[Old_Salt]

I have been a metalhead for as long as I can remember.
First taste of metal was Metallica when someone gave me a cassette in early 90s of “And Justice for all” when I was in my teens. Next I was introduced to Dreamtheater and their album “Images and Words” in 1992. Have been a fan ever since and still can’t believe how a band can write such music when I listen to “Liquid Tension Experiment “.

Fast forward all these years, the spectrum of artists has been ever increasing with Rafi Saab on one side and Slipknot on the other.

For the past one year my 6 year old started showing quite an interest in some particular songs whenever they were played in the car. Three tracks particularly were asked to be played repeatedly. Nightmare and Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold, along with Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. The drumming on all these tracks is beyond words. We guessed he had an inkling for drums.

Slowly introduced him to some drum videos on YouTube and he soon developed a liking for his namesake,The Professor (Neil Peart).

2 months ago enrolled him for drum classes and bought sticks and practice pad to start with.



After he completed around 10 classes and showed some progress, we finally in consultation with the teacher decided to buy him his first kit.

Practise on the teachers kit




There is a plethora of cheap Chinese kits around 20-25k available in the market advertised as starter kits.

Made some trips to Daryaganj including Bhargava’s. The kits look quite okay until you pick them up and compare with better kits. The difference in weight of the shell, the quality of fittings and even the screws can be easily felt.

I finally shortlisted two kits. Pearl Export (Shell-pack) and TAMA Stagestar. Both were from reputed brands.
Lars Ulrich from Metallica plays on TAMA.
Pearl is also used by quite a few drummers. In fact attended a concert in Delhi this week by a prog rock Aussie band called Karnivool and the drummer was playing on a Pearl kit.

Karnivool in Delhi on 05th June, Ian Kenny sings for Karnivool and Birds of Tokyo.


Finally made the purchase from Raj Musicals and picked up TAMA stagestar in sea blue mist. The kit was being supplied with all accessories/ hardware like drum pedal, snare stand, hi hat, and cymbals.

As luck would have had it, the drum teacher met with a small accident and I was left alone to assemble and tune the kit.
Assembling the kit took me almost one hour. Although I have never played the drums, but can surely identify the sounds. Did my level best to tune them and the kit is now ready, sans the muffling.



The kid is now hitting the drums hard and keeping the neighbours on their phone.
To top it all he got me to order an Avenged Sevenfold Tee for himself.

[PetrolHead2272]

Excellent!

Always great to see kids falling in love with heavy rock and metal. I myself started drumming at the age of 8, its been almost ten years and I still look back at my drum set and smile. Back in 4th grade, everyone requested our music teacher to play something for us on the drums and jeez when he played my mouth was wide open with awe. I just knew from that moment onwards that I need to learn drums. Following day I came back home and told my parents to enrol me in drum classes and they did. 8 years later, at 17 years old I am a Trinity grade 8 drummer.

The kit you've bought was in top consideration until I decided to go for the Mapex Tornado which I feel is easier to work around for a beginner. My two cents for the boy would be to practise maintaining beats at a fixed tempo and keep improvising without changing the set tempo. Tempo is the backbone of playing drums as when someone plays drums in a band, every single band member from vocalists to guitarists rely on the drummers rhythm.

After mastering tempo maintenance, everything else is a cakewalk. One song (altho grade 8 song) I'd recommend him to learn straightaway would be Rosanna by TOTO. Marvellous song, but quite tricky to play.

[Old_Salt]

Thanks a lot for your encouraging words, tips and recommendations. Great to know you are a Trinity trained drummer. Request your guidance in knowing more about enrolment at Trinity and which programme to choose.

Would love to see you play the drums. If you have created some work please post it for the benefit of the forum members and connoisseurs like me.

[GTO]

This is awesome! You are gifting your son with a love, skill & passion for life. Music moves the soul. I used to play the acoustic guitar back in the college days. Dropped it after graduation, but the music addiction stays till date. 75% of my waking hours are spent with music in the background.

Your thread is on our homepage today

This afternoon, you & your son should watch "That Thing You Do" on Prime Video. Perfect Sunday movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o40za1wAlI

And once he is older, Whiplash (its not for a 6-year old, a very dark film):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo

[GForceEnjoyer]

Your son having channeled his passion for music down to a specific instrument already is a feat in itself. You supporting him with his passion is the icing atop the cake! Wishing your son a fantastic, enjoyable and successful journey in music.

As suggested above, practice on a metronome and mastering the rudiments (quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenths, single and double stroke rolls, paradiddles and paradiddle-diddles) would help him greatly with advancing further in the future.

As a drummer of 10 years and a metalhead, Metallica, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and Dragonforce fan myself, your thread made me extremely happy. All the best to your son as well as yourself.

