Practice Pad and Practice Pad Stand. It is not necessary to buy a snare drum or drumset right away.
The basic skills can be learned using a
Practice Pad and
Stand. I recommend an 8" or 10" Remo practice pad which costs about $22.00. I was able to purchase a Stagg practice
pad stand at
Chuck Levin's for $23.00. Music and Arts Center sells a REMO practice pad stand for $29.95 Similar stands are probably available
at Dale City Music or Guitar Center.
Drumsticks. The size of drumsticks beginning students should buy depends on the size of their
hands and the type of playing they will do. I generally recommend that students purchase 2B wood tip drumsticks for learning the snare drum but any similar drumstick is really okay. For drumset playing, I usually recommend
5B nylon tip drumsticks. If you are going to be playing drumset, you will probably want both sizes---one to use for
snare drum playing and the thinner 5B sticks for drumset playing. Drumsticks cost about $10.00 a pair.
Finally, you will need to purchase the CD and book
A Fresh Approach to the Snare Drum by Mark Wessell. Total cost for a practice pad, practice pad stand, drumsticks, and CD and method book comes to about
$80.00. This is the basic equipment you need to get started in drumming.
Student Snare Drum and Snare Drum Top Practice Pad. If you want to have a snare drum right
away, it may be best to rent, especially if you plan to buy a drumset at some point. A snare drum will come as
part of the drumset, so many students go from renting a snare drum to buying a drumset.
Dale City Music rents snare drums with stand for $15.00 a month. Music and Arts Center will rent you a snare
drum for $18.00 for three months, then it's $18.00 a month after that. Some rental kits also come with sticks and a
practice pad.
To buy a student snare drum at a local music store will cost about $100. I was able to purchase a
new Pacifica student snare drum at Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center for $75.00. You will also need a snare drum stand, which will probably cost about $30.00.
Along with the snare drum, I recommend a 6" or 12" Vic Firth Double Sided Practice Pad or the Vic Firth Heavy Hitter Heavy Hitter Exacto Pad. The student can place the pad on top of the snare drum for relatively quiet practice. These are available
in most local music stores and cost about $25.00. Some stores also sell a Drum Pack Starter Kit that includes a 6" Vic Firth double sided practice pad with sticks. If possible, try to get a pack that comes with 5B or
thicker size drumsticks.
Snare Drum and Bells Percussion Kit. If the student will be playing in the school band, he or she should learn
to play a melodic percussion instrument as well. Music and Arts Center rents a
bells snare drum combination for $18.00 a month (the first three months are only $18.00 total). I teach both together so this works out well. This
will prepare your student to play bells, xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone.
Complete Drum Set. The best way to learn to play a drumset is to first learn to play
the snare drum. Everything a student learns on the snare drum is necessary to play a drumset. But if you want
to buy a drumset right away, I recommend a Pearl Forum. This is an entry level student drumset but of good quality. Also, if you decide to sell the drumset at some point,
you should be able to get a relatively good re-sale value compared to cheaper brands. TAMA and DW also make quality
student drumsets in this price range.
Method Books. The snare drum method book I use with beginning students is Mark Wessell's
Fresh Approach to the Snare Drum book and accompanyment CD. You will probably need to purchase the book and accompanyment CDs on-line as it is not usually available through
local music stores. (Note: when you go to this link, make sure you scroll down and order the book and accompanyment
2 CD set.) If you want, you can also order the instructional CD-ROM that you can watch on your PC or Macintosh computer.
For Very Young Drummers (Ages 4 - 8). I recommend that very young students start out with a snare drum,
practice pad and (if they plan to go into school band) a bell set. If a young student really wants to play drumset, there
are junior size drum kits available but are difficult to find and you want to avoid department store brands that are
really just toys.
To get a good quality junior size drumset, I strongly recommend that you make the trip to
Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. This is a mega drum store and they will either have some junior size kits in stock or can order one for you.
The last time I checked, they had a Ludwig Accent Combo set with a 18" bass drum, Zildjian Z cymbals and throne for $425.
They also had a Gretch Nighthawk kit with 20" bassdrum, stamped brass cymbals and throne for $349. They are very knowledgeable
there and will be able to outfit a smaller size student with a kit that will fit him or her well.
The instructional books that I use for very young students are the
Kid's Drum Course book and CD (Alfred Publishing item #
0-23182) and the
Kid's Drumset Course book and CD (Alfred Publishing item #0-24406). Be sure to talk to me about which of these two books you should get. Both these
books are available at local music stores or can be ordered on-line.
There are also some smaller size drum sticks available for very young students, for example, the
Vic Firth SD1 Jr. Again, these are not sold locally (except perhaps at Chuck Levin's) but can be ordered online. If you can't get
the smaller size Jr sticks, just get regular size SD1 or other sticks of similar thickness.
