acoustic vs electronic for 10 year old beginner

that is all good points for the ekit..

but you don't learn how to tune, you don't learn how drums change sound when they go out of out tune.

you are stuck to 128 midi velocity's instead of infinite.

they are usually smaller though which could be good for a 10 year old.


if you did go the electric route i would just plan on getting a cheepo accoustic kit in a few years so he can join a band or learn if he keeps at it... at least he can get the independence down with headphones and jam to tracks easy.

who cares about "cool" factor.. I own 3 acoustic kits and an Ekit. The ekit is a great tool for practicing when the wife is in bed or has a friend over. It is also easy to plug in and jam to a track or record.. I do notice It is much easier to be "good" on the ekit... so it would be discouraging to only play ekits and move to electric one day but I'm sure kids these days can adapt to anything.

Ekit is better for the parent.. learning drums takes hours and hours and hours of playing crappy slow sloppy beats over and over. :)
 
E-kits arte fine for pros who have to be quiet and get some semi-realistic playing time when living in small city apartments.

In general, unless it's the right thing for your music, it gets old and uninspiring pretty fast.

When I go to a new school to teach and meet students that have played for a while, but in reality quit a couple of years ago, that e-kit is no small part of that problem.
 
whiteknightx said:
Electronics
6. You don't have to throw out the stock heads as soon as you bring the drums home, they sound great all the time, and you don't break drum sticks.
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This isn't necessarily true, I've broken 3 or 4 drumsticks on an electric kit (including a $7500 yamaha kit!) - I guess I'm just a hard hitter :p

Also I remember the stock heads on my first kit (which I still have but none of the stock heads are on anymore) sounding great, they were tuned low and all that jazz - although they did break quickly. Like I said, I guess I'm a hard hitter :p
 
w3r1_drums said:
This isn't necessarily true, I've broken 3 or 4 drumsticks on an electric kit (including a $7500 yamaha kit!) - I guess I'm just a hard hitter :p

Also I remember the stock heads on my first kit (which I still have but none of the stock heads are on anymore) sounding great, they were tuned low and all that jazz - although they did break quickly. Like I said, I guess I'm a hard hitter :p
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You can still be a hard hitter and not break stuff like heads and cymbals. Neil Peart is a good example.
 
I'm guessing that there is a large variance between eKits?

My boy has had a couple of "bonus" lessons on a Roland eKit (something like a HD1, so definitely a budget/student kit). He enjoyed the lessons, but was very critical of the kit and felt limited by the response that he got from it. Take that with a pinch of salt, and maybe it's more indicative of where his head is at, but I think most kids will ultimately prefer an acoustic kit.

As for breaking sticks, my boy has only broken one stick since he started playing (and that was by leaving it on the floor and shifting his throne onto it). I don't think it's such a big deal for kids.
 
I agree with below. I know for myself, even though playing the e kits many different sounds is fun and you can do cool stuff like run them through a guitar distortion pedal (pretty nasty/good), I find my self uninspired to practice on them after a while where with the acoustics I never seem to get tired of. (always trying to make them sound like the pro's). Plus always loud is fun! that's why we are drummers. I'd get an e kit later.

Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
E-kits arte fine for pros who have to be quiet and get some semi-realistic playing time when living in small city apartments.

In general, unless it's the right thing for your music, it gets old and uninspiring pretty fast.

When I go to a new school to teach and meet students that have played for a while, but in reality quit a couple of years ago, that e-kit is no small part of that problem.
Click to expand...
 
Midnite Zephyr said:
You can still be a hard hitter and not break stuff like heads and cymbals. Neil Peart is a good example.
Click to expand...

I realize that.
Part of the reason why most of those sticks were broken on the e-kit where because they were cheap maple sticks.
 
Another vote for an acoustic set.

E-kits have a few advantages, but there are several disadvantages, some of which have already been mentioned, but I'm going to list everything I dislike about them:

1. Cheap ones are terrible and are no good as anything more than an expensive practice pad set.

2. If you want an E-kit that reasonably accurately represents the natural response you get from playing real drums, you need to buy top of the line.

3. E-kit cymbals on low - mid range kits are awful and completely unrealistic

4. The dynamic range even on expensive E-kits is nowhere near the real thing

5. No matter how good your E-kit sounds, it still sounds like you're playing with triggers.

6. No room sound

7. No sympathetic resonance (could be good or bad depending on your point of view)

8. You don't learn how to tune real drums

9. You don't learn how to hit drums properly

10. You don't learn how to coax all the voices it is possible to create from a single instrument


Advantages to E-kits? Someone already listed them - and I agree that they have those advantages.

But if you want to learn how to play drums WELL, get an acoustic set. End of discussion. An E-kit should only ever been a practice tool or an accessory.

If noise is an issue, buy a real (cheap) set and put mesh heads and triggers on it. That way you have the best of both worlds covered.
 
If noise is an issue, find a Pearl Rhythm Traveller kit, and if it hasn't received them yet, buy some cheap cymbals, because the cymbals supplied with the kit are woefully poor.

The Pearl Rhythm Traveller is supplied with mesh and regular heads. With the regular heads it's LOUD. The plastic practice cymbals are kinda silly; you'd do better with mutes (or cloths) on regular cymbals.
 
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