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
All news
Tubular Bells: A Complete Buyer's Guide
A big, heavy, specialist instrument deserves a proper buying checklist. Here's what actually matters before you commit to a set — no sales patter.
Common Meinl Cymbals Mistakes to Avoid
The most costly mistakes with drum cymbals are avoidable — from buying the wrong series to incorrect mounting and poor striking technique, this guide covers what goes wrong and how to prevent it.
Cowbell: A Complete Buyer's Guide
The honest version of what matters when buying a cowbell: shell material, size, mounting, and whether you need more than one.
Cajon Drumming Explained: Features, Types and Tips
One box, three drum-kit sounds: here is what cajon drumming actually is, its Afro-Peruvian and flamenco history, and how the instrument works.
Zildjian S Family Cymbals for Beginners: A Complete Guide
You don't need to know every cymbal name to get started. Here's a gentle, encouraging guide to your first Zildjian S Family Cymbals set.
A Guide to Rack Toms
Rack toms are the core voice of fills and transitions in a drum kit — understanding their construction, mounting and tuning makes a real difference to how they sound.
Shaker Explained: Features, Types and Tips
It looks like the simplest instrument in the room, and in construction it more or less is. Here's what's actually going on inside one.
Hi Hat Cymbals for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Hi-hat cymbals are the backbone of most drum grooves — and learning to control them opens up the most expressive part of the kit. Here's where every beginner should start.
The Best Childs Electronic Drum Sets for the Money
Some children's electronic drum kits earn their price; others waste it — here is a straight breakdown of which ones to buy and which to skip at each budget level.
Common Practice Pad Mistakes to Avoid
The mistakes drummers make with practice pads are consistent and often invisible until the damage to technique is done. Here is a precise look at what they are and how to avoid each one.
Rock Jam Drum Kit: A Complete Guide
A quality rock drum kit delivers powerful projection and versatile tonal range demanded by contemporary rock music across all performance contexts.
Guiro Music Instrument for Beginners: A Complete Guide
A guiro rewards a controlled, deliberate approach far more than raw enthusiasm — here's how to actually make a decent sound from your first session.
Common Childs Electronic Drum Set Mistakes to Avoid
The mistakes people make with children's electronic drum kits follow a predictable pattern — here is how to sidestep the most common ones before they cause frustration.
Tambourine Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The tambourine is one of the world's oldest percussion instruments and one of the most versatile. Here is how it works, the different types, and what separates quality instruments from poor ones.
Snare Stand: A Complete Guide
Zildjian Cymbals Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Zildjian has made cymbals since 1623. This guide explains how they are manufactured, what the series mean, and how to choose between them.
Cabasa Instrument for Beginners: A Complete Guide
It looks simple, but a cabasa has a real technique underneath. Here's the honest, beginner-friendly way to actually learn it.
Chimes Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A primer on orchestral chimes — construction, sound character, technique and the role they play in orchestral and contemporary music.
Tom Drum: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Size, shell material, heads and hardware — here's what genuinely changes a tom drum's sound and durability, and what to check before you buy.
How to Set Up and Use Frame Drum
A frame drum rewards systematic habit-building from the first session — correct grip, consistent tone production and slow deliberate practice build the foundation for everything that follows.
Common Cymbals Mistakes to Avoid
The habits behind most cracked or choked cymbals, and the simple fixes for each — from over-tightening to poor transport.
The Best Kick Drums for the Money
From entry-level shells to quality used instruments, here's where the best kick drum value sits at every budget level.
The Best Tubular Bells for the Money
There's no single best set — there's a right tier for your setting. Here's how to match compact, mid-tier, concert-grade, used or digital to the job.
The Best Pearl Tom Toms for the Money
Export, Masters Maple, Crystal Beat or Masterworks — here's which tier of Pearl tom toms actually suits your playing and 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
A
B
C
D
- 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
