practicing on an electric drumset...

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chris4355

Member
the thing i hate the most about drumming is the fact that I cant practice at night because of my neighbors.

I was thinking of spending some money on a nice electric drumset, I played on them and they sound good enough for me, and itll be cool to be able to jam with people with it because of the option to play at much lower volumes.

I was wondering however, would practicing on an electric drumset hold me back? do you think it may make me worst at playing on a regular set? could it be possible that I develop bad habits on the electric?
 
Hi Chris, there are quite a few threads on this topic you might be able to find some good points in them.

I have a Yamaha DTexplorer for practice, it hasnt damaged my playing on acoustic at all as I appreciate the difference in feel between them. I think they are a fantastic practice tool and its great so have so much in the way of sounds available so easily.
 
I found it to be just the opposite. The fact that I can practice more helps me to improve. The action is slightly different. I do have to adjust when I get on my acoustic kit after playing the V drums. It is still important to get time in on my acoustic. Things like cymbal and brush technique, etc. It has also helped me to become a better tuner on my snare and toms. I have a small Roland elec. kit. Its also great for learning songs. I only used it on a gig once in a small club. I still prefer acoustic playing. Old habits die hard.
 
i practice on an electronic kit for noise reasons. it's a great practice tool, and it definitely will not hold you back. however, there are some things that can only only be done on an acoustic kit, or that work a lot better on an acoustic kit. for example, you can't practice brush technique on the e-kit. cymbal technique, other than just hitting them, is hard to practice on the e-kit. rim shots are pretty different between the two, even though it's possible to play them on the e-kit.

i've developed a couple bad habits from the e-kit, but nothing super serious. i was compensating for poor bass drum technique by cranking the volume on the bass drum trigger. my drum teacher got me to turn the trigger volume way down, so now i'm forced to play with more power on the bass drum. that helped. another thing about the e-kit is that everything is closer together and easier to reach. when i go to my acoustic kit everything seems far away and i have to adjust for that.
 
There are a few threads here on the topic but, I practice on my Roland TD-20 and gig on acoustic drum. I love practicing on them, there is a huge sense of privacy you really cant get any other way. If you can afford it the TD-20 is the best way to go in my opinion.
 
dairyairman said:
another thing about the e-kit is that everything is closer together and easier to reach. when i go to my acoustic kit everything seems far away and i have to adjust for that.
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Why not just adjust the ekit to resemble the position of the instruments on your acoustic kit? I think Justdrums made this very point in another thread recently. To the OP keep in mind that whether mesh or rubber pads, the stick response is completely different to that of a real drum head, and this can be a problem where you playing involves control of the rebound. But they are great practice tools especially if you're practicing around the kit coordination and agility.
 
One advantage (other than being able to play whenever you want) that I have found playing on my Roland TD-6V is that you are able to explore with a lot more sound options giving you (IMO) the ability to work on creativity.
As others have responded, there are limitations to an e-kit as far as "feel" that are different from an acoustic. However, if you are just looking for a practice kit (and keep in mind the differences between the two), I don't see how an e-kit could hold you back. Good Luck!
 
I've had my Yamaha DTX3 kit for a little over a month now and I've had no problems going between it and my acoustic drums. Actually, when I get on the acoustic kit, I play better. I love my e-kit, though. Being able to jam out for a little while at the apartment is VERY nice, although I don't usually play past 8 o'clock so I don't bother the neighbors below me.

Of course, e-kits are a long way from being indistinguishable from acoustic kits. But they're still great practice tools and very much fun. I'd definitely recommend getting one. I have the Yamaha DTX3. It's great, but if you want the closest thing to real drums, look at the Roland TD-20. I would have gone that route, but it was out of my price range.
 
As burnthehero mentioned cost. That is an issue with electronic kits. PRICE! You can buy one heck of an acoustic kit for the price of mid range electronic kit. A lot of cash to lay out for practicing.
 
I set up my e kit exactly the same as my acoustic kit. I have no issues switch back and forth.

TD20.jpg
 
I was killing time in a music store a while back. (where else) I was flirting around on an electro-kit. An enthusiastic sales person came to me with the hope of making a sale. I told him that I already have an electro-kit that I practice on. He told me that electronic kits were going to become the drummers choice in the near future for all the time playing. I just smiled and I kept playing. I thought about it later and I wondered if he was correct. Will the acoustic kit become second choice to the electro-kits in the future? We have seen this with keyboards and other instruments. Is that a good thing? Food for thought! Sorry if I bent this thread of subject a bit.
 
