Learning on Electric versus Acoustic Drums

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dazzzer35

Junior Member
This is not an Electric verses acoustic question but i have noticed from my learning experience that trying acoustic drums feels a lot harder to play , having only every played on electric drums i thought i would have a go on an acoustic set in the shop, i came to realise that moving from electric to acoustic is a lot harder and is something you would need to learn on , So i was wondering if they are any drummers that only use electric drums for this reason ? I was even thinking would i ever get an acoustic drum kit or need to play on acoustic drums, well the answer is no i don't think so, I got an electric drum kit mainly because i want practice and learn the drums without annoying anyone in my house , I think its easier to record with which is one of the things i will want to do and play along to backing tracks ,
 
I never recommend starting on electronic drums, because you rob yourself of the experience of playing a real drumset. Sure, you won't disturb people, and electronic sets may be easier to record with, but weigh the pros & cons. If you really want to play drums, then you should spend time playing real drums, not electronic pads.
 
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Electric drums tend to have more rebound which can make them easier to play. On the other hand, acoustic drums have a lot more dynamics, and once you get used to it you will prefer acoustic.
 
Liam said:
Electric drums tend to have more rebound which can make them easier to play. On the other hand, acoustic drums have a lot more dynamics, and once you get used to it you will prefer acoustic.
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So true. I started on acoustic drums and played em for years. Then space became a factor, so I went w an electronic set w mesh heads. I barely had to tap them to get rebound and it took no hand or wrist action. Played those for a couple of years. Bought a house and set of acoustic and it was brutal for a while. I had to work for everything in terms of rebound and dynamics, but was happy to be back and rebuild my playing.
 
Electronic drums are fine tools for learning and recording. Some of us use a practice pad for exercises, those can be just like electronic drums. There is nothing wrong with going the electric route.

That being said, you cant replace the pure joy one gets from hitting a real drum. It's big. Its loud. You can feel the sound coming off of it. Electronic drums dont do that.
 
Acoustic drums are a lot harder to play. It's because you have more options on acoustic drums. The timbre varies all over the head and cymbal surface.
 
Going to an e-kit from an acoustic leaves nothing to learn in mechanics. Going the other way is not the equivalent.

Said a different way, acoustic learning is the way to learn. Pad work and an e-kit won't train everything that the acoustic will. You'll have to retrain and learn things on the acoustic when you move to it.
 
unless you soend a decent amount of money on a higher end kit, I feel like electronic drums always feel like toys. They set up like toys too. I have used one now for 11 years at one of my bands practices b/c we use a jam hub to keep the noise levels down, and I hate the way it feels. Everythign is little, and real compact and too close to me.
 
dazzzer35 said:
......So i was wondering if they are any drummers that only use electric drums for this reason ? ..........
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I'm sure there are. Lots of them. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to have and play an acoustic kit. If it can't be part of your lifestyle ...... keep bashing that e-kit;)
 
I'm with Harry on this. If you don't ever foresee yourself playing acoustic drums, then there's no need to go out and get one to continue to learn how to play. One just has to make a choice on what s/he plans to do. Everyone thought I was crazy when I decided to get into the Zendrum (a MIDI controller primarily played with fingers) to replace my acoustic drums on some gigs, and it's turned out to be a blessing in disguise over the years, able to do things I can't do with acoustic drums, and I know when to use acoustic drums when the need arises. But from a learning standpoint, I'm firm that if you want to be a good working drummer, then learning how to make an acoustic set sound good is just par for the course. BUT - if your course doesn't include acoustic drumming, then you shouldn't be bound by the rule. Alot of musicians tend to think in terms of rules and whatnot, and there really aren't any if the activity is primarily for you to make yourself happy.
 
dazzzer35 said:
I think its easier to record with which is one of the things i will want to do and play along to backing tracks ,
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If you choose to forgo the acoustic drum route for a complete commitment to V-drums, those would be the very best, most satisfying reasons to do it.

I love recording with my little TD-11 KV. I don't have the money yet to get all the microphones and interfaces I'd need to make my acoustic kit sound near as clean in a recording as a good stock V-kit will sound. A decent V-kit simulates the sound of something like 10 microphones, and I only have three microphones pointed at my acoustic kit at the moment.
So it's a no-brainer for me which kit I use for my remote recording projects.

Also if you teach or tutor drums, you can use the V-drums to create very hi-fi, very legible playing examples and snippets for students to hear. In these situations you aren't showing them "acoustic technique", but you are imparting real musical ideas as played live on the kit. They can really hear clearly how all the different voices of the kit are layering and interplaying.

