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Drum Set Reviews and Buying Guide:Buying a quality drum set can be a daunting process unless you are familiar with the name brands and just what each of them offers. A drum set is ususally comprised of five drums: 12" and 13" mounted toms (also known as mounted toms, tom toms, or just toms), 16" floor tom, 22" bass drum, and a 14" snare drum. 5 piece drum sets are standard while many rock and roll stars have huge drum sets with lots of extra drums. The average drum set for a beginner should cost between $200-$500. Most drum sets need to be put together which will take some time for first timers. Almost all the drum sets we found online come with detailed instructions and a drum key. A drum key is for adjusting drum hardware and for tuning drum heads. When putting a set together make sure you have shells, rims, hoops, tension rods, heads, and bass drum claws. We found an excellent site with detailed pictures and written instructions on drum sets at Drumcentral.com/infocentral.htm. They offer information on drum tuning, head replacement tips, proper playing, mounting of your cymbals, how to hold your drum sticks, and how to care for your drums.
Drum Tab (Tablature) - Drum Lessons:Tablature is a great way for aspiring young musicians to learn songs that their favorite artists perform everyday. Drum tab (much like sheet music) is popular and has sites dedicated to the sale of song tablature just for drummers. Drumtab.net offers drum tablature for all the popular groups like Metallica, Blink 182, Dave Matthews Band, Creed, Green Day, Korn, Nirvana, Limp Bizkit, Sublime, The Beatles, Santana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311, and Alice In Chains. They literally carry 1000's of artists and drum tab. You can also buy drum books and drum videos/dvds from Drumtab.net. Metallica Drum is an excellent drum book that includes: Enter Sandman - Sad But True - The Unforgiven - Don't Tread On Me - Of Wolf And Man - The God That Failed - Nothing Else Matters - and 5 more metal crunchers. A top instructional video on drumming is called Jason Bonham (son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham) and is available for $19.95 from the site as well. Actual drum lessons will cost from $40-$80 an hour depending on the level of play and the quality of instruction. The best place to start playing is perhaps the school band where you have access to a drum set and can learn for free.
Drum Hardware:If you own a set of drums or will in the future, it's a good idea to become acquainted with all the parts and pieces of a drum set since you will most likely be doing the fixing and adjusting of your drum hardware. There are things like boom stands, cymbal stands, cymbal holders, hi hat stands, snare stands, bass pedals, double pedals, thrones, adaptors/clamps, tom holders, tom stands, and drum racks. We prefer the DW drum brand for our hardware and pricing is not cheap. For a DW Boom stand you are looking at $99 and closer to $150 for a heavy duty cymbal stand from DW. The DW 7002 series double pedals run $244 while the DW 9002 series double pedals is almost $560. If you are familiar with the particular drum hardware manufacturers, then we suggest looking for used drum sets and buying parts/pieces used. We went on Ebay and found 100's of drum sets and drum hardware that was brand new (that's the case with many young drummers - they give it up after a few months) so check the used markets first before buying new.Drum Machines - Electronic Drums:Drum machines now allow musicians to play background drum tracks on songs and don't require an actual drummer to be on stage performing. Sure it takes aways from the whole "rock group" image, but for a solo artist who wants to keep their costs down, having a drum machine makes perfect sense. They cost between $150-$500 for a drum machine from recognized shops like Guitar Center. The best selling drum machines on Guitarcenter.com are the Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-880 Rhythm Machine ($499), Alesis SR-16 Stereo Drum Machine ($149.99), Boss DR-670 Dr. Rhythm Drum Machine ($279), and the Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-3 ($179). Get down to your local drum dealer and see how they work and sound for yourself. Many musicians find them to be easy to use and program. When it comes to electronic drums, we really like the Yamaha and Roland sets. The Roland TD-12S V-Stage Electronic Drum Set is a high end product ($3299) with excellent sound quality. The Yamaha DTXpress III Special Package with MS50DR ($1899) is a good mid-range drum set that includes DTXP3 module, 3-zone snare pad, 3 single-zone tom pads, 3-zone cymbal pad, dual-zone cymbal pad, single-zone cymbal pad, kick pad, real hi-hat pad, hi-hat stand, and rack system, throne and pedal. You can check out a variety of drum machine and electronic drum kits at Amazon as well (including Boss, Akai, Yamaha, etc.) -- it seems most people are comfortable shopping with Amazon, so we recommend them when possible.
Do you have a quality site or product that belongs in this guide? We are always happy to evaluate or review new products and websites. Feel free to contact us at the email address below and let us know about you. If you have a demo product you'd like us to look at, please contact us before sending anything. Thank you.
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