So I’ve been playing instruments since I was about 10(36 now).

I’ve done brass instruments, and then go into rock band instruments….all but drums….

Naturally my 7 year old is interested in drums.

I have no clue on where to begin with drums.

What would be a decent place to start?  

Snare, bass, high hats? Would that be a enough to begin with?
Cymbals too?  Tom’s?

Decent brands?


Would it be wiser to start with one of those drum pads(I remember everyone in school learning on).

Honestly we’ll probably be learning this together, until he’s good enough to move past me.

Been playing since I was 8, with a few stops and starts along the way (65 now). I would buy him a snare, or if you buy a kit, hold off setting it up and just let him play the snare. Get the fundamentals and the some of the rudiments down before sitting him in front of a kit. As hard as that will be to enforce, it will benefit him in the long run.
All the makers have entry level kits, and yeah, they all come from China. However, I would look on reverb, or drumsellers, or even Facebook marketplace for a decent used kit.

Get an alesis ekit. Start with the cheap one and pair of headphone. Look for a cheap amp to play it through.

Most drunmers start in band with a snare. Learn some basics

Can always buy him a basic 5 piece and get him started on lessons simultaneously.

Hope you don't live in a condo, apartment, or even the burbs. Drum sets are loud

Thanks for the info guys.

Yea I learned brass instruments back in school.  Then taught myself bass, guitar and ukulele.

We’re homeschooling so he won’t have the school band experience.


Oh yea I know they’re loud!
I was in a hardcore/metal band in high school 20 years ago….I have the hearing issues to prove that I stood right next to my drummer everyday after school for a few years!

We have a basement and decent space between houses where we are so that should be fine.

Starting with just the snare regardless if I get a kit or buy it in pieces is a great idea.

Are the stands as important, more important, or less important as the the actual drum or cymbals,  etc?

I’ll probably look for used stuff that is slightly better than similar priced low end stuff.


I’d prefer not to go with the electronics stuff.  Maybe one day he’ll get into that, but I’m old fashioned lol

Just get him a basic starter 5 pc kit. Pearl Ludwig Yamaha etcetera make really good kits for beginners. Hi hat ride and a crash for now. They have starter packs for cymbals. This way you don’t break the bank. But even better find a used kit.

I’ve been playing since I was 6. Don’t expect him to get serious until he’s about 11 or 12.

Dude no offense but electronic stuff is the future. An e kit would be awesome and he could build on skills by using a daw and recording as well.

In ears and click tracks are used by all pro drummers now.

Im an old dude and modelers and plugins are amazing.  I still have amps but they dont get used much.

We just went through this with my 12 year old.  We ended up buying a Roland TD17KV.  Here's some of the things we've learned:

Electronic
1. We like the electronic drums for peace with the rest of the family. Practice would have driven mom and sister nuts on acoustic, even with mutes.  
2. Playing with in-ear monitors or on the PA sound great. He can mix dozens of different drum tunings and sounds.
3. Getting the tunable mesh heads and larger pads makes a difference in feel and playability.
4. E-drums have a click that will help with practice down the road.
5. Blue Tooth lets him play along with songs, which also helps practice.
6. I wish I had gone with the KVX instead of the KV. It comes with a ride that also has a bell zone. We are going to upgrade our ride cymbal soon.
7. You have to buy the throne and pedal separate.  If you buy a kit that has a moving high hat, you may have to buy that high hat hardware too.
8. Everything is ready to record, send to laptop, mixing board, etc.

Acoustic
1. You can get some good kits for cheap.  Buying new heads will upgrade your sound in a hurry and last a long time.
2. Usually the kits don't come with hardware or cymbals. Those plus throne and pedal add a lot of cost. (Sometimes you can find kits with the hardware and cymbals included.)
3. Also add in the cost of cymbal mutes and pad mutes.
4. Nothing compares to the feel of the percussion from a real drum set. As you pointed out, hearing protection is a must with acoustic drums.
5. Acoustic drums make different sounds with different sticks. Brushes work, cool sticks work, etc. (E-kits are just switches. The TD17 heads can play dynamics like loud or soft, rim shots, etc. But no tone without changing the setting.)
6. If you ever want to mic them up for recording or EQ (such as at church or getting a gig somewhere) you'll need to buy that microphone and mixer setup too.

