Pick your size drum stick
They will have markings such as 5b, 7a, and many others. Some sticks may be to thick, some may be too thin. figure out how heavy you like them. If your favorite size is 5a, find 5a sticks that are your liking of weight. It makes a large difference. Sticks make a huge difference. If it is too thick, you are not capable of doing what you can do with the size you are comfortable with. Sticks that are too thin can make you feel like you are hitting nothing but air, and it is weird.
Learning the basic pieces
Snare drum
The snare is basically a regular drum, except it has multiple (usually approx. 10) springs going across the bottom head.
The toms
The toms are kind of like a snare, but no springs. The toms are almost always diagonal from the snare. On the standard kit, there are 3 toms. 2 toms are on top of the bass drum (learned in the next step). These are sometimes called "tom-toms". The third one is always on long legs on the floor. This one is called the floor tom. The tom-tom/floor toms can be used with or without the bottom head. The diagram below shows a diagram of all 3 toms. The first tom is always the smallest. Second is always mediumist. And the floor tom is always the largest.
Bass drum
The bass drum is always the largest drum on the set. There are many different sounds it can make. Like a boom, thud, etc. This is under the toms, and is in between the floor tom and snare. The bass drum is different than other drums. Instead of hitting it with a stick, you stomp on the pedal. People who play rock drums, rap drums, country drums, etc, only have 1 bass drum. Some people who play metal have either 2 bass drums, or something called a double bass pedal. The double bass pedal is one pedal, connected to another by a rotating pole. When the pole rotates, it triggers the left hammer. Below are pictures of a single drum single pedal bass drum, a single drum double pedal bass drum, and 2 bass drums with a single pedal on both.
First: Double pedal
Second: Set with 2 bass drums
Third: Set with 1 bass drum
Fourth: Single pedal
Cymbals
Hi - Hat (most important)
Crash
ride
splash
china
The hi hat is 2 cymbals facing each other. It has a pedal at the bottom of the stand. What the pedal does, is if you do not step on the pedal, the cymbals do not touch each other. If you do step on it, the cymbals do touch each other. The closed (cymbals touching) hi hat when you step on it can be used with any genre except metal. If you open the hi hat, it can be used on anything.
The crash is a cymbal you hit to spice up the rhythm, to make the beat more flamboyant and "un-dull" it. There are many variations of the crash.
One variation is the splash. The splash is very small. The range of size is about 3 inches to about 8 inches. It makes a higher pitched sound.
Another variation of the crash is the china. The china is like a normal splash or crash, except the edges are large "mountains". This also makes a high pitch sound.
A different kind of cymbal is the ride. The ride is like a large crash, except it is thicker. Near the center hole of the cymbal is a hill called the "bell". The bell, well sounds like a bell. The ride usually is not used like a crash. It is used like a high hat.