[sanjayrozario]

So, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Nice of you to allow your child to follow his passion. Even nicer, as a fellow metalhead, to see a child enjoy rock, metal, etc.

[Sensible_Speed]

Awesome to see you introduce your kid to one of the best forms of music. Seeing he is into drumming so much, I'd suggest you get him to listen to some pioneers of the genre, like Mitch Mitchell, Bill Ward, Keith Moon and John Bonham. I feel these artists left a truly awe inspiring impression of drumming in a genre dominated by guitar work.

Personally, I started listening to heavy rock and metal at about the same age, starting out with Black Sabbath. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to music than this!

[sanjaykk]

Thanks for this thread.

In the same boat. My son, 15yrs, is into drums and has been learning for more than a year. The instructor has suggested to buy a drum set for him. But he is suggesting a electric one (to keep the sound under control).

Any thoughts on acoustic vs electric drum set? I have no knowledge about music and musical instruments. Hence finding it difficult to make a decision.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Any thoughts on acoustic vs electric drum set? I have no knowledge about music and musical instruments. Hence finding it difficult to make a decision.

I've played extensively on both, so I can help you out. If you live in an apartment building, your neighbours (upstairs, downstairs, on the same floor, the next building over, you get the idea) will despise you for having an acoustic set, simply because of how loud they are.

The supposed price advantage may seem tempting but soon you'll notice the shoddy construction, terrible sound and lack of tuning potential in the cheapest sets (speaking from experience with my school kit).

Hence, I'd recommend that you go with a starter electric kit with a pair of good headphones. It's much quieter even when hitting hard (something one get used to in order to play live, which is damagingly loud in an enclosed space even with the best acoustic sets). Additionally, they come with many sound samples that you can toggle between. So you can switch the sounds of your kit for playing different types of music. Higher end models even let you extensively tune said sounds, just like an acoustic set, while mesh drum heads get very close in terms of feel.

If your son is really passionate and is thoroughly enjoying learning the drums, I'd recommend that you go ahead with something like the Alesis Nitro, an electric set that is pretty good value for money.

If you want other options or more specific details, feel free to ask or pm me anytime.

[jomson13]

Originally Posted by Old_Salt

The kid is now hitting the drums hard and keeping the neighbours on their phone.
To top it all he got me to order an Avenged Sevenfold Tee for himself.

Great going sir, getting kids to start off young is the best. Keep motivating him and he will make you proud.

Good to see a lot of drummers here.
I'm one myself but am woefully out of practice.
I gifted myself a Mapex Tornado in 2009, the kit is still going on strong. I'm amazed at the quality of the kit. A new cymbal kit and better drum heads and it will be as good as new!

Originally Posted by GForceEnjoyer

I've played extensively on both, so I can help you out.

I haven't played on the electronic set much but for whatever little time I did, I didn't enjoy it on bit. The vibrations are the biggest miss for me and the rebound on the electric kit that I played was a bit too much.

I do agree with you on the feasibility of the electronic kit in an apartment set up. The place where I learnt, my teacher had cases filed against him by his neighbours!

[Old_Salt]

Originally Posted by GTO

This is awesome! You are gifting your son with a love, skill & passion for life. Music moves the soul. I used to play the acoustic guitar back in the college days. Dropped it after graduation, but the music addiction stays till date. 75% of my waking hours are spent with music in the background.

Your thread is on our homepage today

This afternoon, you & your son should watch "That Thing You Do" on Prime Video. Perfect Sunday movie.

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I too spend a lot of time listening however now in my 40s, one thing I really regret is not pushing myself to learn a musical instrument. With the drum kit at home surely will find a better way to spend my 6 months of leave every year.

Originally Posted by GForceEnjoyer

Your son having channeled his passion for music down to a specific instrument already is a feat in itself. You supporting him with his passion is the icing atop the cake! Wishing your son a fantastic, enjoyable and successful journey in music.

As suggested above, practice on a metronome and mastering the rudiments (quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenths, single and double stroke rolls, paradiddles and paradiddle-diddles) would help him greatly with advancing further in the future.

As a drummer of 10 years and a metalhead, Metallica, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and Dragonforce fan myself, your thread made me extremely happy. All the best to your son as well as yourself.

Thank you Sir, he has already started on the notes and practising on a metronome.

Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

Awesome to see you introduce your kid to one of the best forms of music. Seeing he is into drumming so much, I'd suggest you get him to listen to some pioneers of the genre, like Mitch Mitchell, Bill Ward, Keith Moon and John Bonham. I feel these artists left a truly awe inspiring impression of drumming in a genre dominated by guitar work.

Personally, I started listening to heavy rock and metal at about the same age, starting out with Black Sabbath. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to music than this!

Absolutely, I am a Black Sabbath fan myself but the work of John Bonham and Led Zepplin is a different league. To be a rock and not to roll.