the Modern Drummer is one of the best videos on hand technique out there.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

George Lawrence Stone's Stick Control
I use that book daily, along with a good drum pad like this

I have these.
Wuhan WUTBSU Western Style Cymbal Set with Cymbal Bag https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002D0HO4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_L1p.BbKWMKCSK
As for sound, I like them because compared to the ZBT/B8 line, these sound 10x better (in my opinion) for the price. I'm not a heavy hitter so they have lasted me the year I've had them.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BW1XJGP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XmFZCb42E8AYK

Is a kit like this one pretty good?

This stuff is awesome! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BUCV3S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519580001&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=groove+juice+cymbal+cleaner&dpPl=1&dpID=41z%2BWnqM%2BEL&ref=plSrch

Shure SE-215

Great sound and they have a similar level of noise reduction as a pair of ear plugs. I usually wear a pair of ear muffs over them to reduce the noise level even further.

I just received this book in the mail yesterday:

https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040

I just went through the first 9 exercises last night before my usual practice session that consists of me rocking out to some random song list on spotify.

Hoooooly crap was I doing the thing. Only after one session I already felt more "on" than I have ever been.

I should note that I was in School band in 6th and 7th grades on snare, quit for 8th after I got a set, then stopped playing drums altogether when I went to college for lack of playing space. Saved up and bought an electric kit for my apartment this January, and have been slowly trying to get to "Where I was" since then. Yesterday was the first day I actually felt like I was playing stuff I'd always had trouble with before. Again, after ONE session.

Good luck dude. And don't let your girlfriend guilt you into selling your Jet Black 96 Pearl Export series with drum rack and double bass pedal for 500 bucks when you're 25. Even if you haven't played in years. God I miss that set.

I haven't tried them out yet (ordered them yesterday), but everyone here goes on and on about these guys.

If you want detailed analysis, the guys at r/headphones can help you out.

The bible - http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/

Work them up to - http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/0984329315/

For your more advanced students, this will also help you with your reading. - http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Breed-Development-Creativity/dp/1423418123/

Of course you don't have to keep them doing everything on the snare, get them to move the exercises around the kit.

Hey Paradigm84! Guess what. :) I ordered drum sticks and a practice pad. Everything should be here within the next week. I ordered the below items:

1. https://www.amazon.com/Evans-RealFeel-2-Sided-Practice-Pad/dp/B000FMDIXY/ref=sr_1_26_sspa?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1542754328&sr=1-26-spons&keywords=drum+practice+pad&psc=1
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-American-Classic-Sticks/dp/B0002F741Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1542752754&sr=8-5&keywords=5A+drumsticks
   
   Your input helped me in getting this equipment. Thank you!

Hah, yep. It'll be worth it though. Something I forgot to mention: If a review ever says "But the overheads don't work!" it means that whoever wrote that review doesn't know how to use phantom power.

Also, I just ran across this. It's damn cheap right now and, from the reviews, is not a bad deal. that'll make it significantly less expensive than the other individual mics and you get mics for all of your different surfaces. Now, these are lower quality than the mics above, but they will definitely get the job done. Again research is key.

As was already mentioned, all you need is a small mixer, e.g. this Mackie 5-channel mixer, and a pair of headphones/earbuds. I recommend the Shure SE215.

The venue's mix of what would normally run to your stage monitor will be plugged into your mixer, and your earbuds plug into it also.

Here's a short video that further explains and gives some more advanced setups also.

https://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Nitro-Electronic-Snare-Cymbals/dp/B07BW1XJGP

Lots of these running around. Not my cup of tea but they are popular.

I don't play double bass much so I haven't tried it, but I would imagine that stick control would work just as good with your feet as it does with your hands

the book "The New Breed" is a good reference for playing behind/ahead of the beat, also has lots of crazy exercises for more advanced drumming

Ever seen these? Really good for tight spaces, kinda pricey though.

http://www.amazon.com/Drum-Workshop-CPPADTS5-Anywhere-Stand/dp/B000UJEGT2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1377546972&sr=8-7&keywords=practice+pad+drums

2 practice pads and 2 sets of sticks (so you can play with him)

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953.

The standard recommendation is to find an instructor. I would see if you can find a local high-school kid who is a good drummer and would give lessons. Lessons through a music store can be hard on the wallet. You'll be able to pay for those a little later.

Shure SE215-CL Sound Isolating Earphones with Single Dynamic MicroDriver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PO10E2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_cifxDbM7C3NYH

These are the ones I picked up. There’s plenty of cheaper options out there, but I wanted ones that would perform well in a live setting and would also last a while.

I've used these Galaxy Audio headphones quite a bit and liked them a lot. They're right around your budget after factoring in tax and US shipping costs, although I don't know if they're available in Australia. I just had a look at some Australian online music stores and didn't see much selection as far as in ears goes.

The SE215's are a very popular recommendation around here and they're currently on sale on amazon and at musiciansfriend (if you're able to order from them). Normally they're a little over your price range but currently they're right on par with the other ones I linked.

If you are looking for something smaller. I use the Shure SE-215 ear buds. They have pretty good sound isolation.

The Drummer's Complete Vocabulary As Taught by Alan Dawson: Go through as much as you can while staring both on right and left hand.

