Drum kit components that beginners waste their money on...

A mounted tambourine, a small cowbell mounted on the same rod as my tambourine, a large cowbell mounted on the kick batter hoop and plus a 10" splash, is must have, standard equipment on my kit. I find that with those extra things, I can handle most styles of music, so they are as much a part of my kit as my snare. In use them quite a bit, they really add a refreshing sonic dimension. They are fun to play and hear. Nothing defines the QNP like a cowbell too.
 
Have to disagree with many things mentioned;

Double pedal? On more than one audition, being able to play some double bass was a requirement. In one band, our "hit" song that got (some college) radio play had one short fill that used double pedal, and it was the song writers idea for me to use a double pedal on that fill.

Mounted Tambourine? Yup, used it a lot on stage. Came in handy on more than one song.

Cowbell? Yup, when the bass player said, "hey, can you use a cowbell on this song?" I said sure, I have one in my bag, let me get it.

Drum Dial? oddly enough the only reason I bought on was the producer my band was working with insisted I have one. It's usefulness is limited I agree, but I have used it in the studio. If nothing else, it kept everyone else happy.

All these items were used in my career.

About the only thing I do agree belongs on this is o-rings. And Pearl Wild cymbals. Wow, those were awful.

So..... you're a beginner in a large band? I'm confused....

All sarcasm aside, there is no doubt cowbells, double pedals, mounted tambourines ext are good for the advanced drummer. But for a beginner it is a waste.
 
Regarding the double-pedal thing, I guess for me it all comes down to how much it's used. I really have always loved tasteful (subjective, I know) use of double-pedal. As a kid, some of my biggest "wow" moments listening to drummers were tunes like Space Boogie and Quadrant 4, with those crazy double-bass shuffles. I loved how rock and fusion guys like Weckl, Peart, Colaiuta, Steve Smith, etc. would insert some cool double-pedal licks into their phrases.

But I can't say I'm much into the sustained 200+ BPM double-kicks for the duration of the tune thing. I do like some metal and it doesn't offend me. I just don't find myself really wanting to hear it too often and I'm not inspired to try and play it.

I guess I like my double-pedal more as a condiment than a main course.
 
A mounted tambourine, a small cowbell mounted on the same rod as my tambourine, a large cowbell mounted on the kick batter hoop and plus a 10" splash, is must have, standard equipment on my kit. I find that with those extra things, I can handle most styles of music, so they are as much a part of my kit as my snare. In use them quite a bit, they really add a refreshing sonic dimension. They are fun to play and hear. Nothing defines the QNP like a cowbell too.
No wind chimes Larry?

BTW, what are the best wind chimes for death metal? Should I trigger them? maybe double wind chimes?
 
A mounted tambourine, a small cowbell mounted on the same rod as my tambourine, a large cowbell mounted on the kick batter hoop and plus a 10" splash, is must have, standard equipment on my kit. I find that with those extra things, I can handle most styles of music, so they are as much a part of my kit as my snare. In use them quite a bit, they really add a refreshing sonic dimension. They are fun to play and hear. Nothing defines the QNP like a cowbell too.

I agree, at a more advanced level and certainly in performance, these things are necessary, or at least come in handy. The thread, though, is talking about beginners, and I think it's a waste of money to outfit a beginner's set with that.
 
Funny thread..lots of passive agressive attacks at certain genres and age groups young and older. The double pedal debate is a prime example of this. The good 'ole jazzhole versus the metalhead war.

I definitely wasted money on cowbells and timbales with extra hardware to mount all that stuff. I never look back and say it was bad, just all learning experince.
 
Have to disagree with many things mentioned;

Double pedal? On more than one audition, being able to play some double bass was a requirement. In one band, our "hit" song that got (some college) radio play had one short fill that used double pedal, and it was the song writers idea for me to use a double pedal on that fill.

Mounted Tambourine? Yup, used it a lot on stage. Came in handy on more than one song.

Cowbell? Yup, when the bass player said, "hey, can you use a cowbell on this song?" I said sure, I have one in my bag, let me get it.

Drum Dial? oddly enough the only reason I bought on was the producer my band was working with insisted I have one. It's usefulness is limited I agree, but I have used it in the studio. If nothing else, it kept everyone else happy.

All these items were used in my career.

About the only thing I do agree belongs on this is o-rings. And Pearl Wild cymbals. Wow, those were awful.

Keep in mind this thread is about beginners. You don't sound like a beginner!
 
About the only thing I do agree belongs on this is o-rings. And Pearl Wild cymbals. Wow, those were awful.

0 rings/studio rings are a very uesfull part of my set up. In the past I was using different heads on different snares for dry or wet sounds depending on the particular song being covered. Then I would need to put certain songs together in each set so I could switch snares between sets but if someone requested a song that we did with a wet sounding snare and I had the dry snare set up I would have to play it with the dry snare or visa versa or just wait till the next set to play their request. My set up now consists of a 2 snare set up with the snares tuned at different pitches and with fairly wet sounding heads then I use the 0 rings/studio rings to get the dry sound which now gives me the ability to switch between 4 different snare sounds at the drop of a hat (or literally at the drop of a studio ring)...lol
 
what's with all the hate on double pedals? I think beginner kits should come with a choice between single and double pedals right off the bat. If you plan on eventually going to double, you should start with it, otherwise your left foot will be too far behind, playing the hi-hat is not the same as playing a bass drum with the left foot.

but if you're just going to stick with single throughout your life, then there's no reason to get a double.

