Percussion Anyone here play drums?

[jeremyjuicewah]

I pressed pay on a set of drums last night. Have been thinking about this for a year or so and now I have moved back to a country place with no neighbours decided to go for it. I guess I have bought the drum equivalent of my first Chinese alto, or my first solid body electric guitar, but seems to me you get quite a lot for your money. I got the lot (less I think snare, seat and maybe hi-hat. They are in the pic but I think the pic is a bit of a fib) inc. two little toms, a floor tom and bass drum and pedal and a cymbal and stand for 260-00 quid. Only 22 quid postage to Spain too. I must buy some sticks and then I will send the wife back to her mother's and lock myself in for a few weeks.

Anyone out there play? I have not touched a drum since I was 16 when a mate's big brother was looking after a kit for someone else. My only faint claim to drum bashing is that I was in the same class at school as Steve Holly, once of Wings, and others, and played on the same bill as him at my first gig with guitar, Staines and Ashford Womens Institute Christmas Concert in about 1965. But then so did my mum.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Nick Wyver]

I've got a Yamaha kit in the loft. Does that count?

Good luck.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I have a tongue drum and various bits and pieces I like to bash now and then. I sound pretty good on the machine too.

 

[majordennis]

My grandson went to a local teacher to learn the guitar when he was 5, saw a set of drums in the corner and forgot the guitar, 3 years later and he is playing in the school band and a junior concert band, loves it.

I thought it looked easy, but the co-ordination takes a lot of patience.

 

[kernewegor]

My nine-year old son has an electronic drum kit which, due to our crazy family manoeuvres, are currently on what is to me forbidden territory at my ex-mother in law's. Now that he and my ex-wife are permanently back home I am pressing for the drum kit to be there,too, otherwise his drum lessons are a waste of money... also I want to have a bash!

We also have a bodhrán, a tjembe and some sort of ethnic tom-tom we won in a raffle at Lowender Peran years ago which is nice to play.

I am considering getting a set of bongoes...

Red McKenzie and The Mound City Blue Blowers used a suitcase, which was carefully selected by experimental kicking. Store owners thought them mad. Eddie Condon's must-read autobiography We Called it Music tells the yarn, along with many other fascinating reminiscences of a colourful period of jazz and American social history.

I have just discovered a Blue Blowers mine on youtube....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfLs-jREjpk&feature=kp

Having a bash at drumming, like fooling around on a keyboard or piano, is very helpful indeed to playing reeds, I am convinced.

When I play reeds I have always imagined drums in my head, and, depending on what sort of improvisation I'm doing, sometimes play lines which could be drum lines, often for extended periods...

 

[teebones]

I had a full set of yamaha acoustic drums in 1980,when I lived in a terraced house,unfortunately had to sell them when I moved in 1982,as acoustic kits take up a lot of space in a room.

A few weeks ago I bought Mapex drum throne(one with a backrest) and used set of Roland Electronic HD1 V drums,just the job as i can now practice when I want without disturbing the neighbours or wife,an added bonus is you can also add the drum tutor.
ROLAND DT-1 DRUM TUTOR SOFTWARE Electronic drums Modules.

The drum throne being round is better for playing the tenor sax when sitting down,as the horn don't catch or rub the side of most chairs.

Also worth a look is the Alesis SR-16 drum machine,add a Boss dual foot switch pedal FS-6 for fills and rythmn changes.

More big boys and girls toys

Tony another

 

[Colin the Bear]

Red McKenzie and The Mound City Blue Blowers used a suitcase, which was carefully selected by experimental kicking. Store owners thought them mad. Eddie Condon's must-read autobiography We Called it Music tells the yarn, along with many bother fascinating reminiscences of a colourful period of jazz and American social history.

I have just discovered a Blue Blowers mine on youtube....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfLs-jREjpk&feature=kp

Hey! Another fan.

There's lots on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mound-City-...1405266794&sr=8-2&keywords=mound+city+blowers

I have Hello Lola with Coleman Hawkins sitting in as my ring tone.

Such cheerful uplifting stuff.

 

[zelda]

I have a set of Yamaha Tour Customs sitting in the basement waiting to be played. They're a pro set but are a discontinued line now. The cymbals are thin and suited to playing jazz -not metal. I bought them a few years ago. They were a year old and in immaculate condition. I have no interest in playing the drums. I bought them thinking that if anyone dropped by and wanted to do some jamming, I'd have the drums. No one has ever dropped by to jam though. I had thought about selling them but I knew I wouldn't get what they are worth so I've decided to keep them in case a drummer ever happens by.

 

[teebones]

I have a set of Yamaha Tour Customs sitting in the basement waiting to be played. They're a pro set but are a discontinued line now. The cymbals are thin and suited to playing jazz -not metal. I bought them a few years ago. They were a year old and in immaculate condition. I have no interest in playing the drums. I bought them thinking that if anyone dropped by and wanted to do some jamming, I'd have the drums. No one has ever dropped by to jam though. I had thought about selling them but I knew I wouldn't get what they are worth so I've decided to keep them in case a drummer ever happens by.

Hi Zelda if I ever pass your way will call in and show you a few Paradiddles and Rolls 😀

 

[Colin the Bear]

I remember the paradiddle of the five rolls and two flams.

 

[kernewegor]

I had thought about selling them but I knew I wouldn't get what they are worth so I've decided to keep them in case a drummer ever happens by.

You'll know if it's a drummer knocking at your door.

It will speed up.

 

[kernewegor]

On that theme, I was at http://www.thewateringhole.co.uk/ yesterday having dinner and sinking a few pints of Rattler with my ex-wife. Being a free agent I took the opportunity to tell a drummer joke, which Pete Berryman told me years ago, to one of the barmaids...

It was about a guy who got fed up with being teased by the others in his band so he decided to become a guitarist... and he got a nice guitar but it needed new strings.

So he went into a shop and started rhyming off the specification of what strings he wants and the dude behind the bar says: "Are you a drummer?"

"Yes," says yer man, surprised.

"I thought so," says the dude "This is a fish and chip shop."

The barmaid didn't get it.

I suggested maybe she should be a drummer.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Good drummer jokes, I take them the same as blond jokes. I am not the one yet, nor the other now. I would have gone for the electronic drums, fancied them a lot, but having moved its a money thing. I can make all the noise I like now. Its been fantastic for my sax playing. Have covered more ground in the last two weeks than I have in the last three months in the flat. I like the idea of the posh throne, my drums are Mapex, I have never heard of them but it all seems ok.

 

[zelda]

Mapex is a popular brand over here. Like saxophones and guitars, there's the low end and high end stuff.

 

[kernewegor]

I enjoy good drummer jokes.

But I also enjoy and respect good drummers... and what's life without a leg-pull from time to time?

 

[altissimo]

Mapex are about the best of the budget drum kits - my mate's a drum teacher and has been playing for 40 years, so he's seen a lot of drums, but he reckons the cheapo Mapex are good.
Learning how to tune your drums will help a lot, I've seen him get good sounds out of crappy drum kits with 10 minutes work with a tuning key. There's probably plenty of advice on how to tune a drum kit if you google it
Have fun!

 

[Colin the Bear]

Drum teacher. Good one

 

[kevgermany]

Google 'drum tuning bible'. It's THE reference.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Have to start somewhere, didn't know you tuned drums though have often wondered whether you could regulate pitch in some way. I see the start of another long long journey. Why cannot things be simple, like eating. Its definitely a side show though. Yes, definitely. It is.

 

[MLoosemore]

Thought you guys might appreciate seeing my last drum kit..... 1961