This is a guest post Kent Aberle who has been a mentor and friend of mine for a while – he’s also an awesome Atlanta session drummer

Merry xmas!  This time of year gives birth to many new drummers as kids all over the world walk downstairs to their first drumset under the tree.

If you are playing Santa this year and buying your child his or her first drumset, or even 2nd drumset for the teenage drummer it can be a stressful situation.  There are so many choices now at different prices.  Don’t stress!  The beauty of the many choices is that there is something for every budget.  So, the first thing to do is decide your budget.

Beginner $350-$700.  2nd kit or teenager $700 to $1100.

The beginner is usually going to need everything including drums, hardware (stands,pedal, and seat), and cymbals.  I highly recommend not spending less than $349 on a drumset with cymbals.  Anything lower than that is usually a brand that doesn’t have a history, parts, etc and the quality will be poor.  The $350 drumset usually will consist of a 5pc drumset, hardware, and cheap cymbals in 3 or 4 finishes.  The cost cutting for this kit is done on the cymbals.  They are usually a no-name cymbal that will work for a child to beat on but they have no musical value.  This kit will do well for someone of the age 10-14 yrs old started on a smaller budget.

The $699 range will include upgrades all around.  The drums are better, the hardware is better, and there is a major upgrade in cymbals.  This price range is recommended for drummers in the 13-16 year old range.  This kit will last a lifetime if it’s well maintained, and would make a great 2nd kit for any drummer for the practice space, or just jammin w/ friends.

My favorite range of drums is the $700-$1100 range.  This range is great for any drummers if the budget works and will give the drummer the most value, selection, and playability.  This range offers kits made of birch, maple, and mahogany.  There are many different configurations available as well as finishes.  Most of these kits don’t come with cymbals.  However, good sounding cymbal packs start at about $250.  If you spend $750 on the drumset w/ hardware and add the cymbal pack, you have a professional looking and sounding setup for only $1000.  This price range is even better for the 2nd kit.  If the hardware from the first drumset is still in good shape, you can purchase a shell pack and really see an upgrade in drums.  This kit will last a lifetime and is great for any drummer of any skill level of any age.

It is a great time to be a drummer either starting out or getting that step-up drumset.  When I was a kid there was either cheap stuff or really expensive stuff.  Today’s drum market has something for every budget.  Stop in to your locally owned drum shop or music store and see for yourself.

Kent just released a new drum instructional DVD “Technique and Musicality For The Weekend Warrior”, which is available for purchase on his website: www.kentaberledrums.com/the-dvd.

When we think of the drum kit, we usually think that all the drums are of the same brand and type.  This would be a good assumption!  A drummer wants to make sure that their drums have the same ‘timbre’ throughout, that even though the sizes differ, the drums tonally match regardless which size is struck.

A similar case can be made for speakers.  You could buy two different brands of speakers, similar in size, with identical specifications as far as watts per channel, impedance, sensitivity, etc.  But when you set them up as a left and right speaker in a stereo setting, they sound different.  Likewise if you mix and match brands of speakers in a surround sound environment, the sound difference can be quite pronounced between speakers.  This has a lot to do with the design of the drivers within the cabinet, the placement of the drivers within the cabinet, the construction quality of the drivers and cabinet, and the like.

The same can be said about drums.  If you have a 10” tom from brand A, say, Ludwig, and then another 10” tom from Tama, even if they have the same type of head and tuned similarly, they would tend to sound different.  Sometimes even if they’re made of the same material, such as maple or birch, they may sound different due to the different manufacturing process of each, thickness of the shell, etc.

So due to the above, for good reasons, drummers tend to stay with one brand of drums for the whole kit.  This doesn’t necessarily include specialty drums, however, such as mini timbales, roto toms, or Tama’s famous Octobans.  These have special sound properties (usually higher pitched) that give more options and melodic possibilities for drummers who want that flexibility.  However, there’s one particular drum in the set that, well, most drummers in the know would rather you ‘leave it alone’.

That drum would be the snare drum.  The title of this article, “Leave That Snare Alone!”, is actually a play on words from an instrumental by Canadian rock power trio Rush called “Leave That Thing Alone”, which I talk about extensively in a drum lesson I produced regarding the single stroke four rudiment ().  Most drummers after they’ve played for a while may gravitate towards a particular sounding snare, and actually may never part with it!  Others hold on to their first snare drum because they got used to that sound.  The rest of the kit could come and go, but the snare stays.

For the longest time, Neil Peart of Rush used one of his original snares, the brand being Slingerland, way up until the Counterparts tour (circa 1993).  He affectionately calls it his “Number One”.  He went through some kit changes through the years, both configuration and brand.   He went from Slingerland to Tama, then to Ludwig, and then for the last 13 years or so he’s been using Drum Workshop.  But his ‘Number One’ he had been using up until the last brand with all the others prior.

