The full family of drums and percussion — acoustic and electronic kits, hand drums, pitched mallet instruments, and everything in between.
- 118 topics
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Inside Drums & Percussion
All 118 topicsThe 12 most-searched of 118 topics. The full index is at the foot of the page.
Electronic Drum Kit
Electronic drum kits for quiet practice, recording and adaptable modern drumming.
5 topics
Xylophone
Xylophones are tuned wooden percussion instruments with a bright, articulate sound for schools, ensembles and performanc...
1 topic
Drum Kit
Choose a drum kit for practice, recording or live work, with acoustic and electronic options to suit every drummer.
14 topics
Claves
Bright, compact rhythm sticks that deliver a clear click for Latin grooves, ensemble work and classroom percussion.
Glockenspiel
Glockenspiels deliver bright, bell-like tuned percussion for orchestral, educational and studio use.
4 topics
Drum Sticks
Drum sticks shape feel, tone and control, with options for practice, performance and different playing styles.
1 topic
Chimes
Orchestral percussion for shimmering accents, dramatic swells and atmospheric colour in live or studio settings.
1 topic
Bongos
Add lively hand percussion to your setup with bongos for Latin grooves, teaching and live performance.
2 topics
Tambourine
Find tambourines for bright accents, rhythmic lift and versatile hand percussion across many styles.
2 topics
Tubular Bells
Tubular bells are pitched concert percussion instruments known for resonant, bell-like tones in orchestral and theatrica...
Maracas
Maracas add bright rhythmic texture and easy-to-use percussion colour for studio, school and live performance.
2 topics
Drums
Drums for every player, from complete kits to upgrade parts, with options for practice, recording and live performance.
26 topicsArticles on Drums & Percussion
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Hand Drum: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Before you buy a hand drum, work out the style first — everything else follows from that one decision.
Common Ride Cymbal Mistakes to Avoid
Most ride cymbal problems trace back to the same handful of mistakes. Here's what they are, why they happen, and how to correct them.
Bass Drum Pedal Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The bass drum pedal does more than just hit the kick — understanding how it works and how to set it up properly transforms your playing.
Hi Hat Stand Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A hi-hat stand controls the open and closed sound of your hi-hats through a foot pedal — this guide explains exactly how it works, the key features and the main types available.
Common Zildjian S Family Cymbals Mistakes to Avoid
The honest list of where owners and buyers most often trip up with Zildjian S Family Cymbals cymbals, and how to sidestep every one of them.
Hi Hat Cymbals: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Choosing the right hi-hat cymbals takes more than picking a famous brand name. This guide breaks down every variable and tells you what actually matters for your playing.
The Complete Guide to Electronic Drum Set Amp
Electronic drum set amplifiers deliver specialised sound reinforcement optimised for synthesised percussion, enabling clear drum monitoring and audience reinforcement across diverse performance contex...
The Best Stick Bags for the Money
The best stick bag depends on how often you gig, how much you carry, and how hard your gear gets treated. Here are the picks that genuinely deliver at each price point.
Hi Hat Cymbals Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The hi-hat is the most expressive cymbal on the kit — and understanding its construction tells you everything about how it sounds. Here's what you need to know.
Common Bass Drum Mistakes to Avoid
From tuning in isolation to a flat, over-muffled sound: the recurring bass drum mistakes that are easy to fix once you know to look for them.
Istanbul Agop Cymbals: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Istanbul Agop cymbals are excellent — but they have a specific character and some series suit specific styles far better than others. This guide tells you which to buy and why.
The Ultimate Guide to Rack Drum Set
A drum rack transforms multiple stands into a unified, organised frame—ideal for large kits, touring, and hybrid setups. Learn when to use one and how to build a stable rig.
Darbuka: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Egyptian or Turkish, ceramic or metal, natural skin or synthetic — here's how to actually choose a darbuka rather than buying by looks alone.
Bells Explained: Features, Types and Tips
An overview of percussion bells: handbells for melody, orchestral chimes for colour, cowbells for texture. Learn materials, tuning, and how bell properties affect tone and pitch.
