X8 Drums Blog

Drummers all have one thing in common: we love exploring the sound of percussion. That’s why we always want more drums, cymbals and why we love accent percussion. We covet our case full of drum sticks, mallets and brushes, and we cannot wait each year for the latest bass pedal release. We are always evolving our skills, our “sound” and the next iteration our ultimate drum set.Drum sets, for some, can be limiting. Sure, there are thousands of different snare drums, bass drums and all of the …

There’s nothing worse than a shooting pain in your lower back or shoulder in the middle of playing your drum set. You’re in the groove, doin’ your thing and ZOW! You’re in agony! Plenty of drummers experience the natural aches and pains of drumming, like sore muscles, blisters on the fingers or hands or blurred vision from over-drumming (it happens!). But, when you’re finding yourself in a chronic pain situation from drumming, fixing it could be as simple as adjusting your drum kit to your …

Because drummers like to be different, we tend to gravitate toward the complexities of life. Such as choosing the right drum or drums for the music we want to play. Everyone knows that drums come in all sorts of different styles, sizes, brands and configurations. There are hand drums like djembes, doumbeks and congas or drum set and component drums like snares, toms and bass drums. While all drums have different drum heads to consider, drum set drummers may have the most intriguing spectru …

There you are, minding your own business, when you notice flashing blue lights in your rear view mirror. You think to yourself, “Was I speeding? Why am I being pulled over?” and then go through the hundreds of possible traffic violations you may have committed while innocently driving down the road. Once you are safely pulled off to the side of the road, the officer approaches and asks if you’ve been drinking. “No, sir, I don’t drink and drive,” is a likely response to the officer’s q …

Finding a new drum or hand percussion instrument to play is one of the best things about being a drummer. No matter if you started out on a set of bongo drums or you were a drummer in your school’s marching band, once you’re bitten with the percussion bug, it can be hard to ever let that excitement go. For the drum set drummer, all of those hours spent learning the basics and practicing rudiments can lead to a really great experience drumming in a band, on stage or in a stu …

That whole “stupid” stereotype that surrounds a drummer is baffling, especially considering all of the effort a drummer puts into play drums, as well as selecting all the right equipment to make a rhythm come alive. To the untrained, non-drummer ear, the nuances in sound, tone and decay from drums and cymbals can be easily written off, but, we know that there is no mistaking the sound of a set of drums for jazz music compared to those played in a metal band. The drums in those drum sets …

Just ask any drummer about the most important sound from a drum set… and, you’ll get a different response each time. But, just because drummers cannot agree on what part of the drum set is the best, that doesn’t mean that drummers who prefer the bass drum are entirely wrong. If that is, of course, the answer, which we are assuming, solely so we can discuss our love for kick pedals. Kick pedals became necessary additions to a drum set back in the early 1900s, when drummers realized that b …

Drumming is a controversial profession, passion or hobby, with never-ending debates over the best kind of drums, drumming style and who should make the “ Top 10 Drummers of All Time” lists across the Internet. Because drummers are unique, polyrhythmic thinkers, there is no doubt that when a dozen drummers are asked a question, there will be a dozen different answers. The diversity that is innate to each drummer could be why there are so many different styles and types of cymbals out t …