Teaching yourself the drums - electronic drum kits

jp_bl_68

jp_bl_68

jp_bl_68

Soldato
Joined
3 Jan 2009
Posts
8,037
I've been thinking about learning to play the drums. I keep quite unsociable hours so the only times that I'd be able to practice would upset my neighbours quite a bit. So I thought I'd look into electronic drum kits for the time being.

I used to play the guitar, self taught, and I think I progressed quite well until I lost interest so I'm sure I'll be able to teach myself a thing or two on the drums.

Can anyone recommend an electronic drum kit?
 
Make sure you try any electric kit before you buy it. I have a Roland and it's still pretty loud - you're banging things at the end of the day, so it's still noisy.
 
I use a Roland Electric kit which was pretty expensive new I think mine cost near £3000 but you might be able to find a second hand one closer to your budget. I highly recommend them but nothing compares to a real drum kit unfortunately as I still miss my Pearl kit I had to get rid of due to neighbours moaning.
 
I started with a very old kit (almost a copy of the rock-band thing you get now) and traded up to roland before finding this guy

http://www.jobekydrums.co.uk/

His drums feel 90% as good as my real kit, is very quite and cheap (not £300 though) for e-drums. He has got a Session Pro set for £300 though HERE.

His normal e-drums look like this (taken from his site) and are £1300+ for a full kit or (like I bought) around £700-£800 for just the 4/5 drums only

kits_prestige4-4-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
I just sold a Roland TD3-KW kit for £300, shame you didn't make the thread earlier in the month!
Look for something used/second hand IMO, you'll get much more for your money.
 
ianh said:
http://www.jobekydrums.co.uk/
Click to expand...

That looks awesome!

A couple of things to bare in mind. Cheap electric drum kits are still very noisy. Don't expect to be able to play in the middle of the night if you live in a flat or a semi.

Most don't feel anything like a real drum kit. I used to hate playing on my electric. It's good for practising timing etc but it doesn't compare to using a real kit.
 
If you're worried about sound from the kit, I would definitely recommend going into a music store and asking if you can give the drums a wack to test the sound given off them.

£200-£300 will get you the very basic of drum kits, and even then I would imagine you'd have to go second hand.

I currently have a Roland TD-4K, bought it for around £800 new. A quick look on eBay showed them going for around £600. I would definitely recommend it for a newbie. However, I've had it now for about two years and had to replace the cymbals about four or five times. Fortunately, I bought it from Digital Village which give you a 4 year warranty. In the future, I won't go anyway to buy an Electronic set without a long warranty like this, so I would recommend spending a little more and buying from a retailer.
 
Blimey how hard are you smashing your cymbals????

I play for about 3-6hrs a week and I've still got the same Roland CY-12s I bought over 4 years ago. I think the only think I've been "unlucky" with was a new mesh-head bass drum that was way too sensitive (original 10in Jobeky - probably designed as a snare so got serious ghosting/rebounce constantly).

Current Setup -

1x TD-12 Brain with VEX addons
2x 12in Jobeky Heads (snare/floor tom)
2x 10in Jobeky Heads (toms)
4x CY-12 Cymbals (1 used as high-hat)
1x CY-15 Ride
1x 15in Kit Toys CF China (very sensitive but very loud - raw CF with hardly any sound deadening)
1x KD-8 bass (less satisfying part of the setup, way to "rubbery")
1x Tama Iron Cobra Double Bass pedals
1x Gibraltar Motorbike seat

My next purchases will be to replaces the heads and bass drum with a setup from Jobeky and (maybe) a brain change.
 
mjt said:
Buy Guitar Hero 6

/runs
Click to expand...

My Brother In Law is a drummer and played this for the first time at Christmas.
He picked a song he new inside out and made the mistake of playing to the record and not the dots on the screen.
When it finished he looked at his score and threw the sticks across the room vowing never to go on it again :)
 
ianh said:
Blimey how hard are you smashing your cymbals????

I play for about 3-6hrs a week and I've still got the same Roland CY-12s I bought over 4 years ago...
Click to expand...

Not abnormally hard... I must just be unlucky :( Every time it's been a sensitivity issue where if I hit it even very slightly it reads it as a massive hit :p
 
Self taught drummer here :p

Started teaching myself when I was 13. I'm 24 now and still play. I spent the first year playing along to CDs in my room using just a pair of sticks and a load of pillows set up like a kit lol...sounds silly but it worked amazingly well for getting some basic fundamentals.

Trust me its not really like learning any other instrument. If you don't have a natural ability and a lot of discipline you will struggle to teach yourself. You kind of have to train your brain to do totally independent rhythmic patterns simultaneously with both arms and both feet.

Good luck to you!! I hope you succeed and enjoy it. Down the line you can get a kit like mine. :o

3433665118_2664a48a4b_z.jpg


3432852913_7697ba94aa_z.jpg
 
Your Lack of Cowbell is disturbing :D The one thing that's annoying about electric kits is the lack of expansion on starter kits (looking at all your cymbals) until you start spending uber money or use addon boxes.

I started in a very similar way, hitting pillows as a kid listening to a C90 with G'N'R Appetite of Destruction on one side and Joe Satriani "Extremist" on the other! the constant tapping annoyed the hell of of my folks till I left home :D

PS Nice Pedals!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom