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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Compact Drum Kit: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Steel Band Drums for Beginners: A Complete Guide
It looks like a strange, dented drum from the outside. Give it a fortnight and steel band drums start to feel like the friendliest instrument in the room.
The Ultimate Guide to Musical Instruments Bongo Drums
Bongo drums are hand percussion instruments central to Latin and Afro-Cuban music. This guide covers construction, playing technique, tuning and how to learn authentic bongo rhythms.
The Best Rack Toms for the Money
The best rack toms at any budget sit in a narrow band where shell construction and mounting quality justify the cost — from Export-level workhorse shells to professional-grade maple and walnut.
Everything You Need to Know About Dream Cymbals
Dream Cymbals deliver warm, musical tone with B20 bronze construction at a fraction of premium-brand pricing. This guide explains what makes them worth considering for your next cymbal purchase.
Common China Cymbal Mistakes to Avoid
Most problems with this type of cymbal come from a small set of predictable decisions. Here are the mistakes that come up most often and what to do instead.
Childrens Electronic Drum Set Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Electronic drum kits for children are more varied than they look. Here's how each type works, what the components actually do, and what matters most when buying.
The Best Drum Heads for the Money
The best drum heads for the money are the ones that match your drums and your playing style — not the most expensive or the most heavily endorsed. Here is how to think about the options at every budge...
The Best Triangle Instruments for the Money
There's no single best pick — only the right one for classroom, orchestral, studio or folk use. Here's where your money genuinely goes furthest.
Common Ludwig Drum Kit Mistakes to Avoid
Players setting up or buying a Ludwig drum kit for the first time make common, avoidable errors. Here are the most frequent mistakes and how to correct them.
Common Floor Tom Mistakes to Avoid
Floor tom problems usually come from a few consistent sources. These are the mistakes that come up most often and what to do about them.
Drum Rugs: A Complete Guide
A complete guide to the drum rug: why drum kits move on hard floors, how a mat prevents it, construction materials, floor protection benefits and what to look for.
Meinl Cymbals: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Buying the right cymbal set means matching the series to your budget and playing context — this buyer's guide explains the key decisions for every level from beginner to gigging professional.
Everything You Need to Know About Congas Drums
Congas drums have a specific origin, a precise construction and a technique that takes real time to develop. Here's everything you need to know about the instrument.
Ukulele Chords for Guitar Players
A ukulele is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar with a capo at the fifth fret. Once you see that, every shape you know transfers, with one catch.
The Best Triangle Music Instruments for the Money
A concert percussionist, a forro player and a home producer all want genuinely different things from the same bent bit of metal. Here's how to shop by use case.
Common Stick Bag Mistakes to Avoid
Most stick bag problems come down to a few avoidable decisions at the point of purchase or in how the bag gets used day to day. Here is what to watch out for.
Tom Drum for Beginners: A Complete Guide
A calm, no-jargon starting point for total beginners: what a rack tom and floor tom actually do, a simple tuning check, and where to focus practice first.
The Ultimate Guide to Kick Drum
The kick drum is the low-frequency foundation of any drum kit — and understanding it properly, from tuning to recording, changes how you work with drums.
Drum Pad for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Feeling lost in front of a shelf of drum pads? Here's the simplest, cheapest way to get started, plus a beginner practice routine that actually works.
Glockenspiel: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Buying a glockenspiel means matching the instrument to the use case. Here's how to navigate the range from beginner to professional.
Kick Drum: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Shell size, head choice, pedal type — buying a kick drum involves more decisions than it looks. This guide cuts through every one of them.
The Best Frame Drums for the Money
The best frame drum for the money depends on your tradition and your current level — entry level is fine for learning, mid-range is where quality becomes reliable, upper range is for players whose tec...
Cajon Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A box-shaped percussion instrument struck with the hands, the cajon produces bass, tone, slap and snap tones from a simple wooden box. Here is how it works.
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
