Easy beginner drummer questions
Meine liebe
Posts: 203
I bought a drum set about a month ago and just started playing drums. It is a Yamaha set with Remo heads on the Bass and floor tom, Evans heads on the rest of the toms and snare, and yamaha cymbals. Is it bad to mix and match like that?
After playing with my guitarist friend last night the heads looked like they had been thru war. I do play pretty hard but at the same time I didnt expect to see that much of a difference. The evans heads were brand new and now there are noticable "dents" in the heads. They still sound fine but I worry about wearing them out. Do I need to tone it down or are Evans cheap heads? How often do you need to replace heads?
Lastly, is there a website good for beginner drummers to learn shit this? Like tuning the set......I have no idea how to do that. Any help is much appreciated.
After playing with my guitarist friend last night the heads looked like they had been thru war. I do play pretty hard but at the same time I didnt expect to see that much of a difference. The evans heads were brand new and now there are noticable "dents" in the heads. They still sound fine but I worry about wearing them out. Do I need to tone it down or are Evans cheap heads? How often do you need to replace heads?
Lastly, is there a website good for beginner drummers to learn shit this? Like tuning the set......I have no idea how to do that. Any help is much appreciated.
I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.
Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
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Comments
1. If the heads are new, they're gonna get the scuff marks just about every time you hit it. If it's a "dent", I'm thinking they may be too loose. Evans are not cheap heads, so it's not a quality issue. You'd almost have to stab a drum with the stick to do some damage to it, so I doubt you're hitting it too hard.
2. Tuning the heads is more of a preference thing as far as how high/low to tune them. The head needs to be pretty tight. The guy i used to go to for lessons said he would tune the bottom head about 1/2 half step higher than the top. That's always worked for me. To tune a head, you hit the edge of the head (not very hard) on the lug that you're tuning. The head should have six bolts, so make sure you get the same pitch at each bolt. Once they're all equal and you have a pitch that you like, tune the bottom the same way, only a half step higher. See how it works out.
Other than the snare, you should use all the same heads. The reso (bottom) head is important as well.
It's not the best method, but its been working ok on my kit.
One thing to try to avoid is a "stifled" tom sound. If the drum sounds too short in duration, the head may be too tight for the size drum.
They make tension measurers for a bit of money to help tune, but from what I remember, it didn't help me much when I had one.
(sorry if I repeated any advice earlier in the thread)
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To add to CJMST3K, when tuning the drum place it on a thick carpet or maybe even your bed to isolate the head you are tuning from the other head.
As far as the heads go, it's most likely a mixture of playing too hard and having the heads too tight because it's harder to dent a loose head considering the denting would come from too much tension.