Beginners Guide: Drum Kit

“Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that's what we are." - Mickey Hart

Here at Liberty Park Music, we’d like to congratulate you for embarking on this musical journey to play the drums. This instrument plays an integral role in setting a song’s rhythm and mood, and is the backbone of any music band. Knowing your drums inside-out is vital to all drummers, and for those of you at beginner level, you need a starter kit to get you going. We present you with all the essentials of drums in this article series, comprehensively written by our drum instructor, Brendan Bache.

#1 Learn the terminology of the drum set

Before you begin setting up your drum kit, you should know the elements that make up the drums. This article helps you identify the essential parts of the drum, such as its anatomy and hardware, and the fundamental rhythm terms.

#2 Learn how to buy a drum kit

This article helps you choose and buy a high-quality drum kit. It talks about renowned brands and models you can choose from, introduces you to the terminology used by drum manufacturers, highlights the drum kit configurations you need to know before shopping, and mentions the drum materials best suited for a particular sound or music genre. Brendan also mentions other factors such as the shell thickness, hoops and the finish that matter when shopping for your drum kit.

#3. Learn how to select your drum heads

This article helps you choose the best drum heads for your style of play. Your choice of drum heads is as important as your choice of drum kit. Good quality drum heads can completely transform the sound of your kit. Here, you will be introduced to the plethora of options that you have in drum heads.

#4. Learn how to select your sticks

This article highlights the importance of trying out as many different sticks as possible because you need to know what kind of sticks work best for you. While trying the variety of brands, sizes, weight and tips, you will learn what particular sounds come out from these sticks.

#5 Learn how to select your cymbals (the basics)

This article helps you choose your cymbals wisely because you cannot manipulate the sounds of cymbals, once you have bought them. Because the cymbals shape the overall sound quality of the drums, take your time to consider the size, weight and brand before deciding which cymbals you are confident working with. This is a beginner’s guide and there is a separate one for intermediate/advanced drummers.

#6 Learn how to select the cymbals with different finishes

Once you are confident with the basics of cymbals, this article explains further technicalities, such as sound blending. It is crucial to understand what cymbals go together by combining the types of ‘finishes’ and ‘brilliant,’ therefore, you need to play as many different cymbals as possible to figure out what sounds go together.

#7 Learn how to tune your drums

Last but not least, you need to gain the knowledge of drum tuning. This article takes you through the process of tuning your drums to high and low pitches and removing harsh overtones through either dampening or fine tuning. It also recommends the three types of stylistic tunings, which each type caters to a different music genre.

Conclusion

We hope our starter series has given you a good base. The next step now is to establish a practice routine to build and improve your drumming skills. Learn about the elements of an effective practice session in Brendan’s practice series - Practice Guide to Become a Better Musician.