One of our local shops has decent deals on drum kits. 5 piece shell with hardware and cheap cymbals for $700 to $1000, depending on the brand (usually TAMA or Gretsh). Add in the cost of the throne, pedal, mutes, and sticks.  Soon after buying you'll want those new heads too.  Cost just got about equal to a TD17 or similar level E-kit.

Yamaha Stage Custom 5 piece kit runs about $750. Cheapest ok cymbals about $300 for high hats, crash, and ride.  Then buy the cymbal hardware, throne, and pedal, etc as mentioned above.

If you buy a snare separate, you won't need the 5 piece kit. Just your kick and toms.

Find someone to take lessons from, it makes a big difference.

Either way, you'll want a practice pad. It's best to get a snare stand to put it on. If you're going to buy a snare anyway, do your homework on what sound you really want with your future kit.  I see a lot of 6.5"x14" which seems to be a standard kit size.  Maybe you want 5", or 5.5", or maybe even deeper than 6.5"? Maple, brass, steel, titanium...all different sounds.

Check out Drumeo and Rob Brown on youtube.  They have a TON of excellent videos that will answer your questions on what to buy, how to setup/tune/use the kit, and great lessons.  65Drums on youtube did some great videos comparing all the models of E-drums from several big brands, which helps a lot as you sort through it all and decide.

We also have a little gig bag of stuff.  Got the idea from Rob Brown. We keep a 1/4" TRS to 3.5mm adapter for in-ears.  Already came in useful on an old E-kit we tried.  Drum keys, moon gels, hearing protection, towel, extra sticks.

That's a lot, and it's late for me. If I missed anything I'll edit later. If you have any questions, I'll try to help.

ETA: here's what we've played on, to compare:
Pearl Export with 1 rack tom and 2 floor toms at church. I think 22" kick and 6.5x14 snare.It's the drummer's personal kit. Sounds fine. Sounds different through in-ears with his mic kit and EQ.

We dug out the kit the church owns, cleaned it up and put on new heads. TAMA Superstar Classic 5 piece. 2 rack and 1 floor tom (10, 12, 14"), 22" kick, 6.5x14 snare. They just have the basic high hat, crash, and ride. Put on Evans heads: genera HD dry, UV2, and EQ3 Clear. Sounds amazing!

Our drum teacher works out of 2 shops. At the first shop we played on the Yamaha Stage Custom 5 piece kit with high hat, crash, ride. Looks and sounds amazing, love Yamaha too!

At the other store he has a Yamaha E-kit. It's older, maybe a DX10? It has smaller pads, rubber pads for toms, small mesh snare. It's ok, but I like our kit better.

Obviously we bought the Roland TD17KV.

We found the church also had an old Roland TD10 kit in the back.  We set it up to see if it worked. It did, but the toms weren't quite as big or nice as the TD17 (although they are bigger than the Yamaha at the shop). The brain is the important part of an E-kit, and the old kits just don't have as many options (like blue tooth).  Technology has come a long way.

Thank you very much for the detailed info!  A lot to digest, and it seems that I might be wrong in my thinking and electronics might be the way to go.

I’m saving what you wrote to reference as we move forward with this, so thanks again man!

No problem! Glad it helps.

I realize that my post reads kinda pro-electronic and anti-acoustic.  That's not the intent.  I would love to have a Yamaha Stage Custom with any of the name brand cymbals.  The two biggest selling points for us were:
#1 he tried them in the shop and liked the E-kit. He chose it over acoustic (and I was biased for acoustic at first too).
#2 The volume and sound control work best in our small house.

