24.12.2019
37
You’ve decided to pick up the drum sticks? Good choice: drumming is, drumming is, and drummers are a great bunch of people!But first things first: what’s the best beginner drum set?
After all, this will cost you a few hundred dollars, so you might not want to engage in pure trial and error.That’s why I’ve distilled the essence of all individual beginner drum set reviews on Kickstart Your Drumming into this article. Our Top Picks:. Best Beginner Drum Set Overall:. Best Selling Beginner Drum Set:. Best Acoustic Beginner Drum Kit:.
Best Complete Beginner Drum Set for adults:. Best Budget Beginner Drum Set:. Best Electronic Drum Set for Beginners.
Cheapest useful practice kit on the market. Everything included to start playingI’ve kept it short for each set, but included links to the individual reviews in case you want to dig deeper.And please make sure to check out the buyer’s guide at the end.
This will tell you what to look for in a starter kit – and what to ignore.So let’s get to itIf you decide to buy one of the products reviewed here, please consider going through the links on this site, because this will earn me a small commission – at absolutely (!) no extra cost to you.I’ve poured my heart and lots of time into these reviews, and by using my links you help ensure that future readers will find this site still working.Also, if you’re looking to buy only the cheapest beginner drum kits,. Best Beginner Drum Sets.
I also think the Pearl Roadshow looks more professional than the Gammon or the Mendini, so that this is a drum set for practicing as well as for the stage. And!Plus: the cymbals are a tiny bit better than those on the Gammon and Mendini kits.
That said, they are still stock cymbals and can’t be compared with brand cymbals (which don’t have to be all that expensive – see the cymbals section below).The Pearl Roadshow is my best beginner drum set and will be a companion for a good few years of drumming!And if you want to know why exactly, check out my full.Pearl Export – The Best Selling Kit of All Time. But it comes without cymbals (which is normal for advanced kits). So you’d have to spend some extra cash for a good budget pack of those.
(See the cymbal section below to find out that they don’t have to be expensive.)Still, if you’re an ambitious beginner willing to spend some money, this kit can take you a long way into your drumming career. See what.The Export is also available in a. Then it’s more glossy and has visible wood grains.Looking for current deals on this kit? Still have a question or some doubts about it?Find out if there are any in my.Tama Imperialstar 5-Piece Drum Set. CONS. Difficult to position toms. Stock heads are not good.The Tama Imperialstar comes complete with drums, cymbals and hardware and is a great kit for a beginner who is getting his first drum kit and wants to get everything he needs in one purchase.The shells are made from poplar wood which means the drums make a bright and focused tone.
The kit has a 14″ snare drum which sounds very impressive and the toms come in sizes 10″, 12″ and 16″ (as a floor tom) – as well as a 22″ kick drum.The cymbals are part of the decent Meinl HCS series and include 14″ hihats, a 16″ crash cymbal, and a 20″ ride cymbal. As you have seen with the other kits above which mostly come with lower-quality stock cymbals – having a set of Meinl cymbals right out of the box is a serious plus.I won’t say much more and leave it to you to judge how this kit sounds.
CONS. No advanced features (half-open Hi-Hat cymbal sound, triple zone Ride cymbal).What to Look For in a Best Beginner Drum SetI’ve shown you the drum kits I highly recommend for beginners. But this might well not be enough for you. For I believe there never is THE best drum kit. A drum set can only be best relative to YOUR purpose and circumstances.So let’s quickly learn what’s important when looking for a good starter drum kit: PurposeWhat do you want to do with your set?
Practice, play live on stage or home record?When making that decision don’t only take into account the tomorrow. Think about the next 2-5 years of your drumming journey and where you might be by that time. For you can easily keep your first drum set for that long.In case you’re not even sure whether you’ll stick with drumming, I recommend: go budget! That is, go for a practice kit (the Pearl Roadshow).If you’re dead set on home recording, I suggest you look at my.
