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Anybody here play the drums?
Illius
Member UncommonPosts: 4,142
I was watching some drummers in some of the videos on the music channels and on you tube and they look like they're having a hell of a time playing away. Some of them look like they truly get very involved in what they're doing. For example the dude from Finger Eleven in some of their early videos. In the video Did My Time by Korn the drummer looks like he's having a kick ass time there too.
My question is, in the general scheme of things how difficult are drums to learn to play in comparison to other instruments. I've played violin for 2 years and hated every minute of it partially because I wasn't very good at it but I love the music that can be played with it. I am worried about the co-ordination required when it comes to drums since you're using both hands and feet. I might get all tangled up. I'd like to hear some experiences throughout your learning process just to get a better idea of it all.
Thanks in advance.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
Comments
First of all drums is all about patterns. Everything you do when playing the drums is about laying down the tone, speed, and beat of the song. For example the chorus of a song (simplified): snare, snare, snare+bass, snare+crash in whatever rhythmic tone the song sets up for you. If you are good at keeping beats then the hardest part about drumming is already over. . .
Coordination. This is the second hardest part about drumming. You know how some people try to pat their head and rub their stomach at the same time? Well imagine if they had to tap with their right foot while kicking with their left at the same time all in a rhythmic pattern. That's kind of what drumming is. Depending on what song you are playing each of your limbs could be doing something different and yet all working together at the same time. It's VERY ahrd at first but all it takes is practice, practice, PRACTICE and eventually it'll become second nature to you.
Finally, yes drummers are having LOADS of fun. It's a very aggressive instrument that requires loads of energy and a tolerace for a lot of noise. When you are laying the drums you won't be hearing much of anything else other than your own drums. I hope you enjoy it.
Eternally mine,
Keebs
The MMO gaming blog I write for.
Learning drums aren't that difficult. You will definately have some trouble in the beginning with learning how to move your limps individually, much like you probably had trouble with learning how to move your fingers individually on the violin(It took me a while before my fingers became "independant" when I was learning guitar)
After a couple of days or weeks training, you should be able to play your basic 4/4 rock beat at a steady tempo, depending on much time it takes for you to get used to the drums.
Anyways, compared to the Guitar, I'd say it's about the same difficulty. Took me 2 weeks or so to learn my first 3 chords along with a steady strumming pattern, and it also took me about 2 weeks to be able to hold a couple of 4/4 rock beats at a steady tempo. With the guitar, its perhaps easier to evolve in a certain directing or learn something new, since there is so much musical theory that can be applied to a guitar. But that's not saying there isn't anything to learn with the drums... some of the techniques(and there are many techniques) are very difficult to learn.
About the co-ordination, you shouldn't worry about it. I know it will be a bit difficult in the beginning, specially the part about forcing your other limps not to play at certain beats, but believe me, if you keep practicing you'll learn it pretty quickly.
A last note about drums would be that they are pretty expensive and tuning them in the beginning is very VERY annoying and difficult.
Thanks for the responses.
The whole co-ordination thing is my main concern. When I did play the violin I had a bit of a problem getting my fingers to move independently but then again that was quite a few years back and the teacher wasn't the greatest either.
If anything I think I'll go find someone who's willing to give me some instruction and has plenty of patience and just give it a try. I'll never really know if I can do it unless I try. Besides, you only live once and I might as well. The whole "hitting stuff" aspect just seems like a good idea
. Some of the drummers I've seen hit the kit pretty hard. Is it common to have to replace pieces of your kit like cracked cymbals or broken sticks? I should really go down to my local music store just to check this out but it's cold out and I don't feel like it 
.
Keep the posts coming. I wanna hear from more people.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
For non-professional drummers, it's not normal to crack cymbals nor drumheads. Replacing those would also be very expensive. A stick does crack every now and then though, but they aren't as expensive.
I had this cheap starter drumkit for about 2 years, and only thing I broke was a pair of sticks. I did bend that cheap ass cymbal though.
About the co-ordination thing, you shouldn't really worry about it. If you find a good teacher then fine. If you don't, then teach yourself using online resources or learning DVDs. Drums aren't that complicated, but it sure as hell takes a lot of practice.
About the drums themselves, it's probably best you ask at your local music shop, but if I were you, and you wanted to buy a kit, try and see if you can get double layered drumheads on the top of the drums, or buy some Remo Tone Control Rings. They help incredibly much on the sound, since getting it tuned correctly is very difficult, not to mention it gives a more "dead" sound which sounds better with most types of music.
The 2 years of violin turned me off of trying to learn to play a musical instrument but I'm slowly getting over it and now I'm looking into something that I won't mind and would actually find fun to do. I'm still in the process of picking something up and this goes toward my instrument research. I'm looking into the drums because as Keebs pointed out drums take a quite a bit of energy and every so often I seem to have more then necessary. Drums would perhaps let me beat on things and make it sound good at least. But like I said this is all still up in the air.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
Well Keebs is right. And to that I can add, that there is just about nothing better than comming home from work/school/whatever, and then just release all your energy on those drums.
