My brother-in-law wants to try his hand at drums.

[capnkid]

He's 34 and never played an intrument. What's a good way to get him started. We're going to get him a cheapy set, Pearl forum or a ludwig starter. I thought it would be good to start him off with more than one cympal though. Thoughts?

 

[JuliánFernández]

Yes... He´ll need the basics...

- Complete Drumset with a pair of Hi Hats (14"), a Crash Cymbal (16" is OK) and a Ride Cymbals (18", 20" or 22" is OK too).

For cymbals you should look for Zildjian ZBTs, Sabian B8Pro or Dream Bliss Cymbals. Pearl Forum are nice, also check Gretsch Catalina, Mapex ProM, Pacific LX... They´re all great to start.


- A Metronome (http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--KORMA30)

- A Practice Pad (http://www.percussionsource.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=220&prodid=253112)

- Decent Sticks (http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--VIC5A)

- And a GOOD teacher... And maybe that´s more important than anything else. Trust me.

HTH!

 

[firby]

I walked a friend through it. He got sabian cymbals and a Gretsch Catalina Birch set. It sounds really nice for the cash.

If he really wants to go for it you are obligated to keep him from buying a truly shitty set. Get him into something not bad but not a star classic or whatever. Later if the drums dont suck he will invest more changing out heads and cymbals.

Sucky drum sets inspire people to quit. So dont do that.

 

[ermghoti]

Get him an instructor first, he can air-drum at home and play the kit during lessons, if need be. After that, buy used. For the price of an entry kit and sheet cymbals, you can get near-pro tp pro stuff used (ie 4 or 5 piece and four to five cymbals with hardware for $1-1.5k).