bobdadruma said:
I was killing time in a music store a while back. (where else) I was flirting around on an electro-kit. An enthusiastic sales person came to me with the hope of making a sale. I told him that I already have an electro-kit that I practice on. He told me that electronic kits were going to become the drummers choice in the near future for all the time playing. I just smiled and I kept playing. I thought about it later and I wondered if he was correct. Will the acoustic kit become second choice to the electro-kits in the future? We have seen this with keyboards and other instruments. Is that a good thing? Food for thought! Sorry if I bent this thread of subject a bit.
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This has been discussed too many times, but I don't believe that in my lifetime I'll get to play an electronic drum kit that can to my standards fully imitate an acoustic set and then some, allowing for more options than your average acoustic. But I always keep an open mind because technology has surprised me before.
 
nah, you dont see piano players using electric pianos as a primary choice do you? most musicians of all types still tend to prefer the acoustic version of their instruments more.

i know many amazing electric guitarists that have agreed with me that an electric guitar will never sound as good as a high end acoustic.
 
chris4355 said:
nah, you dont see piano players using electric pianos as a primary choice do you? most musicians of all types still tend to prefer the acoustic version of their instruments more.

i know many amazing electric guitarists that have agreed with me that an electric guitar will never sound as good as a high end acoustic.
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I know a kid who just started drumming about a half year ago. His family is friends with my family and when he was kit shopping his family came to me for advice. I personally feel that an electronic kit cannot replicate an acoustic kit to the point that I would pick an electric as a first kit over an acoustic, so I recommended an acoustic. His parents did like the electric option not only because of the noise reduction but also the features like different kits built in etc. and that's the path they eventually went with. The good thing is, I'm pretty sure he has one of the mid-range Yamaha e-kits and it feels pretty good to play on. But I did realize something afterwards-- the young kid who bought the e-kit has played piano for a couple years, and his family owns an acoustic piano. I've played the drums longer than I have piano by several years. I own an acoustic kit. I'll let you guess what type of piano I have. : )
 
chris4355 said:
the thing i hate the most about drumming is the fact that I cant practice at night because of my neighbors.

I was thinking of spending some money on a nice electric drumset, I played on them and they sound good enough for me, and itll be cool to be able to jam with people with it because of the option to play at much lower volumes.

I was wondering however, would practicing on an electric drumset hold me back? do you think it may make me worst at playing on a regular set? could it be possible that I develop bad habits on the electric?
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hey chris!

it is basically a drummer's curse (alongside with many others like finding sufficient space to set up, storage and transportation is a pain in the butt etc) to be interested in such a noisy instrument, but it is also somehow makes this instrument so unique and easy to fall in love with.

being an e drum user effectively for a couple of years now, i can assure you it has countless advantages and it sure is an excellent practice tool. so it definitely does not affect your playing in a bad way. on the contrary it affects your playing in a positive way. there are some very good reasons to own an e drum set, those are:

- an e drum set is almost silent compared to an acoustic set (no risk of frustrated neighbors for apartment drummers)

- it is always ready to go with a single on/off switch and good for home use

- the fact that it is always ready to go encourages the user to sit behind it and practice more frequently so that is a big plus

- most sets have a lot of fun and educational functions and very precise built-in metronomes so you can always practice with a click track. yamaha has a rhythm-gate and groove check function that is a lot of fun to work with.

- you can play along to your favorite song or the songs of different musical styles that come up with the module or sequences, or play along to their bass guitar tracks only to learn how to respond to a bass player without hearing the other instruments in the groove

- it is called a drum set but it could be used in a totally different way. a percussion set, a synth etc. so it helps ignite your creativity/imagination. because basically it is whatever you want it to be

- since it's a switch away to get ready to go, you don't have to worry about tuning or sound-checking (you would have to learn that on an acoustic set anyway)

- further you progress, you can use it to record your drum parts on an actual project with assistance of a computer and a sound editing software using the good old midi technology (most drum modules in the market have midi connectivity as a standard)

- most importantly if you are only planning to use it for practice purposes it is a hell of a lot better to practice hearing an actual drumset sound rather than taps on a practice pad that gives you no idea how it would sound for real

those are the most obvious ones that i could come up with in a heartbeat. if the feel is a big worry for you (fact of the matter is you can always adjust to it pretty quickly) you can choose a set that comes up with mesh pads (roland, pintech) or buy a module only and set up your actual drumset equipped with mesh practice heads and acoustic drum triggers connected to the module. the rebound and overall feel in mesh heads is very close to the real deal.

if you have further questions i would gladly be of assistance.

cheers!
 
chris4355 said:
nice, thanks for the responses, I have a feeling I will be looking into one on my next few paychecksl... = )
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Just be careful to choose one that is best suited to your needs - Tolgalpala paints a rosy picture, but the fact is they do present noise problems, especially to those living below you in an apartment, or those in next door rooms, and if you only play on an ekit, you soon get out of shape on the acoustic. Any drum teacher will tell you the same. Stick response is a bitch.
 
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