Hello world!

[lifeondave]

Hi There,

My name is Dave. I've been learning drums for a couple of months now. I'm really enjoying it and I'm looking to get a set of vdrums in the future. I'm DIY friendly so will be reading through that area of the forum with keen interest!

I'm an electrical engineer and have worked with audio for 10 years. Always loved drums and disciplined drummers! After 5 years of saying I want to learn drums and martial arts, I've decided to take up both this year!

[hemiboy]

Good for you! Welcome ! This a great place for any e drummer, new to drumming or not, to get lots of information about DIY ideas, latest products and technology, and have fun while doing it

[Kenster]

This is wonderful and WELCOME!!! Post some pics of your set up and have fun here!

K ;-)

[mrfrench]

Kenster - you want a picture of a pair of sticks and a pillow..? (lol)

Still, welcome Dave. I’'m guessing you’'re from Yorkshire, UK? (you could put that in your profile if you want).
If you’'re going e-drums one day, you seem to have a bunch of useful skills and interests! Believe me, it will help. The technical part to e-drums is, well, tech-ni-cal.
I also started last year with sticks and a cushion before progressing to a simple pad -> Vicfirth - pads.
Before the year was out, GAS hit (gear acquisition syndrome) and I now have 2 drum kits which I’'m currently learning to drive. Consider yourself warned!
Btw, I also have an ethernet network in the house. So now.. you’'ve got me thinking. Could e-drums and networks be compatible? Interesting thought, even if I’'m not yet sure how that might be useful.
Enough of this rambling. Enjoy. There'’s a whole lot of experience among the 4000 odd members of this site, once or if, you decide to take the plunge.

[jimorlando]

Dave,
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your pursuit of this wonderful art form. I expect that I will bother you for your opinion on powered speakers and amplifiers for vDrums. Now work on those rudiments!

[TheYardbird]

Welcome! What kind of drums are you using for now? I hope you'll find whatever info you need on these forums, we have some members who are like wizard-savants when it comes to DIY-stuff and everyone is really nice

[Oenone]

Cool. Make sure you post pictures of your DIY kit!

What martial art have you taken up?

I started taking drum lessons after I hurt my back and had to stop kung fu for a while. That was a few years ago and I keep thinking I should start again. Learning the drums is a good alternative, but far more expensive, hobby to keep me busy in its place.

[mrfrench]

[Drums is a good alternative...]
Not to mention that when you hit and kick a drum – generally speaking it doesn’t hit and kick you back!

[Oenone]

If they hit me back I'm doing something VERY wrong!

[jimorlando]

I also injured my back and stopped my work out for a year. Went through a set of injections that didn't help, got a second opinion that said I was old. I started back onto my work out routine last June I spite of my back issues. My back has good days and bad days but in the long run, I think I am better off. I have to work the drums in around the work out and my pesky day job but I will not give up. Neither should you.

[Oenone]

I took up exercising again last year when I got asked to run a 20km obstacle course and decided to give it a shot. It was, um, challenging, but half of that was that I had never been a runner. My doctor suggested that I start jogging to keep my fitness up once I'd done some physio since my other exercises were considered too high risk at the time. I think I will take up kung fu again soon though, I do miss it. I have up and down days, it's pretty bad right now, but it will get better again. Back injuries are frustrating like that! I've pretty much been told that I will have ongoing problems, it will flare up sometimes, so I decided to carry on and get back to normal and deal with it as it happens. The injections weren't suggested to me, but if they were I wouldn't have had them, I know too many people who say the same as you, that they didn't help. I agree that exercising is much better than not exercising.

Maybe one day they'll figure out how to replace our fragile spines with non-breakable metal ones.

"Old" is no reason not to work out! I was formatting a magazine on ultra-marathons recently and one of the runners took up running ultra-marathons (after doing no running previously, ever) after he turned 60! Now I don't think that 60 is old, but I saw one runner doing one who I think was 84 (which is reasonably old to be running 50-100km in my opinion). These people are definitely inspiring.

[lifeondave]

I've starting mixed martial arts training. I've been training for a few months now and I'm feeling great. Lost a stone in weight which is impressive considering the muscle I have put on. I wanted to give it a go for the mental benefits over the physical. I suffer from depression and anxiety issues you see!

I don't currently own a drum kit of any kit. I have a Evans Apprentice practice pad that I practice rudiments and basic beats on. My friend works in a recording studio and gets me in a the odd practice session on their kit during down time but its not as often as I'd like! Sorry about the delay in replying, life and all of that!

[BWaj]

Awesome! I did a lot of MA when I was young and spunky! Now I just watch other people do it while drinking a beer, it hurts a lot less, lol. I too hurt my back and just can't take the jarring movements anymore, but I do miss it.

You can build a pretty cheap ekit if you read up on the forums of what to buy and how to slap it together. You can always start with a cheap module and as you learn more and become more experienced, keep moving up the gear chain.

Any physical activity you do will surely help with the depression and anxiety, so good for you! Keep it up!

[Oenone]

Good on you! It's hard to get the motivation to start when you're suffering depression and anxiety, but it is definitely beneficial. Exercise of any kind is great, hitting and kicking things is even better.

[hairmetal-81]

Welcome to the forum, Dave!
Happy Drumming!