Screw the guitar, I wanna play drums!

[neptuneuk]

Disclaimer: (skip to bottom)

Any drummers around for advice?
I am going to try and self teach myself (yeah i know... but that's how I learn, it worked for the guitar and the bass!!)

I am going to purchase some electronic drums, so I can begin practicing in a quiet manner (also space is an issue for an acoustic set) I don't want people telling me the advantages of the acoustic over the electronic etc etc etc I've done my research in that respect.
Being able to use them as a MIDI device and practicing quietly is much more suited to my needs at this moment.
I also 'think' I know the basics ie posture, holding the sticks, what each thing sounds like and does... and a couple of basic 4/4 beats.
I've done my research, I already know that I will be buying in the next couple of weeks.... it's just I wouldnt know where to start once they arrive at my door!?!?



tl;dr? -> Drums, practice tips!?!?

[Qonfused]

Bah. I'm in dire need of an electronic drum set. I've been wanting one for a while now, but the funds aren't happening. Or they may... depends on what happens in the next couple weeks. While I wouldn't consider myself a drummer (though I want to take it further), I have played along with my friends with their guitars, just messing around. It's pretty cool to get a little jam session going.

The basic thing is keeping a steady beat. I know of a few people who can do these above-beginner beats but they can't stay on tempo, so what's the point? I'm pretty sure you can already do this, but if not, just play along with a metronome to get the feel.

Other than that, it's just all about limp independence which is a bitch. Start with patterns that have the kick on 2 and 4 then try some eighth note variations. Then switch it up with quarter notes on the hi hat instead of eighths; it's a lot harder.

There are a few good videos on YouTube with little tidbits on drumming and I've spent a few nights watching them (probably just due to me wanting a drumset).

[redruM]

Well the best way to learn technique is to concentrate on the snare drum only at first. There's a whole bunch of lessons and tips you can find online, but basically you should concentrate on the snare first (learn tremolo, some more complicated rhythms, syncopation, grace notes, etc). When you learn to play more advanced snare exercises at faster tempos, you eventually may master the snare drum, and that's VERY important for perfecting your technique. Of course, you'r free to use the whole drum set, but pay more attention to that snare.

[VirusType2]

does the electronic set have a kick drum?

I thought I would hop onto a drum set and be able to do it, but It was incredibly difficult. I could not coordinate my foot and hands. It would take a LOT of practice

I consider myself quite coordinated, but this is something that requires perfect timing.


anyway, I've always - for like 20 years, played drum patterns on various surfaces with my hands, so I think I would be fantastic with other types of percussion, especially congas.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=congas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

[Qonfused]

does the electronic set have a kick drum?

I thought I would hop onto a drum set and be able to do it, but It was incredibly difficult. I could not coordinate my foot and hands. It would take a LOT of practice

Yeah it has a kick drum. It has everything a normal drumset would.

[neptuneuk]

lol!

Thanks for the replies guys! Quite helpful!

Basically... I need to practice practice practice until I can do it in my sleep. I guess keeping the beat for a long time is something that needs to perfected before doing ANYTHING else, right? It's not like I'll be ridiculously busy during summer I guess... :D

Strange you should mention that VirusType anyway, as I hopped on drums for the first time a year ago, thinking that it would be really hard and I wouldnt be able to just play something, but without knowing shit, I could do that simple shitty bass drum then snare 4/4 hi-hat thing as soon as I sat down. I know I have great natural timing, but I guess getting using to actually playing the things is gunna be a bitch.
After how much practice would you think it would be possible to have a non-embarrasing, basic jam?






Until then, I will would probably get multitracking and... jam with myself!? Hahah this is an amusing concept! I can think of some great ideas for practicing with MIDI drums!!! MIDI FTW!

[Qonfused]

It just depends man. If you can already do the basics now, then you can just jam along with that right now.

By the way, you don't NEED a drumset to practice.

[neptuneuk]

When Im pretending to play the bass drum, hi hats and snare along with my favourite songs it looks weird!

BUT ITS FUN!!! :D
Would it actually help? It seems to.... but it feels so daft!


The only thing my mind is hacing trouble with is when I change the bass drum pattern in my head, my foot starts syncronising with my imaginary snare! Gah!? I hope its something I can practice to not do quickly!

