Do You Play An Instrument?

Alright I am new around here. My name is Quandons and I am from OTR. Now my first post on most new forums is either a welcome thread or if I stumble across a music section first it will be finding out who else is a musician.
I have been playing drums for around about 10 years so here I am to show off my kit to you guys. I recommand you guys post up any instruments you play as its always good to find others who like to play music.

Alright here is my drumkit specs.
Mapex Saturn Studio with added 8" tom. It is the Hybrid Walnut and Maple shells in the Galaxy Burst finish.
Bass Drum 22x18
Toms 8x8, 10x8, 12x9
Mounted Floor Toms 14x11, 16x13
Snare Drum 14x5.5 (Maple/Walnut).
Cymbals are all Sabians; 13" AAX Stage Hats, 10" AAX Splash, 17" HH Medium Thin Crash, 18" AAX Dark Crash, 19" AAXplosion crash, 20" AAX Metal Crash, 20" AA El Sabor Ride.

Here is a little video walk around of the drumkit.

hey m8 welcome to our forum. WOW thats a very impressive kit u have there. omg thats a lot of money u have spent any kids??? lol. nice doulbe kick. so what kind of music do u play??? u have any video u playing??? i play drums in high school. just recently bought a starter kit nothing compared to yours but one day mine will look like that lol.

Hey dinga, I started playing when I was 13 (I am now 26) and I enjoy money too much to have kids at the moment. I started off on a old brisbane based drum manufacture kit. The brand was Drouyn which hadn't been around before I started playing. I moved onto a Mapex Mars Series after that (Yes it was old hence being the Mars Series not the M series it is known as now) but I have also owned a shitty stage percussion drumkit which is in the process of being turned into a set of tables .

I don't use the doubles much as I play mainly rock music. I mainly use doubles in fills more then for beats. Currently the biggest influences in my playing are Karnivool, Birds Of Tokyo, The Butterfly Effect, The Tea Party and a few other random bands.

Don't write of your beginner kit too early, Even an entry level kit can sound nice if you spend time tuning it. Personally I would use Clear skins on all the toms with Remo Ambassadors on the Reso side and Remo Emperors on the Batter Side. Bass drum I run Remo Powerstroke 3's and the snare I run clear Remo Ambassator Snare (on the snare side) and a coated Remo Emperor on the batter side. The reason I run the skins I do is I find they give a nice tunning range and I love my drums to sing as long as possible but if you want to kill some ring either tune the Reso head up or run some Moon Gel on the batter head.

Snare drum tunning is something people turn into alot of hard work. Some people suggest tunning the Snare side skin to an A note and the batter side to a C but personally I just tune to lugs to feel. Crank it up and get an even tension in my fingers on each lug. You will get a feeling for it over time.

Cymbals is the only thing I can't stand cheap versions of.

My double kicks are another mapex item. I am unsure if mapex still make them as they are Mapex Janus double kicks and I can no longer find them on the Mapex website. They are long boards but have the ability to be turned into short boards by removing the center piece and putting another center piece in there that comes with the pedals. They are also double chained.

Dinga wrote:

any kids??? .

You just saw a video of them haha


But in seriousness, that looks a little intimidating to be fair. So many symbols (?) to hit.

I can't really follow the drum system, but i'd guess you'd be a master at rock band? You play any other instruments, im told that once you learn one instrument its easy to pick up others even if they are completely unrelated

thats only half the cymbal setup i want .

Look you are right there is alot of cymbals but it basically comes to player prefence. Each cymbal sounds different which means used at different times it will give a song a slightly different feel or at least thats how I see things. I am all for sitting down and playing a 4 piece drumkit with just 1 crash, highats and a ride but I also love having the option there to expand the feel of the music in as many ways as I can.

I do have my eye on another snare drum as well, Its about $700 (I am sure I can get it cheaper) and its a Mapex Black Panther Mayan drum. God the thing sounds awsome and looks sexy to boot.