I second this.  I love my acoustic kits. But I play the ekit more.  Learning fundamentals and practicing is what ekits excel in. You, your kid and neighbors ears will be thankful. Not only volume control but also sound.  They're always in tune.  You can also change kits and sounds to match music and keep kids interested.  Add an amp to play put loud.


You never mentioned budget and had a range from a pad to full blown kit??? There's lots of options.  You can get an entry level ekit to see if they kid likes it and have a lot of fun on for less than a good ride cymbal

Ajroyer gives an excellent writeup.  We had the same questions with our nine-year-old (12 years ago).  We decided to go acoustic set because of the ability to rim shot, use brushes, and get 1/2 dozen different sounds out of cymbals based on how and where you hit them.  My wife and I are musicians and so we sucked up the inconvenience of loud practice.  We were piecing together my son's first kit (Ludwig Accent) when the economy was bad in 2010 and things were relatively cheap.  About 2 years later we found a used Yamaha Stage Custom very cheap and sold the Ludwig kit.  All the while those first years I was scouring Craigslist for cymbals. Again, the economy was bad then. I got a Zildjian A 20" ride for $50, a Zildjian A 16" crash for $75, and the Yamaha kit came with Zildjian New Beat high hats and a Zildjian A 18" crash included in its low price.  We had to buy a couple stands and a throne but at that time we were all in for around $700.

I'm going to reiterate, get a good instructor.  An instructor will allow him to make rapid progress.  Rapid progress is fun and keeps interest up.

I think the only way to see this is on Facebook. Show your son!

Kid Drummer

https://www.forksdrumcloset.com

https://www.drumcenternh.com

https://www.sweetwater.com/content/drum-month-2022?promo_name=Drum+Month+2022&promo_id=Drum+Month+2022&promo_creative=Banner&promo_position=home_page

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Drums-Percussion.gc

When I was 14 my mom got me a nice beginner set of drums, a CB700 kit which was a Pearl knock off, and that was enough to keep me interested until I could afford to move up a bit. I recently saw that video on youtube of the professional guitar player shredding some SRV at WalMart on a $35 Cars Lightning McQueen plastic guitar and it really was better than just about anyone I've ever played with so I realize that it's the player's talent that makes the difference in the end, but honestly it sucks and it's hard to stay motivated when your equipment makes playing hard and unsatisfying.

If I could recommend something not knowing what your budget is I'd say that an electronic kit would be great. Electronic kits (especially those at the lower end of the price range) are obviously not as much fun to watch people playing on live but they do have a place. It doesn't feel exactly like an acoustic kit but the ones they have nowadays with the mesh heads instead of the rubber pads are getting closer and closer all the time. Even the rubber pads aren't bad, I'd have no problem using rubber pads for cymbals but for drums I think the mesh pad upgrades are too cheap and so much better than rubber pads for developing chops that I'd say it'd be a waste not to get them.

Where electronic drums come into their own is with volume control. Granted you'll still hear the sounds of him hitting his drums but it'll be MUCH quieter and sound more like someone beating on a table than someone hitting drums. That'll enable him to practice more often (at night) and it'll relieve you of some of the burdens associated with being a drummer's dad. It'll also allow him to play as long and as hard as he likes without blowing out his hearing too so long as he doesn't go nuts with the headphone volume.

I'd also get him the practice pad too so that he can develop his chops on something that'll translate a little more readily to an acoustic kit if he decides to get one some day. When I go see people play live it's kind of a bummer when the drummer is totally electronic so when he's at that point maybe a nice acoustic kit would be in order. I've gigged with electronics before and it's nice being able to play how ever I want without having to worry about volume issues (too loud, too quiet) and it's nice not having to tune and do soundcheck and all that on an acoustic kit so if you buy something nice enough you can use them as serious use drums but to be honest the difference in prices between a nice acoustic and a nice electroic kit is pretty signigicant.

Above all just emphasize that getting good is a process. You can have fun being in a beginner band playing easy covers while you continue to practice and pile up chops in the background.