[Bad^Hat]

My advice would be to start with just your hands, try and get some level of coordination there before you try using the kick. If you try to do it all at once, you'll just frustrate yourself. The key is to keep moving forward at your own pace. Once you're comfortable enough to bring in the kick, the first major step is getting the basic 4/4 rock beat down-pat. Just keep at that until you can do it in your sleep, then bring in some variation and start to build upon it.

Also, like redrum said, mastering the snare is important. It'd be helpful to look up some exercises and rudiments for regular practice, an exercise some drummers are a bit lax about (guilty! :P).

While we're (kind of) on the topic, what would you say is the best way to get a start on playing guitar, coming from someone who's self-taught? I have both an acoustic and an electric at my disposal, but every time I sit down to try something out I draw a total blank. I guess a good place to start would be to learn some chords... all I remember is G and A from when I attempted guitar lessons in high school.

Edit - For the record, I started writing this about 4 posts back. :)

Edit 2 - Aaaaand I just realised there's a learning guitar thread just below this one. Go me.

[Shift]

If you have rythme then you are sorted, when its just me and my co-guitarist in my band practising ourselves, he would hop on the drums and I would come up with some riffs, we have only done that a few times while waiting for the others to arrive and he is already becoming pretty decent. Nothing to it really if you have rythme and a good sense of how you want the drumming to proceed.

[neptuneuk]

Cool... I want to play now dammit!!!!

As well actually wanting to learn the drums properly, I'm looking forward to mixing the MIDI drums with some electronic drum machine shit instead of using the hi-hats for timing... I'm gunna be experimenting so much!!!
I like using strange rhythms for the hi hats in some of my tracks. I always wished there was an easier way to get the rest of the drums to sound more organic or fluid when the need arises.
But sometimes a choppy, programmed, digital beat is required - but not aallll the time.

[Ennui]

my best friend drums for a living (teaching, gigging, etc) and he could probably help you out, i hate to say it but you REALLY should get an acoustic set though.

[Van_Halen]

I've been playing drums for almost 6 years now, and all I can say is, It's best to stat off playing along with muisc, and work your way up. I started with a band called "Jackyl" and then went to AC/DC, Aerosmith, Metallica, van halen, then some really fast crap, music that I hate, but the experience is good. it's good to play to band when you're starting out, because those drummer's styles rub off onto you, and then if you combine a bunch of styles you can come up with your own really good technique. i hold my sticks between my thumbs and pointer fingers, and then I use my other fingers to keep them from traveling too far away from me.

I suck at twirling sticks though. the only way i know how to do it is between my forefinger and middle finger, twirling my wrist, moving my fingers. If you do it on the middle of the stick it looks okay, but otherwise it's sloppy...

If you want to get good at rolling then you could try coming up with your own marching band type stuff. If you want you could get a practice pad for your knees, sit with your legs far apart, and practice going back & forth as fast as you can till it feels like your arms are going to fall off, but when you're in public, try not to tap. It drives other people nuts... from what i hear.

Good luck. :)

By the way, all this Acoustic vs Electric BS is pointless, acoustic is no different than electric. You hit the drum, it makes a sound, you hit the cymbal, it makes a sound, kick the hihat peddle, it goes up & down, makes a sound, grab a cymbal after you crash it, it mutes, leave your hihat open, sounds loose, leave your hihat tight, sounds tight, rest a stick on the drum, mutes the drum, the only difference is that you don't have to pay $400000000000000000 every year for cymbals and drumheads. (And new drums, if you actually hit that hard.)

[Vegeta897]

Note, you usually need to buy a bass pedal for the kick drum pad on electric sets.

[Van_Halen]

Note, you usually need to buy a bass pedal for the kick drum pad on electric sets.

It doesn't come with one? hmm... Well, I've never bought one, but I've played on several. Besides, the way i hit, if i bought one I'd have to replace all the pads every few days. :/

[neptuneuk]

I've been playing drums for almost 6 years now, and all I can say is, It's best to stat off playing along with muisc, and work your way up. I started with a band called "Jackyl" and then went to AC/DC, Aerosmith, Metallica, van halen, then some really fast crap, music that I hate, but the experience is good. it's good to play to band when you're starting out, because those drummer's styles rub off onto you, and then if you combine a bunch of styles you can come up with your own really good technique. i hold my sticks between my thumbs and pointer fingers, and then I use my other fingers to keep them from traveling too far away from me.

