Aaron

Just me at my church for the adult contemporary and other services.. and then just the one drummer for youth services. 99% of the time if i'm out, they go acoustic or they have to call around to ask for someone to fill.

MY wish list is to eventually have a set of cymbals for at least 5 Genres 1 For Rock 1 For Jazz/Blues 1 For Funk/Fusion 1 for Country/Worship 1 For Progressive/Metal

From Smallest to Largest 6" AAX Splash 10" SR2 Splash 10"/10" Max Stax Mike Portnoy Signature 12" Sr2 Splash 12" Glennie's Garbage 12" China-Kang 13" HHX Groove Hats 13" SR2 Hat Bottom (used to stack with 12" China" 14" Pro China 14" AAX Metal Hats 14" HH Vanguard Hats 16" Stage Crash 18" XSR Fast Crash 18" AA Rock Crash 21" AA Raw Bell Ride 21" AA Metal Ride 22" SR2 Cymbal (was previously labeled as an HH 22" Crash) 22" Phoenix Ride 22" Artisan Elite Ride

I use https://www.drumfactorydirect.com Lugs are cheap there.

No Clue. I'm guessing age.

Very true. I think it's also that it's over 8 years old. Probably going to have to be replaced within the next 2 years. I mean it took 10 years to get that mapex orion kit in the main sanctuary i was always looking around for someone selling something at a ridiculously silly price, like we got that kit for 300$ The guy selling it had NO idea how much it was worth. So it worked out for us in the best way.

It does the job well. The only thing I don't like about Gretsch is that I've had to replace over 8 lugs across the whole kit and a Gretsch Retroluxe Snare.

Our main Sanctuary has a Mapex Orion Kit Our Youth/Young Adult Center called "The Highway" has a Gretsch Catalina Maple

I have two different exercises that I use to practice changing the leading foot. 1a. RLRL RLRL RLRL RLR 2a. LRLR LRLR LRLR LRL So this is basically, 1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4&a Twelve 16th notes + an 8th Note Triplet 2a. RLRL RLRL RLRL RLRR 2b. LRLR LRLR LRLR LRLL Twelve 16th note Singles + 1 Paradiddle 3a. RLRL RLRL RLRL RLrlr 3b. LRLR LRLR LRLR LRlrl Adding one 16th Note Triplet on the & of 4 makes a very quick turn around at higher speeds. I have an Exercise for Building Up Stamina For your Weak Foot This is played as Four 8th notes + Eight 16th Notes (as you get faster you can reset the tempo and change the Note Values to 16ths and 32nds) L L L L LRLR LRLR 1 & 2 & 3e&a 4e&a Or as two measures for more endurance training L L L L L L L L LRLR LRLR LRLR LRLR 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a

For me I think that it's best to learn the parts note for note FIRST.... THEN start to embellish your own style of playing over it once you've become really comfortable with the song, the tempo, and the structure of the song.

You should also check out Heartbeat Cymbals which a lot of CCM drummers use, also, a personal recommendation, Samsun Cymbals are another great company which have excellent prices and discounts for churches as well! Here's my demo of some cymbals we recently got from Samsun Samsun Cymbals in Video 18" Absolute Raw Bell Extra Thin Crash 19" Absolute Raw Bell Extra Thin Crash 15" Evo Medium-Thin Hats (Btw, both are made to order, which means you place the order, turn around time is 5-6 weeks, but absolutely worth it!)