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Bill Powelson's School of Drums

* BASIC-BASICS: Parts of the Drum Set *

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*** BASIC BASICS ***

This is special for the very young students who may never have seen, nor sat behind a real drumset . . .

DRUM SET DESCRIPTIONS:

BASS DRUM:  This is the BIG drum on the floor, in the middle.  It has a pedal attached.  You will place your right foot on that pedal.  It has the deepest tone of all the drums in the kit. (BD)

SNARE DRUM:  This is the small drum on a stand by itself.  It has wires underneath it called 'snares'.  Those wires may be made of wire, or they may be made of nylon.  The 'snares' (or wires) give the Snare drum its snappy sound.  The Snare is the central most drum in the kit and it will sit between your legs.  You will play on top of it with either hand or sometimes both hands . . . depending on the rhythm you are executing. (S)

HI-HAT:   The hi-hat normally sits to the left of the Snare drum.  It looks sorta like a hat.  You will see two smaller cymbals that clap together by means of a foot pedal on a high stand.  Your left foot would go on the footboard.  You will see that you can work the pedal and make the top cymbal 'clap' or 'connect' with the lower cymbal.  It makes sort of a 'chic' or 'clang' sound when you clap the two cymbals together.

We normally play on top of the hi-hat with our right hand . . .  while the two cymbals are closed together.   Most (many) of the beats in my course will have you playing on top of a closed hi-hat with your right hand. Drummers tend to play on top of a closed hi-hat . . . when the singer of the band is singing.  It helps us to play quieter!  Singers usually don't like too much noise coming from  the drummer during the softer parts of a song . . .(HH)

RIDE CYMBAL:  This is usually the biggest and thickest cymbal in the drum set.  It may be from 18" to 24" (inches) in diameter.  We sometimes move our right hand over to this cymbal when we want to play louder . . . like when the singer has stopped singing and as the louder (guitar & other) instruments are playing.  We play our beats pretty much the same as if we were on the hi-hat . . . but  by moving the right hand over to the 'Ride Cymbal', we will discover a variety of tonal changes that tend to fill up the music and create a little more excitement as the band plays. (Ride, or C)

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Tom Toms:    Toms may range in size from 6" to 18" (inches) in diameter and the may also come in many depths, ranging from 3" to 16" (inches.)  Usually, the larger a tom tom is . . . the deeper its tone will be.  So, we arrange our toms in a clockwise (circle) fashion around the kit.  The largest tom (Floor Tom) will be on our far right and all the smaller toms will be arranged in order according to size . . . leading around to the floor tom. (T1, 2, 3, etc.)

FLOOR TOM:  The Floor Tom is an abnormally large Tom Tom and it usually has legs on it.  It stands (or sits) on its own legs.  It usually isn't attached to the bass drum as some of the smaller tom toms may be. (FT)

CRASH CYMBALS:   Crash Cymbals may range  in size from 4" or 5" inches up to 18" in diameter.  They come in all sorts of weights and thicknesses.  We use them as punctuation in the music . . . crashing occasionally to 'emphasize' certain parts of the music that needs special accents or kicks.

Crash cymbals are usually placed on adjustable stands by themselves but every drum set manufacturer may try to come up with many, many different types of stands to make their drum sets seem better than drum sets made by the competition. (Crash)

There is no specific size or number of drums that make up a complete drum set.  You may have as many tom toms or cymbals as you wish.  Some drummers may use two bass drums.  We all like to try to be different.  The more drums we have, the more tonal variations we have to choose from as we play.  More is better . . . if you have the money . . .

BUT,
For learning purposes . . . we can get by with just a Bass, Snare and maybe one cymbal.  This would be the absolute MOST basic drum set.  Usually it is best if we can start out on a set with two or three Tom-toms, a Hi-hat, Ride Cymbal, a Crash and (of course) a Bass drum.

Now . . . go to the following URLs . . . (lessons.)

The following lessons will get more into detail about when and what you should buy, plus how to assemble and tune them, once you have them at home.

But BEFORE you get all crazy, buying drums and spending unnecessary money . . . LISTEN UP!

Do you have an aptitude for drumming?
Can and will you study?

Then prove it right now! I'll have you playing and jamming along with over 100 million songs in as little as 30 minutes, IF you have the aptitude, and if you have what it takes. I'LL TEACH YOU NOW, AT NO COST! No drums or sticks necessary! Start playing RIGHT NOW! I'll explain how to overcome the dilemma of having NO DRUMS, as we go! Start learning to play . . . right now! THEN BUY DRUMS!

So . . . Do it! Prove to yourself that you have what it takes, right now. Start here and don't stop until you are jamming with every song on the radio! (It will take approximately 30 minutes or less.)

You can begin without dropping a penny!

MANY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN ASKING THIS NEXT QUESTION:

Can the new inexpensive drum pads for X-BOX, Wii, DRUM HERO, etc., be used for turning your gaming skills into real talent?
The answer is YES! E-mail me Click here. See 'About' Get my e-mail address, drop me a note, and ask. I'll help you get it done!

THEN, AND ONLY THEN WILL BE THE TIME BE RIGHT, TO BUY AN EXPENSIVE DRUMSET!

Don't be a fool.

Learn first! Buy later, . . . once you KNOW you have talent!

DRUMS: WHEN TO BUY.

DRUMS: HOW & WHAT TO BUY . . .

HOW TO ASSEMBLE A DRUM SET . . .

HOW TO TUNE YOUR DRUMS . . .

By the time you have completed the above four lessons, you will know exactly what all the drums look like, where they should be placed and what they should sound like.

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Speaking of soul, how's yours?
I'll offer you mine if you'll click here!

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International copyright secured @ Bill Powelson 1994 all rights reserved.