Also, Gary Chester's The New Breed: This is a lifetime lesson type of book. You'll get out of it what you put into it.

My advice would be to pick up a copy of ‘Stick Control for the snare drummer’, and practice the exercises in the book for half an hour each day. When I was in my highschool marching band, this was THE book for improving speed and control.

Edit: you will also want to work on practicing the exercises at different speeds and volumes.

https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=for+the+modern+snare+drummer&qid=1570196885&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Studio-Six-Piece-Professional-Electronic/dp/B0038YX39U people say that kit is good. you can change out the heads if the mylar doesn't suit you

Thanks for the response. I was looking at these, they seem to have the equal sound distribution that you we're talking about.

Would something like this work?

Exercises as in technique exercises? That's a very broad question. Working on the rudiments to a metronome is a tried and true method, you could also get yourself a copy of stick control and work through that to a metronome.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Breed-Revision-Audio-Online/dp/1423418123

This book will do wonders for your limb independence. It's designed to open up creativity by enabling you to do whatever comes to mind. If you work through even just a few of the systems you will get so much better.

Try playing through this book, it's pretty difficult.

I recommend "Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer: Coordinated Independence as Applied to Jazz and Bebop" by Jim Chapin for a jazz practice method.

Recently got an Alesis DM6 electronic kit. I would recommend it as a starter kit. Currently $349.95 on Amazon.

Alesis DM10 from amazon

> Product Dimensions: 23 x 47 x 12.8 inches ; 70.4 pounds

If you do get the DM10 tell me how you like it because I've also been looking at that kit for a while now and i'm thinking of buying it

Yeah! https://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Nitro-Electronic-Snare-Cymbals/dp/B07BW1XJGP

​

It's just $350 for a mesh kit. But in my country it's around $500.

Sure. Check out The Art of Bop Drumming.

The Art of Bop Drumming: Book & CD (Manhattan Music Publications) https://www.amazon.com/dp/089898890X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_E9xPzbQTHZFZS

I would pick up a copy of Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer. Even working on just the first page with a metronome for a few minutes a day will make a huge difference.

Yep, that's the stick control book. I believe the Syncopation book refers to this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953

Any chance this is good? It gets decent reviews. http://amzn.com/B0038YX39U

https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040

​

Most drummers forget about the rudiments that make up the grooves. These will give you patterns to go off of and tighten up everything you do around the drum set. Doesn't need to just be done on a snare. Practice on the snare, snare+tom, Hi-hat + snare, etc. Come up with some cool stuff, and help you understand the building blocks that make the groove.

http://eric.frap.net/sa/bible/profsound.shtml - drum tuning bible

http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040 - classic book, endless applications

remember to stay loose and relaxed.

www.vicfirth.com has technique videos

Marching snare player here!
I would recommend learning the 40 P.A.S. Rudiments
By Matt Savages Book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0757902251?pc_redir=1412330082&robot_redir=1)
I know Matt Savage personally and he's a great guy with a lot of experience in marching percussion.
Also buy the book stick control (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1892764040?pc_redir=1413605838&robot_redir=1)
Those two books should get you started with marching percussion because they lay down the basics for everything that you will end up doing.

Check these out.

Vic Firth makes pretty much the same thing branded/geared for drumming.

There is no real upper limit to ear protection. You can pay as much or as little as you want, and they all pretty much work.

I'm not sure where I saw it but I've heard people who start on an acoustic version of an instrument are more likely to stay with it than their counterparts that start on a digital version. And it holds true for everything from pianos to drums.

When it comes to drums I think starting on an eKit can be a serious detriment. I have never touched a drum pad that has been as sensitive as a membrane of mylar. So you never develop the same kind of feel and nuance that you get in an acoustic set.

It's hard to explain if you don't already play an instrument...but you lose a lot of feeling when you use an electronic version.

If you are only looking for something to practice with for the next year or two consider looking into a practice rig like this. You can work on stick control and moving around a kit without the cost of an eKit and accessories.

Some of the items I already owned and a few I bought used, but the 12" pads are Evens ($28 each on Amazon) and the Cymbals were ($13 each on Amazon). The Cymbals were unfortunatly a really hard plastic so I ended up putting old rubber drum mutes on top of them. I got the bass drum pad used from guitar center for $60 and an extra old snare stand for $18. The rest I already owned.


Cymbals https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002F7AEC/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_hlH0DbC78QM0X

12" pads
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FMDIXY/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_GpH0DbAHS5CJC

When I was younger my teacher was all about Jim Chapins book. It helped so much and I still check it out from time to time.

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-Modern-Drummer-Independence/dp/0757995403

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-Modern-Drummer-Independence/dp/0757995403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487494311&sr=8-1

Here are the books you may be looking for.

4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set or Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer: Coordinating Independence As Applied To Jazz And Be-bop

Both focus on independence, though this is the one I just order today for myself, The New Breed

I found the book 4-way coordination helped me with unisons - https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Way-Coordination-Method-Development-Complete-Independence-Drum/0769233708

https://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521491430&sr=8-1&keywords=independence+drums&dpID=51jflAn474L&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708

And 4-Way Coordination!

https://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708