The thing about the snare is that it is as individual as the drummers themselves.  For those that can only afford one snare, they try to make it sound as much to their liking as possible, and stick with it.  If they ever buy or trade their drum kit, sometimes they’ll think twice about parting with their snare.

Many times, though, drummers will have multiple snares for different types of music, and these they may keep no matter what brand kit they have.  Because once you have the sound you want, you want to keep it with you.

This is why many drum companies not only will have kits with snare drum included, but will also have their own line of specialty snares to cater to the individuality of their customers.  You can go to the web sites of Tama, Drum Workshop, and Pearl, for example, to see their extensive line of specialty snares to cater to those who are looking for specific features and sounds in a snare, that they may not be getting from the brand of kit they’re currently using.

Such is the specialty of snares that there are drum companies that make only snares.  Two examples are Dunnett Classic Drums, and Longo Drums.  As you examine the product line of these drum companies, you’ll notice the various materials used to make the snares,  be it metals (titanium, brass, bronze, copper, and more) or woods (walnut, maple, cherry, oak, and more).  There is such an assortment of sound from the abundance and availability of the snare drum that you’re bound to find one (or several!) that you’ll absolutely love, and never want to part with.

As an example of one of these snares, Drum Center of Portsmouth, NH has a video on YouTube demonstrating the sound of one of the Dunnett Classic snares, the Stainless Steel 6.5×14”.  It would be a great exercise to listen to the different sounds of as many snares as possible, from as many companies as possible, to discover how versatile and varied this very important drum can sound.

I personally own two snare drums (I plan to add more!).  I have a DW Pacific FS Series 5×14” birch snare (which is part of my 5pc kit of the same make and model), natural to charcoal finish.  I also have a DW Pacific metal snare, 5×13”.  The FS Series snare is adequate and sounds pretty good, but I’ve heard better sounding snares that I would rather have; I’m not that attached to it.  My metal snare is my ‘Number One’, a gift from the Mrs.  It has a higher pitch than the FS snare, which I like because it sounds somewhat like a piccolo snare.  Not too long ago I played a drum cover to a song where I incorporated both snares.  Please check out my cover of the Yes classic “Future Times/Rejoice”, where I use the 13” metal snare on my left for the higher pitched sections of the song, and the main FS snare the rest of the time.  See if you notice the difference!

So as you can see, us drummers are very attached to our snares.  So much so that there are drum companies dedicated to just that drum.  As mentioned, taking a field trip to a music store, or a drum store if you’re lucky to have one close by, is a great idea so as to play around with all the different snares to get a feel for what sounds best to you.  Eventually, you also will become so attached to your snare that you also will be saying, “leave that snare alone!”

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After my 5 years away from playing drums I had no equipment aside from a couple of old broken drumsticks (kept because they had some sort of memory tied to them).  At the time I started to play again the economy wasn’t that bad.  However, I had just bought a new house and was preparing to get married within the next few months.  Buying a new drumset was out of the question – Even if I wanted to buy it, my wife to be would have never let me hear the end of it (and rightfully so).

I was lucky enough that a friend of mine needed a drummer desperately and he had a drumset that I could use.  As of right now, I’m still using this drumset.  Over the past few years I’ve added some of my own bits and pieces to the kit – a new splash cymbal, a new snare drum, a new double bass pedal, and some other random bits an pieces.  However, I’ve come to a point where the entry level drumset that I’m using just isn’t enough.

This has lead me to start thinking of ways to get a new drumset on the cheap.  I personally follow the belief system of Dave Ramsey when it comes to money – I don’t do debt.  I’m working as hard as I can to get rid of the debt that I had before finding Dave, and I don’t intend to add to that with a new drumset and I highly discourage any of you to go into debt just for a drumset (especially if you are new to drumming).

Here are some ways that I’ve come up with to help in getting a new (or new to me) drumset at the lowest cost possible.

1.  Barter – There are a ton of music stores that don’t have websites or have horribly designed websites in my area.  Web development is kinda my thing and I’m trying to build my portfolio anyway so offering a new website in exchange for a drumset works out twofold for me.

2. Craigslist – It’s no secret that you can find used items on craigslist.  Occasionally you run into some diamonds in the sea of low end equipment (new drummers, you may even want to look into lower end equipment).

3.  Ebay – Most drum manufacturers hate it, but you will see some great deals from actual music stores on ebay.

4.  Musicians Friend –  These guys run something called “Stupid Deal of The Day”.  Keep an eye on the RSS feed for any new drumkits that pop up at a ridiculously low price.

If you are completely new to playing drums – I recommend you sit down with a practice pad for a little bit to see if you even find it remotely exciting.  Playing on a practice pad can be very boring, so if you can find any fun in it then you will more then likely really enjoy playing a real drum (or drumset).

The most important things to remember when trying to get a new drumset for a low cost -

1.  Have cash on hand… this makes it so much easier to negotiate

2. Be patient… you aren’t going to find the best deals immediately, give it some time and you will find that irresistible offer.

Do you have any suggestions for getting a drumset on the cheap?  Let me know in the comments.