Should I buy a drum kit when I live in a SD house?

[Drumkitsituation]

The whole question is in the title really but to add a little more detail.....

I have recently fallen back in love with playing the drums after a twenty year break. I’m a forty year old mum of 2, and it feels hugely amazing to be doing something new and playful and not child or goal orientated.

I live in a semi detached house, neighbours are nice, they are currently WFH since pandemic, not sure of their long terms plans. They have grown up children.

I want a drum kit. The electronic one I play on in lessons is about 6k worth of stuff but according to my teacher I can get an entry level electronic one for about £500.

However, I want a real one, preferably a Pearl export like the one I had as a teenager! I can get a second hand one of these for £300 and wouldn’t want or need to upgrade that.

I’d probably play for an hour or so 4 ish times a week whilst the kids are at school/in afternoon at weekends.

The only room we could fit it in would be a room adjoining their house on the ground floor.

The houses are 30s, robust, thick walls, neither of us can really hear the other day to day.

YANBU - it’s your house, get the drum kit you want

YABU - selfish, think of your neighbours, save up for the electronic

Thanks

You want to play the drums in a room adjoining your neighbours?

Give them plenty of notice so they can get their house on the market ...

Or invest in a soundproof shed or electronic kit with headphones.

My neighbours son played the drums. We are 50 yards from his room-
We absolutely could hear him, I can't imagine how loud it would be in a SD house!

Have a chat with the neighbours. They might be going back to the office soon, at least some days, in which case there might be no problem on those days. Also consider borrowing a kit and testing out the noise level with your neighbours.

However, something to bear in mind: you have kids. If there is a kit in the house, and they ask to learn, it might be difficult to say no. You might be able to time your playing for when the neighbours are out; the kids might not.

I think in this case an electronic is the way to go. Acoustic drums can be so loud and your playing could be affected if you are always conscious of the neighbours. You can get a reasonable nitro mesh set for around £350 including drum throne and earphones kit if you shop around and ask for a deal.

If you could afford it in the future, then add an acoustic drum kit as well, but limit your majority playing and practice to the electronic kit and only use the acoustic for 15 min bursts every so often and only if you are sure you can contain yourself But I think it wouldn't be fair to your neighbours have an acoustic set as your only drum option.

Also, electronic kits generally fold up so they don't take up as much space when not in use, and obviously they have the benefit of many backing tracks that you can play along to.

Save up
I think you'd be incredibly selfish to inflict this on your neighbours when there's an alternative

That would be incredibly selfish .
Some fool around here has opened up an unregistered drum school.The noise or horrendous,can't work or concentrate on anything.
Either join a drum school ,start a group in a less populated areas of take up another interest.

As someone who has had to listen to next door (she's at the end of a terrace) kids learning & playing the violins for almost 5 years now,. youngest daughter has started as well, I would say please don't get them. We complained to her about it as they could play late at night. Now its an hour each once a day, sometimes 2. Tbh the violins aren't the worse noise as she shouts at the kids a lot, but even when they went out all as work was being done in her home, she still had them practice even though we'd had all day listening to buliding work going on etc. It really can drive you mad.

DH is a drummer so he completely soundproofed the shed to be able to play his acoustic kit in there. It’s the only way to be reasonable to our neighbours - he’s very good but drums are loud and not everyone wants to hear them all the time!

He also has an electronic kit for inside the house, but even then plays in a room away from the neighbours’ house because it is still a repetitive tapping even if quiet.

You can’t play an acoustic kit in a semi detached house. It’s not ok.

Stick to an electronic one until you can afford a detached house or a suitable out building.

No. It's anti social.
Can you not use an electric kit with headphones?
Build a soundproof room?

DS2 yearned to play drums and I refused. To be honest listening to anyone practise is painful, not least recorder or violin but drums would just reverberate through the building.

I can hear our neighbours drumming. I quite enjoy it and it means I don't feel guilty about my kids playing noisily in the garden. Not in a tit for tat way more that they make noise so they obviously don't hate us for it. Or maybe they do and thats why they got the drum kit!

Its not just next door, it's the entire street! Two doors down has one, we all hate them

I live in a SD (also about 1930s). We bought a piano and put it in the room adjoining our neighbour's house on the ground floor. It was very annoying for our neighbour so we moved it into the kitchen which is not adjoining and now things are fine for our neighbour. We also had a drum kit in our kitchen at one point - but we went for an electronic one and that was also ok for our neighbour.

Short answer: no

(As in dont do it)

Hi all
Just to let you know I bought the electric drum kit. It’s brilliant and I am so happy with it. Thanks for the advice