Save up some money and get lessons. If someone tells you lessons are for losers, /ignore. I've played 10 years and let me tell you; I would be playing as if I were a 15 year drummer if I had a teacher. Get an instructor. Get SOMEONE.

On a sidenote, I'm gunne be buying this drumset soon to upgrade from my Pearl:



Will be set up very differently. (V-Rack)

This post was edited by Ghost_Smoke on Jun 25 2010 02:06pm

ew 3 rack toms

makes me cringe when i see kits like that^^

1 up 2 down looks best imo
i just like 2 up to down for sound difference


what kit is that?

Right now my kit is 2 up 2 down.

It's a ludwig. I'm saving cause my Pearl is gunna kick the bucket soon; I can feel it.

ludwig what?
what model is what i ment

It's called "Ludwig: Epic Funk"

It's a hybrid birch/maple shell. Perks are a massive kick drum with no tom holder port.

# 22" x 20" kick drum
# 10" x 7-1/2" and 12" x 8" rack toms
# 16" x 15" floor tom
# 14" x 5" snare drum
# Free 8" x 7" rack tom

22 x 20 + Ludwig hardware = 2( tone/Expensive custom case) - $$$

just get online/buy video lessons

I haven't taken a single lesson in my life. It shows if you hear me play; But in my defense, I only play for maybe an hour every week or so and I still can manage to play some relatively intricate stuff.

Dude I suck at algebra, what are you trying to say?

I happen to know where you can get a lot of free info. I myself am a death metal drummer, but most of this stuff is general information that anyone could use, particularly if you plan on playing any double bass (which most modern styles do).

Firstly check out George Kollias: drummer of Nile. Not only is he an amazing drummer but he offers a lot of free info on his website.

http://www.georgekollias.com/index2.htm

Next check Derek Roddy, his website/forum has some nice info including an endurance workout and stamina/balance exercises.

http://www.derekroddy.com/exercise_30_minute.html

Both of these guys destroy at what they do (Death Metal drumming) so check out anything from either of them on Youtube.

Then for some free video lessons: There are some samples on Youtube from Mike Johnston, I am just showing you one here out of about 4 or 5 that he has posted free of charge.



If you dig around you tube there is more good stuff like this to be had. Here's one more example of a free lesson from Vansdrumming on double bass quads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=237AQAvXtw8

In general I think you can learn plenty by yourself, but please at least buy a beginners book that teaches you proper stick technique / grip and other basic things because you really don't want to learn these things wrong right off the bat or as the other people on here have said: it will be hard to break the bad habit later.

For me though the most important revelation was George Kollias's explanation of foot technique on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA4Sq0mqU-k

Without his explanation of "Ankle motion" I would have NEVER been able to play double bass over 200BPM, and it's so simple once you figure it out, you will be doing this possibly in your first few attempts (although VERY sloppy). don't let this discourage you though, after about one year of solid practice of the ankle motion technique I was able to develop decent control and hit 830 beats in one minute on the drumometer.

Hope this helps and,
-Good Luck!