The full family of drums and percussion — acoustic and electronic kits, hand drums, pitched mallet instruments, and everything in between.
- 118 topics
- 506 articles
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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The Ultimate Guide to Acoustic Drum Kits
From a first kit to a professional setup, acoustic drums vary enormously. Here's how they work, what the different configurations mean, and what matters when choosing.
The Best Alesis Drum Kits for the Money
From the Nitro Mesh for first-time players to the Command for professional use, these picks cover the best value at each level of the Alesis range.
The Best Brushes Drums for the Money
A clear guide to the best drum brushes at each price point, from entry-level wire designs to professional fixed-spread options.
Marching Band for Newcomers: Where to Start
Thinking about joining marching band? Here's a genuinely honest starting point: sections, your first rehearsal, gear and staying safe.
The Ultimate Guide to Sonor Drum Kits
From the AQ2 to the SQ2, Sonor builds drums with precision hardware and consistent shell construction that holds up from bedroom practice to professional use.
Pearl Tom Toms Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Rack and floor sizes, shell materials, bearing edges and Pearl's suspension mounts — here's what actually shapes the sound of a Pearl tom tom, explained plainly.
Shaker: A Complete Buyer's Guide
One of the cheapest instruments you'll ever buy, and one of the easiest to get wrong for your situation. Here's what actually matters.
Common Tambourine Mistakes to Avoid
Tambourine mistakes come down to not listening carefully enough to the instrument in the mix. Here are the most common problems and the corrections that make a real difference.
A Guide to Cabasa Instrument
That bright metallic sizzle in countless Latin and funk recordings usually comes from a cabasa. Here's what it is and how it actually works.
Hand Drum Explained: Features, Types and Tips
"Hand drum" covers a lot of ground. Here's what the term actually means, and how the main families differ.
Everything You Need to Know About Gretsch Drum Kits
Gretsch drum kits combine distinctive warm tone, meticulous craftsmanship, and professional reliability, making them preferred instruments for touring drummers, studio specialists, and percussion enth...
Sabian Cymbals: A Complete Buyer's Guide
The Sabian range runs from budget B8 bronze to hand-crafted Artisan. This buyer's guide maps each series to the right playing level and style, so you buy the right cymbals the first time.
Ride Cymbal: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Choosing a ride cymbal involves size, weight, alloy, and genre context. This buyer's guide works through each decision so you end up with the right instrument for how you actually play.
Drum Kit for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Common Compact Drum Kit Mistakes to Avoid
Bass Drum: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Diameter, depth, heads and hardware, in the right order: a practical buyer's guide to choosing a bass drum that actually suits your genre and room.
Practice Pad Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A practice pad lets drummers work on technique without volume. Understanding the differences between surface types, sizes, and designs determines whether you get useful practice or just repetition.
Common Electric Drum Set Mistakes to Avoid
Same handful of mistakes, over and over. Here's what buyers and owners of an electric drum set most often get wrong, and the easy fix for each one.
Practice Drum Kit Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A practice drum kit is designed for quiet rehearsal rather than performance. There are several distinct categories, each with different trade-offs between sound, feel and cost.
Common Maracas Mistakes to Avoid
Most maracas players are held back by the same handful of repeatable mistakes. Here is what they are and how to correct them.
Common Chimes Mistakes to Avoid
Most problems players have with this instrument come from early technique habits — mallet rebound, pedal use, positioning and strike accuracy. Here are the four most common mistakes and how to fix the...
Mapex Drum Kit for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Common Snare Drum Mistakes to Avoid
Most snare drum problems come from the same handful of avoidable errors — tight grip, poor tuning, no metronome and neglecting the resonant head.
Marimba: A Complete Buyer's Guide
A marimba is a big, long-term purchase, so let's work through what genuinely matters before you spend a penny of your budget.
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
