How to Play Drums Where You Can't Be Loud

No instrument is louder than the drums. In addition to being the loudest, the drums also take up more space than other instruments.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Drum Sets
• Drumsticks
• Old Phone Books
• Modern Drummer Subscriptions
• Old Pillows
• Drum Practice Pads
• Electronic Drum Pads

1. Purchase a simple drum pad to practice technique on. If you are a beginner, a solitary drum pad should be all you practice on anyway. Technique is vital to playing the drums well.

2. Find four or five phone books and set them around you on the floor if playing around the drum set is what you wish to do. Playing around these books will help you get around any drum set easily.

3. Use one of the many electronic drum sets available with headphone capabilities to hear actual drum sounds when you practice.

4. Get drum and cymbal practice pads for your acoustic drum set. Most drum stores carry sets of pads that also muffle sounds.

5. Employ the oldest trick in the book. Set up some pillows and bang away. Even your mother won't be disturbed by this.

Tips & Warnings

• Each of these steps is meant for players with different needs and abilities. Don't waste your time trying to deal with all of them.
• A more costly, but permanent solution is to install structural sound barriers. See NetWell Noise Control under the Related Sites.

on 8/8/2006 If you don't want your drums to have that loud echo sound, take off your drum heads, then put a few pieces
of clothes in them. Twist each lug the same number of times for an excellent sound!

Tip: Don't put clothes in your snare drum! It will only sound like a de-activated snare on a snare drum!

on 6/30/2006 If you want your bass drum to not carry so much, put a pillow against the beat head and it will sound good.

on 4/3/2006 Put crumpled newspapers or cotton in your drums to muffle them if you want to quieten them down.

on 3/21/2006 Mesh heads are an option in line with pads. They tend to be less pricey than pads (or an electric set) in my experience, have a better response (feel more like real drum heads), and even dull the sound a little more.

The biggest downside is that they take a lot more time than pads to remove, and they're not as sturdy (this is debatable).

on 2/1/2006 Why not go with a pair of digital drums? They can be used with headphones and sound great! Yamaha makes some good ones, but they can be expensive.