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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Splash Cymbal Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The Best Double Bass Pedals for the Money
Getting value from a bass drum pedal purchase means understanding where performance genuinely improves with price. This guide identifies the best options at each tier.
Common Congas Mistakes to Avoid
Congas are mechanically simple, which is exactly why small errors get away with themselves for so long before someone notices.
The Best Guitar Gig Bags for the Money
From the Mono M80 to budget options under £30, here are the guitar gig bags that offer the best value at each tier.
Common Tom Drum Mistakes to Avoid
From over-damping to ignoring the resonant head, here are the tom drum mistakes a sound engineer hears most often, and how to fix each one.
The Best Hi Hat Cymbals for the Money
Great hi-hat cymbals don't have to cost a fortune — but you need to know where the genuine quality steps up and where the law of diminishing returns kicks in.
Steel Tongue Drum: A Complete Buyer's Guide
'In the key of D' tells you almost nothing on its own. Here's the checklist that actually matters before you buy.
Triangle Music Instrument: A Complete Buyer's Guide
It looks like the simplest instrument you could buy. Once you start comparing real models, there's more genuine variation than you'd expect.
The Best Snare Drum Snares for the Money
A bedroom player, a gigging drummer and an orchestral percussionist all want different things — here's how value actually breaks down by tier.
Everything You Need to Know About Pack Shell
A shell pack forms the acoustic foundation of your drum kit. Discover the materials, construction methods and configurations that influence your kit's sound, playability and value.
Instruments Tambourine for Beginners: A Complete Guide
No prior music experience needed — a warm, encouraging guide to your first sessions with a tambourine.
Rack Toms for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Learning how rack toms work — from tuning to positioning — is one of the most practical steps a new drummer can take towards getting a better sound out of any kit.
Crash Cymbal for Beginners: A Complete Guide
The crash cymbal is the drummer's punctuation mark. Here is what it does, how to play it properly and what to buy for your first upgrade.
The Best Instrument Agogos for the Money
This is a niche, largely craft-built instrument, so there's no single 'best' pick. Here's which tier and type actually suits which player.
The Best Snare Stands for the Money
The Best Childrens Electronic Drum Sets for the Money
The right kit depends on the tier, not the brand. Here's how the market breaks down by budget, so you can shop the right bracket.
Hi Hat Stand for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Setting up a hi-hat stand correctly from the start makes your playing more comfortable and consistent — this complete beginner's guide covers assembly, setup and the basics of foot technique.
Common Cajon Mistakes to Avoid
Most cajon playing problems trace back to posture, hand technique and snare setup. Here are the mistakes that come up most often and how to correct them before they become habits.
The Best Crash Cymbals for the Money
From entry-level B8 crashes to professional K Custom and Byzance models, here are the crash cymbals that offer the most at each price point.
Sabian Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A wall of Sabian cymbals can look identical until you understand the alloy, the manufacturing and the series identity behind each one.
Floor Tom Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The floor tom anchors the low end of the drum kit's tom range. Understanding its construction, head choices and tuning helps you get the most from it.
Common Percussion Instruments Mistakes to Avoid
Small, easily-missed habits cause most of the problems I see with percussion instruments. Here's what to watch for and how to fix it.
Shaker for Beginners: A Complete Guide
No scales, no chords, nothing to get out of tune. Just a rhythm, a relaxed hand, and six small steps taken one at a time.
Electronic Drum Kit: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Buying an electronic drum kit is like configuring a signal chain. Here's how to evaluate each component — module, pads, hi-hat, and kick — before you part with your money.
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
