Are electronic drums good to learn on? I am wanting to learn the drums (aged 23 late starter I know) and thought maybe an electronic set would be good as they'd be quiet so I don't annoy the hell out of my housemates and thought it would be cool to have different sounds on them. I also like the way you can plug in your mp3 some claim to play along easily to your favourite tracks.
Any advice from you experinced people would be very much appreciated.

Nic

The only aspect mising from electronics is a real rebound
The closest thing to real drums in the electronic world are kits with mesh heads like the Roland V-Drums
However, they still do not respond in a truly acoustic sense, so there are still some subtleties that you will no be able to learn
But, then again, who says you have to follow any rules
As long as you progress, it doesn't matter if you play a real kit or not








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You say irritant, I say catalyst

i_love_freefall wrote:

Are electronic drums good to learn on? I am wanting to learn the drums (aged 23 late starter I know) and thought maybe an electronic set would be good as they'd be quiet so I don't annoy the hell out of my housemates and thought it would be cool to have different sounds on them. I also like the way you can plug in your mp3 some claim to play along easily to your favourite tracks.
Any advice from you experinced people would be very much appreciated.

Nic

Hey, some people start at 50.
I haven't got much expirience with eKits but they are good found very little sound.








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E-Drums will work just fine to learn on. Rebound is awsome, so when playing the same thing on an acoustic kit, you'l have your work cut out for you! It takes alot more finger strength and control on acoustic kits, which you will want to strive for after hearing what you can do on E-kits!

All my home practice is on my E-kit, when I go to band practice its on my practice acoustic kit, so I really push hard to achieve the same rebound results, it just makes you a better, stronger player. My Gigging kit is my "Baby", a Mapex Studio Maple double bass 8 pc kit...finely tuned and very responsive, and feels almost like my Roland kit.








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Would you say that doubling my practice time on an electronic kit would help finger strength and control on the acoustic ones?

keith bushey wrote:

E-Drums will work just fine to learn on. Rebound is awsome, so when playing the same thing on an acoustic kit, you'l have your work cut out for you! It takes alot more finger strength and control on acoustic kits, which you will want to strive for after hearing what you can do on E-kits!

All my home practice is on my E-kit, when I go to band practice its on my practice acoustic kit, so I really push hard to achieve the same rebound results, it just makes you a better, stronger player. My Gigging kit is my "Baby", a Mapex Studio Maple double bass 8 pc kit...finely tuned and very responsive, and feels almost like my Roland kit.

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Enigma Valdez

i think electric its are terrible to learn on. if i only played onb a n electric kit, i would thin i was the cleanest drummer in the world. then i'd go on a normal kit and be like "what the f*ck is wrong with me"








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Quote:

i think electric its are terrible to learn on. if i only played onb a n electric kit, i would thin i was the cleanest drummer in the world. then i'd go on a normal kit and be like "what the f*ck is wrong with me"

to me, it's kind of the opposite. (unless I'm understanding that wrong)
Because with an acoustic kit, you have the actual sonic properties of acoustic sounds being created physically, I feel there's a certain 'pillow-iness' (not sure how else to express it) to acoustic drums. The envelope of the tone is a bit 'softer,' maybe looser even. With electrics, I get the feel of a very compact, tight, 'hard' envelope to the sound. Because you don't have the actual acoustic envelope to the physical sound- you have the digital hit, very precise.

I don't know if that makes a lot of sense, because to me this is more of an aspect I feel, rather than hear. But it's always given me the impression that greater accuracy is needed with E's; I would think they'd show weaknesses much more obviously than acoustics. Kind of like electric guitar with distortion; acoustics have a bigger/softer envelope that allows more room for error than the clean guitar/digital drum counterpart where more precision is needed.

I could be wrong though. And I base this on using a high-end E-kit tweaked to your playing style, not necessarily some of the toy offerings that are out there these days.

I do believe you can learn the basics of rhythm and time-keeping on a E-kit. Some techniques may yield minor differences, but you can definitely learn how to drum on a good E-kit.








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I very much agree, a fine tuned E kit has soooo much more to offer than an acoustic kit, but in the same respect there's a personal connection (especially for me, I play a custom kit) to your a's and quality of sound and feel that you just can't get with the E kit. I think if you are schooled in both versions of the instrument you can be a very well-rounded musician.

The Amazing thing about E kits is being able to hear what the kit sounds like from in front of it, what it sounds like on a recording and what aspects to it you can change, with the different mic'ing, rooms, levels, effects, sizes and tensions even different percussive elements and depths that you can change and explore it'd be silly to pass up the opportunity to own one of these. I use an e-kit for practice and for band practice, I don't think I'd ever use one at a show but if need be I think it would stand up to the challenge just fine. I'm actually incorporating my E into my A setup for my band while we perform eventually, once I figure out all the capabilities and junk. There's a lot to these especially the td-10 and 20 models. Or really any model with COSM aspects and mesh heads.

It's no different really from playing on practice pads, and everyone does that.

I think what xdose is getting at is that with an electronic kit, you can pretty much hit the pad anywhere and get the same sound, whereas on an acoustic kit the drum can make a TON of different sounds depending on where on the head you strike. Most electronic pads are small tho, and that makes for better accuracy, and I do agree with the opinion that one has to play more precisely timekeepingwise when working with electronic/sampled sounds. So there's give and take. I wouldn't expect to jump on an acoustic kit and be completely in tune with all the subtleties of playing it. This goes the other way too. Some acoustic kit players jump on an electronic kit and get all bent because it doesn't act like an acoustic kit. Well, it's not one, it's a different instrument with different personality traits.

It should be alright but when you play on a regular kit it should
feel really diffrent.

xdoseonex wrote:

i think electric its are terrible to learn on. if i only played onb a n electric kit, i would thin i was the cleanest drummer in the world. then i'd go on a normal kit and be like "what the f*ck is wrong with me"

So true, so true!

Only thing about playing on an E-kit is the transition from going to an E-kit to an acoustic kit is a little wierd like sound control for example:
You only need to touch the drum to get a moderate to loud sound, It's completley different on an Acoustic kit.








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Hey My names Dave
Slingerland, Yamaha and sonor acoustic drums
Alesis Dm5Pro E-kit (recording kit)
Zildjian, Sabian, Saluda Cymbals
I want a Medicine Man Snare

I don't agree with the implication that an E-kit is more forgiving than an Acoustic kit. One of the beauties of the E-kit is the ability to record. So when you record yourself and then play back you may hear all sorts of timing errors - I know I do! This is a great learning tool.

Davo

Davo-London wrote:

I don't agree with the implication that an E-kit is more forgiving than an Acoustic kit. One of the beauties of the E-kit is the ability to record. So when you record yourself and then play back you may hear all sorts of timing errors - I know I do! This is a great learning tool.

Davo

I'll agree with this. In this respect, it is a good tool.

The guys on here are offering you some pretty good pro's and cons. The only thing I can think of to add is that electronics are great for if you live in an apartment or at home and the folks don't want to hear you practice, then you can play through headphones. Also, e-drums are rather pricey, especially the ones with the mesh heads, so if you're on a budget, that is something to consider.