How to Put Together a Basic Drum Kit

Series Summary

The drum is the oldest known musical instrument in the history of man and its basic design has not changed in thousands of years. Far from today’s uses as a percussive foundation for pop music or for fueling marching band excitement, drumming has a more profound history as a method of communication, and the drum as an implement of religious symbolism. The drum was perhaps first created from the primal idea of mimicking the human heartbeat, yet today its music has developed into a technical, complex arrangement of beats and grooves. Different sized drums and cymbals are arranged into kits, where a drummer can pick from a variety of sounds to lead or accompany a particular song. Kit sizes vary from the simple to the outrageous.

The modern approach to drumming is to try and master the fundamentals of beat and time signature, and then to create fresh, innovative patterns and fills for each song. In this free instructional video series, learn how to play the drums as an absolute beginner. Our expert Mike Schminke shares techniques for creating a basic drum beat, adding fills, and offers tips and advice on choosing drum sticks, a kit, and finding a great drumming instructor to improve your technique.

Video Transcript

"Hey you're watching Expert Village, my name is Mike Schminke, I'm here to teach you a little bit about the drums. I myself have been playing the drums for about fourteen years now and I was in a band in the mid-west called Bli-Tribe. We had some of our music license to MTV, so that was pretty cool and now I'm in a band here in L.A. called the Bobby St. Vincent Project. You are buying your first drum set, one of the things you want to ask yourself of is, what exactly do you want in your first kit? That all goes with what kind of style you are going to be playing. For example if you are going to be playing more of a Jazz style, you can get away with having maybe one crash, a ride, your going to need a snare, high hat, maybe just one rack tom and a floor. It can be a lot more simplistic. If you're going to play rock you could get away with that simplistic set more people like a couple more drums, maybe more brass. I play more of a rock style so I have of course a snare, got a regular high hat, two different crashes, two different sizes and weights, two different sounds. Two rack toms and a floor tom and of course a ride and you're going to have one kick pedal. I choose to have a double kick so you can add a lot more things into your drumming style. That's a basic rock setup is what I use."