Help!!

jessicamb

Toto wrote:

So, I shall be writing another letter of complaint... it seems to be my second job these days! Thanks guys for being there once again... I wonder what tomorrow's post will bring?

If you're really lucky it might be one of those 49.9% APR cc applications that everyone else seems to have got today. :rotfl:

patchwork_cat

Hi
That really takes the biscuit - you are trying to become debt free and they get out a huge Sachertorte and say take a bite no calories!!

Annie_Fanny

Well done Toto for fighting...although we can say what we like...at the end of the day they do prey on the vulnerable! BASTWERDS!!!

Now as an aside could you please advise me on a drumkit and what I should do? I would really really appreciate it!

Prudent

Is this this a password which may lead to potentail fraud - or is it a password for their current account sent in error to the wrong person? When you first register for internet banking you get a password.

elantan

you really havn't had much luck with the royal mail recently i remember reading about habbo ....just wanted to say all the best and i hope you hit ltsb where it hurts...in their pocket

Toto

Hi Annie,

Sure, I love talking drums.

It depends what you want the kit for. If it is purely for home practice I would go for an electronic kit, In the house I have a Roland TD8 with V Drum pads (they feel more like skins and you don't get such an odd pad sound) It means you can put on a pair of cans (headphones) and play at any time without worrying about noise, so you can practice a lot more, you can also feed an ipod or cd player through so you can actually play to music easily and adjust what you are hearing, so if you want more drum sound and less music you can adjust it easily (not so easy with an acoustic kit).

If you are looking for a kit to tour with, or just gig with, the choice is quite large and depends on preference really. Personally I tour with my Noble and Cooley, I just love the sound of Noble and Cooley drums. I always play a rim shot on my snare (explains why I can break half a dozen sticks a night) because I like to get a strong snare sound, I have tons of snares but I keep going back to my old faithful N&C. I also own a Yamaha Maple Custom, which I tend to use for studio work, but I do gig with it if I fancy a change. Both of these kits are expensive though because they are professional standard tour kits. My cymbals are Sabian (Neal Peart Paragon Series), they are the sexiest sounding cymbals I have ever heard, and that's coming from a die hard Zildjian girl, the sustain on the Paragon crash is amazing. I still use my AA series Zildjian a lot, but mostly if I think the paragon high hats won't be a strong enough sound (the high hat is quite polite) and also I use a lot of AA splashes in odd sizes.

My biggest piece of advice if you are looking for an acoustic kit but don't want to spend thousands is to go with something like a Pearl Masters (ebay is good for that) I wouldn't buy anything else in Pearl, a lot of it isn't great. Stay away from real bottom end kits, the £300 ones, they are really hard to play, the hardware is awful and could cause injury.

I could go on for ever, perhaps if you gave me an idea of what you want to use the kit for (live or home use) and a budget I will give you some good options. I am happy to help you in any way I can to choose the right one.

x

Annie_Fanny

Thanks so much Toto.

Basically I need a kit that you can play at home ( I live within easy reach of partner!! and other near by homes!!)

I so want to play the drums it is unreal. I remember picking up the phone to a drum tutor way back when I was about 13 and just putting down the phone because my parents couldn't afford lessons.

ANYWAY I started lessons when I was about 28 in Australia!! Then came back to the UK and began more lessons but the only way to get better is to practise - what did I do? Buy a full blown kit. So I have a Yahama Stage Custom Advantage with Sabian AA cymbal set. I have rarely played it - this is before my lightbulb moment but I SO WANT TO PLAY THE DRUMS!! Now maybe you will understand the main piece of my kit the bass drum has been in my shed for about 2 years and I am wondering if it will have warped the timber??? I am such a scaredy cat!!

I was wondering if I sold my kit and bought a Roland TD8 with V Drum pads (like you said) will it effect people around me. I would basically be playing it upstairs in a modest home (wish it was a mansion but it isn't!!!)

Can you advise - would really appreciate your advice? Are you ever in Manchester?

Toto

You are obviously a born drummer Annie, and the fact you still want to learn says you should do it. There are not enough of us girls out there (I am about the only female session drummer in the UK currently, not come across any more). It's a great instrument, very theraputic, I find sometimes when I am playing at home I almost go into a meditational state.

I am starting to learn percussion. Wow it isn't easy though. I thought drums were hard but playing a paradiddle, (2 sticks in the same hand) on one hand and doing something totally different on many different instruments with the other is a mind !!!!! I have had congas a while and can play those, but some of the more obscure instruments take a bit of getting used to. I am not sure I will ever be one of the percussion greats!

So. to the kit, I think a TD8 or a TD6 is a good choice for you, ideal in fact. I personally would never gig a full electronic kit (I do use a combination sometimes, electronic pads on my acoustic for special effects) but some people do. They are really good these days. I like the TD8 because it gives you loads of extra options, you can change all sorts of things on individual drums to make it sound just how you want. I am not sure you can have V pads on the TD6 but a TD6 full kit is quite cheap now, £300 on ebay I have seen, TD8 is more expensive.



The neighbours wouldn't hear a thing (unless you play through an amp obviously). Other people in the house would hear some noise, but nothing a TV couldn't drown, it's just the noise of a stick hitting a skin (hit a practice pad or a mouse mat with a stick to see the kind of noise I am talking about).

As for your kick drum, how has it been stored? Is it in a hard case? You might be lucky, but if there is a lot of damp you might have some damage. ALso, the extremes in temperature won't have done it any favours. I would suggest, setting the kit up, changing heads and tuning it, then see how it sounds. I am around and about all over the UK. I am doing a mini tour up north at the end of august (mostly newcastle, yorkshire and scotland I think, not had the itinery yet. Trouble is, it's always, get to the venue, sound check... wait, wait some more, then wait for a bit... then play the gig, de-rig and on the bus to the next place. So we never get to do anything much. Shame because I have been to many citys many times but never really seen much of them. But it's all good fun and I still love it, 15 years on.

So, what are you waiting for? Get that kit out of the shed and see what's going on with it, get it sold and look on ebay for an electronic. Also, get Jeff Porcaro's dvd, ok he is stoned off his head but the guy was the greatest drummer who ever lived. He was my inspiration and I still love watching his DVD today, he grooves like no one on earth. Ebay again has them pretty cheap.

ZTD

Toto wrote:

I am actually furious. It feels like every day I am being subjected to some kind of crap from some company or another. Surely this can't be legal.

It is certainly immoral. Email Martin, he's a financial journalist, he might be interested, or know someone who is. I would lay money that the Financial Mail would be interested, as they're always banging on about the banks and BS being a bit dodgy.

BBC Panaroma did that debt programme "The Money Trap" , where people were killing themselves over debt. Contact them. I'm sure they will already be planning/doing a follow-up programme, and your experience would probably be a help to them.

In fact, given your circumstances, and the events, I would think they'd leap on to it.

Toto wrote:

Am I destined to be on a lifetime crusade against these companies?

Some people were born to crusade, perhaps this is you. Some people were born to make a difference, perhaps this is you as well.

Toto wrote:

Today I feel like the chosen one!

You might be. If you are - you won't need to dodge. :cool: (Where's the leather trenchcoat smiley?)

Toto wrote:

I am still fighting my way through the Habbo hotel nonsense, I have crap from the CSA involving my local MP, now it seems I need to make a formal complaint against Lloyds. Sigh.

But for now, wine/beer/bubble bath. Relax. :beer: Nothing you can do right now, but set wheels in motion tomorrow.

Toto

I am going to have to change my avatar



Doesn't look much like me though