[Edit] In regards to learning one instrument making it easier for others I could see that working if you went from say Piano to guitar or vice versa considering you would have to have the knowledge of notes it would just be a matter of learning chord locations on the 2 but I don't think starting on drums or moving onto drums another instrument would help. Basically there is no notes for us to follow just finding the beat and expanding on the beat with fills and such. Also 4 limb independance is a pain in the arse to learn (even after 10 years of playing I am still learning) so yeah it takes time.

4 limb independence sounds like some kind of Will Smith movie. What a nightmare, i can barely pat my head and rub my belly.

Who would you say are your greatest influences?

Thats a tough question. It can be taken as drummers I listen to alot and play along to and drummers that I admire for their skill.

My fav drummers of all time are as follows; Buddy Rich, Dave Weckl, Thomas Lang, Danny Carey (Tool), Josh Freese (Vandals, A Perfect Circle), Ben Hall (The Butterfly Effect), Bob Gatzen (Youtube guy, Love his lessons) oh I can't forget my drum teacher Mr Peter Sweet and I am sure there are many more.

In regards to independence a basic practice setup would be as follows.

(left foot) High Hat Chinks (raised and lowered) on the counts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
(right foot) Bass Drum on the counts 1 2 3 4
(right hand) Single strokes on the counts 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
(left hand) Left hand Flams on 1 2 & 3 4 &

man u no ur stuff. i need to learn to read music did not pay much attention in school lol. tool is one of my fav bands and danny carey is by far my fav drummer. i love music i hav seen butterfly effect and birds of tokyo last year were awesome. the aussie rock seen is starting to take off hey. another good aussie rock band cog saw them to last year prob one of the best aussie bands i hav seen very close to birds of tokyo.

yeah tool and of course perfect circle are in my top 5 too. Great bands, fantastic lyrics and wierd wierd music clips.

It's strange to think that being a muso, eve though we could sit in the same room and hear the same music, we appreciate it on different levels. Do you think thats the case?

I know as a chef I appreciate food differently to others eating the same dish. Would it be the same in music for you?

Being a drummer when I hear a band for the first time I listen to drum lines only really. Becoming a fan of the lyrics and such comes later. People consider the drummers as the stupid members of the band but just by listening to a drum line you can find out; Tempo changes, Time Signature Changes, The Feel of the song, the style of the song and so much more.

You are right about musicians seeing songs differently and such. For me I pay attention to the composition and the feel of the song. If you have listened to the new butterfly effect album the first song on that is Worlds On Fire and that song is one of the best songs they have composed over the years.

dr quondons

what would u suggest for someone like myself knows basic music skills etc manly plays by ear. i dont really have understanding of reading music. which would be the best way to go about this to learn to read music???

Look I was the same way for years. I started off with drum lessons for about a year then went to playing by ear. Last year or the year before I returned to one of my old drum teaches and after about 3 months of being back with him I started hearing music differently. There is just the little things that I do differently now and I still play alot by ear but I now know what is actually being played in the back of my head and building on that.

I would say find yourself a good teacher. Don't be afraid to try different people, Luckily in high school I had 2 drum teachers and I returned to the teacher that I felt pushed me in the right directions without trying to force me to do something but let me get it at my own pace.

Its one thing getting lessons for an instrument its another thing finding the right teacher. Just little tricks you can pick up from a great teacher will help improve your playing and in no time you will find yourself breaking down a song in a new way rather then just hearing what you think should be played.

cheers m8 thanks for the tips

Alright guys in the coming months my studio will be getting built. Once that is done I am looking at doing some video drum lessons to post up. If anybody here is interested let me know and I will arrange something so that not only full OTR members have access to it but also T/\G members as well.

