Drum Sets

Before any musical instrument existed, drums came first. Ancient people figured out that stretched animal skins produce resonant sound when struck by a stick or hand. But modern drum sets are way more complex than those early drums.

There are two key things to consider while selecting a drum set: where you will be gigging and what kind of music you will be performing. Smaller venues tend to benefit from smaller drums, which are known to resonate a crisper sound and less low-frequency tones. Larger rooms benefit from larger drums, which can project sounds over greater distances and hold them. Funk and hip-hop kits prefer to use smaller drums to achieve their punchier sounds, whereas classic rock kits use large shells to achieve their lower fundamentals and stage-worthy projection. This guide will help you to understand the basic characteristics of drums so that you can make an informed purchase decision.

Four major parts of a drum set

There’s nothing as exciting as purchasing new gear. But for aspiring drummers, before you even pick up a set of sticks or even buy a set, there is a lot to understand. Starting with the right gear will help you accomplish your goals faster. This article will tell you everything you need to know about them. Generally, the five-piece is the most common type of drum kit, as it gives you a nice amount of tonal variety but makes them less bulky to move around in a reasonably compact box. Here is a list of all the various parts that make up such a drum set.

Snare drum

This is probably the most important part of a drum set. Among all other parts of the set, the snare drum is the most versatile and can produce a very wide range of tones and expands what is possible using the drums. When you consider the shape of the snare drum, they are shallower than any other type of drum and sit right in front of the drummer between the legs. Their depth will vary between six and twelve inches, depending on the tonal range. The shell of the snare drum will be either steel or wood. Unlike other drums, this will have a layer of rattling metal mesh on the resonating head. It is this mesh that gives the drum its special characteristics.

Bass drum

Bass drums are also called kick drums. This is the largest drum in the drum set. A typical bass drum can be as large as twenty-two inches. Even the shallowest one will be at least sixteen inches deep. The pitch of the drum changes depending on the diameter of the shell and its depth. Usually, the larger the drum is, the deeper the notes will be. The drumhead facing the side of the drummer will have the batter skin, and the side opposite to it will be the resonating head. It is not unusual for the resonator head to have vent holes in it for the air to pass easily.

Tom drum

In a typical drum set, there will be at least two or three tom drums. Unlike snare or bass drums, tom drums might not always have a resonator head. Therefore, there won’t be a mesh of rattling material either. The tone of the tom drum will be in between the snare drum and the bass. To be able to cover more of the tonal range drummers usually use two or three tom drums of varied sizes. So, in a five-piece drum kit, there will be a hi tom, mid tom, and a floor tom. In a jazz drum set, the high tom will have a diameter of ten inches, the mid tom will be twelve inches, and the floor tom will be fourteen inches.

Cymbals

A drum set is not all drums. Apart from the drums, there will be cymbals as well. Although they are not actually drums, they do play a key role in shaping the sound characteristics of the drum. There will be three types of cymbals in a professional drum set. These are the hi-hat, the ride, and the crash. Among these, the ride cymbal will be on the right-hand side of the drummer while the other two will be on the left-hand side. Some people use cymbals like china cymbals and splash cymbals. However, they are not as common.