Hi all.
I have always wanted to play the drums but never made the effort to start. At 47 I am going to finally do it. I purchased a DM10 X Mesh as a Christmas gift to myself (the best kind of gift) and I justified the cost as a "family" gift. My 14 year old son wants to learn as well.
I have exactly 60 minutes a day during the week and 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday to practice. I realize the commitment I need to make but that is all the time I can free up. I am not looking to join band, I just want to come home from work and play some stress a away.
I do have a question about method of learning. I have a drum instructor not too far from me and I am going to take weekly lessons from him. But I am a little worried about the guy because he is really, really against e-drums. He tells me it will take me twice as long to learn compared to analog drums. Due to sound considerations I really have to go the digital route. I really hope he is wrong but I guess I will only know by the progress I make.
I was wondering about supplementing my in person lessons with some on-line courses from somewhere but I do not know if if combing two modes of instruction will just confuse things. Also I have no idea where/what on-line lessons are good. I see Drumeo ads all over the place.. to the point they are like the AOL of drum instruction. You might have to be my age to understand the reference.. sorry If someone has any thoughts on this please let me know.
Anyways, I am very excited for this and I plan to come back to this boards to gain as much knowledge I can concerning not only my equipment bust also drumming in general.
Sean
Hi Sean,
First up, welcome! I'm sure you will find all you need here, with regards to your kit and how to use it
I like your thinking regarding the price justification too
Hopefully, your son will get the bug too!
So, with regards to learning to play and your prospective tutor. Firstly, e-Drums do have a stigma attached to them, mainly because of years of rubber pads and limited functionality. But today's mesh head kits are vastly superior to those old systems and provide an almost exact replica of a real drum head. That said, there is still a difference and depending on whether you're a purist or not, it could be viewed as an important one.
Even the latest mesh heads won't fully emulate a real drum head, nor will an e-Drum sound module. There are far too many variables involved when playing acoustic drums. However, you can get very close indeed with the right equipment. I'm surprised that he is so against them and I would disagree with his assertion that it will take twice as long to learn on e-Drums compared to acoustic. I guess it's a bit like learning to drive a car with an automatic gearbox before driving one with a manual (stick) box. Learning in a manual will teach you the finest nuances of driving using a combination of accelerator, brake, clutch, gear shift and steering wheel, using gears for braking and understanding what gear to be in depending on the road conditions. The auto car does the same in getting you from point A to point B, but with a little less emphasis on the detail.
Much of your early tutoring will be based around the snare and mastering your stick techniques, so why not take your Alesis snare and DM10 module with you to a lesson and see if you can adjust the sensitivity settings to closely match the acoustic snare you're learning on. That way, practicing will be closer to the drum you're learning on. Hell, you might even convince this guy that e-Drums aren't all that bad
As for online tuition, there is plenty to choose from. Try the demos out, see what fits. Maybe your tutor can recommend something?
I'm about the same age as you and am self-taught. I spent hours watching and listening to people like Ringo Starr, Phil Collins and many others but I cut my teeth on a Premier Royale 5-piece. I played acoustics for years, but switched up to e-Drums around 1999, mainly for the same reasons as yourself (sound, space, flexibility, MIDI integration). But I think you will be just fine with your DM10 X Mesh. e-Drums do require some adaptation from acoustics, but far less now than when I started playing, simply due to the advances in head and module technologies.
Anyway, hope that helped and the very best of luck in your drumming journey!