How to begin playing drums

With this article, and a lot of practice, you'll be playing drums in no time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Drum Kit
• Drum Sticks
• Place to Practice
• Patience!

1. First things first: What I did before I ever bought a drum kit was to shadow practice. What I mean by shadow practicing is that I pretended there was a drum kit in front of me and worked on the fundamentals of training my hands and legs to work in conjuntion with each other. Muscle memory is essential for drummers.

2. After you feel pretty confident that you're ready to play drums, then go out and get you a set of drums! You can find drums at such online music stores such as www.musiciansfriend.com, or you can check some pawn shops or local music stores for what you need. You're going to want to start out with a standard 5 piece set since you are a beginner. Don't rush into things. That's where a lot of upcoming drummers mess up.

3. 
   Wire Drum Brushes

   After you've got your set, find you a place to put it so that it's safe from the weather and theifs. Also, be considerate of the people around you. Try and find you a secluded place to practice so that you don't disturb those around you. If you can't find a spot like this, then find the best alternative and maybe look in to purchasing dampening rings or gels to lighten the sound. Wire brush's are another good choice for quieting the sound. The image shows what wire brushes look like.

4. 

   Nothing left to do now but, well, practice! When you first start out, you're going to have that instinct to pound as hard and fast as you can. I know I did. And the result of doing so, will have you buying new drums sticks and drum heads at a faster pace than your wallet will allow. So start out slow and get the basic drum patterns down. Make sure to hit the center of the drum head and try and build up some control. This will save you alot of money in the end. Also, don't grip your drum sticks like they're made of soap or something slippery like that. Just loosely grasp them, but tight enough so they don't fly out of your hands. By holding them tightly, you may end up with splinter's or calluses.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to practice! Practice makes perfect and you can't expect to become a professional without putting effort into it.
• Listen to some of your favorite songs and attempt to drum along with the drummer. This will help you develop different styles and get a better taste of music.
• Drums get very loud! Wear protective headphones or earplugs so you don't damage your eardrums.
• Remember to take it slow and easy so you don't destroy your set before you even get started.

[rythmdog]

on 5/13/2008 Here's a link to an explanation of how drums create sound. Notice that striking the head dead center contributes to the "thump" sound, but not the "tone" sound. That's why my (jazz) drum teacher had me strike the drum off center rather than dead center...to get more of the tone of the drum from the strike.
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/MembraneCircle/Circle.html

Also, the stroke length is the thing that determines loudness, so long wrist bend strokes will be just as loud (or louder) than all arm strokes...though not as satisfying ;)...and you won't get as tired practicing...keep those ebows away from your body...and have fun.