help with beginners drums please!!

Mark2229

hey i want to start playin drums but im only 17 so i cant really afford the sort of drums that are hanging around waltons but i found this on thomann and i was wondering would it be a good starting kit.....and feel free to add anything good or bad about it !!


http://www.thomann.de/ie/millenium_mx222.htm

professorpete

Hiya Mark,
Well done, taking up drums is the best decision a young man (or woman!!) could make!!

I'm a drum teacher, and one of my students recently bought one of these (or similar), it's a good deal alright, perfect for a beginner I'd say; the drums themselves (shells) are decent quality and the hardware is very good, also you get the full kit with this deal (cymbals included), so no need to go buying expensive add ons just yet..

I'd say the cymbals wouldn't be up to much but if you're just beginning, it's better to have something basic to make a noise with and get the hang of everything before you put seriously expensive equipment in danger damage due to a heavy hand or whatever..

Just to be certian, try to find that kit or that brand in the shops, I'm not sure if walton's or music maker stock this brand but have a look around, it's always good to see and feel what you're buying before you order it online..

Best of luck!

Pete

Patricide

Yea that kit will be perfect for a beginner, Itl sound great as long as its tuned fine(if you know any d*****s ask em to help you out here), add a set of dampening rings and youl have yourself a fine sounding kit.

The cymbols though wont be up to scratch. Investing in a set of Zildjian zbt's or similar will last you for a while though and there relitivly inexpensive. They might stretch your budget but its worth it!!

Eoin Madsen

I'd imagine it's about as easy to tune as a Pearl Forum. Which is to say... practically untuneable. :pac: Dampening rings are kind of like an alternative to tuning for cheap drum kits. But even then, I personally wouldn't recommend them. You get to know the drum itself better and you'll learn basic tuning quicker if you just play with normal resonance.

The cymbals will suck, but being fair, they aren't going to be a whole lot worse than the drums. The kit in general is a small step up from a bin and a set of pots and pans.

However, humourous put-downs aside, it'll be grand for the first six months to a year while you find out if drumming is really for you. Millenium are a generic brand who are aligned to Thomann & co. so you won't find them in a Dublin shop. But tbh, one cheap assed starter drum kit is as good as the next so I wouldn't worry about trying it out.

Patricide

Id disagree here, a freind of mine bought a millenium kit for jamming up at his house and it sounds great, especially the floor tom. All it needed was a new set of skins and a tune. After that it sounded passable and when the rings were added it actually sounded good.(not pearl masters good or anything but, you know good). The snare however is still dreadfull and totally unusable for any situation bar when your a beginner and your trying to find out if drums are for you.

boxclever

Patricide wrote: »

Id disagree here, a freind of mine bought a millenium kit for jamming up at his house and it sounds great, especially the floor tom. All it needed was a new set of skins and a tune. After that it sounded passable and when the rings were added it actually sounded good.(not pearl masters good or anything but, you know good). The snare however is still dreadfull and totally unusable for any situation bar when your a beginner and your trying to find out if drums are for you.

i disagree too

kranog

I'd always recommend a decent second hand kit over a brand new piece of crap!
If your budget is 250/300....I'm fairly certain you'd get an old Export and cymbals for roughly that price and it'd make for a fair superior kit!
A quick search on adverts found these...
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=165992&cat=16
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=169094&cat=16
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=174605&cat=16
of course...never be afraid to haggle!
Good luck mate...

TheStickyBandit

I certainly second the "secondhand" motion. Try the big shops or the classifieds for secondhand kits, as personally I think playing those starter kits is painfull.

Useful.Idiot

yep a second hand pearl target or export, slap on some new skins. you've got yourself a sweet sounding kit for the price.

TheBigRedDog

I'd go second hand myself also but sometimes you might be better off with the millenium kit. I had an mx500 and it did the job for my 1st 3 years. After I joined a band I upgraded but it's definately a good starter kit. I let them ring out with little dampening and it sounded fine. You'll probably find the snare would be the first upgrade needed. I knicked my cousins for years!

I second the note about the cymbals, they are terrible, I bought Sabian b8s for an extra 100e and they worked well.
Do you know any drummers? If you could ask a favor to help tune and set up stuff, your sorted.

sh1tin-a-brick

Hi I have a question about beginners drums... I too am a 17 yr old with basically no money. I've always been curious about drums and rhythm etc so I bought a pair of cheap drumsticks and have been playing "air drums". It sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually find it kinda fun!