I will be starting at the basics (Rudiments, Basic Beats) and moving into more advanced styles (Samba, bosa nova, double kicks) so yeah if you are interested in learning the drums let me know or if you are a drummer and trying to work out how to do something let me know as well and I will get videos done for that to.

hell yes m8. thats going to be sick. look forward to it. i have not played in few weeks just had a new bub. so keen to get bk into it. keep us posted cheers

Hey dinga if you want I can get you started on some excercises before I get my videos done. Let me know how advanced you are and we will move from there.

yea sweet m8 sounds good. when u say how far advanced i am what is it u really mean??? well 4 starters i dont know how 2 read music so thats i big down fall 4 me. very basic drum beats i am firmilar wit

Well ok you know your way around holding your drumsticks, basic limb independence, and such. I can teach you how to read drum music it is rather easy. I would recommand 2 books which is what I mainly work out of. For the very basics I would grab "Progessive Steps To Syncopation For The Modern Drummer" by Ted Reed and for the advanced stuff (where I spend most my time) grab "Rhythm Section Drumming" by Frank Corniola. Both can be ordered online from MusicTek.

https://musictek.store.net.au/shop/product_info.php?products_id=42&osCsid=1cbh3vd6rvpgtpcn2s0n4941n3
Syncopation for the Modern Drummer - Ted Reed

https://musictek.store.net.au/shop/product_info.php?products_id=32
Rhythm Section Drumming - Frank Corniola

cheers m8 thanks for that big help.

Also just so you know that basic book (the first one I sent you) will teach you all about reading notes which should cover quarter notes, 8th notes, 16th notes and prolly even triplets I havent browsed through it in a while where as the other book I know has a legend in it that will show what note on each lines means like the snare drum line, the high hat line etc etc.

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-read-drum-notation <--- that will get you started on reading drum music but remember there is no major set for drum notation so always refer to the legend in a drum book to make sure.

hey cheers Q. i have not played in about 6 weeks hav a new born baby. so i am itching to get bk on them. thxs for ur help to m8

awww

Alright I mentioned to dinga before that I would post the actual price list of my whole drum kit that I currently use. These are the prices when I ordered the kit in August 2008 when the Australian dollar was still good I will post current RRP (For items I can find it for) as well as the RRP of the time when I order and what I paid.

Starting with drums and hardware.

Mapex Saturn Studio Galaxy Burst Finish (6 Piece) - August 08 RRP $3300 - I Paid $2800 - Current RRP $4600
Mapex Saturn 8 x 8 Tom (Make my Kit 7 Piece - August 08 RRP $300 - I Paid $250 - Current RRP $500
Mapex Multi Use Stand (Double 1 Tom, 1 Cymbal) - August 08 RRP $250 - I Paid $200 - Current RRP $250
Mapex 3 Cymbal Stand - August 08 RRP $400 - I Paid $350 - Current RRP $400
Mapex Janus Double Kicks (purchased before the kit was) RRP of the time $700 - I paid $500 - Current RRP Discontinued.

Now I got 20% of all my cymbals so some maths is used here to work out the RRP of August 08.
Sabian 13" AAX Stage High Hats - August 08 RRP $562 - I Paid $469 - Current RRP $889
Sabian 10" AAX Splash - August 08 RRP $215 - I Paid $179 - Current RRP $329
Sabian 17" HH Medium Thin Crash - August 08 RRP $490 - I Paid $409 - Current RRP $575
Sabian 18" AAX Dark Crash - August 08 RRP $442 - I Paid $369 - Current RRP $669
Sabian 19" AAXplosion Crash - August 08 RRP $490 - I Paid $409 - Current RRP $629
Sabian 20" AAX Metal Crash - August 08 RRP $534 - I Paid $449 - Current RRP $625
Sabian 20" AA El Sabor Ride - August 08 RRP $490 - I Paid $409 - Current RRP $699

Total Cost from August 08 RRP = $8173
Total Cost I Paid = $6843
I Saved $1330 over RRP.
Total RRP Cost Now = $10165 (not including double kicks as they as discontinued)
I saved $3822 by buying it before the Aus Dollar went to hell.

holy shit m8 that is impressive alot of money but well worth. u hav paided for quality gear. u saved a fair bit of cash an bought at the right time.