Electronic kits make home recording way cheaper and easier. SizeAgain, I’ve shown you the best starter drum sets for adults. In terms of size, this means that anyone taller than 5ft will comfortably fit behind all the sets presented here.If you’re looking for a drum set for someone shorter than 5ft, can check out my. SetupPossible setups of drum kits are limitless. Yet, there is one “regular setup” (below) which will enable you to play 95% of the songs you hear on the radio: Regular setupYou won’t need more until a good few years into your drumming journey – unless you’re trying to show off. Showing off big time CymbalsCymbals are important – you’ll play them more frequently than some of the drums.
So it’s good that all kits except the Pearl Export come with cymbals included.However, they most of them come with only two cymbals each – a hi-hat and a crash cymbal. What all beginner drum kits, except for the Tama Imperialsta – are lacking is a ride cymbal:A ride cymbal is larger and thicker than a crash, and without it you’ll be loosing out on the higher pitched cymbal sounds that accompany many guitar solos and choruses. So with only two cymbals you won’t be able to play everything you hear on the radio exactly as it’s played there.I’m saying this only so you know. It is not crucial to add a ride cymbal now, but it will be probably happen sooner or later.If you need help then, turn to my. (This article is about packs of 3 cymbals each, but the Ride cymbals can all be bought individually too.) Drum HeadsThere are dozens of variables which determine how good a drum set sounds. But the quality of the drum heads and tuning are the most important ones. As you can see in the video below, new heads and good tuning alone can make any drum set sound amazing.
And while you’ll probably need to play around with tuning for a bit to get it right, you don’t need to read whole books on it., try to grasp how it basically works. Then just play around with your heads.And speaking of heads: start with the ones that come with any of the drum kits above. With the right tuning, you can greatly improve their sound.Only once that’s not enough for you any more: buy new heads. Compared to the wonders they work, they aren’t too expensive. And choosing them is easy too – at least.
What You Can IgnoreWhich wood? Which snare carpet?These things do make differences in sound, but none of them are huge and none of them matter much to drum beginners. At worst, they will confuse you or cost you money.Take care of your tuning first and ignore the rest for now.Better invest your time and money in.Also Read: Discounted Beginner Drum KitsI know you would enjoy finding one of those kits above at a discounted price, wouldn’t you?If so, this guide on is for you. ConclusionYou now know 4 good drum sets that cater to different purposes:.
Hip Hop Drum Kits
the or the if you’re unsure whether to stick to drumming or if you’re buying a set to mainly practice with. the if you’re in for the long run and don’t want to swap kits after two years.
the if you’re an ambitious beginner who wants to go for an advanced drum set at an unbeatable price.I hope this best beginner drum set review helps you make your buying decision.If not (or if you disagree with anything), let me know in the comments. I respond 100%!Best of luck finding your new drum kit and lots of fun playing it!PSIf this best beginner drum set review was helpful to you and if you decide on a beginner drum set to buy, please consider going through one of the links / buttons on this page. This way I receive a commission and you reward me for the time and care I put into writing these reviews. Please note that I have no incentive to favor any products, since I receive a commission no matter which drum kit you pick (if you do). You can read more about my review ethics in my.Filed Under: Reader Interactions. Hey Glen,Glad you asked! Well, there are lots of variables to how a drum set sounds (quality of heads, material of shells, recording device, track edited or not, room etc.
And the Roadshow will sound differently for everybody, because when you unbox it, you’ll have to tune it.And from my experience tuning is also the 1 variable that can improve a drum set sound by 80%. If you get this right, the Pearl Roadshow will sound very decent for you out of the box.I’d recommend this process (do you own the Pearl?):. See how much tuning can do and then start learning it. Play around with tuning your kit. That’s the best way to become good at it.
If you know how to tune and you can’t get the sound right, consider buying new heads. I’ve written a.This has worked wonders for me in the past and is also the cheapest way of all to improve a drum kit’s sound.Hope that helps! Hey Heather,Thanks for asking. I hadn’t actually looked at the Rise kit for a long time. And apparently with good reason: a rating of 1 star out of 3 reviews is unheard of on Amazon (in a bad way). Now, I haven’t played it myself, and I wouldn’t want to keep you from trying it out when only 1 reviewer had something bad to say about it. But three 1-star reviews is too much to my mind.
