My two nieces are moving in with us later this week. One of them, 13 years old, has informed us that she would like to learn to play the drums. As much as I know we're going to regret it, I'm going to try to get her a set because she can get lessons in the fall through school here. What does a decent beginner set cost?

I bought my son a set of dums for graduation a couple of years ago. I got him a Gretsch a four piece set with a bass, snare and two toms. I paid 350 on ebay new. The were last year model but the still new. These are top of the line dums. They sound great and will last. You can get a lower quality set of 6 or 7 for the same price but they are not going to be as good and will not be as easy to sell if it dosent work out.

I don't see why you would regret it. You might want to consider an electronic drum set. For a bit more money, you get some peace and quiet. Your nieces can plug headphones into the module and only they can hear the drums.

My daughter used to play the drums in high school and let me tell you I love the electronic drum set! Now don't get me wrong I loved hearing her play just not all the time. If you don't want to go that route I would definitely check ebay, your local music store (they may have used ones) and your newspaper ads.

You can also get practice pads for the drumset to mute it. It still sounds pretty decent, but they're just rubber pads that cut the decibel level by somewhere between 66% and 75% depending on how heavy the pieces of rubber are. They aren't expensive, and they can be earsavers.

Does the electronic drum set sound the same as a regular drum set? I would love to be able to have my son plug in his drums..lol

Musichound, given some of the new sampling libraries put out by Kontakt, Garritan, and other companies using incredibly high quality recording gear, you can get some very realistic sounds. Consider that in the '80s, after Def Leppard's drummer lost his arm, his entire set, aside from a few cymbals and a percentage of snare drum work was all set up with triggers. And that was in the '80s. I dare you to listen to those albums and pick out what was and wasn't electronic.

I think, and any drummers out there can feel free to correct me on this, that most of the difference lies in the FEEL of the drums anymore rather than the sound. I can tell from time to time, but not often. If the drummer knows what he's doing and has a good setup with a decent compressor/limiter and gating device in his rack, he can effectively create the envelope of an acoustic drumset, which is generally what makes the two so readily distinguishable. It's most obvious on cymbals. As YYZ pointed out on another thread, you just can't have it fade into oblivion.

Thank you for sharing that with me, Shackman. I will keep my eyes out. Maybe that will be a good Christmas present for my son. He hasn't asked for one, but my ears would love the gift.

Hahahaha, no problem. Saving aural health (and mental sanity) is just one of the services we provide. Sounds sweet, musichound.