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

Hmm what have I bought when I was a dummy and first starting out
1. 2 cowbells and a ridiculous giant gibralter mount
2. really tiny splash cymbals from cheap cymbal lines like b8's
3. a (cheap) double pedal
the list goes on and on. I've sold all that junk now atleast.
 
How about or too many drums? My fills got way more creative and energetic when I went from 5 to 4 drums about 12 years ago.
 
Mike Portnoy signatures [. . .] you get the feel of a 7a, with the sound of a heavier stick [. . .] I would strongly recommend trying them my friend.

Cheers - that's good advice; personally I use the Vic Firth 8D these days (which is 1/2" longer than the 7A) for that very reason. The ProMark 420 seems to be even longer which is cool - only downsides for me would be the tip (having used 7ANs for years I switched back to the wood tips and have become rather fond of them) and the fact that where I buy my sticks ProMark are inexplicably about 12.5% more expensive than Vic Firth or Vater.

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet...the small Roto-Tom trio (6,8,10 inches) [. . .] they have their place in drumming, e.g. Bill Bruford, Alex VanHalen. But for a beginner they just aren't necessary.

Yeah, bought those back in the day: Alex Van Halen was a big influence on my younger self. Strangely enough I ended up only using the smallest tom cranked right up to sound like a cow bell [Yay!] and played it as such.
 
but sadly, I'll admit...... I kind of want some windchimes for my kit right now..
Nothing sad about wind chimes. I love them, & have a set on my live kit permanently. I find studio chimes work best. Slightly thinner bars offer a more cohesive sound than some of the bigger tube based ones, they're a bit "clangy". Ok, I admit, I only use them maybe 5-6 times in a set, but they add substantially to the vibe when used sparingly.
 
I've made so many bad purchases it's not true. I'd like to think I'm wiser now - ha

I've bought cymbals that sounded great by themselves but didn't match the others. I bought a mini conga that was very ordinary. I have tons of percussive toys that I never get the chance to use.

Many thousands of unwise dollars donated to Drum City / Billy Hyde / Allens Music ... an expensive way to learn. It's a great thing about this site - you can get advice from cluey players. The downside is all the product talk can get you burning up the money you saved through the good advice ...
 
I agree with Andy on the premature kit upgrades. You first need to figure out how to tune what you've got and understand what your kit's strengths and weaknesses are before you're ready to zero in on a new one. Once you understand what you've got and where you want to go, then you won't be posting here saying, "My Catalina sounds crappy and my new band is playing shows, what should I get, lol?" Okay, so your going to go from a Catalina to a DW Collectors that will sound just as bad. Or, get the DW and then feel the need to learn to tune it properly, discovering in the process that if you had done that to the Catalina, it would've actually sounded pretty rippin'.

+1 on the 6/8/10 rototoms. The most heinous addition to any kit. (tho I wouldn't mind a 12/14/16/18 for an alternate setup)

I don't have heartache with double pedals. When I was noob, most of my drum heroes had them (Peart, Bozzio, Morgenstein, Simon Philips). They were some of my biggest inspirations, why not try to figure that stuff out? None of them were slouches on the hi hats either. If I was just coming up nowadays, I think I'd be wanting to figure out how Tomas Haake does some of his stuff. It's just fun and isn't that the point?
 
As a noob myself, I have to admit that I have both a cowbell and a stick holder on my kit but I bought neither, they were both Christmas presents (that I didn't ask for) so I find it okay. I actually enjoy the cowbell and incorporating it into my paradiddle practice for the purpose of getting a different sound, a different feel and getting used to moving around to different parts of the kit (it gets boring for us noobs playing only snare, hats and bass all the time - a little cowbell adds a little excitement...lol).

One day, I may even learn to incorporate it into a real song! Who knows!
 
No wind chimes Larry?

BTW, what are the best wind chimes for death metal? Should I trigger them? maybe double wind chimes?

HAHA!

But how can I improve my wind chime technique to play them faster? How can I sustain 260 bpm on the wind chimes, even if it drives people from the room? How do you mount multiple wind chimes to a set? can I get a rack-mountable set with at least 500 individual chimes? What kind of chimes does the drummer for Necrofascistanalhunger play? Is one brand better for the Black Goat Viking Doomcore Foul Odor Thrash sub-genre?
 
I agree with Andy on the premature kit upgrades. You first need to figure out how to tune what you've got and understand what your kit's strengths and weaknesses are before you're ready to zero in on a new one. Once you understand what you've got and where you want to go, then you won't be posting here saying, "My Catalina sounds crappy and my new band is playing shows, what should I get, lol?" Okay, so your going to go from a Catalina to a DW Collectors that will sound just as bad. Or, get the DW and then feel the need to learn to tune it properly, discovering in the process that if you had done that to the Catalina, it would've actually sounded pretty rippin'.

+1 on the 6/8/10 rototoms. The most heinous addition to any kit. (tho I wouldn't mind a 12/14/16/18 for an alternate setup)

I don't have heartache with double pedals. When I was noob, most of my drum heroes had them (Peart, Bozzio, Morgenstein, Simon Philips). They were some of my biggest inspirations, why not try to figure that stuff out? None of them were slouches on the hi hats either. If I was just coming up nowadays, I think I'd be wanting to figure out how Tomas Haake does some of his stuff. It's just fun and isn't that the point?
Hey Mike. My buddy has a full rototom kit 6 to 16, with bass rototom as well. I will have to have him set it up for me to take a pic.
 
Answering the OP: nothing.

Waste implies that there is no value in all the things mentioned here. But none of these things are a waste because that is how we learn: by doing. We buy stuff that we think will make our kits better and learn by making mistakes. You have to try stuff on to find out what works for you. It's not like double pedals, cow bells and dampening rings are a waste for everyone or even every beginner. Those things would only be purchase mistakes if one bought them and never used them. But then that is how we learn what not to buy. There is no waste in that.

Looking back at my incredibly long list of purchases, every one has value to me. Even that ridiculous set of agogo bells I got when I was 15.
 
Answering the OP: nothing.

Waste implies that there is no value in all the things mentioned here. But none of these things are a waste because that is how we learn: by doing. We buy stuff that we think will make our kits better and learn by making mistakes. You have to try stuff on to find out what works for you. It's not like double pedals, cow bells and dampening rings are a waste for everyone or even every beginner. Those things would only be purchase mistakes if one bought them and never used them. But then that is how we learn what not to buy. There is no waste in that.

Looking back at my incredibly long list of purchases, every one has value to me. Even that ridiculous set of agogo bells I got when I was 15.

+1 Best answer yet


dumb char limit
 
Answering the OP: nothing.

Waste implies that there is no value in all the things mentioned here. But none of these things are a waste because that is how we learn: by doing. We buy stuff that we think will make our kits better and learn by making mistakes. You have to try stuff on to find out what works for you. It's not like double pedals, cow bells and dampening rings are a waste for everyone or even every beginner. Those things would only be purchase mistakes if one bought them and never used them. But then that is how we learn what not to buy. There is no waste in that.

Looking back at my incredibly long list of purchases, every one has value to me. Even that ridiculous set of agogo bells I got when I was 15.

I bow to you. This the best answer in this thread.
 
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