Nov 24 2007

Tips for Buying Drum Kits

Buying a good drum kit is one of the most essential concerns for a drummer. A few tips on buying drum kits will however make this task easy.

Tips on buying drum kits 1
Know the parts of the instruments. The major step when buying a drum kit is to know the combination. Not all drummers have the same combination. So if you are a drummer who prefers to use various percussions, be prepared to invest in a kit that will cost you differently from other kits.

Tips on buying drum kits 2
Buy the stands. A simple kit for beginners will consist of cymbal and cymbal stands. As a purchaser, make sure that the stands have wing nuts for the tops. Also, complete your set with a foot pedal for bass drum along with hi-hat stand and hi-hat clutch for hi-hat cymbals. But most importantly you should purchase a drum key along with the general kit. The drum key will help you to tune your drums with ease.

Tips on buying drum kits 3
Old is gold. While buying drum sets, it is always advisable to buy your kit from reputable dealers. Also make sure you have a guarantee on your drum set. A guaranteed drum set usually has more longevity.

Tips on buying drum kits 4
Affordability. Brand name cymbals can often be expensive for the pocket. However, cymbals in packs of 2 to 4 can make the purchase inexpensive. One can always upgrade them later but make sure that both top and bottom heads are on the drums. Make sure none of the tuning lugs on the drums are missing.

Tips on buying drum kits 5
Prepare a checklist. Before you get into a store, prepare a checklist. Besides being sure about cymbal stands and nut’s presence, a few more things should also be checked. Be sure that laminate or exterior drum finish is in good condition. The hardware should appear comparatively sturdy and all the locking mechanisms should be secure. Double check to see that the drumheads are in a relatively good shape. It is very important as the entire sound depends on it. Also, replacing them at once can be a very expensive task.

Tips on buying drum kits 6
Go for a second hand. It is sometimes more safer to buy a drum kit from an older player who takes better care of his equipment. If you are still not confident about the idea, ask an experienced drummer to accompany you.

Tips on buying drum kits 7
Trust your gut instinct. It is very important to trust your gut feeling and also, your sense of hearing. If it does not sound nice to you then you probably should not buy it. There is no point in investing in a kit that does not sound right.

Tips on buying drum kits 8
Budget. It is very important to set your budget before you get started. Do not set it too low, as it may take you longer to find something that you are looking for.

However, whatever drums kit you are buying, check the pedal response, cymbal quality and hardware quality and it is always advisable to stick to brands while buying instruments.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, drums, drum kits, and synthesizers, keyboards.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Nov 09 2007

Getting Started with Drums

Membranophone is what a drum is technically known. The musical instrument is classified under the percussion group. Here are few basic guidelines for getting started with drums. The size, pattern and shape of drums vary widely. But almost every drum has at least one membrane. This one membrane is known as drum head. A drummer can produce sounds from a drum by beating on the drumhead with drumstick or a part of his body, likely to be hands.

Drums are traditionally untuned instruments. But there are exceptions like timpani. Drums are generally cylinder in shape. These are the oldest musical instrument played by ancient tribes and race. Modern orchestral drums are held on a hoop, which is fixed on a counter hoop with tension rods. The number of the tension rods varies from six to ten. The sound quality of the drum depends on few basic factors like

Shape
Size
Shell density
Shell material
Drumhead pattern
Drumhead tension
Position of the drum
Location of the drum
The velocity and angle with which the drumhead is bitten

Before getting started with drums, you should arrange few basic things

A good music collection on drums
A beginner’s guidance book for ready reference
A pair of good drumsticks
A practice pad
A metronome

As the first step for getting started with drums, you must learn how to hold drumsticks properly. As different types of grips on drumsticks produce different sounds, so it is very important to understand which type of grip produce what type of sound. There are various options like traditional grip, matched grip, French grip etc. Different holds will produce different vibrations, bounce and response. It is better to practice and see the difference yourself initially.

The second important thing is counting time. As you learn to count time, you will be able to understand various notes, beats and time signatures. Before getting started with drums, here are few important technical terms that you must know to understand the drum music

Note. It is a stroke, rather a symbol representing a stroke on the drum.
Bar. It is a measure. It is the space where a beat can be played.
Time signature. It is the representation in a fraction that reveals the number of notes in a measure. There are various signatures like 4/4, 3 /4, 5/4, 7/8 etc.

Here the top number denotes the number of notes per bar, and the bottom number, known as denominator, tells the value of the notes. For example, denominator 1 is a whole note, 2 is a half note, 4 a quarter note, 8 a eight note and 12 a sixteenth note. There are also other variations like triplets and odd times.

On getting started with drums, you should also know to tune your drum by yourself. Based on various purposes and musical genre, different tunings are required. As you are the player of your drum, so be the expert on drum. There are various processes for installing the drumhead, tuning the batter head and tuning the drum. Choose your genre and tune it as required.

As you get accustomed with these basic drumming requirements, the next thing you should do for getting started with drums is learn to read music sheets for drum compositions and teach yourself with some basic theories. This will not only help to raise your knowledge on how to play drums, but also make you prepared for future music compositions by yourself.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, drums, drumsticks, drumhead, and synthesizers, keyboards.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com