Hardware is kinda important. I would avoid Gibraltar drum RACKS at all costs, I had one when I first got started. I had the version with the rounded bars, they'd always slip and the drums and cymbals would fall down. Get decent traditional hardware and if your boy is a bruiser maybe get double braced hardware.

If you're going to pass on the electronics maybe think about some noise proofing for the basement?. And maybe some electronic hearing protection for him. And maybe some for you too I guess.

If my mom would've started me off with just the snare I'd definitely have better chops. I started off on a full kit with lessons, pretty soon I was playing pop covers with friends and then playing originals and all that by the time I was in the 9th grade.

I think you're right about getting used stuff. There's no sense paying full retail except as a means to an end when you don't feel like hunting for a good price on an item that's used. It's much better to take advantage of someone else who's tired of having their failure stare them in the face everytime they look at the drums they failed to learn to play.

Great advice. I might just put him on a trap set (bass, snare, hi-hat, maybe a ride/crash cymbal) until he needed more to keep it interesting. My first kit had four toms and three crash cymbals and I spent a little too much time trying to play every drum and cymbal as much as possible instead of just learning the important stuff like meter, feel and playing what the song called for.

The best advice I would have about cymbals would be to spend more on the hi-hats than the crash or the ride if you have to make that call. The hi-hat is the thing you hit the most. You want it to at least sound decent. The crashes and to a lesser extent the ride aren't hit as much.

The bass/snare/hi-hats are the most important as far as sound goes. Toms/floor toms and crashes/rides are where I'd save money if you choose to get the pieces one at a time.

I used to play acoustics back when I played out more, but now this is more of a hobby than something I'm serious about and electronics fit the bill. I've had a couple of budget kits and I just got my third Roland kit this week. It's nice to be able to play in the house instead of the garage. It's nice to not have ringing ears and be covered in sweat when I'm just working on rolls and stuff. The best part is practicing after midnight when I get home.

If I went to go see Maiden and Nicko was banging away on some funny looking shells that were only 4" deep I'd be disappointed but as far as working stuff out and just enjoying myself I couldn't be much happier.

That's a ton of good information. The only exception I'd take is with the statement that you can't use different brushes on e-kits. Some of the higher end kits allow for the use of brushes. It may be a gimmick, I've never tried it but Roland is claiming you can use them on some of their more expensive kits. Maybe someday that'll fliter down into my tax bracket but I wouldn't know what to do with a brush anyhow.

What he said

Bongos or a small djembe

I play a 6 piece(10,12,13,14 snare,16,22) Yamaha Stage Custom Kit with Paiste cymbals.  This weekend I get a dedicated drum room after step daughter gets the last of her stuff out of the house.

My son had drums as a toddler and we introduced a Djembe around K and a cajon later in elementary.

At middle school now and he asked for kit again, so he's been rocking an Alesis Surge for the past year and we've maxed out ports... may be looking for an upgraded module for Christmas.  

For him at least, hand percussion was definitely the right way to start.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MW922N-SFM--pearl-masterworks-9-piece-stadium-exotic-shell-pack-sunburst-over-flame-maple



Go big or go home. Or well somewhere. I'd give my left nut for this.

When i was in 6th grade a classmate showed me one afternoon how to play a simple backbeat after school in orchestra.  i took trombone for a few weeks.  i never stuck with the trombone but started playing guitar when i was 17. i played in bands pretty quickly and after jamming id always hop on the kit if a drummer would let me.  so i basically learned guitar, bass and drums the whole time i was playing in bands.

at about 22 i ended up playing drums in a band where we played the biggest gig ive ever played opening up for a touring band at marquette university in milwaukee.  it was probably my weakest instrument, but whatever.   it was all good.  we also played at a music conference in philadelphia.  

later i ended up playing drums at church fir a while.  

im suuuuuuper thankful that friend took the time to show me a backbeat on afternoon and let me play his kit and was encouraging.  instead of being petty and keeping his knowledge and skill for his own purposes.  