I wouldn’t take the risk.Why not go with the Mendini drum kit instead? I can personally attest that you get good quality for the money there. Plus: it’s quite a bit.May I ask who the drum set is for and for what purpose it’ll be used for (practicing? First-ever kit?)?Best,Yannick. Alright, I see. If you want to go up on stage with your set, I’d honestly like to nudge you away from the Mendini. Mendini isn’t a rcognized drum set brand and itn terms of both sound and design it’s (to my mind) more of a practice kit.
Once you go up on stage, you will notice the kind of drum set you play on has quite some influence on how the audience (as well as other drummers) perceive your playing. I don’t like this sort of outer-appearance-over-what-you-can-actually-do-on-the drums approach, but in my experience this is how the game works.
So if you want to make a longer-term investment and really get a good set for both practice and the stage, I recommend you read up on the above. It’s a fabulous set that I’ve taken up on stage. Sure, it’s more expensive than the Mendini, but in terms of what you get it’s quite another league. Hey Alex,That depends on what you want to use the set for and on your budget.The Ludwig Breakbeats is a compact drum kit designed specifically for people who regularly carrry it around to gigs in small venues. Therefore it has a smaller bass drum than the Pearl (16” vs. 22”) and that does make a difference in sound.
The Breakbeats also comes without cymbals, so you’d have to spend some extra money on. I’ve written about the Ludwig Breakbeats in depth.The Pearl does come with cymbals (although stock cymbals are never great), has a standard-sized bass drum and one more tom then Breakbeats.I’d say I’ve you’re carrying your set around all the time and often find yourself squeezed onto a small stage, get the Breakbeats. If not, go for the Pearl Roadshow. Just my 2 cents thoughLet me know how you decide – and when you do so, I’d be more than grateful if you purchased through one of the links on my site!Best,Yannick. Hey Mike,Sorry the Roadshow wasn’t for you. I like it a lot, but as so often in drumming, it comes down to personal preference in the end – especially for you as an experienced drummer who will have played much more expensive kits I guess.Anyway, have you read my?
I’ve happily played lots of gigs with it and especially like the versatility in terms of sound. With a good knowledge of tuning I’ve been able to get a punchy sound of it in both small and larger venues.Hope that helps!Best,Yannick. Hey David,Thanks for your question! The Percussion Plus is very similar to the Gammon kit. I only didn’t mention and/or recommend here, because it costs $500+ on Amazon and that is certainly overpriced in my opinion.If you can get it for for the price you mentioned, though, that’s a good deal – especially with the lesson on top.As for your son, age is not the deciding factor – size is. Please read my to find out if he’s ready for an adult set (you’ll be fine on this).Hope that helps!Best,Yannick. Hey Laure,Thanks very much for your question – which also reminds me that I should finally put up a review of the Mapex Rebel and the Ludwig Accent Drive.
Drum Kits Setup
I appreciate it!As for your question, I think that all of those kits are very similar in quality (durability & sound – which mostly depends on your tuning abilities anyway), so the edge has to be found in price or setup. And:. in terms of price, the Ludwig Accent wins over the other 2 by a small margin.
in terms of setup, the Roadshow wins because you can choose between four different purposes / setups (jazz, fusion, rock, new fusion) which all give you different shell sizes – whereas the Rebel and Ludwig Accent only come in one setup (22” bass drum; 14” snare; 10”, 12”, 16” toms)So it really depends on what you prioritize. If it’s price, you might want to go with the. If it’s having the right kind of setup for you style of music / drumming, the would be the kit to go with.My personal opinion is to prioritize the setup and go with the Roadshow, since if you pick the right setup now, you could easily play this set for years and years and years.Hope that helps!Best,Yannick.
