electronic drum kit help

HalfBlacko0000

HalfBlacko0000

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I purchased a Yamaha dtx 532 about a week or so ago this is my first kit and I like it a lot but I'm noticing that the real hihat has little to no rebound and I've been practicing my doubles and triples and its hard to keep a groove on it so I was thinking about replacing it. I still wanna keep the pedal and stand just change the head on it I know Roland KAT, alesis make heads but will it function OK with the module? Do they all have the 1/4 jack or how does that work and what do you think would be my best choice for a replacement I have never played a real drum set before so it feeling absolutely real isn't a huge concern but having a decent rebound speed does..
 
I have to ask two questions before advising you to go ahead with replacing the head

1) what is your elbow and wrist height in relation to the head?
-- your elbow and wrist should be above the height of the hi-hat head so that there is the possibility of a bounce
2) are you allowing the butt of stick to bounce inside your palm or are you choking it dead unintentionally?
-- if you are choking the butt of the stick dead then there is no possibility of it bouncing no matter how hard you try at the tip end

test out both of these first before moving forward
 
I had the hihat head between my shoulder and belly button I think I had it set up to high so when I struck the head it was hitting with the side of the stick instead of the tip the reason I put it up so high though is because when I go to strike the snare my arms collide in mid air which was throwing me off. My elbow is about 3-4 cm from my side my wrist is facing downward kinda like if you where eating a bowl of soup... I'm not sure if that's right but that's what feels most comfortable
 
If your sticks are colliding then you are lifting your arms too high
- to begin with drumming is about wrist action not arm action
- you do use your arms to increase the power of a stroke but only after you have mastered the simpler wrist control necessary to require that extra power

try lowering the hat head slightly and working on wrist movement

- I'm ok with the palm facing down for now
-- modern grip is how we refer to this shape
- when you move to traditional grip you may have some issues
-- the left hand is almost completely palm up and the right hand can be either palm down or palm up depending on the required sticking control
 
Well I tried everything you said I even tightened the hihat head so it doesnt wobble and that made a difference I did a couple test by holding the stick and just dropping it to see how much bounce it had and it bounces pretty good but its weird when I use the tip and go about half way up the head I get a different sound but I guess that's to be expected....on another note BC I'm sure you have heard of this guy before
http://m.youtube.com/watchv=aLHQG20Xsyg I was trying to do the hihat rythem towards the end I have a ways to go before I get anywhere near this good I think I just need to build these muscles up before I think about replacing anything
 
glad to hear it was easy enough to fix with some simple adjustments to how you address the instrument (your physical position in relation to the kit), your posture and stick control

the video is not available to me - could be a geographical issue similar to zones with dvds- who is it and what is the track?
 
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It was more of a instructional video by Bernard purdue - 16th note ghost notes he starts out with this crazy tapping with his fingers on the snare then he adds the sticks in he kinda shows you how he builds it up the only thing that sucks is there I think only one maybe 2 views from different angles...you know I've asked a couple of questions about ghost notes I have one rythem down that actually sounds good but I can only keep it going for about 2 bars then I start loosing it, now I know that style of playing is famous in jazz and soul I wanna find a good bigginner DVD set that teaches about different ghost note grooves but really slow like starts around 40-60 bpm you know anything that's worth checking out?
 
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this one, however, makes the idea of ghost notes very understandable: a volume or intensity difference, which is perfectly understandable.

2'15" is a good point t understand the differences and how to practice the left hand so that it is completely controlled

yet to watch the rest and part 2 but looks very solid and, based on what I have seen so far, covers this concept in the way that I would teach it
 
Yea some guy called them continuous ghost notes, I really love that kind of stuff but I'd say I have awhile before I could do that one more question and I'll leave you alone, you I'm sure have taught a lot of people in your life time I wanna split my time up between the drums, keyboard, and sound design what would you say would be a effective time to spend time on each because right now I spend as much time as possible on the drums or at least till I get frustrated then switch to something else would I don't wanna leave anything frustrated but I don't wanna cut myself short on anything and start lacking in one area. And I know you play a couple instruments...
 
HalfBlacko0000 said:
Yea some guy called them continuous ghost notes, I really love that kind of stuff but I'd say I have awhile before I could do that one more question and I'll leave you alone, you I'm sure have taught a lot of people in your life time I wanna split my time up between the drums, keyboard, and sound design what would you say would be a effective time to spend time on each because right now I spend as much time as possible on the drums or at least till I get frustrated then switch to something else would I don't wanna leave anything frustrated but I don't wanna cut myself short on anything and start lacking in one area. And I know you play a couple instruments...
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it depends on the time you have available, but for beginners no more than 30 minutes in the day on instruments: simply to avoid fatigue and unforeseen injuries due to losing posture over time.

As you become more accustomed to sitting at the instrument, you can expand this out to about an hour in one session, and maybe have several sessions in one day

For sound design give yourself an hour on and then take time away - mostly because you want to change your body position and avoid causing cramping and other posture relate problems from sitting at a computer for too long.

the general consensus on attention span is that it is approximately your age + 20 minutes, which is why most university/college lectures are about 55 minutes in length (the average age of college/university lecturers used to be 35 when these times were first put in place). Tutorials are usually longer as there can be breaks in the routine
 
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