Leave Me Alone Please

Hollywood Jim

Platinum Member
Ok here is a weird problem.

I am currently shopping for a new drum set. (shells only) I might buy a used set, but I want to try out as many different sets as I can.
I went to a different Guitar Center (not my usual one), and WOW ! They have a bunch of drum sets all set up and ready to try out. Oh goody !

I sit down on this Tama Superstar kit and I begin to groove and fill. And after about 2 minutes I now have an audience. About 6 people. Guys and gals from the drum section, other GC workers and I guess some customers. I’m like putting on a drum clinic.

Well it is embarrassing ! I’m trying to hear how the drums sound. And I want to try out several other sets.
But I only tried out that one set and I left the store. Because I don’t want to play for an audience. I don’t want the pressure of trying to perform my best. I just want to be left alone to try out some drum sets.
And with those people watching me made me fell like I was showing off.........

So what do I do now ? Should I go in to a store and pretend that I can’t play very well just so I can hear what the many drum sets sounds like???


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You're retired right Jim? Go to the Samash on 43rd and Cactus in the middle of the week, mid afternoon. It'll be slow and you'll be able to try out gear in peace. If there is a Mexican guy with long hair working make sure you give him a hard time. Name is Izzy and he's a great guy.

I had a similar experience when I went to the GC in Tempe to check out a Tempus snare they had. As soon as I started playing it some friendly customers started chatting with me. They seems like very nice people but it made it difficult to try my drum out.
 
You're retired right Jim? Go to the Samash on 43rd and Cactus in the middle of the week, mid afternoon. It'll be slow and you'll be able to try out gear in peace. If there is a Mexican guy with long hair working make sure you give him a hard time. Name is Izzy and he's a great guy.

I had a similar experience when I went to the GC in Tempe to check out a Tempus snare they had. As soon as I started playing it some friendly customers started chatting with me. They seems like very nice people but it made it difficult to try my drum out.

Yes I am retired. Yeah I have met Izzy a few times, great guy.

Funny, yeah the GC in Tempe have lots of kits to try out !!

Your idea is a good one. My timing was not good. I'll go in the morning. Musicians don't wake up until noon. LOL


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But I only tried out that one set and I left the store. Because I don’t want to play for an audience. I don’t want the pressure of trying to perform my best. I just want to be left alone to try out some drum sets.
And with those people watching me made me fell like I was showing off.........

So what do I do now ? Should I go in to a store and pretend that I can’t play very well just so I can hear what the many drum sets sounds like???

Go back to that particular Guitar Center and speak with the manager. See if he'll let you come in early before they open the doors for business. That way you can play all the kits you want in relative privacy.
 
Always gotta expect that kind of attention if you go into a crowded store.. Just grin and hear it.. If you're worth watching then it's only a compliment.
 
Go back to that particular Guitar Center and speak with the manager. See if he'll let you come in early before they open the doors for business. That way you can play all the kits you want in relative privacy.

Hey, that's a good idea !

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When shopping for a kit, since I'll probably be using some other snare and definitely my own cymbals, I'm not really interested in grooving or filling. I'm interested in what the kick sounds like, how the toms balance and what character they have. Which you have to somewhat infer from what kind of heads are on them. So I might do some linear lines between various toms and the kick. Maybe a bar or two or groove to set up the contrast. With all the charcters in a GC bashing away, playing decently will draw attention, but that's not the point in my book. I know guys who can walk in and actually give a drum clinic but that's a different thing.
 
Besides it being a pain in the ass,you must be doing something right Jim,if there was a crowd gathering.You just may be better than you think you are.:)....What's next.....how to vids on youtube?:):)..I'm kidding,but really,whatever you were playing,you must have been doing it well.Very cool.

Don't forget Ludwig ,Legacy,Keystone,Club Date and Classic lines.The legacys will have a similar sound to your Slingerland kit.Also look into C & C,who make great sounding drums.Half the fun is in the search.:)

Steve B
 
When I was shopping for a kit at GC, I made the salesperson play so I could sit back and listen.
 
Really. I wish I played bad enough to draw a crowd. Or that my bad playing was drawing a crowd. You know what I mean. I would just go from kit to kit and let them drool, or snicker or whatever. A few years ago, my son and I went to San Fran for the Mac Convention and Roland was sponsoring along with a John Lennon foundation, a music education area. I sat down at a Roland E Kit and started playing around and about six people moved in to see what I was doing. I ha d never played on an e kit and my son had never seen me play, so I just did what felt good and when I was finished I got up and left.
 

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When I was shopping for a kit at GC, I made the salesperson play so I could sit back and listen.

Hey !!
This makes a lot of sense !
Drums can sound different out in front of the drums compared to sitting behind, playing the drums.

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Besides it being a pain in the ass,you must be doing something right Jim,if there was a crowd gathering.

Steve B

Well to be honest I was watching them more then they were watching me. And they were not all standing right next to me. I was feeling like I needed to perform for them. It was my damn ego.

Next time I need to leave my ego at home and like Aeolian said cut out the groove and fill stuff.

One thing that Aeolian said made me think. I need to figure out some patterns to play. And use the same patterns on each set so I can compare each kit. This first time I went I had a song in my head and I just played what I was feeling at the time.

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Standing back to listen is the way to go I think, gives, the sound of the kit from an audience perspective.
 
Once you have a couple years experience, you will be more comfortable playing :)


And yeah, that would bother me too. I think you are on the right track with the early morning timing.
 
If I'm trying out drums, I don't sit down and play grooves or fills.

I hit the kick a few times, the snare a few times. Hit each tom once or twice. That's enough to tell me what it sounds like.
 
Possibly some in the audience are delighted in a chance to get to hear the drums they are also interested in being played by someone who is more advanced in drumming than themselves? If a good drummer is checking something out in a store, I always get close enough to listen. I may become interested in the product myself.
 
Or, if you are at a GC or a Sam Ash, just buy the kit and take it home. Use it on a gig, or whatever. Do whatever you want to the kit. You have 30-days to bring it back after a good solid test.

Other than noodling around with a kit in the store, you really won't know if it'll do what you need it to do until you actually take it out somewhere and really put it through its paces. That's what the 30-day-money-back-guarantee is really for.
 
You could go when you want and just play poorly.
 
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