I suck at twirling sticks though. the only way i know how to do it is between my forefinger and middle finger, twirling my wrist, moving my fingers. If you do it on the middle of the stick it looks okay, but otherwise it's sloppy...

If you want to get good at rolling then you could try coming up with your own marching band type stuff. If you want you could get a practice pad for your knees, sit with your legs far apart, and practice going back & forth as fast as you can till it feels like your arms are going to fall off, but when you're in public, try not to tap. It drives other people nuts... from what i hear.

Good luck. :)

By the way, all this Acoustic vs Electric BS is pointless, acoustic is no different than electric. You hit the drum, it makes a sound, you hit the cymbal, it makes a sound, kick the hihat peddle, it goes up & down, makes a sound, grab a cymbal after you crash it, it mutes, leave your hihat open, sounds loose, leave your hihat tight, sounds tight, rest a stick on the drum, mutes the drum, the only difference is that you don't have to pay $400000000000000000 every year for cymbals and drumheads. (And new drums, if you actually hit that hard.)

Tanks! ^_^

[Shift]

By the way, all this Acoustic vs Electric BS is pointless, acoustic is no different than electric. You hit the drum, it makes a sound, you hit the cymbal, it makes a sound, kick the hihat peddle, it goes up & down, makes a sound, grab a cymbal after you crash it, it mutes, leave your hihat open, sounds loose, leave your hihat tight, sounds tight, rest a stick on the drum, mutes the drum, the only difference is that you don't have to pay $400000000000000000 every year for cymbals and drumheads. (And new drums, if you actually hit that hard.)

There is actually a massive difference in sound quality between accustic and electric, when we first started gigging our drummer was thinking of using an electric kit to gig to avoid travelling with his but a lot of bands we knew a lot higher up than us informed us that the accustic is MILES better, especially once you mic it up and blast it through a PA.

[theotherguy]

1. Buy a beginner's book, a practice pad, and a snare drum and start with your rudiments. Learn 8 on hand first (simply play 8 beats, RRRRRRRR LLLLLLLL with a metronome, keeping in perfect time. Increase until you can play really really fast)

Then move on to parididdles (RLRRLRLL and RLRLRRLRLRLL), diddles, (RRLLRRLL), flams (R+L), flam taps (R+L R, L+R, L), flam-adiddles, open rolls, closed rolls, single stroke rolls, etc.

Its extremely important to learn rudiments first. Its like learning scales for guitar or piano, and all drum beats, from rock to jazz to anything really, are based in some form or another off of these rudiments.

2. Get a drum set. I recommend NOT getting an electronic drumset, because unless it is ridiculously expensive, it will not get you very good results. Electronic drumsets suck unless they have real drum-heads and real drum response. Buying the cheapest electronic drumset is the equivalent of setting up a bunch of practice pads. I recommend starting with a simple, acoustic 5 piece drumset, and after you've gotten good, buy an electric one. Trust me, you will learn to appreciate good technique a lot more if you start with an acoustic drumset.

3. Learn to coordinate. Start with simple drumbeats that involve playing different patterns and times with your hands and feet. Its very important that you learn to differentiate between your hands and feet and play in time. Playing drumset is all about coordination.

4. Learn simple beats. 8-beat rock, double time, 3/4, 6/8.. just learn as many beats as you can.

5. learn simple fills.

6. Put these beats and fills together to create your own beats.

[neptuneuk]

There is actually a massive difference in sound quality between accustic and electric, when we first started gigging our drummer was thinking of using an electric kit to gig to avoid travelling with his but a lot of bands we knew a lot higher up than us informed us that the accustic is MILES better, especially once you mic it up and blast it through a PA.

...............

[KineticAesthetic]

- H - H H - H - H - - H H - - H
- - S - - - - - S - - S - - - S
K - - - - K - - - - K - - - K -

[neptuneuk]

The hat rhythm frightens and confuses.

[Shift]

...............

Elaborate.

