I have heard expensive kits sound cheap because they have not been well maintained or are played without conviction.  I have also heard cheaper kits sounds twice their price when fitted with good quality drum heads and cymbals, or played by a drummer who believes in their own ability.

The snare drum, bass drum and Hi-hat are the instruments you usually play most of the time, so be happy with the sound of these first before choosing tom-toms and other cymbals to complete your kit.

Also, consider the style of drumming you will play. For example, don't buy a jazz kit if you are going to mostly play rock because, the kit will probably not project in the way you intend it to.

Oh yes, don't forget to choose the right colour - I offer no advice on this!

Below are two great value kits that are good quality, very compact and highly innovative. These two kits provide excellent value-for-money and introduce you to either acoustic or electronic drums.

Please email me if you want to purchase the A400 or E400 kit.  I include free goodies to make your learning more enjoyable .  You get a drum book with  patterns that get you playing quickly and confidently.  The book compares simple Drum Tabs to formal Drum Notation to make it even easier for you to understand drum music. You also get a training CD that has 32 songs on it without drums.  This lets you play along as if you were a drummer in a band.  It's fantastic fun.  Lastly, if you're local to me (30 mile radius of Blandford, Dorset), I bring the kit to you, set it up and give you a free drum lesson.

Traps A400 Acoustic drum kit:

Traps E400 Electronic drum kit:

This rack-based drum kit comes with the standard five drums (bass, snare and three tom-toms) and three cymbals (hi-hat, crash and crash/ride). 

Most starter kits only come with a hi-hat and crash cymbal, but I like to teach pupils to play cymbals using either hand, so having a choice of cymbals to use is always a bonus. 

I teach many pupils on this kit because it is compact, really solid and highly versatile.  It can be quickly adjusted to suit left or right-handed players and also drummers of varying heights.  

I have taught children as young as six on this kit and they can reach all the drums and cymbals without difficulty.

As a drum teacher, what I really like about this kit is that it can be set up or packed down in about five minutes.  

It also fits snugly into just about any car, so can be moved around easily.  This makes it ideal for taking to schools, friends houses, playing at small gigs or even recording sessions.

Click here for an in-depth analysis of the A400 kit.

If noise disturbance from acoustic drums makes it impossible to practice, then an electronic drum kit solves this. The Traps E400 Electronic kit has blended quiet drumming, electronics and affordability into one drum kit.

This kit is the same build quality as the A400 above, but has been fitted with mesh-heads and plastic cymbals to make it virtually silent. The drummer hears the drums through headphones. 

Some great features have been built into the E400's brain which generates the drum sounds.  There are eight different drum kits to choose from for a start, so you can switch between Classic, Rock, Jazz, Techno, Latin and Orchestral kits at the push of a button. There are four further options within each kit to allow you to select other sounds within each genre of kit.  A higher pitched snare drum or tom-toms, for example. 

Music 'loops' have also been included for each kit so that you can drum along to them and discover what it's like to play in a band.

Click here for an in-depth analysis of the E400 kit.