I've been over this with my drum teacher, and that was his answer when I asked the question open ended.

as for ACTUAL wastes of money... too many toms and cymbals, I had too many, and tried to play melodies on them, which did not help the songs.
 
So..... you're a beginner in a large band? I'm confused....

All sarcasm aside, there is no doubt cowbells, double pedals, mounted tambourines ext are good for the advanced drummer. But for a beginner it is a waste.

Keep in mind this thread is about beginners. You don't sound like a beginner!

But I bought them all (except the drum dial) when I was still beginner. LOL

If I hadn't had them BEFORE I needed them, I wouldn't have been able to have them in my bag of stuff when the time came.
 
I think that might have been accurate in the past, but I'm not so sure anymore. I played for 20 years with a single pedal, and now that I finally have one, I can't get my left leg and foot to do anything. I think if I had started learning how to move my left leg and foot from the beginning it would come more natrually. Double bass is so prevelant in all types of music now, I think it make since for beginners to learn how to do it from the start. It will help the learning curve later on.

Two years ago I decided to finally buy a drum kit and learn how to play - My life long dream. Bought a decent Pearl kit and slowly upgraded the failing/cheap/broken stuff.

First purchase was a DW double pedal - I wanted to learn double bass techniques, thought it would be a great way to strengthen my hi-hat foot etc. I wanted the same degree of dexterity and control between both of my feet. Sure, I rarely use it but when I do, it's for experimentation and seasoning.

I bought a few sets of drum heads before finding the right heads for my Pearl and learning how to tune better. Sure, I upgraded the crappy, old Zildjian cymbals with new Paiste cymbals, replaced broken hi-hat, drum throne etc. This all happened over the course of two years and as my playing progressed.

I think the biggest waste of money is buying every freakin' instructional book and DVD out there. Some have a use and are decent but I would recommend someone starting use that money for actual lessons. Stay away from the books and DVDs until you get some ability.
 
Black cymbals top my list,closely followed by drum dials.How many posts do we see here about crappy sounding drums,or how do I get my snare to sound like(insert drummer name).Tuning is a skill all drummers need to learn,and a drum dial is not going to teach that skill to you.All drums are different,even ones of the same size and model sound a little different,from one another.

You need to learn the skill,and not replace it with a device.

Steve B
 
My biggest waste - not so much of money but of time was drumming gloves.

A couple of years after beginning kit drums I started getting into faster and faster rock/metal; having got myself a double pedal (natch) and sod all technique I noticed blisters and eventually calluses on my fingers. These were probably not helped by me getting thicker and thicker sticks as I just seemed to keep breaking them.

Once I had got into the habit of taping up the knackered parts of my fingers I noticed my grip wasn't up to much and to stop myself from dropping sticks all the time I bought some gloves [Zildjian, I believe]. Though this put a band-aid on the situation (if you'll pardon the pun) it obviously detracted from the fact I just wasn't holding the sticks well or hitting the kit particularly efficiently.

Of course all this farting about was the flailing of a young beginner who didn't know any better: once I'd found myself a decent teacher I was put on a good path and these days I won't touch any stick thicker than a 7A and even with daily playing seldom break any.
 
When I bought my first drumset 40 years ago(yikes)I did OK except for two things, cowbell and splash cymbal. The cowbell was useless and I still laugh about having that cymbal because I had no clue when to use it. Those were a waste of money for me.
 
The biggest thing beginners waste their money on?

Duck tape.

BA-DUM TSS

;)
 
These days I won't touch any stick thicker than a 7A and even with daily playing seldom break any.
I use to use exclusive 7a's to, but then I switched to Mike Portmoy signatures, the have basically the same shaft diameter of a 7a, but the taper and tip of a 747, so you get the feel of a 7a, with the sound of a heavier stick.
I would strongly recommend trying them my friend.
 
When i started i must have done things correctly but DRUMMERWORLD helped me a lot with this though, you guys rock.

My biggest waste of money..... Sound Off Pads, it sounds so bad so i moved my kit to my business unit and took them off, now i practice with no complaints from my family or neighbours and found i get a lot more quality practices as i don't get disturbed through every session i do

I bought a very cheap mapex v kit to get playing and then upgraded in this order:

Evans EC2 Heads + HD Dry Batter
Istanbul Mehmet Sweet Hats 13"
DW3500 Hat Stand
Sabian 20" XS Ride
DW5000 Single pedal
DW Cymbal Boom Stand
Istanbul 18" Xist Crash
22" EMAD Bass Head

I personally think thats all i will ever need or want but maybe change the shells
 
Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet...the small Roto-Tom trio (6,8,10 inches). Stores still sell em and you see them on CL a lot. I got mine in the mid 80's thinking it was a cheap way to add three more "toms" to my tiny 3 piece set. What a mistake. Don't get me wrong, they have their place in drumming, e.g. Bill Bruford, Alex VanHalen. But for a beginner they just aren't necessary.
 
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