[sea]

I'd like to thank theotherguy for mentioning most things I already have. Here's some more stuff.

Play to a metronome. Always. I cannot stress this enough. Frankly, most drummers suck and have poor timing. Obviously you don't need to play to one when you're, say, performing, but for all your practice and exercises, it's pretty much an imperative.

Get some lessons from someone, preferably a professional with a lot of experience. In the case of drums it is absolutely worth the money. If you cannot, then get yourself a few books to learn from. You might be able to bash that kit like an idiot, but there is no excuse for shitty technique, and you have to start learning properly as early on as you can. Even simple things like how to hold the sticks properly are very important.

Practice daily. If you want to be good, like any instrument, drums will take a significant portion of your time. However, to get good at being a drummer requires even more dedication than other instruments. A band can get by with a passable guitarist and (sometimes) bass player, and even the singer doesn't have to be awesome, depending on the music you're playing. If the drummer is sloppy, the whole band will be sloppy.

Play as many styles of music as you possibly can. Even if you like rock, don't stick to generic rock beats all the time. Once you've got the basics of a style down, branch out. Although some tend to be easier than others, you should devote equal time to different types of music. Play funk. Play jazz. Play Latin. Play blues. Learn the nuances, subtleties, feel, and techniques of each. I cannot stress enough how important versatility is as a drummer, especially if you want to become successful as one, and everything you learn from one music world will help you in others. Learning to read drum music isn't necessary, but it will help you a lot.

Lastly, screw electric drums. Unless noise is a significant problem, then buy a cheap kit. Even though it won't be great by any means, a $400-500 set will be enough to learn on for a while and will play and sound way better than any electric drums. Plus, you'll need to learn how to set up, tune and maintain acoustic drums properly anyway. Might as well start early.

I don't want to sound too forward or anything, but I've seen so many shitty drummers who think that they're actually good, it makes me want to cry. Perhaps more than other instruments, the drums have to be taken seriously if you wish to become good at them. One of my friends has only been playing about three or four years, at most. He takes weekly lessons and practices for two to four hours a day, not counting his leisure playing with friends. Now he's going to one of the best post-secondary music programs in the country.

[Daggett]

eletronic drums are deffff not the way to go.
been playingi drums for 8 years now. Electronic drums are fake as balllllz.
easier to roll and easier with stick movements.
be a man and get a real kit.
unless you like playing shitty NIN music.

[Vegeta897]

BE A REAL MAN GET REAL DRUMS DONT BE A NIN ****** HOLY SHIT IM GONNA GO MASTURBATE ON MY REAL DRUMS BECAUSE THEY'RE SO MANLY OH GOD
ignorance k?

[Daggett]

i could destroy any of you bums in a drum off.
so, please dont talk shit unless you know what ur talking bout.

[Vegeta897]

Shit. Sorry.

[Qonfused]

Watch out guys, it's Nick Cannon.

[Vegeta897]

Don't make fun of him dude.

He'd destroy you in a drum off. So don't talk shit.

[Daggett]

will someone ban me please?

[Que-Ever]

Any man who prefers real instruments over electronic synthesizer shit is at least +1.

Then move on to parididdles (RLRRLRLL and RLRLRRLRLRLL), diddles, (RRLLRRLL), flams (R+L), flam taps (R+L R, L+R, L), flam-adiddles, open rolls, closed rolls, single stroke rolls, etc.

Also, I always wondered what the hell our drummer was doing, and now I know, he was playing made up words :S

[Fliko]

eletronic drums are deffff not the way to go.
been playingi drums for 8 years now. Electronic drums are fake as balllllz.
easier to roll and easier with stick movements.
be a man and get a real kit.
unless you like playing shitty NIN music.

Defff! Man! Electronic Drums are so easy! OH WAIT! If I tuned up my snare drum to a marching drum standard, it has the same feel as playing on an electronic drumset/practice pad.
If you played with proper (READ GOOD) technique the difference to play an electronic drumset, and an acoustic drumset (Oh sorry... REAL drumset), is quick literally nothing.

Nothing beats the "real" thing, but electronic drums will do fine if you want to practice on them. (Unless you want the sound from an electronic drumset, then they're perfect!)

