Christmas at Cookes Drum Department...

Sorry to remind you folks, but there are only 64 days until Christmas!

Here at the Cookes drum department, we have everything you’ll need to make your Christmas drum-filled and noisy.

DRUM KITS:

Our starter kit this year is the Mapex Tornado, with everything you need to get started on your drumming adventure for only £249.

The Tornado kit is available in 3 different configurations and in Black or Burgundy Red, and includes all hardware, stool and cymbal pack

We can also supply Paiste upgraded cymbal packs, starting at £139

For those of you concerned with noise and disturbing the rest of the family/neighbours, we also stock the marvellous Shaw Silencer Pad sets and Vic Firth drum mutes, starting at £45

If you’re thinking of going down the electronic kit route, come and check out the HXM HD006 Electronic Drum Kits - a bargain at £199 including stool, bass pedal AND even a pair of sticks.

Here's Josh Devine’s demo:

We also have Roland's entry level TD1-K at only £329

Watch Johnny Rabb demo the Roland TD1-K here:

For those acoustic/busking drummers out there, we have a good range of Schlagwerk Cajons from Germany starting at £79. We also have Cajon pedals and other accessories

Loads of other goodies in stock, including sticks from £5 a pair, hardware from £20. And we haven’t even mentioned our stock of well over 100 cymbals from Zildjian, Paiste, Sabian and Meinl, dozens of snare drums, drum heads, bass pedals,  percussion instruments, tuition books, spares...

Come in and see Joe, email joe@cookes.co.uk or call us on 01603 623563

KORG Cliphit drum triggers now in stock - a unique and fun way to play drums

Calling all drummers, or wannabe drummers!

Announcing Cliphit from Korg, the new way to enjoy drums!

Cliphit turns the world around you into your own personal drum kit. Just attach a clip to something, then hit it. It’s fun, easy, and goes wherever you do.

Check out the demo video...

Features:

• A high-tech drum kit with three clips that trigger onboard drum samples
• Includes one footswitch to control kick sounds, with the ability to add one more for control of hi hat open/close
• Eleven kits are provided including hand percussion and sound effects kits
• 2W output, 3-inch speaker, and bass-reflex design deliver great-sounding tone
• Perform sounds by striking the CLIPHIT itself with your hand
• AUX IN jack lets you connect external sound sources such as an MP3 player to jam along
• Headphone jack for private practice
• Compact space-saving design
• Two-way power supply allows for battery operation

At only £89.00, these are an easy and inexpensive way to add a whole new dimension to your playing. You can even use them on standard acoustic drums to trigger additional sounds.

We have these in stock now, so pop in and check them out in our Drum Department, or call us on 01603 623563

The rise and rise of the cajon.
 

The cajon (pronounced ca-hon) has seen a huge increase in popularity in the last few years. Its compact, portable and can be played by beginners and advanced players alike. As you'd expect there is plenty of tuition available on YouTube these days but as a newcomer to the instrument myself I've been able to play a few basic grooves with relative ease. Although it helps if you have some experience of drum-kit playing or hand-drumming, even a non-percussionist should find this an easy to pick-up instrument for providing an back-beat to any musical set-up.

Here at Cookes we carry a range of cajons from the new STAGG junior cajon through to the popular PEARL Fibreglass "Boom-Box" cajon with its fibreglass body and unusual sound-port that gives a bottom-end "thump" like no other I've heard. Some use guitar-strings internally and some use snare wires. Snare wires tend to be a little more sensitive or "hissy" whereas the guitar-strings provide a tighter "snap", however both are usually adjustable.

Because of the rise in popularity of this instrument a number of manufacturers have introduced cajon "add-ons" to the market. The PEARL jingle-cup (adds a jingle sound to your cajon), the Rhythm-Ring (a shaker-style ring that hisses as you play your cajon), the MEINL foot tambourine (attaches to your shoe to create a jingle sound when you move your foot) and perhaps the most innovative, the GIBRALTAR Cajon Pedal (turns your cajon into a bass drum to form the foundation of a street/busking drumkit).

With the refurbishment of our drum deparment, we now have a section with all of our cajons out and ready to play. Hear the difference between the various drums and make an informed decision about which one is best for you.

So if you find yourself tapping away on things and are interested in getting into percussion but don't have the space for a full drumset OR you are an existing drumkit player but are looking for a portable, compact instrument to play drumset grooves either busking, jamming or at smaller venues, then the mighty cajon might just be the instrument for you.

Simon.

Never been a better time to buy from the high street.

In my 27 years in MI Retail & Distribution I know now is the best time to make your purchase from a good old fashioned high street retailer.

Why do I say this?

The internet has basically done the deal for you! It’s discounted the price, given you enough information to help you make your choice & given you a virtual show room to walk around.

When it comes to your purchases we at Cookes Match the online deal, we can then offer our advice & experience expanding your ideas to make sure you get the correct item and we have several real showrooms for you to walk around.

The other massive benefits of visiting a high street retailer are you don’t have to wait around for a delivery driver who doesn’t turn up, you have a local warranty on your purchase with people you know and can trust & we at Cookes will even lend you a product (If needed) as long as your purchase fails within it's warranty period.

