These are high end electronic kits and they have all the features you would ever want to perform with very realistic sounds. The sound module is a simplified version of the TD-30 and it’s really easy to use. It doesn’t really have any of the experimental sounds on it because it’s focused on being a traditional drum set. The drums have mesh heads that can be tightened/loosened to feel like a real drum. The cymbals sit on a stand just like a real cymbal and naturally sway when struck. They allow chokes (grabbing the cymbal for staccato hits) and have 3 zones so they can provide 3 different sounds depending on how you hit them. You can record your own performances right onto the module so you can assess your performances and share them with drum teachers, friends, etc.

Some have said that the rack is a bit small for setting up but I think it works just fine. I like to have the lightest and smallest hardware possible in case I have to set up on a tight stage. As with most setups in apartments, the heavy hi-hat ‘cymbals’ seem to thump the floor a bit more than desired. You can remedy this by putting a rubber pad down or switching to a lighter cymbal style pad.

It’s worth mentioning that this particular kit does not come with some essential items: drum throne, kick pedal, hi-hat stand, headphones, and drum sticks. These are generally personal items that drummers can be particular about so it is left up to you to decide on the brand/types of these that you want.

Roland TD-30KV

If this price point works for you, you won’t be disappointed. This kit has many features you get on the nice kits but simplifies everything. It has the play-along features, click track, recording, etc. The module has some basic but great sounding kits to choose from. The only mesh pad you get is the snare drum pad, the rest are rubber. They are still responsive but you don’t get as good of a feel as you can from the mesh pads. The cymbals have 2 zones so you won’t get to hear a ride cymbal bell sound.

If I was buying a starter kit or a second practice kit and I didn’t want to disturb others with the noise, this is the one I would go with. Anything less, you will miss some quality and features, and anything more would be too expensive for what you’re using it for. You could still perform with this kit as well.

This particular one has some options on Amazon to add cords, sticks, headphones, etc. Remember though, you need a throne and kick pedal and possibly some other items depending on which package you select!

Beginner

TD-1K

This is an awesome beginners kit. The price is great and the quality surpasses the price. The module has 15 basic preset kits but they sound really great. You can’t tweak them like you can with the higher end kits but they definitely work from a practicing standpoint. The pedals that come with the kit are very basic and they leave a bit to be desired. The kick drum does not have a beater, just a sensor when your press down the pedal. This kit will feel quite a bit different from the higher end kits or real acoustic drum sets. I have heard of some people gigging with these but I’m on the fence about that. It is, however, super durable and lightweight.

You would only need to pick a throne, sticks and headphones to get rolling with this kit!

Yamaha

Not Too Expensive But Worth It

Yamaha DTX532K

Yamaha’s technology seems to rival just fine with Roland’s. This particular kit comes with everything you need to start playing including the throne, kick pedal, stands, and headphones. The cymbals are great because they support muting and swells. All the drum pads are silicone except the bass drum. With a rubber bass drum head, it might cause a bit of thumping in a 2nd floor or higher apartment. This is something you could upgrade later by buying a mesh bass drum pad. Only Yamaha’s expensive kits come with the mesh bass drum pad. It’s worth mentioning that there are apps you can use in conjunction with the Yamaha e-kits for recording, practicing, or just navigating the menus a bit easier.

Beginner

Yamaha DTX450K

This one has a real kick pedal which goes a long way on a beginner kit. The price is still a little high for a beginner kit though. It’s pretty basic with rubber pads for all of the drums and cymbals. The snare does have 3 zones which allows for rim shots and side stick sounds. I think this one falls short on the cymbals and hi-hat. The hi-hat pedal won’t feel like the real hi-hat on the DTX532K and the cymbals only have one sound—no choke or swells. Again, this one is great for a beginner and the Yamaha line is really great with adding on and upgrading.

I would urge you to check out Yamaha’s homepage for their own comparison chart of all of their e-drum kits. You can go in depth to find exactly what you want out of your kit. Just go here:

Yamaha (USA) E-Drum Kit Model Comparisons

Alesis

Beginner

Alesis Nitro

If you are looking for the most simple and inexpensive option to practice quietly, then this is it! This one does NOT come with a throne though. It’s very compact and has some good sounds that can definitely get you practicing. I would not suggest gigging with this kit.

