Crazy Texas Drummer

Crazy Texas Drummer

Gear he actually recommends

Two different questions, both answered here: what is in the videos, and what a beginner should buy. Only the things he named himself, in the words he used.

Straight from Brian's replies

The kit in the videos

People ask this under nearly every video, so it lives here now. Everything below is a reply Brian typed himself under the clip it belongs to, copied word for word and linked back to it.

Kit changes from clip to clip, so a reply from one video is not a spec sheet for all of them. Where he never answered, nothing is guessed here. More of him talking is on the videos page.

A different question

What he tells beginners to buy

None of this is what he plays on the street. It is what he says to somebody starting out, and where he did not name a brand, none is invented here.

A first acoustic kit

An entry-level Yamaha

He has one answer for a first kit, and it is not an expensive one. Buying used is fine.

“I'm a big Yamaha guy. All their introductory-level products sound professional, pretty much. Just grab a Yamaha, anything you can grab, used or new.”

Brian Foster

Sticks

Long, with rebound

He describes what the stick should do rather than which company makes it, so that is all that is written here.

“I like a real long stick that has a lot of rebound. The stick does a lot of work for you when it's longer and has a lot of rebound.”

Brian Foster

Tuning

A drum key, and a drum dial if your ear is not there yet

“I use a regular drum key, but you can get a drum dial that will tell you the frequency that's coming from every lug, which makes it a lot easier for somebody who doesn't have a good ear.”

Brian Foster

There is a whole guide on the tuning routine in the free guides.

Electronic kits

Buy sensitivity, not features

His test for an electronic kit is whether it responds to how hard you hit it. A pad that fires at one volume teaches you nothing about dynamics.

“That's basically like getting a cheap piano that has no responsiveness. If you play the key, it plays max volume, versus a piano that has sensitivity, where, for practicing, it feels more real.”

Brian Foster

“They all have a built-in effects chain, or something like dynamics, so you can hit it and it'll sound very light, or you can hit it and it'll have a loud sound.”

Brian Foster

Site note, not his words: Roland is one commonly available brand of velocity-sensitive kit, but he named no manufacturer for electronics - only the property to test for.

Keeping the peace

Towels, tape and volume knobs

“Oh man, there are so many different ways to quiet a drum set down with towels and tape, and also find an electronic kit that you can turn the volume down or up on.”

Brian Foster

The full three-tip version is on the quiet-drums page.

No affiliate links on this page. Nothing here earns anybody a commission, and there are no shopping links at all - just what he said, so you can go and find it yourself. If that ever changes, this line will say so before the first link appears.