So you see this is why It is now a great time to buy from a SHOP...

Mark Hedge (a man who never buys on line)

'Tis the season to get a wriggle on down to Cookes!

"Still, soon be Christmas!"  beams Mark every morning and every evening during the drive to and from the shop.

"Urgh," I retort in my usual Ebenezer Scrooge style, "I'll do my Christmas shopping at the petrol station on Christmas Eve like last year.  Everyone gets wiper blades and a Magic Tree - the gift that keeps on giving!"

But it seems Christmas is closer than we had all guessed.  Sure, it's exactly seven weeks away yet. That's ages. 49 days... 1,176 hours… erm...

Oh dear, really not much time to do that Christmas shopping, then!

So now is the perfect time to come into the store to lay claim to that guitar you were going to buy for your daughter, the drum kit you promised little Timmy and the DJ controller that Gran has been banging on about for the last six months.

"Pah," you say, "I'll do it nearer the time."  Be very careful.  I called a large guitar company to order a five string bass a couple of weeks ago and was told "Sorry, no five strings across ANY of the ranges because we're sold out for Christmas.  Next delivery will be in February."  Another really big company told us a very similar story about the availability of some of its most popular digital drumkits.

So, now really is the time to DO SOMETHING about actually sorting out that musical instrument gift you were planning.  Of course, we will always give you the best advice we can about your chosen instrument and help you to make an informed choice from the wide range of music gear we have in stock. If, however, you are after something a little different or much more specific to give as a gift, you absolutely must ask us to check availability NOW, so that we can secure it for you and have it ready for you to collect before the big day.

Otherwise, can you imagine Gran's poor, sad face as she opens another pair of sheepskin slippers instead of having it large on her Pioneer DDJ SX? No, me either…

Ben @ Cookes.

Cookes now have Book(e)s

After a couple of brief flirtations with the world of printed media we've thrown caution to the wind (sort of) and have teamed up with the good people at Music Sales to bring you *drumroll please*

"Bookes at Cookes"

OK admittedly the name could do with some work but the long and short of it is we now have books, lots of them. Literally hundreds of them (I know because I'm adding them to the stock lists) covering Guitars, Bass, Ukulele, Drums, Mandolin, Banjo, Piano, heck we don't sell pianos.

You want to do the Rockschool syllabus? We've got 'em.

Fancy learning to play like Neil Pert? There's a book for that too.

Stairway to Heaven? Got a Led Zeppelin book for ya.

George Formby you're inspiration? No problem.

Infact we've pretty much got most things, from Scales & Chords right through to albums, we'd like to think Cookes is now your one stop shop for books.

"But hang on" I hear you cry, "you're telling me if I walk into Cookes today I can walk out with the book/sheet music I want?"

We'd like to think so, but if we happen to have sold out of the book you want we have weekly deliveries so fresh supplies at never more than 7 days away (providing the publisher has them in stock of course).

So next time you have a hankering for some good old fashioned analog music related printed media pop down to St Benedict's Street and have a perusal of our fine wares.

Steven

Return of a classic!

   When I started playing drums (around 20 years ago now) and the internet was just a twinkle in someone's eye, the only way to see what drumkits were available was to a) Buy one of the drum publications or b) Visit a music shop and ask for some brochures. It just so happens on the day I sought out my second ever drumkit (My first being a really nasty Hohner kit that took me 6 months to work out how the tom arms worked) that the salesperson I spoke to gave me a Pearl brochure, which led me to buy my first ever "respectable" drumkit, the mighty Pearl Export.
   I had that black Pearl Export for the first 3 or 4 years of being in a "gigging" band and it suited me perfectly. The punk band I was in at the time required big, bold, gutsy sounding drums and the power toms of the Export along with the no-nonsense black wrap finish ticked all the boxes. At the same time, it wasn't too expensive that I would be worried if inevitably a beer went flying over it (or occasionally a person went flying into it).
   Anyway that was then, and since then Pearl Drums released the "Vision" series. Although slightly more expensive, with its upgraded hardware and flashier finishes it was only a matter of time before Pearl pulled the plug on veteran Export that had once been the market leader for so many years and that was that. Or was it?
   Less than a decade later Pearl have decided to reintroduce the Export to the market and it appears that whilst its been away Pearl have been working hard to get three things right - 1) Looks 2) Quality and 3) Price. Having recently received the first of what I am confident will be many of the new Pearl Export kits, I've been blown away by just how much drum there is for the money here. The "American-Fusion" configuration (22" Bass Drum, 10" & 12" Rack Tom, 16" Floor Tom and 14" Snare Drum), with its Poplar shells, has the right blend of power and attack. The hardware features smooth "rail" style cymbal tilters, opti-loc tom mounts and the new P930 Demonator bass drum pedal and as for the finishes, well we have a blue sparkle in stock that has been given pride of place at the front of the store.
   So lets go back to the 90s, and that day I visited that music shop to get prices on that plain black Pearl Export. £599 I was told. Skip forward nearly 20 years to the present day and ask us the same question, and you'd expect the answer to be £799? £899? Well put it this way, you'll get change out of £500.
   So if you're looking for a kit to gig with, or even an higher-spec starter kit, look no further than the 2013 Pearl Export.

Simon.