Soundproofing & Treatment

If the muting and practice pad options don’t cut it for you and the e-kits don’t intrigue you, there’s always sound proofing and treatment. You can do as little or as much as you need to get the sound quieter depending on what your needs are.

Sound Treatment

Sound treatment can help a bit more than you might think. Simply placing foam pads across the walls might just be enough to kill the sound. Just buy some foam pads and glue them to a piece of cardboard or a thin piece of plywood and hang them like a picture. Center them on every large flat wall surface. These will help with the sound inside the room too if it is too lively and/or echoey. This is the best deal I found and you can buy these in packages with different amounts depending on how many you need.

I measured out the frames and put eye hooks on the ceiling and on the corners of the frames. Then I tied some string to suspend them about 8 feet above the ground where you drum set sits. Hopefully they hang at least 6 inches off the ceiling to allow them to trap reverberant sound in-between the frame and ceiling.

Soundproofing Walls

The options for soundproofing your walls range from relatively inexpensive to very expensive. There’s a lot of planning that would have to go into your project, assuming you’re handy enough to do the job yourself. Doing drywall can be a difficult job if you don’t know what you’re doing! Hiring out the work isn’t a bad idea as well if you want it done timely and efficiently.

For the more modest and less expensive option, you can use regular pieces of drywall along with this product called Green Glue Compound. Essentially what you’re doing is adding another layer of drywall and putting the green glue in between the old drywall and the new drywall. Then you can re-trim and paint the wall. It’s much easier said than done!

There are also vinyl soundproofing rolls that can be applied over studs, joists or in suspended ceilings. I have never tried these myself but if you are doing this yourself, I have heard that the rolls are extremely heavy and bulky and difficult to install because of their weight.

Soundproof a Floor

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Most drummers might think that you only need to chart songs if you’re filling in or joining a new band AND that you need to know how to read music to do it. I have found that charting songs can be helpful in ANY context and you don’t have to know how to read music to do so.

Aside from the obvious uses, I have used song charts for writing music, learning or reworking cover songs, remembering new original material, helping new members learn songs, prepping for online drum sessions, or any type of song organization. Whether your writing music with other musicians in jam situations or all by yourself, it’s very helpful to write out song forms and audition different structures.

There are many types of ways to chart a song. There are tabs, transcriptions, and charts. Tabs and transcriptions are usually exact notation, or at least close depending on the author. They can be helpful if you would like to learn exactly what the original artist played on that song. They are also a good way to learn cool beats and fills from your favorite drummers that you can’t figure out by listening to the recordings. Then you can add these your arsenal.

Song charts are much more of an abbreviated version of a tab or transcription. They can sometimes be pretty long and specific depending on the author. However, they can also be short and simple without any notation at all. When you’re at a level where you need to learn a lot of songs in a short period of time, song charts are more than adequate. That’s because you probably already have a tool box of beats and feels to choose from to use in a song so you wouldn’t need any beats or fills written out exactly.

The point of a song chart is to remind you, in brief, of what the form of the song is and guide you in making decisions on what to play throughout the song.

As a drummer, I found a few key elements that can guide you, on the fly, to play what you intend to play for a song.  My simple song chart can cover the grounds of being a “simple cheat sheet” all the way to having written out rhythms, beats, and fills. The key elements are: section name, amount of times, amount of bars or measures, what sound source to “ride” on, notes, and a staff with rhythms or beats.

Section
The section name is obvious, whether it be the verse, chorus, interlude or some section name you come up with. It will usually help remind you where the energy level is as well. Here are some basic suggestions that are commonly used when referring to different sections of a song.

• Intro: The beginning of a song which sometimes doesn't include drums.
  
• Verse: The verse is where the lyricist tells the story and the lyrics usually don't repeat in the song. Verses usually have a lower energy with quiet dynamics to build into the chorus.
  
• Pre-Chorus: ​Sometimes songs have a pre-chorus after the verse to "setup" the chorus. It can sometimes build into the chorus.
  