Also, I always wondered what the hell our drummer was doing, and now I know, he was playing made up words :S

A really good tip for playing something is, if you can't play it, make a saying for it, that goes along with the rhythm. It was the secret to learning things really quick in a band class.

[Vegeta897]

Any man who prefers real instruments over electronic synthesizer shit is at least +1.
Don't even go there.

A synthesizer is an entirely different animal than ANY acoustic instrument. (Not using this bullshit 'real' term)
http://www.theatreorgans.com/walnuthill/100m_and_motm.jpg

You can not compare that to a guitar or anything else by saying one can 'prefer' one or the other.

Synthesizers are mostly about sculpting your own sound. You can achieve an infinite variety of sound. The only way to do that with something like a guitar is to use effects pedals and shit, which, guess what, is electronic 'shit'.

Electric guitars are pretty much 'synthesizers' anyway. The pickups convert the string vibrations into an electronic waveform. There's your oscillator. Then your set of effects pedals are like all the knobs and buttons on the synthesizer panel.

You're the second person in the thread to be ignorant, congrats.

[Que-Ever]

You're still the only pretentious pompous ass, congrats.

[Vegeta897]

Am I dissing anything? Am I saying synthesizers are better? No.

Merely pointing out the flawed logic in hating all synthesizers.

[CrazyHarij]

Yeah but you're making the mistake of arguing with an idiot

[KineticAesthetic]

Without synths we'd all be living in caves, eating animal parts.

[Que-Ever]

woo, I'm an idiot becuase I don't like your shitty keyboard that makes weird noises.

[CrazyHarij]

woo, I'm an idiot becuase I don't like your shitty keyboard that makes weird noises.

No, you're an idiot because you're ****ing stupid. I play both guitar and synths

[Que-Ever]

'Cuz synths can't make guitar noises, right?

[Vegeta897]

Any man who prefers real instruments over electronic synthesizer shit is at least +1.
"Synthesizers are shit, and anyone who likes 'real instruments' (as if there is some kind of real counterpart to synths) is better."

woo, I'm an idiot becuase I don't like your shitty keyboard that makes weird noises.
"I don't like weird noises"


There are several large differences here, Que.

I would have thought the guitar analogy would have snapped you out of your terrible logic that you couldn't begin to attempt backing up. You just have some kind of hate toward all synthesizers because you think they all sound like BLEEP BLOOP BLOP and can do nothing else. Truth be told, they can sound pretty much indifferentiable to real instruments, ESPECIALLY an electric guitar. Granted, the method in which you perform or play it is completely different, and that fact alone makes it completely stupid to attempt to decide which is better. You may like playing a guitar rather than playing a keyboard, that's an acceptable opinion to have. But to just hate synthesizers.... I mean I've proven that hating the sound is silly, so if you hate keyboards, well then you hate pianos apparantly.

[Que-Ever]

You want to know why I hate synthesizers? Becuase of the way they're used. YOu know, the instruments themselves are fine. If they're used in a band, like (off the top of my head) Blue Oyster Cult, and it adds to a song, that's fine. OR if someone like Stevie Wonder plays around on one and it's great and he's got his buddies backing him up, that's fine too. When people get together, and make an effort to write a song that they have fun playing together, and they get into a groove with each other and all that sweet stuff, that's seriously some of the coolest things that can happen to somebody. You rely and depend on each other, everybody has their own part in the song to make it sound good, even the guy in the back with five keyboards stacked up and a bottle of schnobbwhatsit in his hand.

But then you get people who pore over manuals and obsess over every little knob and tweak, etc. etc. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, you want things going exactly the way you want it to, right? But then there are people like Squarepusher, whatever his name is, who don't show up for interviews because it might punch a hole in his douche-aura. You get people like Aphextwin (the joke is there's only one guy, right?) who try to stick every synchopated beat, every manufactured squeal, every sixty-fourth note into every song he can. What is the point of that?