When rehearsing with my band, we use a (very cheap and nasty) electronic kit and I was considering buying something just a little better (Alesis Nitro or Forge are the likely candidates).I was wondering what your views might be regarding an electronic kit for a total beginner? Our drummer seems to get by with the existing kit, but he’s already an accomplished musician and could probably make a set of cardboard boxes sound good.I know nothing about playing drums, but since the kit would be permanently available to me, I really fancy having a go myself. What concerns me is, is starting on an electronic kit going to complicate the move to an acoustic kit or would the transition (should I ever make it) be fairly easy?RegardsGraeme. I was just at the music store shopping for a drum set for my 7 year old son. It’s very difficult to understand if the girl we chatted with is selling me on stuff for commission or really telling me the truth. I went in to buy the Pearl Roadshow.
She was trying convince me the cymbals will bend within 2-3 months so going with the Tama Imperialstar or Ludwig Accent was my best bet since I would have to replace the stock cymbals with the Roadshow. She said the Pearl export would be ok but the set doesn’t come with cymbals. My son is a beginner. His drum teacher is telling me to go with great “used” drums. Hey G,Thanks for your question!The Ludwig Accent has a similar kind of stock cymbals as the Pearl Roadshow – so if she’s convinced that the cymbals bend, they will bend on the Ludwig Accent too.
That said, I don’t share this opinion and in fact I haven’t seen a student of mine bend his / her cymbals on the Roadshow. It’s true that the cymbals aren’t great and that you’ll likely have to replace them as your son develops a better and better ear for the sound of his drums.
But most of my students use these cymbals for 1-2 years at least.She is right, however, that the Tama comes with better cymbals (Meinl CHS) – but, online at least, they also cost significantly more.So your decisions comes down to paying more now for a better cymbal sound from the start – or saving some money now and buy better cymbals in a year or 2.Hope that helps!Best,Yannick. Yannick,I’m In my early 50’s, quite tall (6’8″) and am finally going to take the plunge and get a kit and hopefully let this old dog learn a new trick. I’ve been looking at used kits on-line and new ones.
I’ve somewhat narrowed it down to a new all-inclusive Ludwig Accent which are readily available for $399 on Amazon or a used Pearl Export kit that I’m finding in my area for around $350. I think you mentioned you have an Accent review coming??? Buying second hand makes me nervous because I’m no expert and don’t want to get stuck with something that may possibly bring headaches rather than enjoyment. That said, will the Ludwig Accent with upgraded heads and cymbals down the road foot the bill as I progress? My goals are to have fun while challenging my brain, jamming in the basement with friends, and maybe playing in church or small settings. We’ll see how my dominant left brain works with the other side. Please weigh in and thanks for your help!
Hey Greg,Thanks so much for your kind words. I appreciate it very much!4’3” is still a littler short of what I’d consider ideal for an adult drum kit as you suggested, but if he / she really is growing that quickly the 5′ mark should be reached pretty quickly. So yes, I do think an adult drum set would work for all of you.And the Pearl Roadshow is my favorite option in terms of value for the price. If you want to go more professional, check out the.Yet, I do think will give you everything you need to happily drum for a long time to come.Hope that helps – if not, keep the questions coming!Best,Yannick.
If you’ve been producing music for years, you probably know about 808 Mafia, one of the hottest producer team right now. Therefore, you will be able to download a complete drum kit with more than 440 quality samples including drums, soundfonts, 808s in the style of Lex Luger and Southside.In addition to this kit, you’ll be able to download a free bonus kit with 10 MIDI files and 10 Samples in the style of TM88.Anyway, if you are looking for a complete and versatile drum bank full of modern and sharp sounds, then this 808 Mafia Drum Kit is made for you!
Hi Giacomo,Sorry for the delay of my answer.To download this pack, you have to share this post on social media (by clicking on one of the three icon, Facebook, Twitter. Once you have done this first step, a green “Get It For Free” button will appear! If you have any issues to download this pack you can read the “How to DL” at the end of the post.Concerning your second question, yes it’s compatible with GB. Those samples are in WAV format and you only need to drag and drop the file into your GB timeline.Let me know if you have any issues!Cheers,Arthur.