• Chorus: The chorus is the main "hook" of the song that usually gets stuck in your head. The chorus is usually pretty high energy, but not always.
  
• Post-Chorus or Turnaround: This section is usually directly after the chorus. It is used to transition back into another verse or connect to an interlude or bridge.
  
• Solo: ​The solo commonly comes after one or two choruses have happened in the song. A lot of times the solo is played over the verse and chorus sections without lyrics.
  
• Bridge or Interlude: ​This section usually changes the chords or feel of the song. It can sometimes be very different from the verse/chorus sections of the song.
  
• Transition: Any brief transition that connects two sections.
• Tag: A tag, is the last phrase or line of a section repeated before it resolves to the final note. It is pretty standard that when you tag a part of a song, that you play the tag 3 times before resolving the progression which leaves you hanging until after the 3rd repeat.
  
• Outro or Ending: The outro, of course, comes at the end of the song. It might tie into the intro or another part of the song but can usually be a little different from the rest of the song.

Amount of Times
This is where you specify how many times that particular section is repeated. If there is a 4-measure verse progression that is repeated, let’s say four times, sometimes it helps identifies the length easier than reading “16 bars”.

Amount of Measures
Knowing how many measures the section is can be helpful, especially if it’s an odd transition.

Sound Source
It’s helpful to know what the basis of the beat is when entering a new section. You could be riding the hi-hats, the ride cymbal, the toms for a jungle tom groove, or the snare drum some type of a second line groove. This can be telling of the energy level too. Just abbreviate the sound source (such as: RC, SD, HH, BD, etc.). This is the only element in this chart that is "drum-centric". If you are an instrumentalist looking to use this sheet, you could use this column for the key of the song or the chord progression.

Keyword Notes
The “keyword notes” are very helpful when you need to describe the beat a little bit in your own way. Sometimes I will use descriptions like, “half-time closed HH” or “SD build”. It could be anything that might remind you of the unique characteristic of the part.

Staff
The staff is useful if you need to write out a specific beat or rhythm to follow. It might be full ensemble hits, or a defining rhythm of the entire section that should be followed. This is your last resort when you just need to write out the part. This column can be omitted by those that don’t read music on a staff.

Remember, these charts are for you, so you can use whatever abbreviations and notes you like that will help you. These charts are simple enough that you can glance at them during a gig to give you a heads up about the next section.

If you print them out but want to be inconspicuous, just place them on the floor by your hi-hat or tape them to the top of your bass drum. If you put them on an iPad or tablet, you will be able to flip through as many songs as you need to get through the gig. Tablets mounted on kits are so common these days, you won’t look like you’re looking at a song chart during the gig.

Sometimes it's necessary to write out the parts a bit more for a drummer. Especially if you are a composer writing a part for a drummer. I really like how Goran broke down how to write drum charts in his article here. These charts would be more of a simplified but notated which would work great to communicate a drum part without over-complicating things for a competent drummer. Check that out here: Goran Grooves - How to Write an Efficient Drum Chart

Of course, I have provided my simple song chart for you to download and print for free. Grab it right here:

To some, the idea of improvising is elusive as it is difficult. If you feel like you can’t improvise, then you probably just need to try a different approach. When you improvise, you can’t really be “wrong”. There isn’t a correct way to improvise.

Sure, you may want to stay in time or support the band, but you don’t have to. And, you shouldn’t expect to be able to do that right away. The best improvisations are captured when the musicians take risks out of their comfort zone. Sometimes you may want to make the time “elastic” to convey an idea in your head. Sometimes you are taking the forefront of the band for a solo or a transition into a new section or feel.

As long as your ideas are musical, confident, and purposeful, it can enhance the performance.

This exercise can help build confidence in improvising so you can push your comfort zone and create that magic on stage called improvisation. It has literally been one of the best things I have added to my practice regimen for many reasons:

1. It can inspire deeper creativity whether your in a slump or are are feeling repetitious.
2. It is a great ear trainer for deeper, longer, or more interesting phrasing.
3. It can help you find weak spots in your sticking and/or coordination and independence so you know what you need to spend time working on.
4. It can help you with timing, subdivisions, and metronome playing.