It's too little effort, and yet too much effort. Instead of dealing with people and getting the ideas of others (Which I'll admit can be annoying) you'll just do it yourself! So you go and you program, and program, and you get "works in progress" which aren't completed, not because it's not polished enough, but because you didn't have enough time to finish it? And you do it all yourself. I know how much work it is trying to plug everything in and get it all set up properly, and that's with three friends halping out, and when you have to program, and layer, and do all kinds of atmospheric bullshit in the background because it's your vision or whatever, and then (god forbid) you use a real guitar or drum set occasionally (or bass, like squaredoucher) you do the same again, but with more cords and more plugs and... it's just seems like a waste of time to me. Is it really that hard to approximate the sounds on a physical instrument, get a few guys to back you up, do it that way? I don't know if this is true or not (I also don't really care) but people who make music by themselves mainly with synths seem like they would be extremely antisocial.

Then you get into the actual music itself... if you could call it that. Forgive me, but I don't like electronic drumbeats repeating themselves for minutes on end with wind whooshing in the background and some doip-ey water drips with reverb and distortion, you know? Honestly, Of all the "electronic music" I've heard I've liked zero percent and was bored by about 90 percent. Do you think you're some kind of great composer? Are you trying to convey your feelings? Paint pictures with sounds? Cuz it aint working. I think my biggest beef with synthesizer users, electronic music, techno, trance, (I don't even know how this stuff is categorized) it that they're trying to be something they're not. It's like somebody playing guitar hero and thinking they can join a band- if you can figure out how to work the damn thing, you're suddenly some mozart prodigy. Nuh-uh.

[Viperidae]

Then you get into the actual music itself... if you could call it that. Forgive me, but I don't like incessant cowbell repeating itself for minutes on end with annoying punk vocals in the background and some generic sounding drum, you know? Honestly, Of all the "real music" I've heard I've liked zero percent and was bored by about 90 percent. Do you think you're some kind of great composer? Are you trying to convey your feelings? Paint pictures with sounds? Cuz it aint working. I think my biggest beef with highbrow rock, hardcore metal, jazz, classic rock, (I don't even know how this stuff is categorized) it that they're trying to be something they're not. It's like somebody playing guitar hero and thinking they can join a band- if you can figure out how to work the damn thing, you're suddenly some mozart prodigy. Nuh-uh.



Try harder.

[Vegeta897]

That whole post is basically just speaking out of lack of knowledge and very limited experience.

I won't bother pointing out them all, cba really.

I'll have you know I ****ing love jamming with other people. I bring over my synths when I jam with my cousin who plays an acoustic drumset. We have an awesome time.

Learning how to work a synthesizer is no different than learning how to play a 'regular' instrument. I don't see what point you're trying to make here. You don't HAVE to tweak every little thing, and not ALL people are like that. Some people are cool with just loading a preset and having fun.

I'm already getting into all the different ways in which I could point out why your views there are very limited. It's probably pointless explaining to you anyway.

I still love you.

[Que-Ever]

I still love you.

Viperidae can go suck a dick however.

[Viperidae]

I love trolls with their 8000 post immunity.

[Qonfused]

You're all ******s.

[Que-Ever]

I love trolls with their 8000 post immunity.

I've actually been trying to get banned for several months now, and have even flat out asked for it, and have been ignored. I think they're on to me.

[Vegeta897]

It's your avatar. Moderators don't want to ban people who flat out deserve it or ask for it. They'd be like puppets! They stare into your avatar with their finger on the ban button, and eventually resolve to not become that puppet.

[Que-Ever]

Maybe if I colored it.

[CrazyHarij]

dooh wa diddly dum
I'm already fully aware that you're a prejudicial moron. You don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, so I don't give two shits about your opinion. All fine and dandy!

[Que-Ever]

I'm already fully aware that you're a prejudicial moron. You don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, so I don't give two shits about your opinion. All fine and dandy!

However, I didn't need to know anything about you to not give two shits about you.

I do like the little noises, however. You make that with a synth?

[Vegeta897]

We can make mario sounds.

Fear us.

[KineticAesthetic]

Okay.

Just in terms of your anti-Squarepusher stance, even if he is a douche, I'm pretty sure that his music is about expression. It just happens that a lot of the time it's expression with synths and very strange beats and time signatures. But he's just as good at real, proper instruments... Not that I expect to change an opinion. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bM3yxq3iDg&eurl=http://seeqpod.cachefly.net/cache_prod/mallard.html?subdomain=www&domain=seeqpod.com&port=&secureport=&&co)

[Vegeta897]

He's also pretty good with a bass guitar.

