Any Drummers Here?

turbolapp

turbolapp

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Aug 10, 2007
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Thinking about getting my (soon to be) 10 yr old started with an electric drum set for christmas. He's musically inclined and spends alot of time tapping/clapping to rhythm (which I thought was just to annoy me in the back seat of the car but maybe because he actually enjoys it :D ). I was talking to a friend that's a drummer and he recommended that we do this for him because drums (unlike instruments like a trumpet or something) are actually useful and can go along way even as just a fun hobby.

I was looking at something like this:
410R7Xd5B-L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/ION-Audio-Session-Complete-Electronic/dp/B002OHE4RC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2YAEQOXJBE6RL&colid=2EZ1J8AY9V5L2]Amazon.com: ION Audio Sound Session Complete Electronic Drum Set: Musical Instruments[/ame]

because a) It got decent reviews b) there are headphones so as not to disturb the rest of the family c)I have no idea if he'll be into this and I really don't want to shell out the big bucks until we know that he is.

Any tips? Also should I get him an instructor? Lessons? Just grab something off the internet?
 


That kit sucks....

You would be right going for electric instead of an acoustic drum set for the noise alone.

You are better of buying a used set from Guitar World or something similar in your area. Also check out pawn shops.

For $150-200 which seems to be your budget you can get something like this (used):
DTX550K - DTX500 Series - Electronic Drum Kit - Drums - Musical Instruments - Products - Yamaha United States

The Yamaha DTX500 series is a good set and the great thing about it its expandable so if he likes the instrument and wants to expand his drum set it will be really easy to do.

In terms of lessons or not. Start him with lessons, about 9 lessons to learn the basics in terms of tempo, proper warm ups etc. After that youtube and have him play along with songs he actually likes.
 
What a coincidence. I just purchased my 5 year old a midi drum set for Christmas. I'm not a drummer myself (unless finger drumming on the MPC is classed as drumming) but I have toyed around with it for a couple hours.

The main reason I got these and not a real drum set is because you can load them with sounds (the one I have you can) and the fact you use headphones so next door don't complain.

He's 10, so I'd probably let him toy about for a year and gain natural interest. I'm a music producer myself, and I thought these would be great to develop a strong bond with him, something we can both do together and something we both enjoy.

You don't want it to feel like a chore if he's not interested in drumming. That's not to say he won't develop an interest though. I have no idea if my kid will enjoy it, but I hope he will.

YouTube has lots of great tutorials that you could learn and teach to him.

This is the one I have for him:

412eFuKeg2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg


[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002C4SM5W/ref=asc_df_B002C4SM5W5280513?smid=A2HC2ZRBEUS4GG&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22230&creativeASIN=B002C4SM5W]Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit: Amazon.co.uk: Musical Instruments[/ame]

Hope that helps :D
 
wiredniko said:
That kit sucks....

You would be right going for electric instead of an acoustic drum set for the noise alone.

You are better of buying a used set from Guitar World or something similar in your area. Also check out pawn shops.

For $150-200 which seems to be your budget you can get something like this (used):
DTX550K - DTX500 Series - Electronic Drum Kit - Drums - Musical Instruments - Products - Yamaha United States
Click to expand...

Be careful with used electronic drums, the sensors on these electronic kits can wear out kind of quick. With musical instruments you generally really do get what you pay for, so don't afraid to splurge on the initial purchase because shitty equipment makes it harder to play and might lead to him getting bored.

Definitely get him lessons though.
 
*Biased*

An acoustic set would be so much nicer and give him such a "pure" feeling of the instrument compared to an electronic kit... BUT I completely understand the noise factor and would probably do the same thing in your position.

Much respect for giving your kid a drum set, I still thank my parents to this day for getting me one (was also 10). Get him some lessons to learn the basics and then let him go, he'll have a blast!
 
I definitely agree with the purchase.

+1 for electric. You're a parent and you'll have to be hearing the banging of drums all day. With an electric set he can be as loud as he wants without driving you insane. It might end up to be a nice babysitter for you.

+1 for the cheaper model. It's his first set. You don't know if he'll enjoy it. If he sticks with it you can upgrade him later and once you have the rack and controller electric drums are easy to upgrade. If not less money thrown down for something that's going to take up space in your house. Plus he's going to be beating the ever living hell out of that thing.

Make sure he learns how to hair whip while playing :)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4-EAK0VEV4"]Joey Jordison Eyeless Intro Breakdown - YouTube[/ame]
 
emergent said:
sign him up for lessons, asap. believe me, a bad grip isnt fun to correct.
Click to expand...

this.

also go cheap but not so cheap that you're stuck with fixing it in a few months.

get him a practice pad too.

you can also go with a natural kit and dampen the drums but even that only goes so far.
 
Great idea to get him a drumkit Turbo.

Lessons are a must. Be fussy about the teacher you choose. Find someone who is really into teaching kids to "play the right way".
 
I definitely agree with going cheap on the first kit but it looks like the Ion kit would be incredibly hard to learn on, particularly with the lack of an actual kick pedal. I have built electronic kits and if I was in the same posstion I'd spend a little more and get a decent second hand module (maybe a roland td-3 or something similar), get a cheap second hand snare and put a mesh head on it with a trigger because playing on those rubber pads sucks some serious nuts. If you can stand the noise though I'd always recommend a cheap acoustic kit to start off on.

As for lessons (slight bias because I'm a teacher myself) they are pretty crucial in the early stages. If he develops a keen interest to the point he can sustain his practice then ditch the lessons and go for pro DVDs.
 
+1 on lessons to get the basics down. My parents got me in lessons at 10, did it for a year, then I pretty much just learned by jamming out to all different styles of music on my own. Fast forward 5 years, and that was a good enough start to get me in bands doing the whole touring thing. Its a shit load of fun and probably the thing I'm most thankful to my parents for.

Definitely agree with everything Wattsy said - electronic doesn't do acoustic justice, but if you can get him something with an actual kick pedal and a mesh head snare, it'll be a huge improvement over that ION.

Good luck!
 
guerilla said:
Great idea to get him a drumkit Turbo.

Lessons are a must. Be fussy about the teacher you choose. Find someone who is really into teaching kids to "play the right way".
Click to expand...

^^^^^ THIS. Don't take him to some douche who only teaches rock drumming. Rudiments and reading music are just as important in drums, if not *more* important.

Big advocate of band for middle+high school on drums as well. Good band programs teach percussion as a well rounded thing - learn mallet instruments, drum set, orchestra percussion etc. Also a ton of good bands in the Houston area, especially HS like Cy Falls for example
 
Yeah my first set was an acoustic one, but we didn't have close neighbors. Forward 10 years later, out on my own, I got an electric kit.

The sweet thing about an electric kit is you can connect the midi-out to your computer, and trigger awesome / amazingly realistic drum samples for recording, or even live play.

I bought these samples and they kick serious ass:
Steven Slate Drums

Shown off:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn7N38ZwG4A"]Green Day- Steely Dan- Chili Peppers sound on Vdrums- Glen Sobel SSD - YouTube[/ame]

Aside from that, yes, definitely get a teacher for at least a few months depending on how he responds.
 
turbolapp said:
...He's musically inclined and spends alot of time tapping/clapping to rhythm...
Click to expand...

Maybe he would just like some bongos or something...

*cue The Incredible Bongo Band*
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-Z6wm6TMQ"]Incredible Bongo Band - Apache *Classic Break* - YouTube[/ame]

skip to 2.20 for greatest break ever

turbolapp said:
...because drums (unlike instruments like a trumpet or something) are actually useful...
Click to expand...

Lol, what's up with the trumpet hate?
 
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