Xylophone Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A primer on the construction, range, types and uses of one of percussion's most recognisable instruments — with guidance on who plays it and why it matters.
Samba Music Instruments for Beginners: A Complete Guide
You do not need a full carnival bateria in your spare room to start — a handful of well-chosen pieces will get you further than you'd expect.
Common Snare Drum Snares Mistakes to Avoid
A genuinely simple mechanism that punishes small mistakes disproportionately — here's what most often goes wrong, and why it happens.
The Best Childs Electric Drum Kits for the Money
No fake benchmarks, just an honest read on where the money goes across roll-up mats, compact rack kits and V-Drums-style options for older children.
Cymbals for Beginners: A Complete Guide
What a nervous first-timer actually needs to know about cymbals — the first three to learn, how to mount them safely, and how to play them without worry.
The Ultimate Guide to Drums Notation
Drum notation looks baffling at first glance, but it's a genuinely logical system once you know what each symbol and staff position means.
Common Bodhran Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid common pitfalls: tight grip, static underhand, striking the centre, over-tuning, and expecting instant skill. Master the basics—relaxed technique, dynamic control, intelligent tuning.
The Best Cajons for the Money
From entry-level models to professional-grade instruments, the cajon market has strong options at every price point. These picks deliver the most for their cost.
The Best Floor Toms for the Money
Floor tom quality jumps significantly at a few price points. These are the specific models worth buying at each level, and what makes them stand out.
What Drums & Percussion Covers
Drums & percussion is the broadest family in music: it covers every instrument that produces sound by striking, shaking, scraping or setting a surface in vibration. The category divides into membranophones — instruments with a stretched skin or synthetic head, such as a snare drum or djembe — and idiophones, where the solid body of the instrument itself produces the sound, as with a xylophone, cowbell or claves.
Drum Kits: Acoustic and Electronic
The acoustic drum kit — bass drum, snare, tom-toms, hi-hats and cymbals — remains the foundation of rock, jazz and pop. Every component has its own page here, from choosing drum sticks and replacement heads to selecting the right cymbals for a given style. Electronic drum kits and percussion pads use triggers and sampled sounds, and are increasingly popular for practice, home recording and smaller venues where volume matters. Hybrid kits combine acoustic shells with electronic triggering, giving players the feel of real heads alongside the flexibility of on-board sound libraries.
Hand Percussion
Hand percussion spans dozens of world traditions. Congas, bongos and claves draw from Afro-Cuban music; the djembe comes from West Africa; the cajón from Peru; the bodhrán from Irish folk. Frame drums, goblet drums and shakers appear in folk, classical and popular music alike. When choosing a hand drum, the key considerations are playing technique, head material, tuning range, portability and whether it is intended for solo practice, ensemble playing or live performance.
Pitched Percussion
Pitched percussion instruments play identifiable notes and sit at the intersection of rhythm and melody. Xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones, glockenspiels, tubular bells and the celesta are all mallet instruments, found in orchestras, concert bands, musical theatre and studio production. The handpan — a relatively modern bowl-shaped idiophone — has attracted a dedicated following for its resonant, meditative tone.
Accessories and Smaller Percussion
The tambourine, triangle, cowbell, shaker and chimes might not anchor the rhythm section, but in the right moment they define a recording. This section also covers the accessories that hold everything together: drum sticks and mallets, beaters and brushes, mounting hardware, cymbal stands, drum pedals, replacement heads, cases and triggers.
All 118 topics in Drums & Percussion
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- Djembe
- Double Bass Pedal
- Dream Cymbals
- Drum Bags
- Drum Cases
- Drum Hardware
- Drum Hardware
- Drum Heads
- Drum Key
- Drum Kit
- Drum Mutes
- Drum Pad
- Drum Rack
- Drum Rug
- Drum Shells
- Drum Sticks
- Drum Throne
- Drums
- Drums & Percussion (General)
- Drums & Percussion — Other Brands
- Drums & Percussion — Pearl
- Drums & Percussion — Tama
- Drums & Percussion — Yamaha
- Dw Drum Kit