Point in case, not all synth users are pretentious dicks who like to use nothing but synthesizers to make every little sound. Nor do we have irrational hate for acoustic instruments like you seem to do against synths.

Viper's post was simply mocking you by showing you how easy it is to reverse your logic against you.

[Que-Ever]

a link
Yeah, that was pretty good. I still don't love the guy, though. I mean, I only bring him up because he's pretty much the only guy I can think of off the top of my head, because he was supposed to have an article in Bass Player magazine, but blew them off.

He's also pretty good with a bass guitar.

Point in case, not all synth users are pretentious dicks who like to use nothing but synthesizers to make every little sound. Nor do we have irrational hate for acoustic instruments like you seem to do against synths.

Viper's post was simply mocking you by showing you how easy it is to reverse your logic against you.

Obviously not every person is the same. But sometimes we (I) can't help the way we (I)think. Meaning I just had half the forum fly off the handle because I gave an opinion.

And yes, I know what Viper was doing, thank you obviousgeta :/

[KineticAesthetic]

If it wasn't for synths, we wouldn't have the marvellous wonder that is T. Pain.

Wait a minute...

[Vegeta897]

because I gave an opinion. Woah woah now. You gave it in a sort of offensive way, and the opinion itself was of the 'i hate all of this for no particular reason' brand. Which isn't very well liked in a forum with several synth users.

And yes, I know what Viper was doing, thank you obviousgeta :/
Yeah well. You called him a bad word!

[Que-Ever]

Actually, I think I told him to suck a bad word.

[KineticAesthetic]

Yeah well. You called him a bad word!

Actually, he invited to Viperidae to do something that, for all we know, he may enjoy doing. So maybe it was just Que being nice.


Just to be nit picky.

[Shift]

Dont know why people would slate synthesisors, although we haven't done yet my band are deffo looking into using synth backings with our music, to a click track etc. Also there was a keyboard with synth capabilities when we were recording our last song in the studio, was really fun and interesting to play around with, got some really cool sounds out.

[VirusType2]

for anything synth - including synth drum beats, you can for example, make each snare a slightly varied volume and you can use more than one very similar snare sound, to make it sound more like a real drum set. And the sample - it's just a recording of a real snare drum, but a computer is used to time it.

I've tried playing real drums, and it would take many years to get good, even if I know how I want the drums to sound, I can't coordinate myself to do it.

An old friend of mine played bass, electric, acoustic guitar, and drums, yet when he was alone and wanted to practice guitar, he would use a drum machine.

anyway, in closing, I appreciate 'real instruments' and synth music and wouldn't want to have to choose. It really depends on my mood. While I'm a freak for metal and other types of music with 'real instruments', I also really love the unlimited uniqueness of synth music. However much I may love it, Sometimes I get tired of the same old drum sound that has been in over a million rock songs, and synth drums is a way to escape that

I think my favorite is when the two are combined. Like some keyboards and synths added to a rock band

[Viperidae]

Er, let's not confuse terms here. You can have an analogue synthesiser/drum machine. Or a digital one.

[VirusType2]

Noted. Hopefully I fixed it.

Anyway, a good example of fusion is The Killers, like for example, 'Change Your Mind'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fUDO6LcfXU


but I even like 8-bit music like a couple songs that were on the NES

[theotherguy]

I have nothing against synths, even though I personally don't like the sound of overly synthetic music, its simply a matter of taste. Experimentation with new types of instruments leads to new and exciting directions for music, and new forms of expression.

The electric guitar, for example, started as a way for a country musician to get his guitar heard on-stage. People reviled its sound at first, especially since the pickups he created had too much distortion, but this mistake in itself practically created rock music.

So I say, go all out on your instrumentation. If you find something that you think is cool and new, by all means use it.

But, like I said, some uses of synths I personally just find obnoxious.

[Letters]

What electronic kit did you get, Neptune? And how ya like it so far?


I'm getting this one in a couple weeks once it's off backorder:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-DTXplorer-Electronic-Drum-Set?sku=490906


Also check out http://www.onlinedrummer.com/forum/index.php?topic=12609.0 for some more actual advice.