none of that tells u what kind of kit to buy but in my opinion any kit will do.  likely if hes only 7 u might want something a bit on the small side.   there are tons of options out there.  if u have a music go round close, the two stores by me always have a bunch of kits to choose from.  i was without a kit for a while and bought a cheap "first act" 4 piece used off a fb add for 50 bucks.  while the cymbals stunk it served me fine to shake some rust off. then about a year later i came across a ludwig 5 piece for 250 also used.  with much better hardware.  now im using that for my recordings but still use some of the first act set for things.  im actually using that 12" snare a lot lately.  the ludwig kit sounds better of course.  but ive played all kinds of kits over the years.  mostly cheaper but they all seemed to work.  the one church was an electronic kit.  but i also dont recommend that for a first kit.  its just not the same.  although they might be better now.  most of that kit was rubber pads.  the snare had a mesh head that had a bit of bounce.  

pdp, ludwig, pearl, tama, no name, it really doesnt matter imho.  if u get to the point about being overly into the tone, the first thing to know is how to tune drums properly.  the second biggest thing is the heads themselves.  crappy heads on a good kit (which apparently lots of brand name kits come with low cost heads) will sound like it is.  that being said if u learn to tune heads the kit will sound decent.  good heads will make it sound better.  obviously cheap cymbals wontvsound like zildjians but some of the cheaper stuff sounds fine enough to get going.  a lot of drummers will have a beat to crap messed up wavy drilled with holes crash for a weird crash sound now and then.  so crappy sounding cymbals all used up from learning on can have their place.  the only thing is if your hi hats are all beat and wavy, its kind of a bummer.

imho too many musicians focus on the gear more than the playing.  yeah, good gear can elevate your sound.  but if u cant play u could have all the great gear u want and it doesnt play itself.

so my suggestion is just get something serviceable, thatll fit him (u can play on a smaller set too, within reason) and get him going.  if u get used and he doesnt stick with it u wont be out a bunch of money. plus music go round has kits that look good.  usually.  like its not like every used kit looks beat to heck.  but even a lower dollar new starter kit (again within reason) will work for u both.  or go all out and pay all kinds if money.  but i think the biggest key is to get something that fits fairly well if u want him to play it.  

good luck!!!

I highly suggest lessons, whether that means the local school district allowing home schooled kids in band, or private.
I've played all manner of percussion instruments on and off for nearly 30 years.  
love all of the ekit suggestions; my 11 year old daughter just chose percussion for 5th grade band and now I get to help her practice; which has made me want to get a new drum kit.  I was playing some dr. dre melodies on her bell kit last night.  

I forgot to mention I also used to own a Yamaha DTExpress III electronic kit.  It was fun to play with but I ultimately sold.  Nothing wrong except I was constantly adjusting volume of drums vs. music I playing along  with.  Acoustic drum I don't have as much of an issue.  Acoustic is also easier on my surgically repaired elbow.

As a drummer, I would suggest getting him piano lessons first.  Let him learn music.
We did that for our kids and they now play multiple instruments after having piano for little less than a decade
Cello, guitar, bass, drums


As far as drums, go to craigslist, normally you can pick up someones dusty set with cymbals for cheap.
I wouldn't worry about brand until he really is interested.

We homeschooled too.  Piano was awesome for our kids.
We had a teacher that did regular recitals, so they learned performance skills too.

Interesting suggestion. Way back in high school, I read in a course description that if you wanted to be a drummer in band, you had to have at least 2 years of piano. Probably kept all the "how hard can it be?" Types out, intentionally.

I'm going to be learning myself. Picked up an Evans practice pad, snare drum stand, throne, and sticks. Lot of fun so far.

I'm leaning towards this as my first drum set. At $600, it's not cheap, but not crazy expensive either. The included software with lessons and drum plug-ins seems like a great deal. (Plus it's quiet of course, which is a must.)

This kit is 550 on Amazon.
Nux DM-210



As others have said, electric will be great for letting him rock out without making everyone hate life. The availability of different sounds is great.