< Parent's Guide to Drum >
(The Drum Exchange's Guide To Buy A Beginner Drumset)

By Ed Hartman
(c) 2001 By Ed Hartman. All rights reserved.

The recommended Sunlite 509D Drumset with cymbals ($695.00) is shown below. (SEE ATTACHED PHOTO Click Here)

O.K., you have a kid who wants to play the drums! What to do? As a drum teacher (40 students/week), I can give you some ideas about how to help your child get into drumming, without spending a fortune. By being both a teacher and drum store owner, I have a unique, and, I think, reasonable way to get involved in drumming. Inevitably, the first question is:

• What if my child doesn't stick with it?
  The answer is simple. Make sure your kid is taking lessons-private lessons with a GREAT teacher. If you need help in finding a teacher (colleges, music stores, musician's union), we can email information. 99% of my students stay with drums throughout Jr High and High School, because they have a great foundation. 5-7 years of lessons is not unusual. The school band doesn't teach kids HOW to play, but gives them experience playing. It's similar to sports. Playing on a team doesn't teach you the skills, but is certainly the motivation. Also, in Junior High, most students start in Concert Band. This is classical and marching music played on snare drum, bass drum, cymbals and traps (triangle, etc.). That is NOT a drumset. Drumming on a set means playing jazz and rock styles in a JAZZ BAND or a small combo (Garage Band, Jazz Quartet, etc.)
  
  Bottom line: If your kid is taking private lessons AND involved in Concert Band, and then ideally Jazz Band (A.K.A. "Stage Band") in school, then the chances of him/her staying with it go to 99%. Even if they don't become Buddy Rich, they will get a truly unique experience with music. Combining drums (rhythm) with keyboard training, you can learn ANY instrument. Remember, drumset playing can be very difficult-especially in jazz. Four limbs are playing at once. How often have you used ALL your hands and feet, at the same time, doing DIFFERENT things!!!

• Do I start with a snare drum kit (snare, stand, pad, sticks, bag) or a full set?
  That's a question of whether the STUDENT is interested in playing just in Concert Band, or also jazz and rock-(again, requiring a full set) From the budget angle, a snare kit runs $150-400.00, a drumset (that includes a snare and stand) $495.00 and up ($695.00 with cymbals). When I meet with students, in a FREE info session, I go through what drumset playing is all about, and why you need all of these instruments to play certain styles of music. The music requires it. I figure, if a student can sit there an listen to me talk to them about drumming for 1/2 hour, and then commit to lessons for 3 months, then that's a great sign of maturity.

• What if we want to sell the set? Does the value drop?
  Right now, YOU are looking for a cheap set. New OR used, your going to spend $300-500.00 minimum (unless Uncle Bob has one in the basement). If you resell the set through your local classifieds for $300, and your kid has used it for awhile (a year), then your "rental" of the set is very low. I do not recommend spending over $1000 to buy a drumset for a beginner, new or used , because it is very hard to sell expensive sets (depreciation/low customer demand). You will still probably only get $300 for an expensive set! A store will pay 1/4 on the dollar (retail) for a used set, because a store knows that the next customer will pay around 1/2 the price for new. The store needs to make money, too. The value does drop, but if you spend low to begin with, your loss is minimal.

• Do we need a set to start lessons?
  I used to say, no. A pad and sticks is minimum. But, more often now, I figure the family is going to spend more money on lessons than equipment, and with that kind of investment, having a full set to practice on is important, if not required. Playing on pillows or boxes really isn't very fun, either. Imagine learning the flute, by blowing pop bottles! And, if your student was learning piano, wouldn't you get them a piano. (I know, a piano is "nice" to listen to. You can always muffle the drums with cloth OVER the drum heads, and build a nice area in the house to practice.) If the student is going to take this seriously, then so does the family. I've honestly seen parents sabotage students music education, because they really didn't want the student to play music. Heaven forbid we have a drummer in the family!

• What makes a drumset good or bad?
  For a beginner, anything is fine. Expensive drumsets are for better players that will make use of the quality (hopefully!). Better quality woods are used for the shells (maple or birch). The hardware is heavier duty, and the cymbals are professional (and very expensive-think $300+ PER cymbal@!!!) Let me put it this way-I wouldn't mind playing a professional gig on the Sunlite sets, below (with pro cymbals)-I'm not kidding. They sound great. That's what Asian manufacturing gets us these days. Until you want to spend $2000-5000 for a drumset, they all sound about the same! High quality drums are for high quality players-you've got to earn them. Used sets can have great quality shells, but older sets had cheesy made for lighter playing hardware. Believe me, you don't want to have to find repair parts for older drums. Hardware has improved, bigtime.

 

• Should we buy one piece at a time ("a la carte")?
  Yes, if you want to spend ten times the money! Drumsets are priced as sets. Finding matching shells, cymbals or hardware, later can be tricky and very expensive. You buy a car all at once, right?

 

• So what's a parent to do?
  1) Find a private teacher in your area, and set up a information session/interview. Make sure the teacher has great training on both classical snare technique (Music degree) AND drumset. Make sure the teacher shows you and your child the curriculum, and all of the books they use. (I start with one book, and within a year, students use 5-7 different books!) Move to Seattle if you want to study with me!
  
  2) Hey, you've made it this far-time to get drums! Check out the papers for cheap sets-beware of older hardware, broken shells, missing parts, and animal stains!!!
  
  3) Get a set from us!
  (See attached photo of 509D with cymbals Click Here)

  OR

  509D Sunlite 5pc Set
  List: $695.00 SALE Price: $495.00 ( Drums/hardware only) The most inexpensive beginner or starter set. Reasonable sound. Lightweight hardware. You can put "practice cymbals" on the stands (try pie plates). Comes with: (12", 13" rack toms, 16" floor tom, 22" bass drum, 14" snare drum), tom mounts, hi-hat pedal, bd pedal, one cymbal stand, pair of sticks.

509D Sunlite with Camber Cymbals (ride/crash/hh)
List: $895.00 SALE Price: $695.00 All of the above, plus, we add an additional FREE cymbal stand (for the crash cymbal) AND throne. Completely ready to go.
COLORS: BLACK, WHITE, BLUE, RED, WINE RED, GREEN AS AVAILABLE. Please give us your first, second and third choices.

• If you are interested in something a bit better...
  1) Challenge Set List: $795.00 SALE Price: $595.00 (Drums/hardware only) Same as the 509D, but has a much better snare (8 lugs), 9 ply shells, REMO heads, high quality double braced hardware, tear-drop advanced tuning lugs. This is my personal favorite.
  
  2) Challenge Set with Cymbal Package List: $995.00 SALE Price: $795.00 With Camber Cymbals, extra cymbal stand, and throne.

• NOTE:
  Prices do not include shipping ($25-50), and WA State sales tax (9%) for WA State residents only. Prices can change without notice. Please contact us for latest pricing, availability, order /shipping time. Generally, a drumset can be sent out within two weeks. The Sunlite beginner sets are usually available immediately.
  
  There are more Sunlite sets, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. If you REALLY want to spend more money, let us know, and we'll email you the full catalogue-that's when buying USED is a great idea. Consider the above for now, and let us know if you are interested. If you are, we will email an order form. Please feel free to ask questions....Good luck, and I hope we've helped!

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Email: edrums@aol.com

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Ed Hartman
Email: edrums@aol.com
(c) 2001 Ed Hartman. All rights reserved.