I was originally taught this exercise from my old teacher and longtime friend, Jesse Peterson, around the year 2000 or 2001. He was a former student of Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Dave King Trucking Company). If you are familiar of either of these guys playing, you can hear a masterful approach to phrasing and improvisation in their playing.

I was blown away when I saw that Dave actually referred to this exercise in a recent Drumeo video about improvising. When I saw this, I knew I wanted to share the clear and concise way Jesse taught me. He made it into an exercise with clear rules to improvise within. Concepts are more difficult for some of students to grasp without direct guidelines.

When Jesse showed this to me, he taught it as if it was a daily warmup and I think it can be a very powerful exercise if it’s done regularly. The genius behind Dave and Jesse literally changed my life and my drumming forever—and I’m not kidding. I am grateful that they taught me this exercise and I do not claim it as my own.

Improvised Rhythmic Permutations Exercise

Basically, set your metronome by choosing a tempo anywhere from 60 to 80 bpm or even up to 100 or 120 bpm depending on your skill level. With the metronome, improvise by hitting random sound sources as quarter notes only (directly on the metronome clicks). Do not hit the same sound source more than 2 or 3 times in a row. Be sure to incorporate all of your limbs and accents.

After improvising simple quarter note ideas and phrases, move on to quarter note triplets. After that continue onto eighth notes, eighth note triplets, sixteenth notes, and eventually sixteenth note triplets.

As you improvise hitting random sound sources, you will start to hear rhythmic phrases that you’ll want to react to. Embrace the idea that the phrases are longer than a one bar drum fill and allow them to extend beyond the barline. It is important that you still know where the beats AND downbeats are. This is where you ears will start to learn unique accents and phrasing.

It literally forces you to “think outside the bar lines”

Don’t limit yourself to clean hits on the drums and cymbals. Incorporate hi-hat foot splashes, ruffs and buzzes, cymbal chokes, drum rims, hardware slides, cymbal screeches, etc.

As you get comfortable with this exercise, you can begin to break the rules a bit by adding some rests, hitting 2 or more sound sources at the same time, hitting more than 2 hits on the same sound source. Just remember that it is important to set rules or guidelines to improvise within in order to explore your improv capabilities.

I have provided a video of myself doing this exercise as one of my warm-ups until I couldn’t keep it together anymore. If you don't make any mistakes when you're doing this, you're not taking enough riffs to explore new phrasing and rhythms!

Simplify or Challenge Yourself

At first you may want to keep it simple and remove the triplets. You could just go from quarter notes, to eighth notes and then to sixteenth notes. Eventually, you should add the triplets back in. You could even make it an advanced exercise by adding quintuplets, septuplets, and beyond!

To hear Dave King refer to this exercise, check out the video below and skip ahead to 19:43 or 31:25. He explains his approach to this idea and then plays an example. Make sure you take the time and watch the entire video—literally AMAZING and priceless lesson on improvisation.

Comment below with videos of your own versions of the “Improvised Rhythmic Permutations Exercise”! Thanks for reading!

This is one of the tracks from the remote recording sessions I did for the film Gringa--with zesty latin percussion! It was fun layering all of the percussion elements for this. I used congas, shaker, clave, and guiro to build this into a whole percussion ensemble. The score was written by Scott McRae and Ryan Rapsys and I was thrilled to be a part of the music department for this.

When I started playing music, I never got any music production or engineer training. I only studied music theory and how to play the instruments. I still haven't received any formal training for music production and I also know a lot of other musicians that haven't either. These days, with some decent equipment investments, trial and error, and trusting your ears, you can produce professional quality tracks like this. Now wait a minute, there's a bit more to it than that! But, the best part of remote session recordings is that usually you are not the mixer, just the engineer. So the journey is not as difficult as you might think! I will soon be adding videos talking about "how to do remote recording sessions".

Thanks for checking it out!

The gear I used here:
•Toca Synergy Congas
•Meinl Wood Guiro 
•Meinl Artist Series Shaker
•LP Aspire Traditional Clave


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