Read The Evolution of the Rockula Drumset pt 1 here
Getting the 3 piece red sparkle kit for christmas was just the beginning of my drum odyssey
My next acquisition was the Mattel Synsonics drum module
What I really wanted was a large drumkit but I thought I could use all the different sounds on the synsonics to expand my palate
The biggest problem was that the pads were set up for a right handed person so I struggled with trying to figure out how to use it for my own purposes
It wasn’t a total bust because I made my first forays into electronics by playing Kraftwerk songs on it
All of this changed when my father bought me A SECOND DRUMKIT!!!!!!!
It was blue sparkle and the exact same type of inexpensive Sears-type drums
A traditional 5 piece consisting of two mounted toms, a floor tom and a snare
There was a hi hat and a couple other cymbals but they were really crappy and I ended up destroying them in no time
This meant that I immediately had a pretty large drumkit
Two bass drums, three mounted toms, a floor tom and two snares
I immediately took the bottom head off one of the snares and turned it into a timbale
This setup would have a major influence on my playing because I had a double bass and hi hat at the same time
I would never bother to develop the traditional hi hat technique that most single bass drum players did but that meant I was more comfortable with double bass
In the next few years, I would concentrate on adding cymbals
My very first cymbal was a 22″ Zildjian Ping Ride
Just like the one Neil Peart used
And the next was a pair of 15″ Zildjian Quick Beats (also, just like Neil Peart used)
By 1984, I had a pretty decent cymbal array consisting of 15″ Quick Beats, 22″ Ping Ride 16″ and 18″ rock crashes (with my other crappy cymbals being stacked on stands I had built out of parts donated by the previous owner of the blue sparkle kit)
I was clearly serious about playing the drums and getting pretty good in the space of about 3 years
This prompted the next evolution of my drumkit
Sadly, there are no pictures of that configuration but the blue bass drum and floor tom managed to make it into a picture of my next drumkit
Coming up next
The White Pearl drum upgrade!
Rockula Productions 