New drummer, some questions

DirectionOfTheEye

I've been playing guitar for some time and just started drumming. It's come fairly well with the other experience I have, but I had a few questions. First off, sometimes if I hit the cymbols on a certain angle, it marks them. Does that matter? I mean I dont care about the marks but will it damage the sound at all? I believe your not suppose hit into a cymbal, so it would hit like a cross if you know what I mean, is that right? Are you only supposed to hit it on the top or can you hit it between those two? Also, I don't know much about tuning. I like the toms to sound low. Is that something I can tune it to do or is it something that depends on the type of kit? Also, is there a way I can get my base drum to sound deeper? Lastly, the sticks seem to get pretty dented. I figured they would but I read that may mean your hitting things wrong. Thanks for any feedback.

Jokertt14

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... =0&spell=1

CJMST3K

The marks sound unusual, unless they're relatively light. Are you using nylon tipped sticks or wood? I use nylon tipped, and they sometimes leave a light mark. Is it just from tips, or is it from the whole stick, or is it something different? I used to angle my cymbals so they would be a bit more "swiped", but now two of my crashes are fairly parallel to the ground. I've cracked practically every cymbal I've had, so I'm not sure any advice I give is best.

You can tune a little higher or lower, but it has to do with tension of both heads, and width of the drums too. I have a smaller tom as the first of them and I tried to tune it lower, and the lower it is, the deader it sounds. Tuning is something I find very difficult. YouTube has a number of tuning lessons, and they conflict with each other, so best of luck figuring it out!

For your bass drum, try loosening all the screws, then finger-tightening them all without tools. Try hitting the kick, and you can slowly make tighter if it needs it. You'll want to turn the screws only 1/8 around at a time, and tune screws across from each other until you make a circle, instead of going around in a regular circle.

It's ok for sticks to get dented. You could use Japanese Oak and they are less fragile, but I believe that will also make your cymbals more likely to crack. The little bit of "give" that your sticks have might save your cymbals.

DirectionOfTheEye wrote:

I've been playing guitar for some time and just started drumming. It's come fairly well with the other experience I have, but I had a few questions. First off, sometimes if I hit the cymbols on a certain angle, it marks them. Does that matter? I mean I dont care about the marks but will it damage the sound at all? I believe your not suppose hit into a cymbal, so it would hit like a cross if you know what I mean, is that right? Are you only supposed to hit it on the top or can you hit it between those two? Also, I don't know much about tuning. I like the toms to sound low. Is that something I can tune it to do or is it something that depends on the type of kit? Also, is there a way I can get my base drum to sound deeper? Lastly, the sticks seem to get pretty dented. I figured they would but I read that may mean your hitting things wrong. Thanks for any feedback.