My 9 year old is hellbent on learning the drums. We are going to get her some lessons. Can anyone give any advice for someone starting out?

For a 9 year old i’d recommend a smaller kit ie “jazz” sizes – 18″ bass drum, 10″ tom, 14″ floor tom and standard size snare. Cymbals can be expensive.
S/h very much a good idea to start with. Lessons highly recommended.

Hardware is the weakest link on cheaper kits, is fine for starting out but won’t last long once gigging – although i guess that might be a year or two away

Ear protection is essential.

Snare stand, practice pad, pair of sticks, book of rudiments. When he can play everything in the book to a decent tempo buy him a kit.

this. wish I’d worked more on my rudiments. Lesons to help with rudiments wouldn’t go amiss, but playing on a kit is more fun and it is all about the fun at the end of the day

What do people think of electronic kits?

What do people think of electronic kits?

They don’t really feel like a real kit. There is no bounce from the sticks that you get with a real kit. Bit like hitting a book.

nbt makes a good point, at the age of 9 the rudiments shouldn’t be the only thing but the more they can have a go at them the better – and yes, starter lessons to ingrain good habits

as john says, get a small bass, a snare and a set of hi-hats, maybe one tom (get separate bits off ebay) and keep it simple – that will be enough to get the fundamentals ready and work on hand/feet coordination (and you can fit them into a bedroom easily!) which is all a 9yo will need for the moment

(I’m a really crap drummer so don’t take my advice too much)

What do people think of electronic kits?

Much like the fact you tend not to ride a exercise bike on a downhill course, the kit is simply the tool to do the job. There are a lot of situations you won’t be taken seriously turning up with an electronic kit. This won’t affect a nine year old. Learning to get a decent sound out of an acoustic kit and lugging the damn things around is all part of the game.

Oh yeah, the “lugging the damn thing around” thing. I sometimes forget about that 🙄

I’m going to pretty much go against what everyone else has said and say buy an inexpensive electronic kit.

Snare stand, practice pad, pair of sticks, book of rudiments. When he can play everything in the book to a decent tempo buy him a kit.

That’s one way to kill the enthusiasm. It would also be better for you and your neighbours sanity not to have an acoustic kit either.

but playing on a kit is more fun and it is all about the fun at the end of the day

At that age it should be fun, this may only be a passing phase as well, so you don’t want to shell out too much initially.

If it becomes more serious, then lessons and better kit.

Where are you? My OH has some drums set up in our living room she could have a whack about on for a bit if she likes, see how it goes sort of thing.

Oh, and what’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?

You only have to beat the rhythm into the drum machine once 🙂

Actually, what Sonor said makes sense. I had an Alesis DM6 Pro electronic kit for a while, paid £400 new, sold it on eBay and I think I got £175 for it, so that’s about the ballpark price for a s/h one of them. Granted they don’t feel the same as an acoustic kit, but if she’s never played an acoustic kit, she’ll never know 😉

Acoustic kits are bloody noisy, the neighbours will definitely not appreciate it – especially if it’s played badly, as it will be at first