I can advise you on every step of what to get, but here are some basic guidelines for getting your drumming gear:

Basic practice set up
All students will need the following:

  • Drum sticks – hickory 5A size are recommended
  • Practice pad – Remo tunable pads are good, and inexpensive, but not completely silent; you can also get a silent rubber pad. With a stand is preferred.
  • Music stand

Drum set
Drum sets can be found inexpensively, and complete, on Craigslist or Facebook— usually $250 to $500. Any set that has all the parts below, that appears to be reasonably in good shape, will do. Avoid obviously filthy, battered looking drums with dented heads.

You will need:

  • Snare drum with stand
  • Bass drum with pedal
  • Two or three tom toms
  • Hihat cymbals with stand/pedal
  • Ride cymbal with stand
  • Crash cymbal with stand
  • Throne

Electronics
If you have noise restrictions where you practice, an electronic set is a good option, though in general I don’t prefer them. Find a well maintained used set in your price range— with all parts and manual. Don’t worry too much about features, you just need something to hit that sounds kind of like a drum through the headphones.

I also think it’s a good idea to have a dedicated pad device and over the ear headphones for practicing— an inexpensive computer pad like a Kindle Fire, on which you can install a media player, and a metronome app. Make sure it has a slot for a Micro SD memory card. Tascam makes good studio headphones that are reasonably priced— noise cancelling is not necessary.

Drum shops
For drum shops in Portland I recommend:

Revival Drums – 902 SE Sherman St, Portland, OR 97214 – (503) 719-6533
Rhythm Traders – 3904 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Suite A, Portland, OR 97212 – (503) 288-6950

And of course when you’re ready to get nice cymbals, I can help you with that— for now you can window shop at my site Cymbalistic.

These stores can be handy for certain things as well:

Trade Up Music – Locations on NE Alberta and SE Division
Portland Music Company – Sheet Music – 10075 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy, Beaverton, OR 97006 (503) 641-5691
Guitar Center – 1147 N Hayden Meadows Dr, Portland, OR 97217 – (503) 286-6327