Warm Machine said:
Get a digital drum set. My brother got a very nice Yamaha set.
Best thing about digital is that...you can line in to your PC and record it perfectly. You don't have to piss off your neighbors with the noise as you can use headphones and later on you can use the same stands to support a regular set of drums.
I can't stand digital drum sets.
I've been playing drums for a band (Invisible Fireworks) for 7 years, so listen up;
Tip#1
Observe, observe, observe. Always try to emulate what other good drummers are playing. For instance, when you hear a Tool song on the radio or Steve Smith drumming away in a jazz radio station, be critical of what he/she is doing. Feed your mind and articulate in your mind the drumming; Drumming to me is 80% mind and 20% physical. This is high high HIGH priority. Be mentally critical about drumming, notice time signature changes, triplets over duple counts, be critical of odd-metered time signatures like 7/8 (for instance "Cinematic Orchestra - Flite" is 7/8 meter just as "Pink Floyd - money" is 7/8 and the chorus for "Bjork - Joga" is 5/4. Understand the when the strongest downbeat occurs and develop your mind rigorously like this so you can treat 4/4, 6/8 and 3/4 like you pwn them.
Tip#2
Pacific sets are perfect for intermidiate level drummers. There is a low-cost all maple kit from Pacific (i don't know model) that sounds really friggen nice (I've played it) that I seriously recommend. LEARN HOW TO TUNE YOUR DRUMS. I had a Premier Olympic (sucks arse big time) made out of only basswood and in the studio I made it sound like a $1,000 drum set simply because I tuned them absolutely perfect. Everyone that hears the recording thinks its some DW or something. For LIVE, its important that your drums are well-tuned, especially if they are micing up your toms going to a compressor in the mixing board. Tuned drums LIVE are always so naturally pleasant to the ears, whatever style of music.
Tip#3
Buy videos, dvd's of drummers like Dave Weckl and watch them play so you can develop mental ideas about what they play. Hearing what drummers play on the radio is important, but the visual aspect plays a big role as well. Watch how they take full control of their set and make it respond to whatever their mind desires.
Tip#4
If you practice, I recommend practicing singles and doubles. singles are L,R,L,R,L,R... doubles are LL,RR,LL,RR,LL,RR and also practice para diddles L,R,L,L,R,L,R,R,L,R,L,L,R,L,R,R... and ALWAYS WARM UP before playing a show or doing rehearsal with your band. Not warming up causes stiffness and lack of flexibility, so, your mind registers a fill but you are physically incapable of carrying it out.
Tip#5
Practice beats with a metronome. I've gotten paid by musicians that want the drum tracks to be done fast, because unfortunately, not many drummers can play to a click track therefore take long in recording sessions, therefore $$$ affects them.
Go to pure volume and type Invisible Fireworks in case you want to hear my band.
Peace
