Drum Education in general

[Lukeatoopis]

Hello guys, I have been playing for a couple years now but i feel like l lack a lot of knowledge about everything drums besides playing them especially in reguards to equipment. I don't really know the parts of the drum, how to tune, what drummers are really talking about when they describe tone (warmth, dry, etc.) I was wondering, how did you guys learn this? Obviously there is the school of hard-knocks but i was hoping i could find a faster solution. Suggestions?

[rickthedrummer]

Hello guys, I have been playing for a couple years now but i feel like l lack a lot of knowledge about everything drums besides playing them especially in reguards to equipment. I don't really know the parts of the drum, how to tune, what drummers are really talking about when they describe tone (warmth, dry, etc.) I was wondering, how did you guys learn this? Obviously there is the school of hard-knocks but i was hoping i could find a faster solution. Suggestions?

If you've changed the heads on your drums, you know the parts of a drum. Tension rods, hoops, throw-offs, snares, lugs, etc. If you take care of your drums, and can do routine maintenance like clean the lugs when you change heads and check the bearing edges, you are OK.

Tuning is a personal preference, so tune to what sounds good to you.

As for all the terms, warm, dry, trashy, whatever. I've been at this for over 1/2 a century and I don't know what all that crap means, nor do I care. If someone tells me that they like the sound of my drums, that's all I care about.

[wolvie56]

YouTube, DrumChat, Yahoo, Wiki, other drum chatting sites, some common sense, picking up stuff about equipment from cruising drum retail sites. School of hard knocks. Just takes time.

[drummer]

There's literally a ton of information in this forum. A lot of members have taken it apart and broken it down, some even with diagrams that they took their time to put together. You just kinda have to sift through it. Like Wolvie said, it will take some time regardless. Check a lot of the stickied threads. Also, check out the "Drum Links" link at the top of the forum.

You could also try one of the Dummies books:

http://store.drumbum.com/skuB-78.html

[HolyChina]

after 13 years of playing it just is accumulated. I would say I learn the most when researching stuff. Learn a lot when you look up actual building you get in more depth and i bet actually building drums increase that knowledge. Its knowledge that you gain over time not in one forum thread or one youtube video.

[pastor_bob]

Lukeatoopis, don't forget the if you have tried to find an answer to something, and can't find it, you can always ask. That's what I did when I stumbled upon this site 7 years ago. The folks here have been great in sharing what they know, or in pointing you to where you need to go to find out.

We all started at the beginning, so we learned from someone else. Now we get the chance to pass it along.

[N2Bluz]

I think the Drums For Dummies book is an excellent suggestion. All the info in one place...and you could go back and reference it when needed.

[Ray on the Drums]

Stick around and read up Lukeatoopis is one suggestion.

[DrummerD]

All of the above is great advice and recommended resources for you to use.

A great resource for tuning that I'd like to throw at you is Prof.Sound's Drum Tuning Bible. It's a great resource and best of all...it's FREE!

Here's the link: https://www.resotune.com/Drum%20tuning%20bible.pdf

[dmacc]

I've been doing this for 37 years but know exactly how you feel. I remember being completely confused.

Fine suggestions already listed.

The Cymbal Book by Hugo Pinksterboer will teach you more about cymbals than you'll ever want to know.

Exposing yourself to reading the various Drum magazines will help as well.

[drummer]

Exposing yourself to reading the various Drum magazines will help as well.

Another great idea. I've learned a ton through the years from those magazines.

[porkpieguy]

A lot of really good suggestions already.

One thing to keep in mind is that some equipment has more than one name for the same piece of equipment:

High tom(s) = Rack tom(s)
Bass drum = kick drum
heads = skins (usually old skool/jazz folks refer to them as skins)
etc.

[JohnnySticks]

If there is a good local drum shop near you just go in and start talking to people. They love to chat, especially if you buy stuff now and then. If you live in Cleveland try Stebal's.

I've found that Sam Ash and Guitar Center are more variable in the quality of their sales guys so the kind of shops I'm talking about are not the chains, although you may certainly come across really knowledgeable and helpful people in those shops. Personally I've found the ones at the local GC better than the ones at the local SA.

[late8]

Drum lessons from a well qualified instructor will help too....