This bring us to the generalization that I used to agree with, but I have come to a more nuanced understanding. 👇
1 hit wonder said:
Going to an e-kit from an acoustic leaves nothing to learn in mechanics. Going the other way is not the equivalent.
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This is a correct sentiment in the sense that no matter how much you practice on a V-kit, there is always a bunch of stuff that doesn't translate to the acoustic kit. But I learned that it is not so easy to say the V-kit is a "negative instrument with negative skillset". In other words, in a very real way, V-drums are just as difficult as acoustic drums. And that scenario is always when it comes to direct-line recording, especially to music.

I've been remote collaborating with my V-kit for a few years now and it's been some of the most demanding shedding I've done. Trying to make drum tracks that synergize perfectly with melodies that other players send to me. It's just not true that modern V-drums won't pick up your every nuances of time and all of most people's dynamic, and kick your acoustic-playing ass the whole way, lol. Especially if we record it and play it back for you.

Have any of you groovy cats actually played around with the timekeeping games on a Roland kit? The latency is murderous, it rates you by a percentage, but on a tiered difficulty. This is because the programmers understood that the machine can detect virtually perfect time, and most people won't be able to play on the hardest setting anyway. I haven't messed with that feature since I got the kit. I may have to test myself again.

Because I practice both acoustic and electronic drums, I was always getting frustrated when I'd make a breakthrough on the V-kit, but then I couldn't automatically play that new thing on the acoustic kit. It's like I had to learn each new thing twice.
So the conclusion I came to was that they really are just different instruments. It's true enough that an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar are not "really" the same instrument. That's not a perfect analogy to V-drums, but pretty decent. Because like an electronic drumset, and electric guitar has less demanding technique in the muscular sense, but it's still a damn sophisticated instrument, and it doesn't play itself, lol.

So to me, the balanced and honest thing to say about V-drums is that they should be taken seriously and practiced in addition to whatever acoustic practicing you need to do. Even to say that stock V-drums sound "too fake" for recording is just being a Grumpy Grumperton, lol. Forget about what V-drums look like, and even how they feel to play. If you separate the V-drum audio and mix it with other recorded instruments, it's awesome. Awesome in the way that being able to do what we can do at home with a stock V-kit today seemed like a dream come true back when we started playing. Even small V-kits sound plenty big in an audio-only recording.

I'm just not willing to acknowledge a binary, a zero-sum between V-drums and acoustic drums. I'm gonna repeat something I've said in a few other posts: playing a high-fidelity, miniaturized, electronically processed version of a drum kit can make you a more musical acoustic drummer in a short period of time. Not because it helps your acoustic technique, but because it builds your ear. Think about it, when you play a V-kit the volume of your drums is much lower, and much more polished. You could say this is cheating, but it also shows you a perfect image of what your particular fills and grooves would sound like on an album recording. It's like listening to yourself play from the producer's booth. For me it blew open my ability to listen way ahead in a song I'm playing, in real time. Thanks in large part to my work with the V-kit, I can now listen ahead with enough advance notice to literally pre-view in my mind every fill or change I want to do in the coming sections. I can "hear" my next fill to completion, before I even play the first stroke.

But I agree you should always suggest to a newer player that they should consider choosing and appreciating acoustic drums before they devote their whole drumming life to the keyboard version of a drumset, lol.
Cuz at the end of the day I'm totally with the other acoustic guys when I say I'd rather not play on stage with a V-kit. And once I have the recording gear to do it, most of my drumming videos are going to be made with my acoustic kit. I really did get into drumming for the visceral bronze and wooden drum experience.
And I must say I am enjoying my new brass snare drum. A real brass drum, not Roland menu #023 "Brass Snare", lol.
 
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It’s like comparing ripe cranberries and blueberries. The cranberries have more bounce and a different fruit. That said I like both.
 
BobC said:
I never recommend starting on electronic drums, because you rob yourself of the experience of playing a real drumset. Sure, you won't disturb people, and electronic sets may be easier to record with, but weigh the pros & cons. If you really want to play drums, then you should spend time playing real drums, not electronic pads.
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Ah, but many people's reality is that they CANNOT play real drums because of the noise.
And, personally, my opinion is that the ability to play along with recorded music, mixed in your headphones, is a priceless learning aid. (I think Rob Brown said playing along to music is the most valuable form of practice of all.)
 
My V-drums have the older module, the TD-6 or 7, but I don't feel so limited since they've got head drums and respond like a V-drum.should.
I love them for many reasons, but they didn't get me completely over the hump using them for shedding to get 4 set gig ready in a bar band.
 
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Yamaha Rider said:
Ah, but many people's reality is that they CANNOT play real drums because of the noise.
And, personally, my opinion is that the ability to play along with recorded music, mixed in your headphones, is a priceless learning aid. (I think Rob Brown said playing along to music is the most valuable form of practice of all.)
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I understand the reality of the noise real drums make. You need sympathetic family and neighbors. And I agree, playing along with music is great practice. I did it constantly as fledgling drummer.
 
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