Anyway, I have always tapped my feet/hands along with songs but I've noticed that although I am right handed, I prefer to mimic the bass drum with my left foot and hi-hat with my right. I still "play" the snare with my left hand. It's sort of mixed-dexterity (if that makes sense) and I realise if I ever get the money to actually buy a REAL kit it would mean moving the high hat to the right but keeping the snare and bass drum slightly to the left.

Is this a bad habit that I should get out of? Should I train feet to be righty, or my hands to be lefty? Or just leave it and come up with my own weird style?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Oh, btw the way I'm a girl... Just gonna throw that out there cos people always seem to assume I'm a fella on this, it's a tad unnerving

flyswatter

A good second hand kit would be a decent option. If more money is available I would recommend an entry level Pearl kit. Also, a Gretsch Catalina is known to be a quality kit for the price.

I'm not a fan of kits in the 200-300 euro range. I had a bad experience with a cheap Stagg kit. This was my first drum set and while admittedly Stagg do make good quality products, at entry level, not so much. The snare's head wasn't durable and peeled off. Poor sounding too. The hardware such as stands were crap and broke easily. Ditto, the cymbals, which were terrible (The hi-hats would actually fold outwards in the middle of playing). The toms and kick drum were alright though.

I would steer clear of kits like this in general. The manufacturers have to cut corners somewhere. I'm not saying all budget sets are like this though. There are exceptions.

TheStickyBandit

sh1tin-a-brick wrote: »

Hi I have a question about beginners drums... I too am a 17 yr old with basically no money. I've always been curious about drums and rhythm etc so I bought a pair of cheap drumsticks and have been playing "air drums". It sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually find it kinda fun!

Anyway, I have always tapped my feet/hands along with songs but I've noticed that although I am right handed, I prefer to mimic the bass drum with my left foot and hi-hat with my right. I still "play" the snare with my left hand. It's sort of mixed-dexterity (if that makes sense) and I realise if I ever get the money to actually buy a REAL kit it would mean moving the high hat to the right but keeping the snare and bass drum slightly to the left.

Is this a bad habit that I should get out of? Should I train feet to be righty, or my hands to be lefty? Or just leave it and come up with my own weird style?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Oh, btw the way I'm a girl... Just gonna throw that out there cos people always seem to assume I'm a fella on this, it's a tad unnerving

Well seeing as you are only begining, I would encourage you to change your 'bad habbits' early on. Generally if you're left handed you'd play left handed and vice versa, although us drummers are a queer ole bunch!

I suggest a beginners lesson or if you know a friend with drums ask them for 'a go' off their drum kit, this should determine what way you should play. Alternatively you could visit a drum shop and they might offer some advice!

Oh, and air drumming is natural, and if you find yourself fidgiting and always tapping tabletops to the beat you are destined to be a drummer, that was the case with me anyway!

Best of luck with it anyway ;D

Malice

sh1tin-a-brick wrote: »

Hi I have a question about beginners drums... I too am a 17 yr old with basically no money. I've always been curious about drums and rhythm etc so I bought a pair of cheap drumsticks and have been playing "air drums". It sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually find it kinda fun!

Anyway, I have always tapped my feet/hands along with songs but I've noticed that although I am right handed, I prefer to mimic the bass drum with my left foot and hi-hat with my right. I still "play" the snare with my left hand. It's sort of mixed-dexterity (if that makes sense) and I realise if I ever get the money to actually buy a REAL kit it would mean moving the high hat to the right but keeping the snare and bass drum slightly to the left.

Is this a bad habit that I should get out of? Should I train feet to be righty, or my hands to be lefty? Or just leave it and come up with my own weird style?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Oh, btw the way I'm a girl... Just gonna throw that out there cos people always seem to assume I'm a fella on this, it's a tad unnerving

I'd say go with what is most comfortable. Unlike with a guitar there are no left-handed drumkits so you won't have that awkwardness to contend with. I'm left-handed but I play the guitar right-handed. It was just the way that I picked it up. I actually didn't even know left-handed guitars existed until I found my father's old guitar in the garage and asked him why it was strung upside-down .