Maybe I should just get a girlfriend. That should eat up just about all my free time
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
if i were you i'd take 500 bucks get a set and try it out, get some basic lessons from an instructor and start hammering away. you never know until you try it
. for me the hardest part was coordination, learning my rudiments and incorporating them. If you can swing an electric set they won't take up as much room or make as much noise if your in an apartment type setting but they're a little more expensive. for starters electric sets are pretty good since you can run your metrodome through your headphones to help keep time so you can build up a rythm or plug a cd in and jam to the music thats always fun. drumming doesn't come natural to me so it took me a few years to build up a rhythm now once i hear music i can easily put a beat to it, eventually given time it will sink in and you'll be able to start jamming away with just about anything, but it does take a lot of practice, you really have to stay on top of it cause your body over time seems to forget and you have to retrain yourself but overall i believe its worth trying out, and if you decide you don't like it oh well move along. guitar is always nice for woooing the ladies :P
keeperofkeb
I never really played the drums before, but I do play the guitar.
The first time I ever got a taste of the drums was playing rock band at my cousins house. God all mighty I wanted to keep playing for ever on that little drum set. I could only imagine how fun and releiving it is to play on real drums.
I am thinking about getting a cheap set to play around with, but since I got a 1200 dollar guitar, I can't buy anything for a good while.
A buddy I lived with for a while had a drum set for a while and it was a blast to play with.
I wanted to learn drums in Junior High, but all the positions were already taken, so that went down the drain and I ended up playing tuba then realized music wasn't really my passion. I have always had a respect for drummers and the coordination/strength/stamina they have and when I watch bands live, the drummer usually has about 75% of my attention.
I just played RockBand on my friends PS3 (never played Guitar Hero or anything like it before...it is god damn addicting). My friend was playing guitar, while is girlfriend sang and I played the drums...the coordination it took on medium level was amazing. I did not even bother with the 2 levels above it. Even though I know playing an actual instrument is much tougher, just messing around with that game gave me a good taste.
Btw Rockband definately gets a thumbs up from me as a party game. Next time he should have a bass so I can try that.
To the OP, if you are interested in it, go after it and give it a try.
"It is easier to be cruel than wise. The road to wisdom is long and difficult... so most people just turn out to be assholes" Feng (Christopher Walken)
Being a guitar player too, I gotta ask, which guitar do you have?
:D
i've been playing drums for about 4 years now and i love the hell out of it. Drums are by far the most fun instrument in my opinion. Its my sugestion that you buy some electric pads first if you want to start learning, there cheap like 200-300 dollars and it'll help you learn the basic principles of drumming. Now drumming isn't easy like a lot of people like to imagine its hard work, takes tons of time and stamina to learn to play, but its worth it and i'd be the first to tell you. and they get you in a decent physical shape if you play enough.
I bought my self a pearl export ex and i have some nice paiste cymbols ...its a pretty nice set..
the worst part about playing is how it does get expensive
I hope some day we can all put aside our racisms and prejudices and just laugh at people
Regarding the electronic sets:
Do you play them with headphones on so that only you hear the actual drum sound? Also what kind of noise does the stick striking the pads make because I do live in an apartment so the noise is somewhat a concern.
This post is doing great so far.... I guess music does bring people together
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
Electronic sets are put out to speakers, which could be headphones. I believe some sets have internal speakers, but they will definately also have an output port for headphones and a speaker.
Striking the pads on an electronic drum kits produces almost no sound. It would be like striking your finger against the edge of the table
I have an electric set (for quiet times) with a Roland modulator. I have 2 different amps hooked up to it to give me the most realistic drum sound. Nothing will live up to the sounds of an actual acoustic set but with today's technology you can actually get pretty close.
I have a bass (which I also play
) guitar amp set up to handle the bass drum, and Toms 2 and 3. I then use a keyboard amp (that can scale from very low to very high) which runs my crash, hi hat, ringer, snare, and tom 1. It is the best system I have been able to afford/set-up and so far and it actually sounds pretty good.
Also, my electric set-up was not cheap. The drum pads and body cost me about $400. The Roland mod cost me an additional $300 (Roland is the best), and the 2 amps cost me about $50 each. Altogether I spent $800 so I could play quietly if I need to. I do NOT suggest you go this route unless you absolutely have to. Acoustic drums are still better than electric.
Eternally mine,
Keebs
The MMO gaming blog I write for.
You may be shocked to know, Illius, that in high school I was a back up drummer for the guy that played the triples. LOL! I was actually a saxophone player but have always loved drums. After school the drummer and I would hang out and he taught me all the cadences that were used when we marched. (As you may know marching bands play them while marching to keep a beat between songs) I did not know how to read drum music or play any of the songs, but I could play all the cadences, and even made one up of my own that was adopted into the rounds. It was a blast! Yes, I was a band geek. LOL!
Saxophone is a cool instrument. I hadn't played one in quite a while. The last I played was when I was in the BALTIMORE Colts marching band! Over the years my sax sat around until one of the kids found it and "played" it. It never worked again. hehe My hubby recently surprised me with a custom made saxophone. It is beautiful! It was the best surprise gift I have ever gotten. It also helped that he gave it to me completely out of the blue and that it wasn't attached to any holiday or event. Take a look, I think you will agree that it is awesome!
http://www.ceciliomusic.com/catalog/product_info.php?pName=cecilio-green-lacquer-with-gold-accents-alto-saxophone&cName=saxophone-alto
Actually my boyfriend plays drum. I always sit in front of him for appreiation. He told me that it didnt take him long to learn drum. Have a try, maybe you will find a brand new world.