Drumming is an art that anyone can learn, its a fun way of taking out stress, showing off at parties and in some cases you can make money (get in a band), Drumming is good for your fitness and hand-eye co-ordination. This article is about The drum kit.
Drum kit
To be a drummer the most obvious thing you need is a drum kit, however if you do not have one do not worry, pots and pans will do fine. You can get a drum kit from any good music shop, you can get a cheep 5 piece drum kit for about £150 second hand. a drum kit consists of Three levels of kit.
Lower Kit
The lower level of a drum kit consists of pedals which are used by your feet. A standard 5 piece kit has two pedals, a bass pedal and a hi-hat pedal. The bass pedal hits the bass drum, or kick drum as it is also known to give a fat bass sound. The Hi-hat pedal controls the hi-hat cymbal on the middle kit.
Middle Kit
The middle part of the kit on a standard 5 piece kit consists of a hi-hat, snare and three Tom-toms. The Hi-hat is made from two cybals, one on top of the other which can be opened and closed using the hi-hat pedal (lower kit). When hit with a stick it gives a trashy sound or a short tapping sound depending on if it is open of closed. The Snare is a drum which has small spirals of wire on the bottom called Snares which gives this drum a shaky sound. The tom-toms (toms for short) are just standard drums that are different in pitch, used to give flavor to your drumming.
Higher Kit
The higher kit consists of cymbals, their are many types of cymbal, i am going to give you a list of a few that are common and you will most use in your drumming career. a 5 piece kit has one crash cymbal and one ride cymbal. The Crash is used to tell other musicians that you may be playing with the start of new 'bars' and changes in a song, it adds flavor to the drumming as well. The Ride is a large cymbal that is used like the hi-hat to keep timing, you literally 'ride' on the cymbal.
Thats the parts of a kit, now its up to you to find a kit, like i said before a cheep second hand 5 piece kit is about £150. From then on there are many books and CD's on how to drum and you may be able to find a drum teacher in your area. Good luck!
